Tim Daiss

China is forecast by some prognosticators to become the world’s third largest natural gas producer by 2027 but imports still could increase because of lower shale and coalbed methane (CBM) production.

Russia’s largest private natural gas producer Novatek and its partners on Thursday sanctioned the 19.8 million metric tons/year Arctic LNG-2 export facility, which would be sited north of Siberia.

Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer Novatek said subsidiary Arctic LNG-1 plans to conduct a geological survey, which if it leads to exploration could create more supply to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

Indian state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) said Monday that it is planning to invest around $240 million to build a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the deepwater port at Krishnapatnam on the east coast.

Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co. (AG&P) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chart Industries Inc. to develop small-scale solutions for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.

Actions taken by Australia’s oil and gas industry to bring more natural gas into the domestic market seem to be working, according to an interim report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Current weak prices for spot liquified natural gas (LNG) will have no impact on arbitration over a long-term sales and purchase (SPA) contract between Osaka Gas, one of Japan’s largest gas utilities, and the ExxonMobil-led $19 billion Papua New Guinea (PNG) project, Oil Search Ltd.’s Ian Munro, executive vice president for gas marketing, said on Tuesday.

China’s city-gas distributor Shenzhen Gas is planning to begin importing natural gas this week at the Yantian port in Shenzhen through subsidiary Sino-Benny.

The second half of the year should see sustained increases in oil and natural gas exploration activity worldwide, according to analysts.