LNG

The Grain LNG facility near London already uses the British company’s software and Dragon LNG in Wales will use it too when it opens soon, writes Robert McSaveney

Real Time Engineering identified the trend to increase efficiency within the natural gas distribution industry through the sharing of storage and transmission facilities.

Kirstin E. Gibbs, David L. Wochner and Meagan Keiser

As LNG becomes an increasingly global commodity and more suppliers look to import LNG to the United States, the interchangeability of revaporized LNG with the domestic natural gas stream has become an important consideration.

Nowhere is the issue more pronounced than in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the US where the need for natural gas supply is high and the tolerance for changes to the composition of the historic gas stream is low.

Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, Port of Spain, Trinidad

Atlantic LNG in Trinidad & Tobago loaded about 220 cargoes from the start of the year until mid-November amid booming global demand, but the Caribbean nation’s position as the largest LNG supplier to the United States is being clouded by rising concerns about its long-term future in the industry.

Of Atlantic LNG’s 2007 output, around 70 percent was delivered to the US, 15 percent to Europe, 11 percent to Latin America and around 4 percent was diverted to the high-priced Far East market.

A round up of the latest company news and industry developments.

LNG terminal owner-operators look for ways to build flexibility into terminal design to be able to receive imported LNG from different sources.

Heating value (BTU) control is one of the key issues with multiple sources of LNG that terminal design must address. US-based terminals are required to meet a heating value of 1100 Btu/SCF (GCV) or less, pipeline gas specification.

John McKay, LNG Journal Editor, and David Hayes, Asia Correspondent, Shanghai

China will have nine LNG terminals to meet rising demand as its coastal import network begins to take shape now that LNG has already become a strategic fuel.

Eni, the Italian energy company, said worldwide natural gas sales rose in the past three months, partly boosted by LNG sales in the Asian and North American markets.

The Grain LNG facility near London already uses the British company’s software and Dragon LNG in Wales will use it too when it opens soon, writes Robert McSaveney.

Real Time Engineering identified the trend to increase efficiency within the natural gas distribution industry through the sharing of storage and transmission facilities.

Manfred Ramdohr, Senior Consultant, Siemens Oil & Gas Industrial Applications, Duisburg, Germany

Siemens is already a leading company in the power generation industry and is now on its way to becoming a full player in LNG, with a recent contract execution at Statoil’s Snøhvit LNG project in Norway and a winning tender for the Angola LNG venture.

The German company has improved its strategic position in the energy business with a number of acquisitions over the last seven years.

LNG Journal Editor, John McKay

The United States is becoming the swing market for global LNG and will be a greater influence on price and cargo movements from 2008 when five new import terminals begin operations in North America.