LNG

Qatar Gas Transport Co. (Nakilat) said it signed a deal with the shipping arm of Royal Dutch Shell for the management of Qatar's new LNG carrier fleet.

Gazprom, the Russian natural gas company and LNG industry player, has had its credit rating raised because it's so close to the government it would be likely to receive “extraordinary state support in case of distress.”

By John McKay

Investment bankers in Europe have tipped Russia’s Gazprom, Norway’s Statoil, France’s Total, and BP and BG Group of the UK as the best medium-term buys for stock market investors in the energy sector, citing their liquefied natural gas activities as a positive sign.

Shares in Gazprom, which is the premium pick of most brokers, have surged to records in the New Year as the Russian natural gas monopoly and future LNG heavy-hitter has forecast a 10 percent rise in annual profits to more than $6 billion.

Ernst Knolle is Chief Executive Officer of Knolle Magnetrans, based in San Francisco, California.
In the face of increased need for more energy and fuel efficiency, it is disturbing to see extreme waste in many oil fields around the world where “stranded” wellhead natural gas is flared or re-injected.

This kind occurs in north Alaska at a rate of more than twice that of China’s total natural gas consumption, according to official US statistics.

By Patti Schom-Moffatt, Director of Consultation and Communications, Kitimat LNG Ltd.
An LNG terminal project proposed for northern British Columbia has taken a major step forward to become North America’s first West Coast facility with an Agreement in Principle between the project company and the region’s Haisla First Nation tribe.

Kitimat LNG Inc., a Canadian energy infrastructure company, is proposing to build, own and operate an LNG receiving terminal located north of Vancouver.

The island state’s latest addition to the Atlantic LNG complex is best described in terms of the national sport, cricket, writes Linda Hutchinson-Jafar in Port of Spain

Trinidad and Tobago, which is about the size of the US state of Delaware, has been pumping out LNG for the US market since the 1990s, but the first cargo from its new Train 4 was delivered to the UK last month, underlining the tiny nation’s emergence as a market-leading Atlantic Basin supplier.

Saifullah Jamudin and Suhaimi Manaf, Malaysia LNG Tiga

This article shares the process control knowledge from the 2003 start-up of Malaysia LNG Tiga and the operational experience of the condensate stabilizer and demethanizer columns

The LNG complex at Bintulu on the island of Borneo in the Malaysian state of Sarawak comprises three LNG plants operated by national oil and gas company Petronas, through its Malaysia LNG arm.

BG Group of the UK, one of the world’s most active LNG players, is likely to boost deliveries to the US during 2006 as the biggest European capacity holder in regasification terminals there, and as it secures more off-take this year from Trinidad and Egypt.

The UK company cheered investors when it issued a very upbeat earnings statement earlier this month, with fourth-quarter profit more than doubling to a higher-than-forecast £504 million ($878M) and LNG operating profit trebling for the quarter and rising by 87 percent for the full year.

Keven Dunphy

Only 3.8 percent of liquefied natural gas trading was on spot or short-term contracts in 1999, rising to 12 percent at the last estimate and to a probable 33 percent by 2011.

In having long-term supply contracts, the delivery transactions can be defined by mutual agreement.

Donald A. Norman , Thomas J. Duesterberg , US Manufacturers’ Alliance

As recently as the 1980s and 1990s, much of the industrial strength of the United States derived from its abundant supplies and efficient production of energy resources. LNG promises to be an important source for new gas supplies in the US, as well as throughout the world.

Given the difficulties in gaining approval to develop new natural gas production in areas
where gas reserves are thought to be significant and, given the expected time frame before a pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope is constructed, LNG is our best hope for adding measurably to US gas supplies in the short-to-medium term.

LNG imports into the US totaled 631 billion cubic feet in 2005, or 2.8 percent of total natural gas consumption.