World Gas Intelligence articles from March 2004

World Gas Intelligence archives from March 2004

Iran's total LNG lift.
March 3, 2004... State National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) last week launched its first LNG venture, agreeing to a shareholding deal with French Total and Malaysian state Petronas on Pars LNG, under which Total would have a 30% stake, Petronas 20% and NIOC the...

Japan utilities look to enter LNG trading.
March 3, 2004... Japanese utilities--including the mighty Tokyo Gas and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), among others--are jumping onto the LNG trading bandwagon, taking on international players and once LNG-dominant Japanese trading houses such as Mitsui and...

Reserves downgrades hit gas two ways.
March 3, 2004... An old oil patch adage has it that more oil has been found with a pencil or a calculator than with a drill bit. This reference to producers' ability to move reserves from the probable and possible columns into the proved due to technology...

Second expansion set for interconnector UK.
March 3, 2004... Interconnector UK (IUK) has gotten a jump on the competition by proceeding this week with Phase 2 of its project to boost its capacity to bring gas from continental Europe into England (WGI Nov.12,p5). It is doing so before final investment...

Algeria's Gassi Touil sped up, Skikda slides.
March 3, 2004... Attempting to turn the tide on its long-delayed Gassi Touil integrated LNG project, Algeria now expects to receive final commercial bids for the $2 billion-$3 billion project on Mar. 27, and to make an award at which time. "We select the best...

US LNG progress.
March 3, 2004... Plans both for new LNG receiving terminals and for greater supply to existing facilities continue to gain momentum in the US. Most recently, developer Freeport-McMoran formally filed an application with the US Coast Guard to build a 1...

Greek deal for GN.
March 3, 2004... Spain's leading gas supplier Gas Natural (GN) last week agreed "in principle" to buy a 35% strategic stake in Greek national gas company Depa for 285 million [euro] ($360 million), although a binding agreement can be ratified only by an...

Oman's Qalhat LNG lands new buyers.
March 3, 2004... Oman has lined up buyers for the remaining 2 million tons per year of output from its third LNG train, now under construction. The volume will be split among three Asian buyers under separate long-term deals, ministry officials tell WGI. One...

Market insight: euro price slide.(Insight)
March 3, 2004... End-user prices for natural gas in continental Europe are still linked directly to oil in most cases. However, more and more discounting from formula-price levels is evident, according to Energy Advice, which collates European end-user prices...

WGI supplement: European end-user prices (in eurocents/kWh).
March 3, 2004... WGI SUPPLEMENT: European End-User Prices (In Eurocents/kWh) 100,000 cm/yr 1 Million cm/yr Gas Prices: Typical High Low Typical High Low Belgium Jan. '04 2.19 ...

European end-user prices (in US dollars/MMBtu).
March 3, 2004... European End-User Prices (In US Dollars/MMBtu) 100,000 cm/yr 1 Million cm/yr Gas Prices: Typical High Low Typical High Low Belgium Jan. '04 8.09 ... ... ...

Italy's Enel gets toehold in Russia's enticing power market.(Current)
March 3, 2004... Having already taken the first tentative steps towards a free market in electricity, with the start-up of a small wholesale spot market in November, Russia has begun to open the door to greater foreign involvement in its power sector. Last...

Lessons from marathon's ill-fated Baja LNG proposal.(Horizon)
March 3, 2004... Marathon's last hope for building an LNG import terminal in Mexico vanished Saturday, when state police barricaded the entrance to a canyon just south of Tijuana where the plant was to be located. The scheme had been in jeopardy for months,...

Total scores in Qatar.
March 10, 2004... The Qatargas-2 LNG venture is set to jump from two 7.8 million ton per year trains to three, Qatargas Vice Chairman and Managing Director Faisal al-Suwaidi confirmed to WGI on the sidelines of a Qatar investment conference in London this week....

India's reliance on road to integration.
March 10, 2004... When Dhirubhai Ambani launched Reliance Industries as a domestic Indian textile producer in 1966, he already visualized for the new millennium an integrated giant with activities ranging from oil and gas exploration to petrochemicals and...

Shell gains on GTL, stalls on Qatar LNG.
March 10, 2004... While Royal Dutch/Shell has advanced another step toward a $5 billion gas-to-liquids project in Qatar with Tuesday's award of a front-end engineering and design contract to JGC of Japan, the company looks to have been left out in the cold on...

Others may join Shell, total in India venture.
March 10, 2004... French Total, which recently agreed to buy a 26% interest in Royal Dutch/Shell's 2.5 million ton per year LNG receiving terminal at Hazira in India, could be just the first of a number of new partners at the facility (WGI Feb.25,p4). The deal...

Germany not rushing into gas regulation.
March 10, 2004... Germany will not have an energy market regulator in place by the Economy Ministry's original July 2004 target, although staff are already being hired to be in place this summer and exercising their powers by end-year (WGI Sep.3,p5). ...

Capping Groningen, accelerating Troll.
March 10, 2004... The Netherlands may introduce powers to set a future cap on gas production from its giant Groningen field, its most senior energy official said last week. Groningen produced 50.5 billion cubic meters in 2003 (4.9 billion cubic feet per day),...

Italy's nascent hub.
March 10, 2004... Italy's national network operator says liquidity is growing at a new gas balancing point known as Punto di Scambio Virtuale (PSV). Snam Rete Gas Vice President for Planning Michele Ronchi said last week that 900 spot gas deals were done by...

Market insight: US oil linkage.
March 10, 2004... Apparently chronically high oil prices aren't pushing up natural gas costs only in Asian and European markets in which term prices are explicitly linked to oil (p8). Opec now looks to be routing the bears in well-supplied US gas markets, as...

Clean-coal technology threatens gas-fired power in US.(Current)
March 10, 2004... Spurred by the prospect of North American gas prices of over $5 pet million Btu for years to come, clean-coal technology--both current and next generation--is gaining enough momentum in the US to raise red flags about the financial outlook for...

Costly oil accentuates Chinese, Indian LNG price gains.(Horizon)
March 10, 2004... The magnitude of the price cuts that China and India have extracted from suppliers is only gradually becoming clear--and in particular the diminished extent of oil price linkage. This has become all the more significant as the effect of Opec's...

Mideast Petchems from gas.
March 17, 2004... With crude oil--and as a result naphtha--prices seemingly stuck in the stratosphere, Mideast producers with more gas than oil are looking increasingly to gas-based petrochemicals as a fourth outlet alongside LNG, pipeline gas sales and GTL...

China racing ahead on pipe, LNG slower.
March 17, 2004... Domestic pipeline gas looks to be gaining momentum in China's headlong race to line up energy to fuel its blistering economic growth. With no help from its friends, PetroChina is now targeting full commercial operation of the 4,200 kilometer...

DSM drubs Dutch market reforms.
March 17, 2004... Some very big European gas consumers appear to be growing restive at the slow pace of liberalization and resulting price relief in the continent's gas markets. Leading Dutch chemicals manufacturer DSM's energy purchasing chief Frank...

BP poised to join LNG project in Egypt.
March 17, 2004... BP is apparently close to agreement to enter one of Egypt's two LNG projects as both a supplier of feedstock gas and a buyer of LNG. It may become a stakeholder, as well. "We are discovering gas in quantities now that allow us to have...

New Ruhrgas auction set, after bumper 2003.
March 17, 2004... Germany's largest gas supplier Ruhrgas sold record volumes in 2003, due to a cold start to the year and higher exports, while mandatory sales of Ruhrgas assets helped parent E.On post record net earnings of 4.6 billion [euro] ($5.7 billion)...

Maine LNG rejection.
March 17, 2004... After rescheduling the vote three times, the residents of Harpswell, Maine, last week voted down a ConocoPhillips and TransCanada proposal to build a 500 million cubic foot per day (3.8 million ton per year) LNG receiving terminal (WGI Dec....

Putin on Gazprom.
March 17, 2004... Those waiting for the restructuring of Gazprom and the Russian gas market should not hold their breath. Following his resounding weekend reelection victory, Russian President Vladimir Putin reemphasized that Gazprom reform should be handled...

Zeebrugge futures?
March 17, 2004... Belgium's Zeebrugge hub could be in line for something akin to London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) gas futures contracts. Belgian gas grid Fluxys' subsidiary Huberator, which runs the Zeebrugge hub, this month signed a letter...

Global gas investment model coming.
March 17, 2004... Economists, corporate planners and others trying to identify trends and opportunities in the global oil sector have a number of modeling programs available to help them make investment decisions. However, those looking for a comparable...

Market insight: Asian LNG in flux.(Insight)
March 17, 2004... Ironically, the biggest near-term change in Japan's increasingly fluid gas business could be a return by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) to its traditional absence from spot LNG markets. In fiscal 2004, beginning Apr. 1, Tepco expects to make...

Repairs put US nuclear power on track for banner year.(Current)
March 17, 2004... Coal isn't the only source of electricity that presents a threat to relatively expensive gas-fired power in the US (WGI Mar.10,p7). Last week's restart of the 925 megawatt Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio ushers in what could be a banner year...

Gas poised to challenge oil in transportation fuel markets.(Horizon)
March 17, 2004... With two natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) projects now operating in Malaysia and South Africa, two others at or near the construction stage in Qatar, and more in various development phases in Australia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Qatar and possibly...

Destination debates.
March 24, 2004... Replacement of destination restrictions in sales contracts to buyers in the European Union--and the potentially associated question of how gas pricing should work when the non-oil-linked UK and US markets are among multiple possible...

Indian LNG buyers head for spot market.
March 24, 2004... Rather than the predicted shortage of customers, the two Indian state companies charged with marketing 90% of the gas sendout from Petronet LNG's new terminal in Dahej have suddenly found themselves short of gas to satisfy all the demand. ...

Method behind China's mad LNG schemes.
March 24, 2004... There is more method than is first evident behind the apparently mad rash to advance proposals for new LNG receiving facilities in China at a time when the country's first terminal, in Guangdong (Shenzhen), is running behind schedule and...

Qatar speeds up GTL, as LNG hits snags.
March 24, 2004... Qatar looks to be experiencing slight difficulties in managing the massive slate of new LNG projects on its drawing broad. But this isn't stopping the tiny country from racing ahead into more GTL (gas-to-liquids) projects. QP and Sasol...

Drive to develop Iranian LNG heats up.
March 24, 2004... Potential Western participants are confident that at least two Iranian LNG projects will be awarded this year--despite missing a target for an announcement ahead of the Iranian New Year, which began on Mar. 20, sources tell WGI on the sidelines...

Gazprom field choice.
March 24, 2004... Russia's Gazprom has designated the Yuzhno-Russkoye field as a core source of reserves for direct gas shipments to continental Western Europe and eventually the UK, via the proposed North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) under the Baltic Sea (WGI...

Botas investigated.
March 24, 2004... Turkish state gas and pipeline monopoly Botas faces the threat of fines from the country's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (Emra) over its failure to launch a 4 billion cubic meter per year (386 million cubic feet per day) gas release...

Egyptian Gas for LNG.
March 24, 2004... Both BG and BP, and possibly US Apache as well, will probably agree soon to supply gas to the Spanish-Egyptian Gas (Segas) LNG venture at Damietta on the Nile Delta--and to export the resulting LNG from the train (WGI Mar. 17, p3). State...

Algeria delays Skikda restart, Gassi Touil.
March 24, 2004... Algeria may enter the spot market as a buyer rather than a seller over the next several months as a result of its decision to stagger the reopening of its remaining Skikda LNG trains--units 5, 6 and 10--between May and October. The country...

Market insight: sweet UK gas deal.(Insight)
March 24, 2004... British Sugar purchasing manager Paul Gardiner had the mostly continental European audience at the Flame conference in Amsterdam earlier this month on the edge of their seats as he explained how Gaz de France (GdF) provides about 15% of his...

French power reform edges forward, French-style.(Current)
March 24, 2004... As France continues its snail's pace progress in energy sector reform, state Electricite de France (EdF) is limbering up for the loss of what remains of its home market monopoly. Currently only 37% of the French power market--comprised of...

LNG tanker glut arrives, looking set to stay well into 2005.(Horizon)
March 24, 2004... After years in which tanker availability was the chief constraint on LNG spot trading, glut has come to the LNG shipping market. And it looks set to continue well into 2005. As many as six service-ready vessels are currently sitting idle in a...

Donggi stakes for sale.
March 31, 2004... In a bid to boost lagging exports of LNG, Indonesian state Pertamina has offered an operating stake in its Donggi project in Sulawesi, along with partial marketing rights to LNG from the area, to a consortium composed of French Total, Royal...

BG's North America marketing challenge.
March 31, 2004... BG has so far proved adept at lining up alternative supplies for the 630 million cubic feet per day (4.8 million tons per year) of capacity it has under long-term lease at Southern Union's Lake Charles, Louisiana, US receiving terminal, since...

Libya poses new gas challenge to Algeria.
March 31, 2004... After years of retreat, Libya is suddenly looming large on the gas export stage, presenting Algerian projects with a tougher challenge for investment capital at a time when Algiers is struggling to launch its new Gassi Touil LNG export venture,...

Winners, losers in US LNG terminal game.
March 31, 2004... The Gulf Coast looks increasingly likely to shoulder most of the burden for US LNG imports in the future, due not least to problems in gaining public acceptance for terminal construction in premium markets along the East Coast. But a few East...

Gazprom pushes Itera out of Uzbekistan.
March 31, 2004... Squeezed by Russia's Gazprom out of much of its former business, Moscow-based, US-registered gas trader Itera is losing ground in one of its few remaining strongholds, Uzbekistan. According to a source in Uzbek state oil and gas company...

Indian firms, majors to bid for Dabhol.
March 31, 2004... Gail India, domestic conglomerate Tata's electricity unit and BP are close to an agreement to bid jointly for Enron's abandoned Dabhol Power Co. (WGI Apr. 23, p1). Domestic power house Reliance Energy, BG and Royal Dutch/Shell have also...

Dolphin pipe award.
March 31, 2004... The $3.5 billion Dolphin project to take 2 billion cubic feet per day of gas from Qatar's North Field to the United Arab Emirates from 2006 advanced this week when it awarded Italy's Saipem two pipeline contracts worth more than $350 million....

Market insight: East beats west.(Insight)
March 31, 2004... Continued shortfalls in LNG output from both Indonesia and Algeria threaten the expected spring pickup in US LNG imports--especially given that with US gas prices down around $5 per million Btu, swing Mideast producers can earn higher netbacks...

High US gas prices favor coal gasification--to a point.(Current)
March 31, 2004... Coal gasification could become a significant factor in US power markets in short order if gas prices remain high relative to those for coal--presenting the potential for a more direct price relationship between the two fuels. Some US power...

Some see UK gas surplus, others see infrastructure strain.(Horizon)
March 31, 2004... After nearly three decades of self-sufficiency and seven years as a net exporter, the UK is on the cusp of a rapid plunge into net gas importing. With the UK forecast to require overseas supplies to cover up to half its gas needs by 2012,...