World Gas Intelligence articles from October 2007

World Gas Intelligence archives from October 2007

Turkey's take on transit.
October 3, 2007... The precise role that Turkey's state Botas should play in any cross-Turkey gas pipelines to Europe has been the subject of much speculation --giving rise to fears among gas exporters that Botas has aspirations to be a major trader and reseller...

BG the winner of LNG 2007 award.
October 3, 2007... BG has played a trend-setting role in the LNG industry since 1995, when it helped launch the Atlantic Basin's first LNG project in Trinidad. Since then, it has helped--as an equity-holder, buyer or both--to spawn liquefaction projects in Egypt,...

UK provides hints of Qatari project delays.
October 3, 2007... Amid reassurances that Britain's supply situation should be relatively comfortable in any case, energy networks operator National Grid (NG) said last week that the South Hook LNG terminal being developed by state Qatar Petroleum (QP) probably...

Ukraine, Turkmen clouds over EU.
October 3, 2007... European consumers, already rattled by the potential energy implications of Ukraine's current political turmoil, were given another reason to worry when Russian state Gazprom warned its customers Tuesday that it could cut off gas to Ukraine if...

Project delays cause Italian gas crunch.
October 3, 2007... Italy appears particularly exposed to the kind of supply reduction that politicians fear could result from Russia's latest spat with Ukraine ([p.sup.3]). Indeed, Italy's gas system is so stretched that the country could face problems if it's...

Short of alternatives, Pakistan, Iran still talk.
October 3, 2007... Hopeful noises out of last week's meeting between Iranian and Pakistani officials in Tehran on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project--with India notably absent--should be read more as testament to Pakistan's dire need for gas in a...

Market insight: precarious US rise.(INSIGHT)
October 3, 2007... Aided by the weak dollar, strong oil prices and last month's abrupt falloff in LNG imports, North American gas prices held steady through the active bid week that set most US baseload, term gas prices for October (WGI Sep.26, p6). The October...

Applications start to roll in for new US nuclear plants.(CURRENT)
October 3, 2007... The scale and extent of the widely proclaimed nuclear renaissance in the US should come into clearer focus in the next few months. The future of nuclear energy is in no small way tied to pending national legislation that proposes to limit...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
October 3, 2007... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Week for five trading days, spanning Sep. 25-1. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Oct. 1 for day-ahead delivery Oct. 2. European power prices are from exchanges on Oct. 1...

Asian buyers--especially small ones--feeling abandoned.(HORIZON)
October 3, 2007... Is the LNG industry in a period of awkward adolescence, troubled by mood swings and at times aggressively demanding? A senior executive at Suez suggested as much at a recent LNG conference in Singapore that featured some unusually frank public...

28th oil & money.(Calendar)
October 3, 2007... London October 30-31, 2007 Shifting Power in the Global Oil Industry The InterContinental London Park Lane * An exclusive forum for senior executives to assess current and future trends in the global energy industry * Top...

2007 petroleum executive of the year.
October 3, 2007... One of the highlights of the Oil & Money conference is the presentation of the prestigious Petroleum Executive of the Year Award. This year, H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry for the...

Azerbaijan: looming gas power?
October 10, 2007... Buoyed by a new discovery at the BP-operated Shah Deniz field and with its sights set on developing other offshore structures, Azerbaijan is gearing up to become a major gas exporter within 10 to 15 years. If so--and if outstanding issues...

Hong Kong eyes 2012 LNG start-up.
October 10, 2007... Having won a fierce battle against environmentalists, Hong Kong's first LNG receiving terminal is now moving toward a 2012 start-up, officials from power utility CLP say. Supply may not be as big a problem as it is for many start-ups, since the...

Iran sale to Syria.
October 10, 2007... Iran and Syria last week inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) covering the export of 3 billion cubic meters per year (290 million cubic feet per day) of Iranian gas to Syria, that would reportedly arrive via the Turkish gas network....

Botas calls for new Turkish market ideas.
October 10, 2007... Turkey's new government will end up amending the 2001 gas law that would strip state Botas of much of its marketing and import role, company General Manager Saltuk Duzyol said last month. "There is no other option," he told WGI in Milan. Under...

Regas projects vie for place in NW Europe.
October 10, 2007... Centrica has quit a faltering UK project near London, and Belgium's newly expanded Zeebrugge terminal, while apparently bullish, is lamenting "lack of support" from its regulator, as these and other LNG terminal projects on either side of the...

Peru LNG positioned for 2011-15 spot sales.
October 10, 2007... After winning a bid last month to supply LNG to Mexico's Pacific Coast, Repsol YPF is moving ahead with construction of a liquefaction plant on the west coast of Peru to be supplied from the country's large Camisea gas field. While Repsol has...

Gazprom, Ukraine deal.
October 10, 2007... A week after Russian gas monopoly Gazprom shocked European consumers with warnings of a potential cutoff in supplies to Ukraine, the crisis appeared to pass Tuesday when Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller and Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri...

Croatian projects.
October 10, 2007... Projects to link Croatia and its neighbors to new LNG and non-Russian sources of pipeline gas are inching ahead. Last week five companies backing an LNG import terminal on the north Croatian island of Krk set up Zagreb-based Adria LNG to...

Escravos GTL moving.
October 10, 2007... South African synfuels developer Sasol is constructing the operating modules for the Nigerian Escravos gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in the UAE, spokesman Malcolm Wells confirmed to WGI. While the project is running years behind its original...

Market insight: China's spot appetite.(INSIGHT)
October 10, 2007... North African LNG looks to have become global swing supply, with the eastward parade of cargoes starting sooner than many imagined and apparently set to continue, as China reaffirms its paid-up membership in the Asian spot buyers club. Japan...

Ice UK gas futures.(INSIGHT)
October 10, 2007... ICE UK GAS FUTURES Contract Oct. 8 Week's Oct. 8 Month p/therm High/Low $/MMBtu Nov. '07 41.93 45.90/41.10 8.54 Dec. 44.47 48.50/43.50 9.06 Jan. '08 47.28 51.00/46.50 9.64 Feb. ...

Nymex US gas futures.(INSIGHT)
October 10, 2007... NYMEX US GAS FUTURES Contract Oct. 8 Week's Oct. 1 Month $/MMBtu High/Low $/MMBtu Nov. '07 6.846 7.51/6.75 7.050 Dec. 7.661 8.13/7.60 7.797 Jan. '08 8.044 8.45/8.00 ...

Asain LNG markets.(INSIGHT)
October 10, 2007... ASIAN LNG MARKETS Prices in $/ton Buyer Seller Aug.'07 Jul.'07 2007 YTD Aug.'06 Japan Abu Dhabi $384 $347 $353 $362 Alaska 313 ...

US utility AEP eyes batteries as alternative to gas peakers.(CURRENT)
October 10, 2007... Leading US generator American Electric Power (AEP) plans to deploy 1,000 megawatts of battery storage on its distribution grid, 25 MW by decade's end and the rest sometime over the subsequent ten years. Each 1 MW sodium sulfur (NAS) battery is...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.
October 10, 2007... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Week for five trading days, spanning Oct. 2-8. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Oct. 8 for day-ahead delivery Oct. 9. European power prices are from exchanges on Oct. 8...

Tough times get worse for gas producers in Alberta.(HORIZON)
October 10, 2007... Times are going from bad to awful for gas producers in Alberta, the heart of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and source of more than 80% of Canada's gas supply. Canadian wellhead prices are less than half those of two years ago, even as...

Watching the weather.
October 17, 2007... A flood of recent forecasts for a warm 2007-08 winter in both the US and Europe--for the second year running--raises the possibility of very bearish inland gas markets on both sides of the Atlantic in the months ahead. Brimming inventories in...

Eni gallops into lead in Libya LNG race.
October 17, 2007... The wide-ranging agreement Eni signed Oct. 16 with Libya's National Oil Corp. (NOC) to double their export capacity in Libya to 16 billion cubic meters per year (1.55 billion cubic feet per day) could put the Italian major at a distinct...

Russian oil to invest big in associated gas.
October 17, 2007... Russian oil and petrochemical companies are getting ready to splash out over $6 billion through 2011 on infrastructure to drastically increase their use of associated gas. The projects come in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's...

Gazprom gives first hint on 2008 spending.
October 17, 2007... Russia's Gazprom this week provided the first hint of its spending plans for 2008-09. In a statement, the huge state company says it expects capital investment of roughly $23.3 billion in 2008 and $26.3 billion in 2009. Few details were...

LNG plant costs soar, question is why.
October 17, 2007... Why have LNG export projects seemingly slowed down relative to the increasing capacity of receiving terminals, especially in the Atlantic Basin? Gas industry executives cite high development costs, while those on the engineering and...

India's Petronet LNG scrambling for supply.
October 17, 2007... India's Petronet LNG continues to progress in efforts to line up short- and longer-term LNG supply--albeit slowly. Top priority for the moment seems to be extending for at least three more months, through the end of 2008, the one-year deal that...

Belgian market deal.
October 17, 2007... The European Commission has decided that commitments offered this spring by Distrigas to open up the Belgian gas market are now legally binding until end-2010. Distrigas Chief Executive Erwin Van Bruysel welcomed the decision, which effectively...

Ice UK gas futures.
October 17, 2007... ICE UK GAS FUTURES Contract Oct. 15 Week's Oct. 15 Month p/therm High/Low $/MMBtu Nov. '07 43.57 45.50/41.50 8.90 Dec. 47.55 48.50/44.33 9.71 Jan. '08 50.35 51.50/47.20 10.29...

Nymex US gas futures.
October 17, 2007... NYMEX US GAS FUTURES Contract Oct. 15 Week's Oct. 8 Month $/MMBtu High/Low $/MMBtu Nov. '07 7.445 7.49/6.75 6.846 Dec. 8.012 8.06/7.54 7.661 Jan. '08 8.333 8.38/7.95...

Market insight: access in Europe.
October 17, 2007... A shortage of capacity to get gas into Europe's various networks remains a major obstacle to vibrant, competitive gas trading--and one that won't automatically be solved by the unbundling of networks from gas suppliers for which the European...

European border price estimates.
October 17, 2007... EUROPEAN BORDER PRICE ESTIMATES Prices Effective Oct. '07 (US$ per Million Btu) From/To: CIS Netherlands Norway Algeria Algeria Avg *** LNG* by ...

US DOE gives boost to carbon capture as IGCCs languish.(CURRENT)
October 17, 2007... With development of big carbon capture projects seemingly stymied worldwide by technical uncertainty--and all the more so in the US by the absence of a comprehensive policy on climate change--the US Department of Energy (DOE) this month pledged...

New England set to get ample gas, LNG import capacity.(HORIZON)
October 17, 2007... New England has traditionally featured the highest gas prices of any US market, and this premium status largely explains its attraction to those LNG terminal and pipeline developers who are willing to do battle with the region's famously...

Yamal talk--just talk?
October 24, 2007... Talk from Moscow of a possible revival of long-dormant plans to boost the capacity of the Yamal-Europe pipeline that already carries around 20% of Russian gas to European markets through neighboring Belarus--and the simultaneous upgrading of...

Egypt squeezes gas supply to LNG plant.
October 24, 2007... Union Fenosa Gas' (UFG) 5 million ton per year Segas LNG plant at Damietta, Egypt, is continuing to experience supply-side problems, leaving offtakers short. The plant has since last year been taking in 10%-20% less feedgas than its design...

Chinese terminal talk mainly just buzz.
October 24, 2007... The Chinese gas industry is buzzing over the possible revival of several longneglected LNG terminal schemes, following state PetroChina's Gorgon and Browse supply deals last month (WGI Sep.12,p1). But caution may be indicated when it comes to...

Progress slows to crawl at south pars.
October 24, 2007... Hampered by a combination of US-led sanctions, rising engineering costs and an inability to secure external funding, Iran has seen progress at its giant South Pars gas field slow to a virtual crawl WGI Apr.11,p1). Despite a flurry of memoranda...

Gazprom may shun hungary, favor Serbia.
October 24, 2007... A recent trip to Serbia by Russian state Gazprom President Alexei Miller may provide a sneak preview of the route to be chosen for the South Stream pipeline, on the drawing board of Gazprom and Italian Eni to supply Russian gas to southern...

Kogas joins upstream rush, with hands tied.
October 24, 2007... In the current global gas price environment, it is not unusual for a downstream Asian gas firm to announce bold plans to move upstream, propelled on the one hand by need to secure more reliable international supply, while tempted on the other...

Market insight: slim LNG increments.
October 24, 2007... Modest new volumes are in prospect for LNG markets before the new year--which is just as well, given the current squeaky tightness of those markets. LNG sales to the US, where prices are soft and inventories bulging, have already been cut to...

Ice UK gas futures.(INSIGHT)
October 24, 2007... ICE UK GAS FUTURES Contract Oct. 22 Week's Oct. 22 Month p/therm High/Low $/MMBtu Nov. '07 48.80 50.00/42.50 9.92 Dec. 56.57 57.90/46.00 11.50 Jan. '08 60.25 62.00/49.60 12.24 Feb. ...

Nymex US gas futures.(INSIGHT)
October 24, 2007... NYMEX US GAS FUTURES Contract Oct. 22 Week's Oct. 15 Month $/MMBtu High/Low $/MMBtu Nov. '07 6.891 7.62/6.81 7.445 Dec. 7.529 8.26/7.48 8.012 Jan. '08 7.906 8.57/7.86 8.333...

Comparison of LNG exporter netbacks at receiving terminals worldwide.(INSIGHT)
October 24, 2007... COMPARISON OF LNG EXPORTER NETBACKS AT RECEIVING TERMINALS WORLDWIDE (Netbacks US/ US/ in $/MMBtu) Lake Charles Elba Island Exporters Oct.23 Sep.25 Oct.23 Sep.25 Qatar 4.85 3.51 ...

French role seen in helping UK become nuclear showcase.(CURRENT)
October 24, 2007... Given the less-than-stellar performance of Britain's reactor fleet over the last few decades--and continuing into the present--it may seem paradoxical that the UK is now poised to become a showcase for new nuclear construction in Europe. But it...

Europe faces potentially flatter Norwegian gas profile.(HORIZON)
October 24, 2007... By pulling the plug on StatoilHydro's plans to accelerate gas output from the massive North Sea Troll field, the Norwegian government has also buried a proposed new gas pipeline to European markets (WGI Mar.14,p8). The Troll decision came just...

Qatari minister talks swaps.
October 31, 2007... Even though Qatar has no formal LNG or LNG-for-pipeline-gas swap arrangements in place with Russia or others, the country does exchange cargoes in order to maximize profits as long as it can still meet its customers' needs, Qatari Energy...

Japan's LNG supply, demand concerns.
October 31, 2007... Japanese LNG imports climbed steadily through the first six months of the country's fiscal year ending in September, driven by Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (Tepco) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant outage, according to Ministry of Finance data...

Swinging Shtokman Statoil's way.
October 31, 2007... Relevant Arctic and drilling experience, LNG technology and access to the US market were among the key reasons why Russia's Gazprom invited Norway's StatoilHydro to join the first phase of the massive Barents Sea Shtokman gas development....

Gazprom closes in on Nord Stream.
October 31, 2007... A week after Gazprom launched production at its Yuzhno-Russkoye field, the Russian company finally completed a long-awaited deal with BASF that partially underpins the up-to-55 billion cubic meter per year Nord Stream pipeline that would run...

Mariscal Sucre coming at last--minus LNG.
October 31, 2007... State Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) said last week that it plans to drill 21 offshore nonassociated gas wells north of Venezuela's Paria Peninsula as part of the initial 625 million cubic foot per day Mariscal Sucre project. Lending credibility...

US price forecasts.
October 31, 2007... Those looking for US gas prices to edge up further as winter sets in are at odds with the prevailing sentiment on Wall Street and among US market consultants (p6). A quarterly survey of analysts' forecasts by WGI sister publication Natural Gas...

One less PNG LNG.
October 31, 2007... Oil Search last week pulled the plug on one of its two proposed LNG projects in Papua New Guinea (PNG), leaving the other, an Exxon Mobil-led project, as the country's prime LNG contender. Oil Search and the UK's BG had in September 2006 signed...

Philippine privatizing.
October 31, 2007... The agency charged with privatizing power assets in the Philippines says it is making solid progress in efforts to liberalize the electricity market and expects to have 70% of the country's generating capacity sold to private investors by the...

Market insight: Euro LNG uncertainty.
October 31, 2007... With so much of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (Tepco) nuclear capacity out for the winter, Japanese and other Asian gas and power utilities look set to remain the dominant buy-side force in globally tight spot LNG markets (p1). The US appears...

Iraqi Kurdistan turns to gas in attempt to power up.(CURRENT)
October 31, 2007... The Kurdistan region of northern Iraq expects to have its first gas-fired power station up and running early next spring. Two plants are nearing completion, WGI is told: A 400 megawatt unit at Bazian near the Chemchemal gas field and the 450 MW...

Peak gas could be coming sooner than you think.(HORIZON)
October 31, 2007... If global oil production is peaking, can natural gas be far behind? Geology, logistics, production history and economics suggest that gas output could plateau sometime between 2010 and 2025, writes British environmentalist Julian Darley in High...