World Gas Intelligence articles from September 2004

World Gas Intelligence archives from September 2004

China's LNG proliferation.
September 1, 2004... China's sudden rush into LNG appears to be picking up momentum in the face of relatively high costs for domestic pipeline gas and receding prospects for pipeline imports from East Siberia. The National Development and Reform Commission in...

Bolivian minister talks about new gas policy.
September 1, 2004... For gas operators in Bolivia, the days of laissez faire are over. The government is ready to step directly into upstream and downstream development of the country's massive gas reserves, while simultaneously tightening conditions for foreign...

Sinopec prefers Sakhalin to Mideast.
September 1, 2004... China's Sinopec, which earlier trumpeted its hope of becoming involved in gas exports from Saudi Arabia and has been mentioned as a possible recipient of Iranian LNG, may now become a customer of and partner in the Royal Dutch/Shell-led...

Crowded New England LNG terminal race.
September 1, 2004... Despite being costly, time-consuming and risky, LNG import terminal development is a popular sport in New England these days, judging by the flood of plans and proposals under consideration by regulators south--as well as north--of the Canadian...

LNG projects pop up all over in Australia.
September 1, 2004... The number of potential Australian LNG projects is multiplying rapidly as the country gears up for an officially projected four-fold leap in exports to 35 million tons per year by 2020, with first China and then the US the favored destinations....

Shell sees Qatari GTL as just the start.
September 1, 2004... For years, developers have sought to attract interest to gas-to-liquids technology that would produce mostly sulfur-free diesel on the basis that it would be viable with sub-$20--even sub-$15--per barrel crude oil. Crude oil prices have...

WGI supplement: European end-user prices.(Energy Intelligence)
September 1, 2004... 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 Jul. '04...

UK Transco sells pipes.
September 1, 2004... The UK's National Grid Transco (NGT) has agreed to sell four of its eight regional gas distribution networks for $10.4 billion in cash, with the purchasers also assuming environmental and other liabilities valued at some $233 million. ...

Marathon sees future US LNG surplus.
September 1, 2004... The rush to build LNG regasification capacity in the US to meet a perceived supply shortfall threatens to turn a promising market opportunity into a glut. Marathon Chief Executive Clarence Cazalot warned last week. The US gas market is...

Market insight: Euro users pay more.(Insight)
September 1, 2004... Energy prices paid by industrial end-users continue to rise in the major economies of the European Union. Gas prices in July were generally higher than they had been in April because most end-user contracts remain indexed to oil in one form...

New gas-fired power plants down--but not out--in US.(Current)
September 1, 2004... Natural gas-fired capacity still looks to be losing on points in its competition to retain the title of power generation technology of choice in the US that it held throughout the 1990s (WGI Mar. 10,p7). But it isn't yet a knock-out, with one...

CNG poised for use by offshore gas producers worldwide.(Horizon)
September 1, 2004... While LNG and GTL have grabbed most of the headlines when it comes to stranded gas exploitation, compressed natural gas (CNG) has been stealthily progressing toward commercialization as a potentially cheaper, easier-to-develop alternative for...

Angola LNG inches forward.
September 8, 2004... After a long hiatus, the proposed Angola LNG project is inching forward, with the ChevronTexaco-led investors poised to approve a contract for front-end engineering and design (FEED). "We are getting close to issuing a FEED contract to two...

Record high UK prices cause ripples.
September 8, 2004... The UK gas market--in transition from net export to net import status--hit record contract highs last week in volatile trading. Although levels have eased a bit since, prices remain high, particularly on futures contracts for gas to be...

Whither Gail in India's pipe policy muddle.
September 8, 2004... The debate is intensifying over who should operate India's nascent gas transmission system and under what rules, amid increasingly vocal calls on the new government to implement a coherent and comprehensive policy to regulate the booming sector...

East Canada favored new LNG destination.
September 8, 2004... Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway is North America's latest hotspot for siting LNG terminals. Last week, TransCanada PipeLines (TCPF) and producer PetroCanada confirmed plans to build a regasification facility at Gros Cacouna, Quebec, about 145...

Private operators in Bolivia retrench.
September 8, 2004... International oil companies had visions of Brazil's gas market dancing in their heads when they entered the Bolivian upstream in 1996. Then they added an even more enticing dream: the huge US market. So far that remains a dream, and now it is...

French total's US gig.
September 8, 2004... France's Total--an LNG major seen until recently as lagging in market reach--is strengthening its foothold in the burgeoning North American LNG market (WGI May 14'03,p8). Already a 25% partner in Royal Dutch/Shell's planned terminal at...

Spot LNG markets: regional or global?
September 8, 2004... Although the global LNG market is growing incredibly quickly, sales will generally remain regional, interrupted by occasional instances of spot cargoes moving between the three main regions. Or such was the assessment of speakers at the 19th...

Market insight: US acutely weak.(Insight)
September 8, 2004... With what was a generally mild summer in the US giving way to the low-demand autumn, storage facilities rapidly filling, and hurricanes inflicting a heavy toll on gas-fired power loads in Florida, North American gas prices fell to their lowest...

European business questions Kyoto-minus-US equation.(Current)
September 8, 2004... With the fate of the Kyoto treaty on climate change still hanging in the balance, European business leaders are increasingly questioning the wisdom of pushing ahead with emissions reduction targets while the US--the world's single biggest...

US price slump gives insight into global LNG dynamics.(Horizon)
September 8, 2004... The combination of weakening North American gas prices and soaring international oil prices brought abrupt changes in spot LNG trading patterns last month that provide potentially important glimpses into the future dynamics of international gas...

Gazprom, national champion.
September 15, 2004... It has been a big week for Gazprom, starting with a preliminary accord with Norway's Statoil that could advance the Russian company's entry into Atlantic Basin LNG, and concluding in a blaze of glory Tuesday with approval by Russian President...

Mexican utility eyes various LNG options.
September 15, 2004... Mexico's Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) is coming into its own as an independent gas buyer. The CFE last week issued a gas purchase tender that will help determine the winner of the race to build an LNG terminal in Baja California (WGI...

Statoil, Gazprom cosy up on LNG.
September 15, 2004... Norway's Statoil last week signed a wide-ranging memorandum of understanding with Russia's Gazprom and Rosneft to study possible cooperation in LNG ventures in both nations' sectors of the far northern Barents Sea, as well as in North American...

State solution possible for Iran's LNG lag.
September 15, 2004... Iran's bid to launch LNG projects fed from the giant South Pars gas field in cooperation with Western companies continues to move painfully slowly, while rival Gulf producer Qatar ramps up plans to produce enormous volumes for LNG sales from...

Argentina battles to limit feared shortages.
September 15, 2004... Argentina is on a multi-pronged campaign to fend off gas shortages that could otherwise be even more severe in 2005 than they were this year. Wellhead prices that were slashed two years are now headed back up, and funding is reportedly on its...

Banks moving back into energy trading.
September 15, 2004... The recent sale by Koch Industries and Entergy of their joint gas and power trading venture to Merrill Lynch marks another milestone in the demise of the US energy merchant business, which started with the spectacular implosion of Enron in 2001...

Still soaring UK prices.
September 15, 2004... The normal pre-winter flip-flop in physical gas flows through Interconnector UK, the pipeline linking the UK and Belgium, has come early this year. It switched to UK import mode on Sep. 9, just after UK gas futures prices had hit record highs...

Enron's last spin-off.
September 15, 2004... With the last elements in Enron's one-time coast-to-coast, border-to-border US pipeline system sold to new owners, the failed energy trader's holdings are reduced to a collection of power and gas pipeline projects in a recently created entity...

Market insight: powerful Asian demand.(Insight)
September 15, 2004... Japanese and South Korean gas importers concede that a weather-related surge in power demand and a continuing string of unexpected nuclear outages are forcing them to pay premiums over term prices this year to pull LNG away from the Atlantic...

Unusual electricity demand patterns in China, Japan, Korea.(Current)
September 15, 2004... While China surprised its own energy analysts by getting through the summer with less growth in power usage, and therefore less disruption to electricity supply, than projected, Japan and South Korea surprised in the opposite direction. Both...

US, UK slowly facing up to gas quality issues for LNG.(Horizon)
September 15, 2004... The growing dependence of US and, prospectively, UK gas markets on imported LNG is forcing regulators to address new problems and questions, even as technical groups in both the US and the European Union confront the issue of gas...

New slot in BP's LNG "matrix".
September 22, 2004... BP has been low-key about its North American LNG strategy since the disclosure last year of the proposed Crown Landing receiving terminal in New Jersey. However, with a growing supply portfolio, the company wasn't expected to settle for just...

Trinidad LNG heads east in shipping glut.
September 22, 2004... Spot cargoes of LNG continue to be pulled away from US shores to be delivered halfway around the world--including most recently even a shipment from the country's one baseload supplier, Trinidad (WGI Sep.15,p6). Even though US gas prices...

How will LNG boom look in 25 years.
September 22, 2004... This will be just one of the topics covered by the 25th Annual Oil & Money Conference taking place at the InterContinental Hotel in London on Oct. 26-27. 2004, jointly convened by Energy Intelligence and the International Herald Tribune. ...

Japanese shippers big in Atlantic Basin.
September 22, 2004... Japanese LNG shippers are headed West. With liquefaction trains springing up everywhere from Egypt to Equatorial Guinea and from Nigeria to Norway, and with receiving terminals mushrooming on both sides of the ocean, the Atlantic Basin...

Chevron's Baja LNG project inches forward.
September 22, 2004... While Mexican authorities have awarded a first permit to ChevronTexaco's proposed 700 million cubic foot per day LNG receiving terminal offshore Tijuana, Baja California, the project continues to move slowly. Mexico's environmental agency...

Race for final slots in pre-2010 Qatar LNG.
September 22, 2004... Efforts by French Total and Royal Dutch/Shell to grab a seat on the Qatari LNG expansion train before the door closes on projects for this decade are lagging--possibly due in part to resistance by Exxon Mobil, state Qatar Petroleum's partner in...

Kogas tender has Total up on Yemen LNG.
September 22, 2004... Recent reinvigoration of French Total's downstream LNG strategy looks set to be matched soon in the upstream (WGI Sep.8,p5). Besides indications of progress in Qatar and Iran, the French company confirmed to WGI this week that the...

Algerian gains, losses.
September 22, 2004... It's been a case of one step forward, one step back, for Algeria's state Sonatrach of late. Having just launched a tender for a 4 million ton per year liquefaction train at its Skikda LNG complex to replace the three trains destroyed in a...

Market insight: UK price probe.(Insight)
September 22, 2004... The recent sharp run-up in UK wholesale gas prices to levels well above contract and sometimes even spot rates in mainland Northwest Europe has brought warnings from industrial end-users about the potential for the same kind of demand...

Power reliability in doubt in gas-reliant bits of Europe, US.(Current)
September 22, 2004... Massive additions to gas-fired generating capacity over the past several years have left heavily gas-dependent parts of the US and Europe facing threats to the reliability of electricity supply. Although the North American Electric Reliability...

"Energy Bridge" winning new US LNG terminal race.(Horizon)
September 22, 2004... An LNG regasification and delivery scheme that seemed improbably exotic when first disclosed more than two years ago now looks set to become the first new US receiving facility in almost a quarter-century. Excelerate, the company launched by...

Iran-India progress.
September 29, 2004... Prospects for exports of Iranian gas to India both as LNG and via pipeline appear to be advancing on the back of government-to-government initiatives--although skepticism still abounds, particularly in Western circles. After a meeting in...

Canada LNG terminal landscape revised.
September 29, 2004... Spain's Repsol YPF moved a step closer to forging its own integrated LNG value chain with last week's announcement that it will join Canada's Irving Oil in developing the planned Canaport LNG import terminal in New Brunswick. The...

Shifting supply, sales at Egypt's Segas.
September 29, 2004... Gas sales and complementary LNG purchase deals for the first 5 million ton per year train of the Union Fenosa Gas-backed Spanish Egyptian Gas (Segas) LNG venture at Damietta were mostly completed last week with the third in a series of deals...

Sinopec to help Brazil expand gas transport.
September 29, 2004... Brazil's industrial and agricultural exports--especially to China--are booming, and with them the need for infrastructure to prevent bottlenecks. So who better than China's Sinopec to take on a $1.3 billion project that is the keystone of...

India's NTPC seeks short, long-term LNG.
September 29, 2004... India's National Thermal Power Corp. (NTPC) has short-listed nine potential long-term suppliers of 2 million-3 million tons per year of LNG or equivalent domestic gas volumes for its 1,900 megawatt Kayamkulam power project in southern India...

Libyan gas to Sicily.
September 29, 2004... First exports of Libyan gas to Sicily and on to the mainland Italian market via the Greenstream pipeline are due Sep. 30 or Oct. 1, says Eni's Fuad Krekshi, head of the West Libya Gas project--a 50-50 venture of Italy's Eni and Libya's National...

Polish-German deal.
September 29, 2004... Polish state gas group PGNiG and east Germany's Verbundnetz Gas (VNG) last week agreed in Warsaw to study possible joint investment in new cross-border gas pipelines and, eventually, joint gas trading. The two have long-standing relations....

Qatar creates new LNG shipping stars.
September 29, 2004... New York-based Overseas Shipping Group (OSG) and ship manager Pronav are about to farm into one of the biggest deals in LNG shipping history, WGI is told. Industry sources say that the two companies are each likely to be the selected...

Market insight: LNG still pulled East.(Insight)
September 29, 2004... With gas prices in Europe and the US recently on the rise, South Korea and Japan are apparently paying hefty premiums over term prices to continue attracting much needed spot cargoes to their shores: Industry sources say that as many as six...

Controversy dogs rescue plan for nuclear power in UK.(Current)
September 29, 2004... Last week's European Union approval of a government-sponsored rescue plan for ailing nuclear generator British Energy (BE) paves the way for its survival but effectively marks its end as a private company--underlining yet again the difficulties...

Spain poised for more swaps--not more spot trading.(Horizon)
September 29, 2004... More liquidity in Spanish physical gas swaps may be one consequence of legal changes to the country's balancing rules that are to take effect next February. Higher profits for gas grid operator Enagas may be another. But traders don't foresee...