World Gas Intelligence articles from November 2003

World Gas Intelligence archives from November 2003

Exxon's Raymond talks gas.
November 5, 2003... Before Exxon's merger with Mobil in 2000, the company had taken only one step into the LNG business, a small facility in Libya that was nationalized shortly after it was built in the early 1970s. What has changed, Exxon Mobil Chairman and...

UK gas price surge: fluke or trend?
November 5, 2003... Unplanned shutdowns at key North Sea gas fields and at baseload nuclear power plants, coupled with higher demand because of a sudden bout of wintry weather, drove UK prompt gas prices at the benchmark National Balancing Point above 31 pence per...

Indonesia scrambling to line up LNG sales.
November 5, 2003... Somewhat shaken by the recent successes of Malaysia's Tiga and Australia's pending Gorgon LNG and existing North West Shelf projects in snagging new sales to China and South Korea, Indonesia is sending a team of senior officials from state...

Second Nigeria LNG project advances.
November 5, 2003... Nigeria looks poised to move soon into the increasingly large club of gas producing countries with multiple LNG export projects. Two years after an initial memorandum of understanding was signed, original partners Nigerian National...

Statoil, others want into Russian LNG.
November 5, 2003... Interest in Russia's potentially huge Shtokman development for LNG exports from an offshore field in the Barents Sea looks to be spreading like wildfire through the industry. Norway's Statoil wants to join. Its senior vice president for...

Find in Vietnam.
November 5, 2003... Vietnam is trumpeting what is described by state PetroVietnam as the country's biggest-ever gas discovery, at the Su Tu Trang or White Lion field. Preliminary estimates indicate 6 trillion cubic feet (170 billion cubic meters) of...

Repsol, GN rematch?(Brief Article)
November 5, 2003... The long dormant integrated LNG joint venture planned by Spain's Repsol YPF and its leading gas utility Gas Natural (GN) is back on the table, with Repsol saying that a decision on whether to go ahead could come within two weeks. GN,...

Hungarian opening.
November 5, 2003... The Hungarian government is lifting the price cap on gas sales to all but residential and the smallest commercial users from 2004, a move that should guarantee profitability for Mol's historically loss-making wholesale gas business. The...

US terminal moves.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2003... Anxious to create receiving terminal capacity in the US for LNG that it is about to sign up to take from Qatar, Royal Dutch/Shell yesterday submitted the expected formal application to the US Coast Guard to construct an offshore LNG receiving...

Market insight: US temporal distortion.(Insight)
November 5, 2003... The split continues in US gas markets between bearish signals for the near-term and bullish fundamentals further out. A significant reversal in weather forecasts for the early winter months has put bears in the driver's seat for the moment...

European power exchanges target international growth.(Current)
November 5, 2003... Electricity trading in Europe is starting to come of age, as trading volumes reach critical mass on a number of exchanges. In addition, some of the top exchanges are now moving beyond their own home markets and are looking to become...

Canada's gas patch now looks to be past its prime.(Horizon)
November 5, 2003... Is Canada's gas industry doomed to inexorable supply declines, as its US counterpart appears to be? Five years ago, almost nobody thought so. But a growing number of analysts now suspect that Canada's star has crested. That suspicion is a key...

Chinese pipeline progress.
November 12, 2003... PetroChina's fast firm gas sales contract from the West-to-East pipeline and the completion of the eastern section are important milestones--but serve mainly to underscore just how the giant project is struggling to secure a market, even with...

El Paso agreement on Elba Island near.
November 12, 2003... An agreement may not see the light of day for some weeks, but ripples are appearing in the stagnant waters surrounding the unimplemented contract between BG and El Paso for the sale of around 300 million cubic feet per day (2.3 million tons per...

Itera may sell stake, is buyer Gazprom?
November 12, 2003... Squeezed by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom out of much of its former business, gas trader Itera is apparently seeking a strong partner to protect its interests in former Soviet countries, and offering a stake, in the company in exchange (WGI...

Shell looks to GTL market development.
November 12, 2003... With an agreement in place for its first world-scale natural gas-to-liquids plant, Royal Dutch/Shell is now focusing its efforts on lining up markets for the ultra-clean transportation fuels the facility will produce. Last month, Shell and...

Repsol eyes Libyan, Trinidad LNG moves.
November 12, 2003... Spain's Repsol YPF has revealed a long-term plan for an integrated LNG project to export Libyan gas to Europe. "We are in negotiations with Libya to obtain new exploration blocks called package two," Chief Operating Officer Ramon Blanco...

Regulator slaps RWE.
November 12, 2003... National and European Union regulators continue to whittle away at the comprehensive structure of contractual relations that has long defined central Europe's gas industry, forcing many of the once dominant players to give ground. ...

New BG idea for US.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2003... Already the largest LNG importer into the US, with direct or indirect access to Lake Charles and Elba Island capacity, the UK-based BG Group is now eyeing what could be its third US import terminal. It has signed an agreement with New...

Statoil's UK partners.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2003... Statoil has forged a second deal for gas infrastructure in the UK with a significant national energy supplier. This time, instead of Centrica, it's with a company that is little known abroad, but which has recently spent $1 billion on...

Interconnector UK switches early, often.
November 12, 2003... Interconnector UK, which operates the subsea gas pipeline linking Bacton in eastern England to Zeebrugge in Belgium, reversed gas flow to "UK import mode" at 6 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9. But not for long: Two days later, it said that the line...

Market insight: comfortable Korea.(Insight)
November 12, 2003... In another of the reversals for which South Korea's gas industry is noted, Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) officials say that plummeting demand for gas in the power sector--which accounts for about 39% of total gas consumption even though it normally...

Russia opens its electricity market, slowly and gently.(Current)
November 12, 2003... Following in the footsteps of its European neighbors, Russia has set up a new spot wholesale power market, where for the first time, electricity can be traded at free market prices. With Russia's electricity market not due to be fully...

Exxon, Shell see big LNG growth, differ on how to meet it.(Horizon)
November 12, 2003... Gas markets are becoming global. LNG will play a critical role in linking those markets. And the US and Europe will each exert a major pull on global LNG supply. On those points, senior gas executives from Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon Mobil were...

Kovykta looks serious.
November 19, 2003... Six years after BP first bought into the East Siberia field, development of Russia's giant Kovykta gas find for exports to China and South Korea and for domestic use is starting to look like a serious proposition, following the Nov. 14...

UK addition to BG's bulging LNG portfolio.
November 19, 2003... BG Group added impetus to its Atlantic Basin LNG growth strategy last week with a plan to deliver cargoes to the UK from 2007 through the acquisition of 50% of the initial capacity at Dutch Petroplus' receiving terminal at Milford Haven, west...

China tries go-slow LNG strategy.
November 19, 2003... China is clearly moving into gas in a big way, but the pace of that move may be slower than domestic and foreign gas project developers would like, as the government at last begins to grapple in a serious way with issues of demand, market...

Belgians join project for Dutch pipe to UK.
November 19, 2003... Gastransport Services (GTS), the pipeline division of Dutch Gasunie, has agreed to cooperate with Belgian national gas network Fluxys, a subsidiary of French Suez, on what will likely be the second interconnector between the UK and Continental...

Indonesia trips up more than once.
November 19, 2003... Indonesia continues to trip up in its management of existing and proposed LNG and pipeline gas projects. The most recent stumbles involve suspension of gas supply to Singapore due to a pipeline leak and announcement by the government that it...

UK gas swings.
November 19, 2003... The gas interconnector between the UK and Belgium remained in UK import mode early Tuesday, although it could soon flip back to UK export mode due to a widening differential between gas prices at the UK's national balancing point (NBP) and at...

Prices for feedstock and power station gas.(Illustration)
November 19, 2003... PRICES FOR FEEDSTOCK AND POWER STATION GAS (See p6 and Supplement) (In Eurocents/kWh) Oct. '03 Jul. '03 Oct. '02 Power Stations Belgium 1.34 1.25 1.15 Britain (DTI average) * 0.91 ...

Trinidad planning for Atlantic LNG Trains 5 and 6.
November 19, 2003... With its fourth LNG train due for completion in February, Trinidad and Tobago is studying options for Trains 5 and 6. The country is also "fairly deep along" in talks on exporting Venezuelan gas through Trinidad, Minister of Energy Eric...

IPE gas futures.(Insight)(Illustration)
November 19, 2003... IPE GAS FUTURES Contract Nov. 17 Week's Nov. 17 Month p/therm High/Low $/MMBtu Dec. '03 30.49 32.35/29.85 5.17 Jan. '04 32.09 34.00/31.75 5.44 Feb. 31.39 ... 5.32...

Nymex gas futures.(Insight)(Illustration)
November 19, 2003... NYMEX GAS FUTURES Contract Nov. 17 Week's Nov. 10 Month $/MMBtu High/Low $/MMBtu Dec. '03 4.764 5.22/4.64 4.711 Jan. '04 5.014 5.42/4.87 4.957 Feb. 5.044 ...

Market insight: euro end-user moves.(Insight)
November 19, 2003... This year has witnessed sharp swings in prices for fuel oil and gas oil, which are both used to index many term contracts for the sale of gas to end-users in continental Europe (See European End-User Price Supplement). In the first quarter, gas...

European border price estimates.(Insight)(Illustration)
November 19, 2003... EUROPEAN BORDER PRICE ESTIMATES Prices Effective Nov. '03 (US$ per Million Btu) Algeria From/To: CIS Netherlands Norway LNG ** ...

European wholesale electricity markets escape doldrums.(Current)
November 19, 2003... European power markets have pulled out of the post-Enron doldrums, with rising wholesale electricity prices helping to boost energy companies' profitability (p8). The last few months have seen a sustained increase that has left power prices...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(Current)
November 19, 2003... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

US power sector still largely in limbo two years later.(Horizon)
November 19, 2003... As the US enters its second winter since the California energy crisis and the collapse of Enron, electricity market deregulation is still in limbo, and many of the former energy merchants--especially those with heavy exposure to unregulated...

WGI Supplement: European end-user prices.(Illustration)
November 19, 2003... WGI SUPPLEMENT: European End-User Prices (In Eurocents/kWh) Gas Prices: 100,000 cm/yr 1 Million cm/yr Typical High Low Typical High Low Belgium Oct. '03 2.17 ... ...

The International Crude Oil Market Handbook 2004.(Book Review)
November 19, 2003... THE TWO-VOLUME HANDBOOK CONTAINS: Overview Section: The Inner Workings of Crude Oil Markets The Spot Market Term Sales Logistics Refining Oil and E-Commerce Glossary Of Terms Reference Section: Profiles, Trade, Legal, And...

Statoil, Shell fill up at Cove Point.
November 26, 2003... Three months into operations after almost two decades in mothballs, the Cove Point LNG terminal on the US east coast is filling up. Moreover, there's a distinct shift away from spot cargoes and towards medium-term LNG contracts, as its capacity...

Mexico opens, but majors hold back.
November 26, 2003... Sixty-five years after Mexico's oil industry was nationalized, Pemex has cautiously invited the oil companies back in. In doing so, it has given more opportunities for private Mexican businesses, and forged alliances with other national oil...

Gazprom sets out 2004 investments.
November 26, 2003... Russia's government last week gave its broad approval to Gazprom's 2004 draft investment program totaling 232.34 billion rubles ($7.8 billion), of which just over nine-tenths will be spent on capital investment and the rest on long-term...

Italian scheme gets Exxon, QP boost.
November 26, 2003... Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Exxon Mobil have joined forces to develop an offshore LNG receiving terminal on Italy's northern Adriatic coast, slated to take LNG from Qatar's RasGas-2 project. Initial project developer Edison of Italy will now...

Turkey, Gazprom end blue stream wrangle.
November 26, 2003... After a series of difficult talks with Ankara, Russia's Gazprom said last week that it had resolved a dispute over the price and volume of gas sold to Turkey via the Blue Stream pipeline under the Black Sea. According to Gazprom, its...

Indonesia faces flak over gas sales.
November 26, 2003... Indonesia is lacing flak from foreign gas producers unable to conclude gas sales agreements with PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) because the state power utility is unable to cough up payment guarantees for the gas purchases (WGI Nov.19,p4)....

Norsk Hydro buys Duke's Dutch unit.
November 26, 2003... Norsk Hydro's energy sales division has signed an agreement with US energy supplier Duke Energy to acquire the latter's Netherlands-based gas sales business. Duke Energy Europe Northwest is a midstream player in the Dutch gas market with a...

Brazil relents on Bolivia take-or-pay.
November 26, 2003... In a show of" support for Bolivian President Carlos Mesa, Brazil dropped its efforts to reduce the price and take-or-pay volumes of its natural gas imports from the Gasbol Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline, which had been a central policy wrangle...

Total, GdF swap assets.
November 26, 2003... Total and state Gaz de France have signed a "protocol of intent" to separate their cross-holdings in two French regional gas distributors, and to allocate Total capacity in GdF's planned Fos-2 LNG import terminal in southern France. GdF...

Chevron, Exxon US LNG.
November 26, 2003... ChevronTexaco's plans to build the first deepwater LNG port in the world are progressing as scheduled--at least on the regulatory front. Two weeks ahead of schedule, the US Coast Guard issued the first-ever permit to Chevron for an offshore LNG...

Market insight: tight supply, strong prices.(Insight)
November 26, 2003... It looks like European spot LNG buyers are still winning out to those across the Atlantic in the competition for both Middle Eastern and eastern Atlantic Basin supplies from Nigeria and Algeria. With UK gas prices at very strong levels,...

Japan's Tepco still aiming for more nuclear, coal use.(Current)
November 26, 2003... Japan's electric utilities, including leader Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), remain determined to diversify fuel sources and expand reliance on nuclear and coal-fired capacity--despite extended reactor closures that Tepco estimates will cost...

LNG imports undermine premiums near US terminals.(Horizon)
November 26, 2003... LNG looks set to transform internal US gas markets, especially those around receiving terminals, just as it does the international gas trade. For years, traders have noted the effect on the Trunkline system in Louisiana of periodic LNG arrivals...