LNG

Engineers outline challenges faced in completing the Altamira LNG import terminal in just 33 months from the contract awards to gas deliveries

Romel S. Bhullar and Sander P.B. Lemmers, Fluor Corp.

The Altamira LNG project, developed by a consortium made up of Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total and Mitsui & Co of Japan, was conceived as part of Mexico’s programme to privatize its energy industry and open up to foreign investors.

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In the first of a three-part series on LNG finance and risk from leading international law firm White & Case, whose LNG portfolio includes all four Qatargas projects to date, Sakhalin II and the planned Brass LNG in Nigeria, partner Craig Nethercott examines developments in Islamic finance

According to an International Monetary Fund paper there are now more than 300 Islamic financial institutions around the world, compared with only one in 1975, with assets estimated at more than $250 billion.

Philippe Lautard, Total Gas & Power

Total, with the fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world among oil majors and annual output of 49 billion cubic metres, has been involved in the LNG industry since its inception.

As in the case of the vast majority of upstream players, Total is in associated partnerships to produce and market LNG directly to counterparties on a long-term basis.

For more recent projects and development ventures, in Middle East and Nigeria as well as Norway, Total is targeting liberalized markets within the Atlantic Basin which allow market access in a competitive way.

Demand for LNG is expected to be more than 150 million tonnes during 2007, the equivalent of 20 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, and will reach 375 MTPA by 2015 as production expands and the global reception terminal network grows.

This year sees Qatar take its place as the largest LNG exporter in the world, clearly overtaking Indonesia, after RasGas commissioned its Train 5 to push Qatar’s LNG production close to 30 MTPA.

The venture that required 10,000 primary licences and permits says it followed rules, Our Europe Editor writes.

Royal Dutch Shell and its partners in the Sakhalin II LNG project launched a counter-attack against the sustained threats of a shutdown and legal action.

Sakhalin II has been under fire from the Russian authorities throughout 2006 over alleged shortcomings in the validity of its permits and the scope of its environmental protection measures.

Australia and Qatar are possible suppliers and opportunities could exist for using ‘backhaul’ to reduce costs, reports Our Asia Correspondent

Singapore is planning to build an LNG import terminal that could offer shipping incentives and cargo swap facilities, but would fall short of being an Asian LNG Hub.

Singapore’s geographical location has allowed the island state to become a major refining centre for petroleum products and a fast-growing logistics hub serving Asia and further afield.

Chris Hart, Managing Director of Methanol Australia, explains how the company has advanced its venture in the Timor Sea

Many companies have considered offshore production of LNG which allows the project to locate closer to a stranded natural gas, but few have gone ahead.

However, Methanol Australia is making quiet progress with just such a project, its Tassie Shoal venture located in Australian waters of the Timor Sea.

There are large amounts of discovered natural gas in remote offshore fields, both associated with oil in their reservoirs and in non-associated conditions.

There are several countries with substantial volumes of undeveloped natural gas reservoirs extending into remote and/or deepwater locations, including: Angola, Australia, Brazil East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela.

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