World Gas Intelligence articles from October 2004

World Gas Intelligence archives from October 2004

Gazprom's LNG ideas.
October 6, 2004... Although Russia's Gazprom still appears to be in the early stages of devising a global LNG strategy, some aspects of its thinking are becoming clearer as a result of statements last weekend by Chief Executive Alexei Miller and hints from its...

US LNG imports at record high in Q3.
October 6, 2004... Despite an unusually strong pull from Asia, US receiving terminals managed to import record levels of LNG in the third quarter, of over 2 billion cubic feet per day. Perhaps surprisingly, Southern Union's spot-dependent Lake Charles,...

Electricity set to lead china's gas growth.
October 6, 2004... Power generation is emerging as the cornerstone of Chinese gas demand growth projections, and is set to rival distributed "town gas" as the biggest consuming sector by 2020, according to latest forecasts presented at a Tokyo conference last...

India to get first LNG distribution by truck.
October 6, 2004... Imported LNG could make its way to rural and small-town India more quickly than one might think, given the absence of an extensive distribution system. State refiner Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) plans to use trucks equipped with cryogenic tanks...

How Iranian gas may get to Europe.
October 6, 2004... The Nabucco project that alms to transport over 25 billion cubic meters per year (2.4 billion cubic feet per day) of Iranian and Caspian gas to Europe starting in 2009 will initially be developed using existing infrastructure, particularly in...

Marathon buys LNG.
October 6, 2004... Marathon has agreed to buy 1.2 million tons per year (160 million cubic feet per day) of LNG from BP for at least live years starting in mid-2005, for delivery to the Elba Island terminal in Georgia, where Marathon holds rights to regasify that...

Daily US stock data?
October 6, 2004... In line with less advanced efforts in Europe and elsewhere to make gas markets more transparent by requiring pipeline operators to provide more complete information to marketers, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is considering...

Teething troubles at Algeria's Gassi Touil.
October 6, 2004... Teething troubles continue at Algerian state Sonatrach's integrated gas project at Gassi Touil, centered on developing gas for export from a new 4 million ton per year LNG terminal at Arzew. Companies still have concerns about reservoir...

Market insight: US soaring again.(Insight)
October 6, 2004... With crude oil topping $50 per barrel and Ivan--the storm that hit the US producing region head on late last month--now labeled the most expensive blow ever to the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry, gas futures prices on the New York...

Europe keeps on ordering new gas-fired power plants.(Current)
October 6, 2004... The US may be eying advanced coal technologies as an increasing attractive alternative to gas-fired generation (WGI Sep. 1,p7). But across Europe, electricity generators continue to look to new gas-fired power plants to help cover growing...

Calling for a reality check in expectations for US LNG.(Horizon)
October 6, 2004... With exuberance over LNG as a potential baseload fuel for North America sometimes reaching irrational heights, gas executives with several major oil companies and at least one large investment bank are calling for a reality check. Officials...

Sellers' market in Asia.
October 13, 2004... The balance of power in the Asian LNG market seems again to be tipping--this time back in favor of suppliers, making it much more difficult for traditional buyers to negotiate more flexible supply and the kind of cheaper prices that their...

UK gas market lost in wonderland.
October 13, 2004... UK gas futures prices continue their journey through the wonderland of record high prices. Although levels have eased from last week's exceptional peaks, the market is now seen by many traders as thoroughly detached from fundamentals. ...

Sakhalin-2 to expand with Gazprom aboard.
October 13, 2004... Gazprom has clearly signaled--and Royal Dutch/Shell's head of operations in Russia has duly confirmed--that the state-dominated giant is likely to take a significant equity stake in the Shell-led Sakhalin-2 LNG project on the Russian Pacific...

Canadian LNG projects galloping ahead.
October 13, 2004... Canadian East Coast LNG receiving terminal projects are galloping ahead, while at the same time proposed new terminals further down the US East Coast languish and delays afflict even some of the mega-projects on the US Gulf Coast that were...

Central American gas plans revisited.
October 13, 2004... Central America may not remain virgin territory for gas much longer. Suppliers of both piped gas and LNG are taking another look at the region. The most likely candidate for gasification is Panama, the region's largest energy producer and...

Kogas' long-term buy.
October 13, 2004... After years of government-imposed dithering, state Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) looks to be just one step away from choosing new long-term suppliers for a further 5.3 million tons per year of LNG for 20 years, starting in 2008. Kogas sent out...

Italian terminal twists.
October 13, 2004... A 3 billion cubic meter (2.2 million metric ton) per year LNG receiving terminal that Italian energy supplier Edison wants to build at Rosignano on the country's northwest coast with partners BP and chemicals group Solvay has received a...

Market insight: gas over oil in Asia.(Insight)
October 13, 2004... Evidence is building that Japanese and South Korean generators both turned more heavily to gas than to oil to fill the fuel gap created this summer when high temperatures sent Japanese electricity demand soaring just as nuclear outages were...

High energy prices prop up North American wind projects.(Current)
October 13, 2004... This year's seemingly inexorable rise in crude oil prices to over $50 per barrel at latest count and the prop this has placed under North American gas prices--with front-month futures in New York back over $7 per million Btu--is proving a boon...

US applies brakes to offshore terminal licensing in gulf.(Horizon)
October 13, 2004... In the cutthroat race to get an LNG receiving terminal up and running, proposals for offshore facilities in the US Gulf of Mexico seemed until recently to have a leg up on their onshore competitors. But it now turns out that it's not all...

Asian LNG balance.
October 20, 2004... Whether Asia remains the LNG buyers' market of earlier years or develops into the sellers' market that some already detect could depend heavily on the strength of the Mideast push into the market (WGI Oct.13,p1). Regional demand looks set to...

Proposed terminals in US seek "hot" LNG.
October 20, 2004... Dealing with so-called "hot" or high-Btu LNG has to date been viewed as a burden by North American gas pipeline operators forced to accommodate imported LNG into a system that requires relatively low-Btu gas (WGI Sep.15,p8). But backers of...

Halting step taken on Kovkyto impasse.
October 20, 2004... Moves were taken during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing last week to pat the political scaffolding in place under which substantive talks might resume on potential exports to China and South Korea from the...

An inside take on China's rush for gas.
October 20, 2004... China is facing a domestic supply gap of at least 50 billion cubic meters (4.8 billion cubic feet per day) by 2020, and Beijing should step up domestic exploration efforts and build a better distribution network to bring gas from the...

Ranking US LNG terminal projects.
October 20, 2004... With over 40 LNG receiving terminals proposed in North America and a mere handful expected to actually see the light of day, frying to pick winners among the numerous contenders is becoming a popular industry sport. While developing a...

LNG storage idea.
October 20, 2004... HNG Storage, a Houston-based developer and operator of gas storage facilities, has licensed an LNG regasification and storage technology from Conversion Gas Imports (CGI) that HNG hopes to apply at an offshore Gulf of Mexico site. Called...

Syria-Lebanon pipes.
October 20, 2004... Although a mid-2004 deadline was missed, Lebanon should finish building its section of a gas import pipeline from Syria in a couple of months, as all that remains to be done is to complete a pumping station, Lebanon's energy ministry said this...

Missed EU deadlines.
October 20, 2004... The European Commission is sending "formal notices" to 18 of the 25 European Union member states for their failure to inform it by Oct. 13 of national measures for turning the key 2003 EU gas and power liberalization directives into law. The 18...

Market insight: Italy's slow opening.(Insight)
October 20, 2004... Italy's energy regulator AEEG has as yet given no indication of how it may set the rules for the 20% of new proprietary terminals that developers must hold open for third-party use. But it seems clear that the regulator received some pointed...

US election brings energy rhetoric--not energy action.(Current)
October 20, 2004... With election day fast approaching in the US, oil prices over $50 per barrel, and gas prices at Henry Hub fluttering around $7 per million Btu, energy policy ideas and accusations are flying thick and fast--even if energy policy is going...

End in sight for exploration offshore Atlantic Canada.(Horizon)
October 20, 2004... The Sable Island gas discoveries offshore Nova Scotia created giddy optimism earlier this decade about a potentially major new producing basin that would serve growing demand in Atlantic Canada and the US Northeast. Apparently that is not...

Trinidad's arbitrage profit play.
October 27, 2004... The government of Trinidad and Tobago is getting more assertive about its role in Atlantic LNG--sounding more like Algeria and other long-time exporters (p2). Eric Williams, Trinidad's energy minister, last week told the country's lower...

India to get online wholesale gas trading.
October 27, 2004... Indian companies hope to start trading gas soon on a domestic commodities exchange, bringing greater transparency and vibrancy to the nascent but fast-growing gas market. The planned Dec. 1 startup of online gas trading on the Mumbai-based...

Sonatrach slippage at Skikda, elsewhere.
October 27, 2004... Sonatrach Vice President for Marketing Ali Hached concedes that 2004 has been a year of mixed fortunes for the company--but points with satisfaction to the role to be played by new Algerian gas export projects that came on stream this year:...

Shell aims to make case for GTL fuel.
October 27, 2004... Simply producing the cleanest, most environmentally friendly hydrocarbon fuel yet developed doesn't mean that demand will automatically follow. First, says Royal Dutch/Shell's Jack Jacometti, the market has to know that this great fuel--diesel...

US spot gas, futures prices swing back up.
October 27, 2004... US gas markets are still pointed skywards, with spot and futures prices both soaring last week and into this week on a confluence of bullish weather phenomena--including unusually heavy late air-conditioning loads in Texas and wet, chilly...

Sharjah gas plant.
October 27, 2004... Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum is advancing plans to develop a 600 million cubic foot per day (6.2 billion cubic meter per year) gas processing plant at Sajaa--the SajGas project--that is expected to take gas from both Crescent's offshore...

UK supply eases.
October 27, 2004... Much milder weather saw prompt UK spot prices tumble earlier this week, with day-ahead gas at the National Balancing Point on Monday just over 20 pence per therm ($3.70 per million Btu), one-third below comparable values in mid-September. ...

Irish gas progress.
October 27, 2004... Royal Dutch/Shell can build an onshore terminal for gas from its delayed Corrib development offshore western Ireland. Ireland's planning authority Bord Pleanala upheld an Apr.2004 Mayo County Council decision that granted planning...

Market insight: LNG tilts west.(Insight)
October 27, 2004... After the recent flurry of activity in the Pacific Basin, the LNG spot market seems set for its seasonal shift towards the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Soaring prices for the benchmark US Henry Hub futures contract raised exporter netbacks...

Gas to remain prominent in shifting Turkish power equation.(Current)
October 27, 2004... Turkey's roughly 8% per year growth in electricity demand will be met over the next few years by several small private power generation projects, in contrast to the four major gas-fired power plants that commenced operations over 2002-03 and...

Keeping LNG facilties just a little bit more in the dark.(Horizon)
October 27, 2004... Energy companies love to gussy up annual reports with pictures of their plants at night, lights ablaze. However, there's a now trend among engineers for kindler, gentler, less intrusive lighting that doesn't fill the sky with an orange glow....