World Gas Intelligence articles from May 2005

World Gas Intelligence archives from May 2005

Qatari delays.
May 4, 2005... In imposing a moratorium of up to three years on additional gas-to-liquids (GTL) and pipeline gas projects, Qatar is signaling a clear preference for LNG--effectively reversing a policy that emerged in early 2004 under which companies were...

Shell discusses Iran, India LNG plans.
May 4, 2005... Royal Dutch/Shell is sticking to a 2010 completion target for its 14 million ton (19 billion cubic meter) per year Persian LNG project in Iran, based on gas from South Pars Phase 13, a senior Shell official in the region tells WGI. That's...

Details of gas exporters feud.
May 4, 2005... A week after the event, it seems all the more evident that the recent Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Trinidad and Tobago was not a happy event and that any potential the forum may have to develop into a sister organization to Opec...

Bolivia, Brazil looking investor unfriendly.
May 4, 2005... The leftward tilt in South American politics of late is having an increasing effect on current and prospective private investors in the region's gas industry. Both Bolivia, the region's leading pipeline gas and potential LNG exporter, and...

Sunrise back in LNG race, but far behind.
May 4, 2005... The much-delayed Greater Sunrise LNG project is limping back into the race to export LNG from Australia after Canberra and the East Timor government late last week agreed to a deal that papers over differences over maritime boundaries and gives...

Shell's Libya deal.
May 4, 2005... Libya looks set to again become a serious player in the LNG game following word from Royal Dutch/Shell this week that it will, with Libya's state National Oil Corp. (NOC), be revamping and enlarging the 35-year-old Marsa al-Brega liquefaction...

Bahamas say no.
May 4, 2005... The FPL Group, parent of Florida's leading electricity utility, appeared well positioned to import LNG into one of the fastest growing gas markets in the US, after it secured supplies through an initial agreement with Qatar's RasGas and took...

High-tech HiLoad LNG.
May 4, 2005... Houston-based Torp Technology is planning an offshore LNG receiving and regasification facility in the Main Pass area of the Gulf of Mexico that would be the first in the US to use HiLoad Technology--a floating L-shaped terminal that docks onto...

Saudi Aramco Chief named Petroleum Executive of the Year.
May 4, 2005... Abdallah S. Jum'ah, president and chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco, will be honored as Petroleum Executive of the Year at the 26th annual Oil & Money Conference, This unique industry gathering, jointly convened by Energy Intelligence and...

Market insight: US downside.(Insight)
May 4, 2005... Increasingly bearish fundamental and technical indicators across the petroleum complex took the steam out of energy futures last week, sinking New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) June crude oil futures below $50 per barrel by Friday. This, in...

Oil sands: source of power supply, not just gas demand.(CURRENT)
May 4, 2005... To date, oil sands development in Canada has served mainly as a competing source of demand for Canadian natural gas that might otherwise make its way down to the US (WGI Dec.31'03,p3). In the future, oil sands may also become a source of...

Algerian decline checks otherwise rapid global LNG growth.(Horizon)
May 4, 2005... The 2004 report on global LNG trade from the Paris-based International Group of LNG Importers (GIIGNL) confirms earlier indications that the pace of LNG growth slowed dramatically last year from 2003, to just 5%, similar to 2002 rates (WGI...

Atlantic Basin spot influx.
May 11, 2005... Large amounts of spot LNG are about to hit the Atlantic Basin following early startup of two trains at the Egyptian LNG (ELNG) plant in Idku. Market sources say some, if not all, of the "pre-commissioning" cargoes--volumes produced before...

Gazprom's Baltic pipe opens doors at home.
May 11, 2005... Russian Gazprom's perpetual search for less expensive gas that will allow it to postpone the massive investment needed to develop its Yamal reserves and to save Shtokmanovskoye for LNG may be creating an important new opening for potentially...

Saudi gas explorers voice concerns.
May 11, 2005... The concept that large international oil companies might be willing to take high risks in order to get a toehold in Saudi Arabia appears to be alive and well after all--judging by concerns about condensate levels and gas prices expressed by...

High LNG prices shake Spanish market.
May 11, 2005... High global gas and LNG prices are threatening to undermine the previously lauded domestic gas price decontrol regime that has helped make Spain a critical player in the blossoming trans-Atlantic LNG arbitrage market. So Spanish officials...

Bolivia still stumbling down path to exports.
May 11, 2005... If you have gas, someone will want it--assuming you can get your act together to sell it to them. That seems to be the lesson of events in Bolivia and Peru over the last week. Hours after Bolivia's Senate approved a controversial...

France, Italy cut market-melding deal.
May 11, 2005... Electricite de France (EdF) has scored a victory in its game of brinkmanship over the future of its investment in Italy. In an 11th hour breakthrough, the company announced late last week that it would forge ahead in Italy by forming an equal...

Prompt UK gas strong.
May 11, 2005... Northwest Europe prompt gas prices remain unusually strong, as the onset of the summer North Sea maintenance season coincides with near-record winter 2005-06 prices. Traders said that flows into Northeast UK beach terminals at Teesside,...

US weather outlook.
May 11, 2005... If US government and other private forecasts for North America's weather this summer are right, seasonal demand could come in with the bears and go out with the bulls, as heat will ramp-up slowly before scorching weather arrives in July. ...

Market insight: Asian price worries.(INSIGHT)
May 11, 2005... Japanese LNG demand surged over the winter and early spring on the back of strong domestic gas demand. Utilities aren't currently leaping into the LNG spot market for fear of scorching prices, leaving Indonesian state Pertamina as the most...

Duke, Cinergy create first post-Enron US energy merchant.(CURRENT)
May 11, 2005... The consolidation that swept through the US electric utility sector like a tidal wave prior to Enron's collapse is beginning to pick up strength again. And while it remains on a more modest scale than in the earlier episode, it is starting to...

What to expect this year from Indonesia's Bontang, Arun.(HORIZON)
May 11, 2005... The mass of confused and often contradictory statements and data coming out of Indonesia's gas industry these days does more to obscure than to clarify prospects for LNG shipments from what in 2004 was still the world's largest LNG...

Pipe vs. LNG in Mediterranean.
May 18, 2005... Having last month sold off their Basell petrochemical joint venture to an Indian-US-Russian consortium in controversial preference to Iran, Royal Dutch/Shell and German chemical major BASF are left with little in common other than an active...

Kogas spot buying hostage to weather.
May 18, 2005... An apparent first-quarter inventory draw, as imports stalled in the face of sky-high term and spot prices while end-user gas demand rose from year-earlier levels, again leaves state Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) vulnerable over the upcoming winter to...

Suez eyes "branded LNG"--long-term.
May 18, 2005... France's Suez group, until the late 1990s a scattered conglomerate with interests in sectors ranging from finance to energy, is taking slow but certain steps towards integrating--and giving a longer-term profile to--its LNG businesses. ...

Bad news obscures Indonesia's good news.
May 18, 2005... While the Jakarta Commercial Court in March dismissed an attempt by two domestic Indonesian contractors to have Total declared bankrupt for its alleged failure to pay the far-from-princely sum of $7 million for work on fields supplying the...

Uncertainty still clouds Dolphin's Dubai sale.
May 18, 2005... The binding contract signed by the UAE's Dolphin Energy early this month for the supply of up to 700 million cubic feet per day (7.25 billion cubic meters per year) of gas from Qatar's North Field to Dubai for 25 years beginning in 2007 dispels...

Kogas equity links.
May 18, 2005... An equity stake for Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) in the Total-led Yemen LNG project seems likely to follow if Kogas ups its recently agreed long-term purchase from Yemen to 2 million from 1.3 million tons per year and from Malaysia LNG to 2 million...

Gazprom, OMV deal.
May 18, 2005... A contract signed by Austrian energy group OMV with Gazprom to transport 4.4 billion cubic meters per year (425 million cubic feet per day) of Russian gas across Austria for 20 years starting in 2007 represents a step forward in the big Russian...

Botas sale slips again.
May 18, 2005... The deadline for a gas contract release tender by Turkish state importer Botas has slipped for the fourth time this year. Bids from Turkish-registered companies vying to take over import contracts are now due Jun. 27, two months after the...

Market insight: Europe's LNG slack.(Insight)
May 18, 2005... Even with gas prices and demand healthy in the UK and Spain, the time of year has arrived when spot LNG cargoes unable to find a US home--due to cargo size, quality or other issues--may need discounting to secure a European berth. The UK's...

Florida joins parade toward coal--in addition to LNG.(CURRENT)
May 18, 2005... Coal and LNG may not make such strange bedfellows after all, at least not in Florida, with its history of over-reliance on a single fuel for electricity generation. Florida Power & Light (FP&L) was highly dependent on oil-fired generation...

Energy efficiency back on the European Union agenda.(Horizon)
May 18, 2005... While US energy legislation seems destined to remain a largely supply-side affair, energy efficiency is firmly back on the governmental agenda in Europe, with a number of new initiatives in the offing to help save energy and reduce greenhouse...

Just say Nyet.
May 25, 2005... Energy groups in Europe--including some of Russia's largest gas customers--are learning to say "Nyet" to deeper integration with Russian Gazprom. German E.On Chief Executive Wulf Bernotat said last month that Gazprom had requested equity...

Gas may gain as EU carbon prices soar.
May 25, 2005... A strengthening of prices for European carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) emission credits is putting upward pressure on electricity markets across the region and could feed through into higher demand for gas in power generation. The price of...

US LNG terminal debate heats up.
May 25, 2005... Flash points suddenly abound in the US state versus federal tug-of-war over siting LNG terminals. Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) issued final environmental impact statements for two of the most controversial LNG...

Iran's voracious domestic demand.
May 25, 2005... The South Pars field contains so much gas that it places Iran as the world's second-largest holder of gas reserves. Iran claims reserves of 500 trillion cubic feet in North Pars. Qatar claims 900 Tcf from its roughly 62% of the same structure,...

Gazprom dances with many LNG partners.
May 25, 2005... Gazprom is gradually lining up what could turn out to be an impressive array of partners to help realize its near- and longer-term LNG ambitions. These include Russia's largest shipping company, state Sovkomflot, for the LNG export...

Peru eyes piped gas plus LNG to Chile.
May 25, 2005... Peru would like to send pipeline gas to northern Chile and, from there, on into Argentina. This is in addition to--not instead of--the LNG it is hoping to ship to the central region of its long, thin neighbor to the south. Chile is actively...

Transmed facelift.
May 25, 2005... Eni and Algerian state Sonatrach have agreed to expand the Trans Tunisian Pipeline, which transports Algerian gas across Tunisia--a move that should boost their capacity to use the much larger onward Transmed subsea Tunisia-to-Sicily line. ...

IPE gas futures.(Insight)
May 25, 2005... IPE GAS FUTURES Contract May 23 Week's May 23 Month p/therm High/Low $/MMBtu Jun.'05 30.01 30.55/30.00 5.49 Jul. 29.31 ...

Nymex gas futures.(Insight)
May 25, 2005... NYMEX GAS FUTURES Contract May 23 Week's May 16 Month $IMMBtu High/Low $/MMBtu Jun.'05 6.407 6.57/6.23 6.446 Jul. 6.463 ...

Market insight: Spain still strong.(Insight)
May 25, 2005... Relatively high Spanish electricity prices, combined with a delay in the onset of heavy summer demand in an unusually cool US, kept the trans-Atlantic LNG spot market largely focused on Europe this past month. Exporter netbacks to all US...

Dabhol may restart but expansion, LNG still some way off.(Current)
May 25, 2005... The apparently ill-fated Dabhol Power project could again be producing over 700 megawatts of electricity by June 2006 after rotating power outages in cities including Mumbai (Bombay) and the failure of a politically key program of free...

Exxon Mobil's Lee Raymond talks about natural gas.(Horizon)(Interview)
May 25, 2005... Exxon Mobil Chairman and Chief Executive Lee Raymond recently shared his views on the oil and gas industry with Energy Intelligence Houston Bureau Chief Barbara Shook. Excerpts from that interview appear below. WGI: You have a lot of...