LNG

A flurry of LNG regas terminals has sprung up in China, mostly used for importing spot cargoes, but analysts see a trend towards medium-term contracts as "buyers need to sign new LNG contracts for delivery in the early 2020s, if not sooner."

Spiralling costs of over $36 billion Canadian dollars (US$ 33.1bn) to develop the Pacific Northwest LNG project have pushed Malaysia's state-run Petronas to offer stakes in the mega project to four potential partners from Japan and the Middle East. The aim is to raise as much as $15 billion in what would be Canada's biggest ever debt-financing deal.

Japan's biggest city gas supplier Tokyo Gas Co. has agreed with Mitsui & Co. to purchase 520,000 tonnes of US LNG per year from the Cameron liquefaction project for a 20-year period starting from 2020.

Gearing up to develop the $2 billion bi-directional Downeast LNG facility (3 mtpa) in Robbinston, Maine, DELNG has submitted its pre-filing request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Leapfrogging forward, partners in the Alaska LNG project have submitted a request to export up to 20 mtpa over a 30-year period to countries that have free trade agreements with the U.S., as well as to non-FTA countries, to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).

Jul 22 - By 2021, more than 14,000 manufacturing jobs could be lost in Queensland, if domestic gas prices continue to increase amid a boom in LNG exports, the Australian Industry Group warns.

The lobby group's head Innes Willox stressed the flipside of lucrative LNG exports would be potential domestic gas shortages and Queensland risks losing about $30 billion out of its manufacturing sector by 2021 unless there is some policy change.

Jul 22 - Belgium's Port of Antwerp is calling for tenders to design and build a new LNG bunkering station for barges. The new design must enable trucks, as well as barges, to fill up with LNG at a permanent bunkering station at the port from 2016.

The project will be partly subsidized by the LNG Master Plan for the Rhine-Main-Danube, as Antwerp Port Authority is partnering with Basel, Mannheim, Rotterdam and Strasbourg.

In the race for market share in Asia, British Columbia need to be more assertive: Delays beyond 2024 risk complete competitive loss of market entry for Canadian LNG exporters, warns Michal Moore, director of energy policy at the University of Calgary.

With a shorter pre-FID and construction schedule, lower capital expenditure and flexibility to move it around, barge-type FLNG projects with a capacity 1 to 1.5 mtpa of having some significant advantages over large floating or land-based liquefaction projects, according to Øivin Iversen, CEO of Höegh FLNG.

Anticipating the end of BG Singapore Gas Marketing's current quasi monopoly on LNG sales in Singapore, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) has started the selection process to license two importers for the time when the city states' gas demand will rise beyond 3 mtpa.