World Gas Intelligence articles from May 2007

World Gas Intelligence archives from May 2007

Petrobras LNG strategy.
May 2, 2007... Having last week chartered two floating regasification and storage units (FRSUs), Brazil's Petrobras hopes to sign its first long-term LNG supply deal by August, in good time to start LNG imports in mid-2008, Petrobras Gas and Energy Director...

Malaysia seeks to match Qatari price.
May 2, 2007... Encouraged by the high term prices Qatar has recently obtained from South Korea and is seeking from Japanese buyers, Malaysia LNG (MLNG) has put forward similar price targets in ongoing negotiations with customers for output from its Dua plant,...

FERC sets US gas quality precedent.
May 2, 2007... Last month the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled on a precedent-setting gas quality case that's likely to have significant ramifications for development of the US LNG industry. The case, AES Ocean Express LLC Vs. Florida...

Companies aim to take GTL small time.
May 2, 2007... The 34,000 barrel per day Oryx project backed by state Qatar Petroleum (QP) and South Africa's Sasol is due to export its first cargo this week, marking a milestone in the size of operational gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities (WGI Apr.25,p4)....

Khelil defends Algerian policies.
May 2, 2007... Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil wants more from foreign investors than mere "cash for reserves." Rounding off last week's LNG15 event in Barcelona with news that LNG16 will be held in Algiers in 2010, Khelil said: "What we looked for 20...

GDF, Cheniere deal.
May 2, 2007... Agreements inked by Gaz de France (GDF) and Cheniere will give first access to trans-Atlantic LNG receiving capacity to both, significantly expanding their Atlantic Basin arbitrage potential (WGI Feb.28,p8). The two last week entered into a...

Norway field outage.
May 2, 2007... Norway's Statoil on May 1 shut for several months the North Sea Kvitebjorn gas and condensate field that it operates, in order to prevent further declines in reservoir pressure that could hinder attempts to tap future wells on the field. The...

Husky's China find.
May 2, 2007... Canada's Husky Energy expects production from its big Liwan 3-1-1 deepwater discovery in the South China Sea to start in 2012 or 2013. WGI has learned that some of the gas has already been sold to a Hong Kong utility at $5-$6 per million Btu....

Market insight: shaky US surge.(INSIGHT)
May 2, 2007... Many traders were convinced that North American gas prices would dip toward the end of April, given seasonally waning demand and growing storage inventories. Yet again, conventional wisdom proved wrong about bidweek performance, as the May US...

EU rescues second phase of carbon emissions market.(CURRENT)
May 2, 2007... After the failure of the initial 2005-07 stage of Europe's emissions trading system (ETS), the European Union seems to be doing better with the market's second phase, which runs from 2008-12 (p8). The tough stance the Commission has taken with...

Washington feels the allure of a carbon tax--slightly.(HORIZON)
May 2, 2007... A simple carbon tax is looking better all the time, as US lawmakers labor over legislation that focuses on the alternative of a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (WGI Feb.21,p7). Economists are speaking...

Reliance's Indian pricing plans.
May 9, 2007... India's Reliance Industries has set out to change the somewhat chaotic nature of gas pricing in India by asking consumers in power, fertilizer, steel and other industries to submit pricing ideas later this year for gas that is due to start...

Botas plans Nabucco "open season".
May 9, 2007... Uncertainty over the availability of supply for the Nabucco pipeline that would run from the Caspian through Turkey to Austria may soon be resolved. Nabucco backers later this year will launch an open season, Botas Deputy General Manager and...

Omani proposal for gas from Iran.
May 9, 2007... Oman is still hoping to reach an agreement to import up to 70 million cubic meters (2.5 billion cubic feet) per day of Iranian gas by pipeline as part of a package proposed to Tehran several months ago, Omani Oil Minister Mohammed al-Rumhi told...

Shah Deniz opens new Azeri vistas.
May 9, 2007... BP's Shah Deniz field got off to a shaky start, but there's no doubt that the giant Caspian Sea gas deposit is destined to have a major impact far beyond the borders of Azerbaijan. The first challenge, however, is to sort out the teething...

Majors vs state in Alaska pipe debate.
May 9, 2007... The Alaska Legislature has one week in which to wrap up work on Governor Sarah Palin's gas pipeline bill, but last Friday's arrest of one current and two former lawmakers on federal corruption charges has raised questions about whether the oil...

LNG grows in 2006.
May 9, 2007... Growth in LNG trading far outstripped that in cross-border pipeline gas sales in 2006, according to Paris-based Cedigaz. Worldwide gas consumption increased 2.9% to 2.93 trillion cubic meters (283.4 billion cubic feet per day), Cedigaz...

BG favors US again.
May 9, 2007... BG's first-quarter LNG sales volume was up at least 25% year-on-year at 52 cargoes, the company said Friday. Of those, 46 came from the company's equity and long-term contractual supply, including an ongoing swaps arrangement with Algerian...

First EGLNG cargo.
May 9, 2007... Equatorial Guinea LNG (EGLNG) will produce its first cargo by end-June, according to both BG Group Chief Executive Frank Chapman and EGLNG Project Managing Director Steve Ollerearnshaw. Capacity at EGLNG Train 1 is 3.7 million tons (5.1 billion...

Market insight: Asia's slow spot market.(INSIGHT)
May 9, 2007... Spot LNG demand looks set to remain soft in East Asia for a few months longer, as last year's mild winter left South Korean and Japanese stocks high and demand low. India is slowly emerging as an alternative--but still relatively small--market....

Nuclear revival spurs launch of uranium future contract.(CURRENT)
May 9, 2007... The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) this week launched a first-ever uranium futures contract, on its CME Globex and Nymex ClearPort electronic platforms in a joint venture with Ux Consulting (UXC). It initially lists 36 contract months,...

Shell's new, lower LNG target: 20 million tons by 2010.(HORIZON)
May 9, 2007... Royal Dutch Shell expects its net equity LNG sales to exceed 20 million tons (27.6 billion cubic meters) per year by 2010, including not only its current 30% stake in the Qatargas-4 venture due for start-up that year, but also a 25% stake in...

Russia's Central Asian score.
May 16, 2007... Russia has clearly won the latest round in the three-way fight with Europe and its US backer on the one hand and China on the other for access to gas from the Eastern side of the Caspian Sea. The "declaration" signed late last week by Russian...

Japan facing big Indonesian LNG loss.
May 16, 2007... Indonesia has nearly finished a long study of its gas demand and supply situation, and will soon take a related decision on renewing Japan's fast expiring LNG term contracts, an energy ministry official in Jakarta tells WGI. In the "gas...

New LNG trains still eyed in Egypt.
May 16, 2007... "The plan for Damietta 2 is to have a final investment decision by the first quarter of 2008," the chairman of state Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (Egas), Sherif Ismail, told reporters on the sidelines of the CWC Intergas IV conference in...

Excelerate ready to build Boston terminal.
May 16, 2007... US-based Excelerate Energy has overcome the main hurdle on its path to building the first new East Coast LNG facility in a quarter century. Early this week the US Maritime Administration (Marad) issued Excelerate with a port license for the...

Cypress pipe opening Florida to LNG.
May 16, 2007... El Paso-subsidiary Southern Natural Gas (SNG) has just started up the Cypress pipeline, which brings gas from the Elba Island, Georgia, LNG terminal to around Jacksonville, Florida, where it hooks into the Florida Gas Transmission pipeline...

Oman gets Iran deal.
May 16, 2007... Oman and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop Iran's Henjam gas field, build an export pipeline to Oman and cooperate on an LNG project, an Omani government source confirmed to WGI Tuesday. The deal was...

Tangguh loan delay.
May 16, 2007... The Indonesian BP-led Tangguh LNG project has slipped a bit and may be delayed further, if talks to secure additional project loans remain stalled, Indonesian officials say. The Indonesian government now hopes to raise a still-needed $880...

Poles join Skan pipe.
May 16, 2007... Norwegian state offshore gas grid operator Gassco has said that the 13 energy and industrial backers of the Skanled gas pipe project to link eastern Norway, western Sweden and Denmark favor the inclusion of Polish state-run gas group PGNiG in...

QP remains vague on volume for US.
May 16, 2007... Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah, visiting the US last week, brushed aside US concerns that Qatar might be diverting LNG to Asia, where customers are willing to pay a premium--all to the detriment of US supply security. The plan is to...

Market insight: uneven German market.(INSIGHT)
May 16, 2007... Germany's largest gas supplier last week again fulfilled government dictates by holding the fifth of six scheduled annual gas release sales. Yet competition in mainland Europe's largest market remains patchy, with only slight growth in trading...

Energy sector sees much to like in France's new president.(CURRENT)
May 16, 2007... The victory in France's May 7 presidential election of rightwing UMP contender Nicolas Sarkozy has come as a great relief to many in France's energy sector, who had feared the election of his main rival, Socialist candidate Segolene Royal. ...

Gasunie eyes Dutch role for Petronas, German role itself.(HORIZON)
May 16, 2007... A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last month by Dutch state gas transmission operator Gasunie with Malaysian state Petronas may appear lightweight in comparison to Gasunie's MOU last autumn with Gazprom, which calls on the two to...

Egypt addresses pricing.
May 23, 2007... Major operators in Egypt last week expressed concern over the future of gas exploration and exports under Egypt's gas price cap, given its fast-growing domestic market, even as they outlined near-term multibillion-dollar spending plans. ...

Italy's Caspian pipe gets EU nod.
May 23, 2007... The European Commission on Tuesday granted an exemption, from EU requirements to provide third-party access, to the 8 billion cubic meter per year (774 million cubic foot per day) Poseidon--or Italy-Greece-Interconnector--subsea pipeline that...

Proliferating PNG LNG schemes.
May 23, 2007... This time last year Papua New Guinea (PNG) had ambitious, but aged, plans to pipe its ample stranded gas reserves to Australia. A year later the pipeline is dead amid excited talk of PNG becoming a "world-scale" LNG producer, with four...

Gazprom, Belarus in pipe pact.
May 23, 2007... Gazprom has clinched a deal to secure a half-stake in neighboring Belarus' pipeline network, which carries one-quarter of Russian gas exports to Europe. Moscow is set to secure its 50% share in Beltransgas by 2010, under an accord struck...

Kovykta risk for TNK-BP.
May 23, 2007... Russian-UK joint venture TNK-BP remains in danger of losing its licenses to the massive far eastern Kovykta gas field as the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources said it would go ahead with a license compliance check regardless of an Irkutsk...

India tries to salvage Iran deal.
May 23, 2007... India and Iran are trying one last time to salvage their $22-billion LNG supply deal, due to start in late 2009. India's Oil Minister Murli Deora, on his return from a visit to Tehran where he sought Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's...

Freeport's 'LNG-free' 2008 opening.
May 23, 2007... Although the US is currently receiving more LNG than ever, the midterm outlook is not so great (WGI Apr.25,p6). Skeptical views on US LNG intake prospects are reinforced by the difficulty capacity-holders at the Freeport LNG facility in...

Trinidad Train 4 down.
May 23, 2007... Trinidad and Tobago's Atlantic LNG Train 4 is going down for a scheduled maintenance in June of about two weeks, sources close to the situation tell WGI, resulting in as much as 10 billion cubic feet (7.25 million tons) fewer LNG sales. ...

Dutch power spike.
May 23, 2007... Dutch power prices spiked early this week, pushing up levels in Germany and France in turn (see table p7). Traders attributed the sharp increase to a sudden supply bottleneck--most likely an unplanned plant outage--that forced the country's...

UK's Grain LNG expands.
May 23, 2007... The UK's National Grid has agreed to a $612 million ([pounds sterling]310 million) expansion of its wholly owned Grain LNG import terminal near London, boosting its capacity by 50% to 14.8 million tons per year (20.45 billion cubic meters per...

Market insight: spot LNG heads west.(INSIGHT)
May 23, 2007... The US remains the primary market for spot LNG, continuing a two-month run that's not expected to end anytime soon (WGI Apr.25,p6). Except for Turkey and Spain, Europe has been absent from the global LNG market, and Asia-Pacific is only an...

Stability still eludes asset-swapping US merchants.(CURRENT)
May 23, 2007... Stability continues to elude the US merchant energy sector more than five years after Enron's collapse sent the high-flying industry into a tailspin (WGI Jan.3,p3). Take as a case in point Mirant, the Atlanta-based, former deregulated arm of...

Canadian drilling slump robs US of supply reserve.(HORIZON)
May 23, 2007... When blizzards and cold gales pounded large parts of the US Midwest in December and reached into the Northeast in January, the nation's gas industry was able to call on its savings bank of last resort--Canadian gas inventories. However, with...

Oryx adds to GTL jitters.
May 30, 2007... Investors in Qatar's Oryx gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant displayed no evident signs of panic following last week's unusually candid announcement that its brand new 34,000 barrels per day GTL facility will be producing as little as 25% of its...

Kovykta endgame may be approaching.
May 30, 2007... Time appears to be running out for TNK-BP's hold over the Kovykta gas fields in East Siberia. A court in Russia's Far Eastern province of Irkutsk has reversed an earlier decision to arbitrate changes in the Kovykta license held by TNK-BP...

Asian LNG prices evolving-upward.
May 30, 2007... Last year's jump in spot and short-term sales to 16% of a rapidly growing world LNG market, from 13% in 2005, is a trend that seems destined to continue, with China having joined the club through China National Offshore Oil Corp.'s (CNOOC)...

Canadian LNG projects thinning out.
May 30, 2007... Proposals for Canadian LNG receiving terminals have never been as numerous as those on the US side of the border, but even in Canada, the inevitable shakeout has winnowed the number down by more than half. Three facilities, one under...

Nabucco looms over Gazprom, OMV deal.
May 30, 2007... A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last week by Gazprom with Austria's OMV should eventually provide the Russian state gas giant with a stake--size as yet unspecified--in the Central European Gas Hub, the Austrian trading point where...

India's new KG flows face court delays.
May 30, 2007... Half of the expected 80 million cubic meter (2.8 billion cubic foot) per day output of the KG-D6 fields in the Krishna-Godavari Basin off India's east coast could be delayed for two-and-a-half years or more from the expected 2008 date for first...

First EGLNG cargo.
May 30, 2007... Marathon's Equatorial Guinea LNG (EGLNG) Train 1 loaded its first cargo May 24, bringing the $1.5 billion facility into operation six months ahead of schedule and granting BG an additional 3.4 million tons per year of supply to its growing LNG...

New China gas pair.
May 30, 2007... The cooperation agreement signed by China's No. 2 and No. 3 oil majors, Sinopec and LNG importer China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), to work jointly on gas projects covers expanding reserves, building pipeline networks and securing gas...

Market insight: Euro end-use price dip.(INSIGHT)
May 30, 2007... European industrial end-user prices for gas and electricity early this year continued the downward trend started in the second half of 2006, leaving behind the heady price peaks that have caused manufacturers such grief in the preceding year or...

BBL eyes expansion.(INSIGHT)
May 30, 2007... BBL, the Dutch Gasunie-run operator of the 16 billion cubic meter per year (1.55 billion cubic foot per day) Netherlands-to-UK gas pipeline of the same name--already seen as a big contributor to bringing down Northwest European spot gas...

IGCCs to benefit as BP buries flagship UK carbon project.(CURRENT)
May 30, 2007... Blaming government delays, BP has scrapped its $2 billion ([pounds sterling]1 billion) gas-to-hydrogen project in the UK, marking a setback for hydrogen deployment but potentially advancing coal gasification in the UK. Unveiling the...

Qatar ahead, as world LNG growth tops 12% in 2006.(HORIZON)
May 30, 2007... Deliveries of LNG worldwide increased by more than 12% last year to almost 159 million metric tons, equivalent to 198.7 billion cubic meters (7 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas, according to the 2006 report on global LNG trade from the...

WGI supplement: European end-user price (eurocents/kWh).
May 30, 2007... WGI SUPPLEMENT: European End-User Prices (eurocents/kWh) Gas Prices: 100,000 cm/yr 1 Million cm/yr 10 Million cm/yr Typical High Low Typical High Low Typical High Belgium Apr. '07 ...