LNG

Dutch utility Gasunie, whose network and assets include over 17,000 kilometres of pipelines in the Netherlands and Germany as well as stakes in Dutch and German LNG import facilities, reported a plunge in first-half earnings as the Dutch continued to show dependence on LNG amid the green obsessions and over-regulation of the European Union.

GRTgaz, the French gas grid company with three liquefied natural gas import terminals under its control, began transporting pipeline gas to Germany after reversing the normal flow on the only link between the two nations and since then European Union day-ahead spot gas prices have dropped, though other influences have been at play.

The German Association of Gas Transmission System Operators (FNB Gas) said its members had been working flat out to provide initial answers to the new economic conditions for natural gas, including the introduction of LNG imports after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Jan 1 (LNGJ) - Azerbaijan, the former republic of the Soviet Union, has started commercial natural gas supplies to southern Europe via the Trans- Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in competition to LNG and Russian pipeline gas from Gazprom. The TAP pipeline is 3,500 kilometres in length and is part of the $40-billion Southern Gas Corridor bringing natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea, operated by UK oil and gas major BP.

   Azerbaijan plans to supply the markets of the European Union with 10 billion cubic metres per annum of pipeline gas, including 8 Bcm to Italy and a combined 2 Bcm to Greece and Bulgaria. It has already supplied gas to Turkey. The TAP stakeholders include BP and the Azeri energy company Socar, as well as the gas grid operators of Italy, Spain and Belgium.