World Gas Intelligence articles from March 2008

World Gas Intelligence archives from March 2008

China's Turkmen pipe.
March 5, 2008... Any remaining doubt that Turkmenistan will be China's first source of imported gas dissolved with the recent launch of construction on China's second West-East gas pipeline--billed as the country's first major system to transport foreign gas....

Outlook for Damietta train 2 uncertain.
March 5, 2008... Although Eni last year indicated that an investment decision would be taken early in 2008 on a second 5 million ton (6.9 billion cubic meter) per year LNG train at Egypt's port of Damietta--to be backed by Spain's Union Fenosa, Italy's Eni, BP...

US terminal sector goes into overdrive.
March 5, 2008... The entire US LNG receiving terminal sector appears to have gone into overdrive at the prospect of seeing 8.2 billion cubic feet per day (63 million tons per year) of new North American regas capacity come on line this year, likely followed by...

E.On offers to unbundle power grid.
March 5, 2008... E.On broke ranks with government policy in Berlin last week in spectacular fashion by offering to commit to sell its German high-voltage electricity transmission network to an operator with no interests in either power generation or supply and,...

Russia signs Hungary up amid Ukraine flap.
March 5, 2008... Russian State Gazprom is steaming ahead with plans to build the South Stream pipeline under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and then overland to Central Europe--even as European supply-threatening disputes between Moscow and Ukraine underscore...

GDF's Fos-2 terminal not opening until 2009.
March 5, 2008... Gaz de France (GDF) and Suez have posted what are probably their final annual results as separate firms, prior to GDF's takeover of Suez energy assets, "expected in first-half 2008." Unfortunately for the two, GDF's new LNG terminal in southern...

Livorno LNG going.
March 5, 2008... A site 20 kilometers offshore Livorna in western Italy looks set to house that country's third LNG terminal, and Germany's E.On may well end up owning part of it. OLT Offshore LNG Toscana (OLTT), the consortium majority-owned by Spain's...

Market insight: US price flight.(INSIGHT)
March 5, 2008... As the US March gas futures contract soared into expiry during this past bidweek--when prices for most March baseload supply were set--market watchers could be forgiven for imagining they were in the grips of a hurricane-induced price surge....

Brazil and Argentina: electricity goes from green to brown.(CURRENT)
March 5, 2008... With gas turning into an endangered species in the southern cone of South America, countries are rapidly switching to other sources of power. But the alternatives are usually more expensive and not always environmentally friendly. This year and...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
March 5, 2008... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Week for five trading days, spanning Feb. 26-Mar. 3. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Mar. 3 for day-ahead delivery Mar. 4. European power prices are from exchanges on...

Coal prices soar amid possibly chronic global supply squeeze.(HORIZON)
March 5, 2008... Coal, long the world's most widely used fuel for power generation, has also been its fastest growing fuel for the past five years, thanks largely to its low price relative to gas. Recently, however, coal prices have skyrocketed worldwide. If it...

EGLNG's Noble quandary.
March 12, 2008... It looked 15 months ago as if Equatorial Guinea would likely have a second LNG train and that it might be the world's first such facility using cross-border gas. Its government has signed two memorandums of understanding on potential imports,...

Algeria's pipeline infrastructure woes.
March 12, 2008... Building new domestic gas pipeline infrastructure--especially in the south--will be crucial to Algeria's ability to fill its planned new export pipes and LNG trains. And industry sources fear it won't happen quickly enough. Algerian Oil...

Floating LNG suddenly all the rage.
March 12, 2008... Floating LNG (FLNG) was a major talking point at the Gastech 2008 conference in Bangkok this week, with several companies confirming plans to push out their first floaters soon after the turn of the decade. "FLNG seems to be the flavor of...

Russian gas exchange hits regulatory glitch.
March 12, 2008... Russia's pilot project for gradually increasing the volume of gas traded on the country's first-ever electronic gas exchange has run up against hurdles related to incremental gas and oil price regulations. As a result, Gazprom stopped trading...

Supply side: Qatar, Australia, Trinidad.
March 12, 2008... The fast-moving play for position in Australia's burgeoning LNG patch continued this week with Chevron's declaration of plans to develop its 100%-owned offshore northwestern Australia Wheatstone gas field as a new LNG project, possibly coming...

Mexican LNG terminals go, Canadian stop.
March 12, 2008... The US isn't alone in North America in its penchant for licensing terminals that don't get built or can't operate because supply is lacking. Canada is in a similar position, while Mexico is advancing on a third terminal, this one on the...

German gas demand dip hits E.on, RWE.
March 12, 2008... Germany used less gas in 2007 than in 2006, so E.On managed to increase its gas sales volume only by expanding abroad, and RWE didn't manage even that. Meanwhile, both face price probes. Milder weather saw German primary energy consumption...

MARKET INSIGHT: China's spot LNG spot.
March 12, 2008... What with Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) said to be the only Japanese utility still in the spot market, South Korea and Taiwan out of winter spot-buying mode, and spot prices for cargoes to be delivered in April back in the $13-$14 per...

Nymex set to launch carbon, other emissions contracts.(CURRENT)
March 12, 2008... It looks as though carbon trading may well take place in the US before any nationwide cap is established on carbon emissions. Nymex plans to launch a suite of new products next week centered on emission allowances. The initiative rolls...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
March 12, 2008... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Week for five trading days, spanning Mar. 4-10. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Mar. 10 for day-ahead delivery Mar. 11. European power prices are from exchanges on Mar....

Japan, South Korea gear up to receive Qatari megatankers.(HORIZON)
March 12, 2008... Qatar made clear some time ago that, for the right price, it is willing to divert to Asia a good portion of the output of the six mammoth 7.8 million ton per year liquefaction trains it is now building (p3). But it was equally clear that...

Central Asian gas pricing.
March 19, 2008... Central Asian gas prices appear set to skyrocket following last week's agreement by Gazprom to pay "European level" rates starting next year for gas imported from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. While hardly good news for Gazprom, a...

Qatar targets Asia in 'flexible' LNG strategy.
March 19, 2008... Qatar has repeatedly said that its full 77 million ton per year future capacity is "sold out" to long-term customers, but senior Qatari officials now say that considerable extra capacity is built into the system, allowing the Mideast Gulf gas...

Shell deal for 'firm' LNG supply to Brazil.
March 19, 2008... The deal signed by Royal Dutch Shell last week to supply LNG to Brazil's state-controlled Petrobras is a three-year sale and purchase agreement, WGI is told, with pricing likely linked to some mix of US and European gas prices. Neither side...

India revives Iran LNG, US nuclear talks.
March 19, 2008... Two long-stalled deals with broad implications for India's future have moved back into the limelight in New Delhi: a nuclear pact with the US that would cement India's status as a nuclear weapons state and allow it to expand its civilian...

Uncertainties behind EGL's Iran gas buy.
March 19, 2008... The aim of the final gas purchase contract that Swiss-based EGL signed this week with state National Iranian Gas Export Co. (Nigec) for up to 5.5 billion cubic meters per year (530 million cubic feet per day) of Iranian gas is to underpin the...

Cairo on gas pricing.
March 19, 2008... The president of state Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (Egas), Mahmoud Latif, this week defended government gas pricing at a press conference that was aimed at staunching the steady drip of criticism from opposition groups and within the...

Balkan grid study.
March 19, 2008... Plans for a single gas transmission network from the Black Sea to the Alps took a significant step forward last week. Eight operators were invited to a meeting in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. Seven attended, all agreeing to initiate a...

NLNG Train 6 feedgas constraints.
March 19, 2008... Linda Cook, head of gas and power at Royal Dutch Shell, provided analysts at a Shell strategy meeting in London Monday with some snippets on the start-up of Nigeria LNG (NLNG) Train 6-including an admission that feedgas will cap output for a...

Market insight: Europe's rising prices.(INSIGHT)
March 19, 2008... Record-high oil prices continue to push long-term contract gas prices in Europe to new heights--at least as measured in weakening US dollars. Belgian energy regulator Creg's official estimate for the average price of gas imports into that...

South Korea picks nuclear to meet growing power demand.(CURRENT)
March 19, 2008... South Korea is moving aggressively to become a major player in commercial nuclear power, not only as a consumer of nuclear electricity, but also as a potential exporter of reactor technology. The country currently has 20 reactors accounting for...

Gas and power prices for major us and European hubs.(CURRENT)
March 19, 2008... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Weekfor five trading days, spanning Mar. 11-17. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Mar. 17 for day-ahead delivery Mar. 18. European power prices are from exchanges on Mar....

Chevron's John Gass talks about changing LNG markets.(HORIZON)(Interview)
March 19, 2008... Chevron Global Gas President John Gass talked to WGI last week at Gastech 2008 in Bangkok about the company's gas strategy, rising LNG prices and changes in global gas markets. WGI: Are we seeing a shift away from the traditional S-Curves...

China's spot LNG squeeze.
March 26, 2008... Gas-fired power plants in southern China have been sitting idle in recent weeks because of high spot prices for LNG, keeping alive the question of whether Chinese buyers are willing and able to purchase expensive foreign gas, even as terminal...

How badly does New York need LNG?
March 26, 2008... The US Northeast has paid premium prices for gas for years, prices that sometimes soaring when the weather turns cold. As testimony to the perceived durability of this premium, heavy hitters Royal Dutch Shell with TransCanada, and Exxon Mobil...

Japanese aim to take LNG trading global.
March 26, 2008... Japanese gas utilities have now joined the country's big trading houses in taking their LNG businesses global, mainly by purchasing equity stakes in North American and European receiving terminals. The absence of operating or even capacity...

Indonesia eyes LNG for domestic market.
March 26, 2008... The day looks to be fast approaching when domestic demand will not only restrict feedgas going into Indonesia's liquefaction plants, but also take part of the LNG coming out. While a possible third train at BP's Tangguh project has long been...

Progress on reduced Mideast flaring slow.
March 26, 2008... Since since drawing attention last August to previously unacknowledged Mideast flaring in its first global gas flaring study, the World Bank has struggled to gain firm Mideast commitments to reduce the practice, despite well-documented gas...

Iran LNG mysteries.
March 26, 2008... Little is known about the two liquefaction contracts that Iranian oil ministry news agency Shana said were signed last week by Iran LNG, one with a consortium including Iranian state energy contracting firm Farab and China's Huafu Engineering,...

Egyptian prices up.
March 26, 2008... Cairo's decision to improve pricing terms for gas producers--particularly those with deepwater discoveries, where a ceiling of $2.65 per million Btu acted as a deterrent--looks to be bearing fruit. It's understood that the new ceiling price...

Starting on empty.
March 26, 2008... Two commissioning cargoes are on their way to the first LNG receiving terminal on the west coast of North America, Sempra's 1 billion cubic foot per day (7.5 million ton per year) Costa Azul facility on Mexico's Baja California peninsula,...

Market insight: late US LNG shift.(INSIGHT)
March 26, 2008... The typical spring shift in spot LNG flows from Asia to the Atlantic Basin--particularly the US--will evidently be late in arriving this year, with sendout from US terminals hitting a new low of 600 million cubic feet (12,600 tons) per day...

Carbon emissions price could test polish devotion to coal.(CURRENT)
March 26, 2008... Due to its vast domestic coal resources, Poland's generation mix has remained largely unchanged for over two decades, with virtually all electricity produced from hard coal- and lignite-fired power stations. National energy regulator Urzad...

Second year of shrinkage in EU gas use challenges forecasts.(HORIZON)
March 26, 2008... High prices and mild weather conspired last year to lop another 1.5% off gas consumption across the 27-nation European Union, to 505.4 billion cubic meters (48.9 billion cubic feet per day), according to preliminary data from industry...