Flex LNG, the Oslo-listed floating liquefaction developer, said it was suing Samsung Heavy Industries for over $300 million out of $458M it paid over to the South Korean yard for newbuild contracts.
Imports of LNG by Japan rose to a record of more than the forecast 85 million tonnes as gas-fired power replaced lost nuclear capacity and the nation took shipments of LNG that tested its maximum regasification capacity.
Novatek, the Russian developer of the Yamal LNG project in the Arctic region, faces the same fate as Royal Dutch Shell with Sakhalin LNG - an effective takeover by Gazprom, the globally-listed company run as a state entity.
LNG freight rates strengthened in December as winter demand kicked in, but the market has not yet escaped the agonies of the second half of 2012, according to London-based shipping consultants Drewry Maritime Research,.
Inpex Corp. of Japan awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for the Abadi Floating LNG project in the Arafura Sea in Indonesian waters to two groups in a competition for the full engineering, procurement and construction contract.
The Canadian provincial government of British Columbia said its impending LNG export boom puts the province in the same situation as the European country of Norway 40 years ago when it first made its huge North Sea oil and gas discoveries.
Evergas, the Denmark-based fleet operator, has signed contracts for the design and construction of a series of medium-sized LNG carriers from the shipyard of Sinopacific Offshore and Engineering in China.
Some 16 companies won bids in China for 19 shale-gas exploration licences, the success of which will have a bearing on future LNG requirements, though leading analysts say Chinese expectations and targets for its shale gas are for now unrealistic.
The main Japanese LNG requirements of 2013 are progress in export licensing of the US LNG projects and the completion on time of new liquefaction ventures in Australia and Oceania. Our graphic shows historical January LNG demand in Japan.
BC LNG Export Co-operative, the Canadian LNG export project on the Pacific Coast, signed an agreement with Golar LNG and Texas-based LNG Partners to sell them volumes from Train 1 of the development.