World Gas Intelligence articles from July 2008

World Gas Intelligence archives from July 2008

Latin America LNG activism.
July 2, 2008... Latin American countries are developing into full-blown LNG importers quickly, as they struggle to meet growing gas needs and cover diminished Bolivian supply. Brazil is set to become South America's second LNG importer this month--after...

Spanish LNG in glut amid record gas use.
July 2, 2008... The Spanish market that was so thirsty for LNG last winter is now facing a surplus of gas to cover its summer needs--although companies are still hesitant to divert supply to the US and other markets due to an expectation of tight supply and...

GDF-Suez: tying up loose ends.
July 2, 2008... Although consolidation among Europe's energy suppliers continues and the European Commission's proposal to require mandatory "unbundling" of gas networks has gone up in smoke, some pending reshuffling of Northwest European and Italian energy...

Asians cautious on Gazprom LNG idea.
July 2, 2008... Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev's announcement last week that Gazprom is considering building at least one more LNG project in Russia's Far East--with unidentified Japanese and South Korean partners--seems to have come as a...

Gas drilling in Libya proves daunting.
July 2, 2008... Few would challenge the assertion that Libya has good gas potential, but finding and developing it is not shaping up to be a smooth ride. Already, Libya has been slow to grow its reserves base: Proven gas reserves remain at 53 trillion cubic...

Gazprom, Ukraine iffy price progress.
July 2, 2008... With Russia's agreement in principle to raise Ukrainian gas prices to European levels only gradually over the next three or four years, Moscow and Kiev appeared to move at least one step closer to signing a strategic gas cooperation pact. But a...

Dutch LNG launch.
July 2, 2008... The first concrete step toward opening the Dutch and German markets to LNG came Saturday, when Dutch Economy Minister Maria van der Hoeven laid the foundation stone for the Gate LNG terminal at Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, a 50-50 joint venture of...

Singapore confusion.
July 2, 2008... The selection of Gaz de France (GDF) as a strategic partner for Singapore Power subsidiary PowerGas in building the city-state's first LNG terminal looks to be adding to uncertainty rather than clarifying the parameters of the always somewhat...

Market insight: US price high, stocks low.(INSIGHT)
July 2, 2008... The bidweek trading that set most US baseload gas prices for July was chock-full of new records, as July gas futures skyrocketed in line with oil prices and physical gas prices at most hubs raced to highs never before seen in early summer....

Europe facing up to long-term $200/ton coal prices.(CURRENT)
July 2, 2008... Major milestones in energy pricing, including $100 per barrel oil, came and went with remarkably little effect on demand. The latest milestone reached in Europe is $200 metric ton coal. As with $140/bbl oil and $15 per million Btu gas, it...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
July 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Weekfor five trading days, spanning Jun. 24-30. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Jun. 30 for day-ahead delivery Jul. 1. European power prices...

Slump in Sino-Russian gas relations has wide reverberations.(HORIZON)
July 2, 2008... China's rapprochement with Russia has peaked and the two now constitute the main competitors in the "Great Game" over Central Asian energy resources, while Russia's target of exporting 80 billion cubic meters per year (7.7 billion cubic feet...

Nigerian President's gas plan.
July 9, 2008... Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is recommending a new natural gas policy framework that will require gas producers to supply more to the domestic market at locally affordable prices. Unless a workable compromise is found between government...

Korea's Posco to pay higher Tangguh price.
July 9, 2008... With Indonesian LNG in tight supply and the country garnering the highest term sales prices going for LNG from its older projects--of $17.59 per million Btu to state Korea Gas (Kogas) in May--it's hardly likely the country will settle for...

Eni enters, UES exits Russian market.
July 9, 2008... The same week that saw the disappearance of Russian power monopoly UES in favor of a network of regional and national generators and marketers--many of which are foreign-owned--also witnessed the first small step toward Western involvement in...

Results of Medvedev Caspian tour sparse.
July 9, 2008... Little solid appears to have resulted from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's tour last week of three gas-and oil-rich former Soviet states--Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan--amid growing competition for Caspian and Central Asian energy...

JPMorgan's Cheniere marketing deal.
July 9, 2008... The "domestic marketing agreement" Cheniere inked last month with JPMorgan involving LNG from the new Sabine Pass terminal appears designed mainly to do two things: Give financially troubled Cheniere the benefit of JPMorgan's credit rating so...

Java LNG implications.
July 9, 2008... Initial agreement last week by French Total and Japan's Inpex to supply up to 1.5 million tons per year of LNG from the Bontang plant to a terminal to be built by Indonesian state companies on West Java could help clear the way for renewal of...

Hungary-Romania link.
July 9, 2008... Agreement by Hungary and Romania to connect their gas pipeline systems for security of supply reasons has been applauded by EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs as "a first concrete step in the direction of an integrated European gas...

Algerian Gains, losses.
July 9, 2008... Contracting is finally afoot at Algeria's two LNG export projects--Skikda and Gassi Touil--but progress on that front has been countered by some slippage in the schedules for new export pipes. The chief executive of Algerian state...

Market insight: Asian LNG heats up.(Industry overview)
July 9, 2008... The Indian and Chinese buyers that set the pace for a downward slide in term LNG prices early this decade are now leading an upward race in spot LNG rates. Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) is said to have booked a July-delivery cargo at...

Nuclear power faces uphill battle in Germany, Japan.(CURRENT)
July 9, 2008... Japan and Germany, industrial and environmental leaders in their respective parts of the world, both need nuclear power to meet carbon-reduction goals and, in the case of Germany, to maintain healthy supply margins, by the reckoning of outside...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.
July 9, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Week for five trading days, spanning Jul. 1-7. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Jul. 7 for day-ahead delivery Jul. 8. European power prices...

French LNG projects move ahead--at reduced speed.(HORIZON)
July 9, 2008... France's three large new LNG terminal projects--Dunkerque and Antifer in the north, and Le Verdon in the southwest--were each subjected to public inquiries last autumn. Final reports outlining changes were issued this spring, and French...

Gazprom international.
July 16, 2008... What exactly is Gazprom seeking in its increasingly fast-paced drive to become a global energy player through the purchase of oil and gas assets and production in far-flung parts of the globe? In the last week alone, the Russian state giant...

Canadian storage play threat to US prices?
July 16, 2008... Theories abound as to why US gas inventories aren't refilling this summer as rapidly as they did last summer. Despite a near 4 billion cubic foot per day year-on-year rise in domestic production in the first half--more than double the 1.9 Bcf/d...

Algeria keeps LNG, upstream promises.
July 16, 2008... Algeria has made good on this month's promise to announce a schedule for its gas-focused licensing round--its first since late 2004--and to select a contractor to build the Gassi Touil LNG plant (WGI Jul.9,p5). Both moves highlight state...

PNG, Australia CBM LNG projects 'feeding'.
July 16, 2008... Some of the dark horses in the race to build Pacific Basin LNG projects are moving quickly up the pack. Australia's Queensland Gas Co. (QGC) this week named Bechtel as the front-end engineering and design (Feed) contractor for the Surat Basin...

BASF Russia success.
July 16, 2008... Russian state Gazprom and BASF-owned Wintershall's landmark 50-50 Achimgaz joint venture has begun test gas and condensate production from the deep Achimovskoye layer of the giant Urengoi field in West Siberia. It follows a similar coup for the...

New impetus for AES' Bahamas LNG.
July 16, 2008... AES' long-stagnant application to build an LNG receiving terminal at Ocean Cay in the Bahamas may receive fresh impetus as a result of a new proposal for a pipeline connection from Ocean Cay to New Providence Island, home to an oil-fired power...

EDF role expands in Germany indirectly.
July 16, 2008... The influence of top French utility EDF in Germany is set to grow as a result of a deal between two utilities in that country, one part-owned by EDF. This may disappoint Russian state Gazprom--although it has its compensations. Germany's...

Italian finally moves to boost storage.
July 16, 2008... Italy has now allocated three out of five sites put forward for potential gas storage developments in a tender that began almost two years ago. The San Benedetto del Tronto site in the Marche region of eastern Italy, which can be developed...

Market insight--Europe's price surge.(INSIGHT)
July 16, 2008... Russian gas prices at Germany's eastern borders will, as forecast, top $14 per million Btu between July and September, WGI border price estimates confirm (see table below). That's up from less than $12/MMBtu in the second quarter and if oil...

India progresses toward nuclear deal, but it's not there yet.(CURRENT)
July 16, 2008... By abandoning his coalition with left-wing parties in favor of a union with a small regional party, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears to have saved the US-India nuclear agreement, at least temporarily, after months of domestic...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
July 16, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Weekfor five trading days, spanning Jul. 8-14. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Jul. 14 for day-ahead delivery Jul. 15. European...

China faces coal crunch as price moves lag world markets.(HORIZON)
July 16, 2008... China is bracing for an electricity supply crunch this summer, as insufficient coal availability threatens to overwhelm utilities grappling with surging power demand. According to data released last week by China's State Grid, 14 gigawatts--or...

Asian spot LNG surge.
July 23, 2008... The surge in the number of LNG cargoes being diverted from the Atlantic Basin to Asia over the past couple of years could herald the coming of a "true" spot market, industry players at a recent Tokyo LNG conference suggested, with such cargoes...

Floating storage play afoot in LNG market.
July 23, 2008... A floating storage play of the type last seen in 2006 is starting to drive the global LNG spot market (WGI Nov.22'06,p6). Several Western LNG traders have recently bought physical cargoes with the intention of reselling them next winter at a...

Mexico importing and flaring more gas.
July 23, 2008... Mexican imports of pipeline gas from the US nearly doubled during the first four months of 2008 from year-earlier levels, despite record-high domestic gas production and increased LNG imports, according to data from state Pemex. The surge may...

Latest Greek, Turkish pipeline maneuvers.
July 23, 2008... While there's no shortage of proposals positioning Turkey as a corridor for gas flows to Europe, progress remains scarce. An optimistic Israel last week said it was close to a deal with Russia on gas supply via Turkey and Blue Stream as part of...

Europe's utilities trudge upstream.
July 23, 2008... European utilities have spent several years seeking to raise the proportion of their gas sales covered by their own upstream assets, only to miss their targets in many cases. Gaz de France (GDF)--which officially merged with Suez this...

Belgian birth pangs for GDF Suez.
July 23, 2008... Tuesday marked the first day of trading in the shares of newly merged GDF Suez, and by midday the group was neck and neck with EDF in market capitalization--each worth roughly [euro]95 billion ($150 billion). Last week, the French government...

Australia LNG shuffle.
July 23, 2008... Geology and government have conspired recently to slightly weaken Woodside's dominant position in Australian LNG expansion. Woodside's plans to fast-track expansion of its already fast-tracked Pluto LNG project ran into problems earlier...

GTL revival--what GTL revival?
July 23, 2008... Prices for middle distillates such as diesel and heating oil are at whopping premiums to gasoline these days. This, combined with the discount in the price of natural gas relative to crude oil in many consuming regions, would suggest that...

Market insight: no US LNG pickup.(INSIGHT)
July 23, 2008... Terminal commissioning cargoes helped bolster US LNG intake at times early this month, with 1.85 billion cubic foot send-out from Sabine Pass boosting rates to almost 3 Bcf/d on Jul. 8, roughly triple the daily average. But such anomalies...

Central Europe does more than talk on nuclear expansion.(CURRENT)
July 23, 2008... Slovakia is one of a handful of European countries--mostly in the eastern part of the continent--that is not just talking, but acting to expand its nuclear fleet. The relatively small Central European country has five operational reactors with...

GAS and power prices for major US and European hubs.
July 23, 2008... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Weekfor five trading days, spanning Jul. 15-21. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Jul. 21 for day-ahead delivery Jul. 22. European power prices are from exchanges on Jul....

US may not need more LNG for years given rising production.(HORIZON)
July 23, 2008... Strong growth in US domestic gas production--running at an unexpectedly high 4 billion cubic feet per day in the first half of this year, equivalent to roughly 30 million tons per year of LNG--is likely to shield the huge, nearly 65 Bcf/d US...

India's spot LNG clout.
July 30, 2008... Despite still being described as a "marginal gas buyer" by some in the Asian LNG fraternity, India is gaining a high profile in spot LNG markets, with Japanese and Western traders alike noting the country's growing influence on regional and...

GN wheels, deals as Spain uses more gas.
July 30, 2008... Leading Spanish supplier Gas Natural (GN) has signed agreements with both Qatargas and Russian state Gazprom that aim to develop its trading role out into the next decade and beyond, while also positioning itself as a bidder for Spain's...

Venezuela back in LNG export mode.
July 30, 2008... Venezuela's long-incubating plans for developing an LNG industry are prone to surprising shifts. The latest came last week when President Hugo Chavez, during a trip to Moscow, invited Gazprom to enter the Deltana Platform and Mariscal Sucre LNG...

South America enters big BG trading circle.
July 30, 2008... BG continues to create value through exploration successes in Brazil, Algeria, Norway, Trinidad and the UK, Chief Executive Frank Chapman said last week. But its capture of new LNG arbitrage opportunities is what has made it an investor's...

Gazprom's Turkmen, Ukraine gas dance.
July 30, 2008... Gazprom's recent agreement with Turkmenistan on key pricing principles will mean a sharp increase in the cost of the Russian state company's gas purchases from the Central Asian country from 2009 onward, thus solidifying its role as a major...

Crescent cites progress in Iraq, Iran.
July 30, 2008... The United Arab Emirates' Crescent Petroleum has been hoping to start gas projects in both Iraq and Iran by the end of this year, and despite additional delays in these two politically challenging countries, Crescent executives still think...

Liftoff for Gassi Touil.
July 30, 2008... Algerian state Sonatrach looks to have finally taken a decisive step toward getting the delayed Gassi Touil LNG venture off the ground by this week signing up a consortium of Italy's Snamprogetti and Japan's Chiyoda to build the 4.7 million ton...

Market insight: wintry LNG turn.(INSIGHT)
July 30, 2008... It may still be the height of summer, but with a popular storage play under way, attention in spot LNG markets has already turned to winter LNG prices and the winter UK gas market that is the hedging lynchpin for the storage play (WGI Jul...

Even US South spawns opposition to new nuclear plants.(CURRENT)
July 30, 2008... With nuclear energy seen by many as at least a partial solution to the problem of climate change, some were hoping that environmental challenges to new nuclear plants would largely fade away (WGI Jan.16,p7). But not so in one area that might be...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
July 30, 2008... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Weekfor five trading days, spanning Jul. 22-28. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Jul. 28 for day-ahead delivery Jul. 29. European power prices are from exchanges on Jul....

Tanker fueling poses challenges to LNG trading growth.(HORIZON)
July 30, 2008... The high price of oil relative to gas in a rising market and constraints on bunker fuel availability could conspire to slow the expansion of LNG spot trading, a number of shipping and market analysts suggest. At the moment, fuel prices are the...