US LNG re-exports in 2011 were sold to countries such as China and Brazil for prices of more than $12 per million British thermal units against US prices of $3-$4 per MMBtu or lower.
The Kingdom of Jordan and the Gulf state of Qatar have formed a technical team to examine the possibility of delivering LNG to the Jordanian port of Aqaba.
Eight companies have now applied to export LNG from the US natural gas surplus and the latest applicant is seeking authorization for the biggest export volumes yet, at around 20 million tonnes per annum.
Indonesia said it was seeking to almost double prices charged to China for LNG from the Tangguh plant in West Papua in a repeat of renegotiation tactics first employed against Japanese long-term buyers, but which would retain more upside for the Chinese..
LNG carriers will attract high spot charter rates in 2012 as global demand for LNG is currently expanding at 7 percent a year, but most of the current forecasts on LNG short-term shipping costs are exaggerated and the prices cited do not apply to the wider trading market.
SAC Capital Advisors, a hedge fund run by US investor Steven Cohen, bought a 5.6 percent stake in Cheniere Energy, developer of the leading project to export surplus US natural gas as LNG.
Free ReadExcelerate Energy signed an agreement with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) for the development and permitting of a floating LNG regasification facility off the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The US company has set up similar LNG import facilities in Brazil, Argentina, Kuwait, the US and the UK.…
Japanese LNG imports will be at record levels again in 2012 after they jumped by more than 21 percent last month, the seventh consecutive double-digit monthly rise since March 2011 as the nation bought more LNG to replace lost nuclear power capacity.
Spanish LNG market players such Gas Natural Fenosa (GNF) are aiming to improve their performances in 2012, with increasing activities in Europe outside of the Iberian Peninsula and are seeking to build on their already successful activities in South America.
BW Gas, a unit of Norway's BW Group, and InterEnergy Holdings have agreed to form a joint venture to build an LNG import terminal in San Pedro de Macoris on the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic.