World Gas Intelligence articles from March 2003

World Gas Intelligence archives from March 2003

Nigeria's US market re-entry.(Nigeria LNG)
March 5, 2003... Nigeria LNG (NLNG) is poised to become the first LNG supplier, aside from nearby Trinidad, to pour cargoes into supply-starved US markets this winter, having tendered out up to 15 cargoes for delivery in 2003, starting in April, WGI learns. ...

Azerbaijan adding to Turkish supply excess.(To deliver first gas to Turkey in 2006)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2003... The BP-led consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field has given the financial go-ahead for the project's $3.2 billion, Phase 1 development--on target to deliver first gas to Turkey in 2006. Chances are that an oversupplied...

RWE ahead of E.On in race into gas.(In Germany)
March 5, 2003... E.On's pending takeover of Ruhrgas will show what an existing European power giant can do with the largest German gas wholesaler (WGI Feb.5,p1). However, Germany's No. 1 power producer, RWE, is ahead on building up and integrating a gas empire...

Japan moves toward carbon tax system.
March 5, 2003... Japan is moving gradually toward use of tax policy to meet carbon reduction goals laid out in the Kyoto Accord--but via a circuitous route that is likely to result in the biggest increase being imposed initially on relatively low...

Gazprom plans new Turkmenistan pipe.
March 5, 2003... As part of a campaign to pull Turkmen gas back into the supply-short Russian system after years of excluding the Central Asian producer, Gazprom is trumpeting a plan to build a new 700 kilometer, 30 billion-40 billon cubic meter per year...

Ruhrgas, Wingas link up to build pipeline.(A single 500 kilometer eastwest gas trunkline across South Germany)
March 5, 2003... Taking a cue from European telecommunications firms that have begun pooling investment in expensive new third-generation mobile telephone networks, German arch-rivals Ruhrgas and Wingas intend to jointly build a single 500 kilometer eastwest...

Algeria LNG bidders.
March 5, 2003... Algeria's $2 billion Gassi Touil integrated gas project, aimed at developing some 10 billion cubic meters per year of gas from six Berkine Basin fields, has attracted 12 technical bids (WGI May 15,p1). The project--billed as an integrated joint...

Huberator churn up.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2003... The number of traders at the gas hub at Zeebrugge, Belgium, grew to 47 over the course of 2002 from 42 at end-2001, and physical volumes delivered at the hub were up 73%, according to Belgian gas grid operator Fluxys, parent of the Huberator...

Market insight: US demand destruction. (Insight).(North American gas market )
March 5, 2003... The North American gas market remains in a precarious position due to low storage stocks and continuing high weather-related demand. But last week's price surge finally brought a brutal round of industrial `demand destruction,' which should...

India struggles to pick up pace of electricity reform. (Current).
March 5, 2003... Much needed reform of the power sector is progressing in India, but slowly. And if New Delhi is to meet its ambitious growth targets, it will have to pick up the pace. Installed capacity of around 105,000 megawatts is 12% below typical...

Japanese deregulation brings new LNG purchasing style. (Horizon).
March 5, 2003... The Japanese gas industry is slowly reinventing itself as it moves toward a more liberal gas market at home and adopts a bolder approach to securing LNG supplies abroad (p3). The direct implications of domestic gas deregulation may not be...

Exxon's US LNG debut.(ExxonMobil plans imports)
March 12, 2003... Exxon Mobil is poised for a major initiative involving LNG delivery to the US, WGI has learned. Recent public utterances from Exxon executives included tantalizing hints but no hard detail. Nonetheless, the general outlines are emerging....

Cyprus, Lebanon prepare for LNG.(small import terminals planned for liquefied natural gas)
March 12, 2003... Having proved their worth in the Caribbean, small LNG import terminals may be set for a move into the eastern Mediterranean. Cyprus first announced plans to go the LNG route in December, in preference to waiting for Egyptian gas due to be...

North American gas execs talk LNG.(liquefied natural gas)
March 12, 2003... The now widely accepted prospect of flat-to-declining North American gas production has heavy hitters in both Canada and the US scrambling to move into the LNG import scene previously dominated by European and now limping US energy merchants...

Which US firm eyeing Russia LNG for US?(Rosneft hopes to sell liquefied natural gas to a US company)
March 12, 2003... Russian state Rosneft is in talks with a US company on building an LNG plant to handle gas from the huge Shtokmanovskoye field in the Barents Sea. The LNG would be destined for the US and other markets, Rosneft President Sergei Bogdanchikov...

War worries voiced by Korea, Japan.(concerns over war in Iraq)
March 12, 2003... Both Japan and South Korea have elaborate contingency plans for dealing with any potential oil supply disruption resulting from the US-Iraq conflict (Petroleum Intelligence Weekly Mar. 10,p2). But no similar scheme is in place to deal with...

Timor Treaty no sure Greater Sunrise fix.
March 12, 2003... Last week's passage of two key international agreements involving the Timor Sea Joint Petroleum Development Area shared by Australia and East Timor looks to have come just in time to salvage ConocoPhillips' 3.4 trillion cubic foot Bayu-Undan...

Gas distribution lags in Mexico.
March 12, 2003... When nine private gas distributors were granted a total of 21 permits to operate in Mexico in 1997, the permits came with conditions: Within five years, the holders together were to bring gas to 2.2 million customers in home and factory, to lay...

Fishing for Iberdrola.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2003... Spanish Gas Natural's (GN) surprise 15.3 billion euro ($16.8 billion) bid Monday for the country's No. 2 electricity producer, Iberdrola, looks increasingly doomed to failure: GN shares plunged 15% 'after the offer, GN's own second shareholder,...

Market insight: easing in Asia. (Insight).
March 12, 2003... Winter's end and the pending conclusion by Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) of 2 million tons per year in new medium-term contracts should see the South Korean monopoly supplier pull out of spot LNG markets this month, insiders say. Combined with launch...

When the wind blows, European markets now take note. (Current).(wind energy in Europe)
March 12, 2003... Wind power is beginning to hit the big time in Europe, which leads the world in this carbon-free energy source, with over three-quarters of all installed capacity. For the European Union as a whole, wind power now accounts for around 2% of...

EU gas demand fizzles, stocks--not US sales--rise. (Horizon).
March 12, 2003... Gas consumption in Europe was flat in 2002 from 2001 levels, after years in which 3% gains were common. Milder weather explains a contributing drop in residential consumption. But it doesn't explain lackluster use by the industrial and power...

Shell's NLNG-to-US plan.(Royal Dutch/Shell, Nigeria LNG)
March 19, 2003... Nigeria is angling to become the next long-term supplier of LNG to the US after Trinidad--although several other projects are also in contention for that position. Andrew Jamieson, managing director of Nigeria LNG (NLNG), operator of an...

Foreign gas investors shun Indonesia.
March 19, 2003... Foreign oil companies including BP, Total Fina Elf, and Unocal have slapped a virtual freeze on upstream investment in Indonesia in reaction to the political and regulatory uncertainty that has followed passage of Jakarta's 2001 oil and gas...

Hot demand has US LNG on fast track.(Energy and Environmental Analysis projects record deliveries of 425 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas in 2003)(Industry Overview)
March 19, 2003... With LNG deliveries to the US belatedly starting to build, Virginia-based Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA) is projecting record-high deliveries of 425 billion cubic feet (1.2 billion cubic feet per day or 8.9 million tons) in 2003,...

Turkey goes slow on gas liberalization.
March 19, 2003... Progress has been slow on implementing two key provisions of Turkey's May 2001 gas law, covering construction of new gas distribution networks and the sale of at least 10% of state Botas' gas supply contracts each year, until Botas' share of...

Bolivian unrest adds to hurdles for LNG.(a $6 billion LNG project generates dissatisfaction in Bolivia)
March 19, 2003... A $6 billion LNG project that promises hard currency for Bolivia has become a lightning rod for popular dissatisfaction that the government can ill afford. February rioting in response to austerity measures led to a cabinet reshuffle in...

Bangladesh undecided on exports to India.(gas exports)
March 19, 2003... The five-year wait for a decision on gas exports from Bangladesh looks set to continue for a while longer. The government is still inching toward a decision on the contentious question of whether to allow gas shipments to India, and a...

Edison lite strategy.(Edison puts its gas and power distribution assets up for sale)
March 19, 2003... Italy's third largest energy group, Edison, has put its gas and power distribution assets up for sale. But the Fiat-controlled company, in which Electricite de France (EdF) has a minority stake, is still aiming to build an LNG import terminal...

Turkmen sales to Iran.(Iran is increasing purchases from the Turkmenistan)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2003... While Russia's Gazprom is enmeshed in lengthy negotiations to pull Turkmen gas back into the supply-short Russian system, Iran is busily increasing purchases from the Central Asian republic (WGI Mar.5,p4). Under a contract recently signed by...

Repsol, GN fall-out.(the planned liquefied natural gas joint venture of Gas Natural and Repsol YPF)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2003... Plans announced last year by Spain's Gas Natural (GN) and Repsol YPF for a 50-50 joint venture--provisionally named Gastream--that would integrate their LNG businesses from liquefaction to regasification and marketing now look to be falling by...

Market insight: Nordic fragments. (Insight).(changes could be occuring in Scandinavia's power production industry)(Industry Overview)
March 19, 2003... Scandinavia has substantial power production and over 100 traders represented on Europe's oldest international power exchange, decade-old NordPool. Norway is Europe's third largest gas producer, with output of 65.4 billion cubic meters in 2002....

Different styles in selling LNG to US power producers. (Current).(gas-dependent power generators are working to determine how to fit liquefied natural gas into their fuel supply mix)
March 19, 2003... With US dependency on imported LNG set to more than double over the next few years to 2.5% of overall gas consumption, according to even the most conservative Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates, gas-dependent power generators are...

King coal refusing to clean up quickly enough in Europe. (Horizon).(coal's future in Europe's power generation mix is under threat from a combination of new gas-fired plants)
March 19, 2003... Coal's future in Europe's power generation mix is under threat from a combination of new gas-fired plants, increasingly stringent emission regulations, and a new European Union carbon trading scheme that will particularly penalize coal-fired...

Kovykta under seige.(Gazprom, bid to control potential gas fields in Siberia and Russian Far East; )
March 26, 2003... Gazprom is stepping up efforts to gain control over potential gas production and exports from untapped fields located in East Siberia and Russia's Far East, in anticipation of the scheduled adoption in May by the government in Moscow of a new...

Gas find adds to Australian complexity.(Exxon Mobil, offshore natural gas discovery; northwestern Australia )
March 26, 2003... Exxon Mobil this week disclosed that two wells drilled in a block 125 miles offshore Dampier in northwestern Australia have confirmed a 20 trillion cubic foot discovery. The Jansz field--named after a Tasmanian sparkling wine--is Exxon's...

Gaz de France plays the arbs fantastiques.(liquified natural gas sales)
March 26, 2003... While Gaz de France (GdF) may not have engineered a flood of trans-Atlantic LNG spot sales this year, such deals were on a par with year-earlier levels. And more are in prospect this summer, GdF Executive Vice President of Supply and Trading...

Malaysia Tiga building sizeable sales book.(liquified natural gas project, contracts)
March 26, 2003... Within weeks of its start-up, the so far heavily under-subscribed Malaysia Tiga LNG project is proving a savior for beleaguered utilities in South Korea and Japan--and starting to build up a respectable mix of short-, medium-, and long-term...

Taiwan LNG bidding goes better this time.(liquified natural gas supply contract, Taiwan Power Co. power station)
March 26, 2003... Four bidders--one a 50-50 joint venture of Royal Dutch/Shell and a local partner--submitted offers to supply the natural gas equivalent of 1.7 million tons per year of LNG to Taiwan Power Co.'s (Taipower) planned Tatan power station. The other...

New Italian LNG port.(liquified natural gas import terminal, Italy)(Brief Article)
March 26, 2003... BP, Italy's Edison, and Belgian chemical company Solvay have jointly proposed a 3 billion cubic meter per year LNG import terminal on Italy's West Coast at Rosignano, near the port of Livorno and the Vada industrial complex, where Solvay and BP...

German re-regulation.(energy industry; Germany)(Brief Article)
March 26, 2003... Germany is set to give legal backing to self-regulation of the energy market, after a compromise text was agreed on Mar. 20 by a conciliation committee drawn from both houses of Parliament. Representatives from four of 16 states in...

EU tax harmony.(European Union, energy tax)(Brief Article)
March 26, 2003... European Union members finally reached unanimous agreement last week on energy tax harmonization, nearly a decade after the concept was first suggested. After much deliberation and the granting of numerous exemptions in order to secure the...

LNG shipping calm in Mideast storm.(liquified natural gas exports, shipments; international)
March 26, 2003... The war in Iraq may have oil shippers and suppliers on edge, as tanker day rates fluctuate and insurance rates climb. But apparently not so for LNG traders--at least not for Westbound cargoes (WGI Mar.12,p4). LNG exports also look to be...

Market insight: LNG shipping additions. (Insight).(liquified natural gas, tankers; futures, statistics)
March 26, 2003... As the first quarter wraps up, the pace of delivery of new ships in 2003 is more or less on target--a quarter of the year's order book having been delivered. The Atlantic Basin--where a shortage of tankers constrained shipments to the...

EU expansion opens new East-West power opportunities. (Current).(European Union, Eastern European candidates restructuring power sectors)
March 26, 2003... As part of preparations for European Union membership, candidate states in Eastern Europe are restructuring their power sectors. This involves both the privatization of state-owned generators and distributors and the deregulation of power...

Gasunie--future uncertain--sets out to build pipe to UK. (Horizon).(plans for new North Sea gas pipeline, United Kingdom)
March 26, 2003... Dutch Gasunie last week sketched out plans for a new North Sea pipeline to facilitate gas flows across northern Europe, from the Netherlands and even Russia to the UK. It's ambitious, given that the parameters of Gasunie's own restructuring...