Liquefied

There will be strong demand for global liquefied natural gas (LNG) over the next 10-20 years, but increasingly, price-sensitive buyers will be less willing to pay a premium for supply security, consultancy Ernst & Young said in a new report.

As another step forward to use dedicated liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered barges in its maritime transport, Royal Dutch Shell plc recently launched the first dedicated LNG barge from a shipyard in the Netherlands for transporting liquids products on the Rhine River. Shell already has touted similar petroleum product shipping in the United States (see Daily GPI, March 6).

There will be strong demand for global liquefied natural gas (LNG) over the next 10-20 years, but increasingly, price-sensitive buyers will be less willing to pay a premium for supply security, consultancy Ernst & Young said in a new report.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country wants to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which could hasten the export of liquefied U.S. gas to Japan. TPP currently encompasses 11 nations in Asia and the Americas. Randy Bhatia, an analyst with Capital One Southcoast, said Japan’s membership in TPP could boost efforts to export LNG to the country.

Natural gas spot prices, which averaged $2.75/MMBtu at the Henry Hub last year and $3.33 last month, are expected to climb to an average of $3.41 this year and $3.63 in 2014, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The pecking order of liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers to Japan, the world’s largest importer of LNG, has shifted. For the first time, Australia has surpassed Qatar to take the No. 1 slot, according to EnergyQuest, a consultancy based in Australia.

The “threat of regulatory overreach” in not allowing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “is tantamount to introducing price controls on natural gas,” ExxonMobil Chemical Co. President Stephen Pryor said last week, directly countering the campaign of another chemicals giant, Dow Chemical Co., which has been heavily lobbying to protect its domestic feedstocks.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is considering the sale of most of its stake in Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation infrastructure company in which it invested in 2011.

Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex) has agreed to take a 10% stake in the Western Canada natural gas development and production project and associated pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects of Progress Energy Canada Ltd.