GE Energy inks LNG deal with RasGas
June 25, 2008
GE Energy has made a deal to help the nation of Qatar in its quest to become the world's top supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Atlanta-based GE Energy said it has signed a multi-million, multi-year service agreement with RasGas Co. Ltd., covering two LNG trains and Al-Khaleej Gas Plant-2 at RasGas' LNG and gas production complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. An LNG train is a chain of equipment, including a gas turbine, which is used to convert natural gas to liquid form. The process reduces the volume of the gas, making it easier to ship large quantities of LNG to help meet growing energy demands in locations around the world.
The new agreement brings GE's total services commitment at the site to more than $1 billion.
Bangladesh to boost gas output by 20 pct by 2011
Bangladesh will raise its natural gas production by nearly 20 percent by 2011 with new investment of nearly $100 million, a senior official said on Wednesday.
"We will be able to produce 2.15 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the existing 1.8 billion cubic feet over the next more than three years," Jalal Ahmed, chairman of the Bangladesh oil, gas and mineral corporation or Petrobangla told Reuters.
"At least 15 new wells in different gas fields across the country will be explored and developed by the state-run gas firms to produce additional hydrocarbon," Jalal said.
Bangladesh faced a gas shortage of up to 150 million cubic feet daily (mmcfd) which was an obstacle to industrial and economic activities, Jalal said.
Eight gas-fired power plants are out of action and nearly 300 new manufacturing firms at Chittagong port city cannot start production due to lack of gas supply, officials said.
Three state-run gas firms - Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited, Sylhet Gas Fields Limited and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited - produce about 900 mmcfd of gas, half of Bangladesh's total production, they said.
The remainder is produced by four international oil companies (IOCs) - the U.S. based Chevron Corp, British firm Cairn Energy, Irish company Tullow and Canadian company Niko Resources Ltd.
The authorities say they fear further gas shortages by 2011 when daily demand will rise to 2.4 billion cubic feet per day, nearly 34 percent more than now.
Gas Natural gets permit for Trieste LNG plant
Spain's Gas Natural said it had won approval from Italy's Environment Ministry to build a regassifaction plant for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports at the northern Italian port Trieste.
Gas natural and its partners had spent four years seeking environmental approval for the plant, which has an estimated cost of 500 million euros and is due to come on stream in 2012.
The onshore plant will have two tanks each with the capapcity to hold 140,000 cubic metres of LNG and to process 8 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
Gas Natural said it had agreed with Snam Rete Gas to connect the new plant with the Italian gas pipeline network.
Last month, the Barcelona-based company said it was interested in buying local gas distributors in central and southern Italy.
Spain is a major importer of LNG and Gas Natural ran the country's six regasification plans, when it had part or entire control of distribution company Enagas between 1994 and 2002.
Gas natural manages a 115,000 cubic metre regasification plant in Puerto Rico.
Enel in talks with Hoegh LNG to develop LNG ship
Enel SpA is in talks with Norway's Hoegh LNG to jointly develop a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship, a Hoegh spokesman said.
'I can confirm Enel is one of the parties we are talking to as regards the development of our FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) vessel,' the spokesman said.
He said a joint investment of around 1 billion euros could be a reasonable amount for the project.
Hoegh, which is developing its FPSO programme with a series of investors, expects first delivery of the vessel in 2012.
A source said Enel will use the LNG capacity from the ship, when ready, to supply the LNG terminal it is building at Porto Empedocle in Sicily.
The Porto Empedocle facility, which recently received crucial environmental clearance, will have a capacity of 8 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
The terminal is expected to receive around 4 billion cubic metres of LNG from Nigeria and 2 billion cubic metres from Egypt.
LNG could hit US$40
As the world thirsts for LNG Trinidad and Tobago stands to benefit as prices go up, according to Dr Ranato Bertani, the former president of Perobas America, a subsidiary of the Brazilian energy giant. Speaking at an energy luncheon hosted by First Citizens at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, Bertani, now president of Thompson and Knight, Global Energy Services, a legal firm that has an appetite for energy deals, predicted that at the present rate of demand LNG prices could hit US$40.
He said this was possible given the fact that energy demand across the globe was rising.
“That is good business for Trinidad and Tobago,” he said of the LNG prices increase.
He pointed out that there could eventually be a convergence of oil and gas prices, if the global energy dynamics don’t change.
The theme of his address was, “The Risks and Opportunities in the Energy Sector.”
According to Bertani, the world will have to spend US$20 trillion by 2030 if it is going to meet the demand for energy.
LNG prices on Monday stood at US$13.23, according to Bloomberg, while oil was at US$137 a barrel. “Oil prices are not going to come down to gas prices but gas will get closer to oil,” he said.
Using a diagram to show the changes in LNG flow, he pointed out that in 2030 the US and Asia will see a significant increase in LNG usage.
He said although there are security concerns across the US regarding the use of LNG, he said they will soon have to re-examine this stance given that the price of oil is rising. He said for a gas economy like TT, this was good news because a market was going to be assured.
He said there could be converge of oil and gas prices and where gas would become a major player in the global energy scenario.
Noting that there could be more demand for LNG from developing countries in the next ten-20 years, Bertani said the supply of LNG will reach the consumer in different ways. His view is that in addition to oil, LNG will play a more significant role in the US energy portfolio, saying that the spot market for LNG will increase.
Such a market occurs when an LNG buyer takes the LNG at an agreed price from a supplier and sells it on the open market to the highest bidder.
He said with LNG prices increasing, this was a possibility and said that this could carry prices further up.
On oil and the world’s demand for it, Bertani said this was not going to change soon. He took the view that the world’s ceiling for oil can be sustained in the US$140- US$150 bracket, adding that after that it becomes unsustainable.
He said at such a price, companies are looking at going after oil that was once considered unattainable.
“There is now pressure to explore and extract,” he said, noting that for oil companies it was now possible to take the risk.
Giving a global overview on energy, he said developing countries like China and India and their increased energy demand is what is pushing up the price of oil. On ethanol, he said this was extremely lucrative and profitable and stressed that with massive tracts of land, the Caribbean could reap the benefits.
To back his case, he said the world consumes about 20 billion tonnes of gasolene a year with half of that being consumed in the US. Stressing that this was a huge opportunity for the Caribbean, Bertani said ethanol coming from the Caribbean into the US would face no tariff.
He said in the case of Brazil, the US has imposed a tariff on ethanol coming into the country.
June 25, 2008
GE Energy has made a deal to help the nation of Qatar in its quest to become the world's top supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Atlanta-based GE Energy said it has signed a multi-million, multi-year service agreement with RasGas Co. Ltd., covering two LNG trains and Al-Khaleej Gas Plant-2 at RasGas' LNG and gas production complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. An LNG train is a chain of equipment, including a gas turbine, which is used to convert natural gas to liquid form. The process reduces the volume of the gas, making it easier to ship large quantities of LNG to help meet growing energy demands in locations around the world.
The new agreement brings GE's total services commitment at the site to more than $1 billion.
Bangladesh to boost gas output by 20 pct by 2011
Bangladesh will raise its natural gas production by nearly 20 percent by 2011 with new investment of nearly $100 million, a senior official said on Wednesday.
"We will be able to produce 2.15 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the existing 1.8 billion cubic feet over the next more than three years," Jalal Ahmed, chairman of the Bangladesh oil, gas and mineral corporation or Petrobangla told Reuters.
"At least 15 new wells in different gas fields across the country will be explored and developed by the state-run gas firms to produce additional hydrocarbon," Jalal said.
Bangladesh faced a gas shortage of up to 150 million cubic feet daily (mmcfd) which was an obstacle to industrial and economic activities, Jalal said.
Eight gas-fired power plants are out of action and nearly 300 new manufacturing firms at Chittagong port city cannot start production due to lack of gas supply, officials said.
Three state-run gas firms - Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited, Sylhet Gas Fields Limited and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited - produce about 900 mmcfd of gas, half of Bangladesh's total production, they said.
The remainder is produced by four international oil companies (IOCs) - the U.S. based Chevron Corp, British firm Cairn Energy, Irish company Tullow and Canadian company Niko Resources Ltd.
The authorities say they fear further gas shortages by 2011 when daily demand will rise to 2.4 billion cubic feet per day, nearly 34 percent more than now.
Gas Natural gets permit for Trieste LNG plant
Spain's Gas Natural said it had won approval from Italy's Environment Ministry to build a regassifaction plant for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports at the northern Italian port Trieste.
Gas natural and its partners had spent four years seeking environmental approval for the plant, which has an estimated cost of 500 million euros and is due to come on stream in 2012.
The onshore plant will have two tanks each with the capapcity to hold 140,000 cubic metres of LNG and to process 8 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
Gas Natural said it had agreed with Snam Rete Gas to connect the new plant with the Italian gas pipeline network.
Last month, the Barcelona-based company said it was interested in buying local gas distributors in central and southern Italy.
Spain is a major importer of LNG and Gas Natural ran the country's six regasification plans, when it had part or entire control of distribution company Enagas between 1994 and 2002.
Gas natural manages a 115,000 cubic metre regasification plant in Puerto Rico.
Enel in talks with Hoegh LNG to develop LNG ship
Enel SpA is in talks with Norway's Hoegh LNG to jointly develop a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship, a Hoegh spokesman said.
'I can confirm Enel is one of the parties we are talking to as regards the development of our FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) vessel,' the spokesman said.
He said a joint investment of around 1 billion euros could be a reasonable amount for the project.
Hoegh, which is developing its FPSO programme with a series of investors, expects first delivery of the vessel in 2012.
A source said Enel will use the LNG capacity from the ship, when ready, to supply the LNG terminal it is building at Porto Empedocle in Sicily.
The Porto Empedocle facility, which recently received crucial environmental clearance, will have a capacity of 8 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
The terminal is expected to receive around 4 billion cubic metres of LNG from Nigeria and 2 billion cubic metres from Egypt.
LNG could hit US$40
As the world thirsts for LNG Trinidad and Tobago stands to benefit as prices go up, according to Dr Ranato Bertani, the former president of Perobas America, a subsidiary of the Brazilian energy giant. Speaking at an energy luncheon hosted by First Citizens at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, Bertani, now president of Thompson and Knight, Global Energy Services, a legal firm that has an appetite for energy deals, predicted that at the present rate of demand LNG prices could hit US$40.
He said this was possible given the fact that energy demand across the globe was rising.
“That is good business for Trinidad and Tobago,” he said of the LNG prices increase.
He pointed out that there could eventually be a convergence of oil and gas prices, if the global energy dynamics don’t change.
The theme of his address was, “The Risks and Opportunities in the Energy Sector.”
According to Bertani, the world will have to spend US$20 trillion by 2030 if it is going to meet the demand for energy.
LNG prices on Monday stood at US$13.23, according to Bloomberg, while oil was at US$137 a barrel. “Oil prices are not going to come down to gas prices but gas will get closer to oil,” he said.
Using a diagram to show the changes in LNG flow, he pointed out that in 2030 the US and Asia will see a significant increase in LNG usage.
He said although there are security concerns across the US regarding the use of LNG, he said they will soon have to re-examine this stance given that the price of oil is rising. He said for a gas economy like TT, this was good news because a market was going to be assured.
He said there could be converge of oil and gas prices and where gas would become a major player in the global energy scenario.
Noting that there could be more demand for LNG from developing countries in the next ten-20 years, Bertani said the supply of LNG will reach the consumer in different ways. His view is that in addition to oil, LNG will play a more significant role in the US energy portfolio, saying that the spot market for LNG will increase.
Such a market occurs when an LNG buyer takes the LNG at an agreed price from a supplier and sells it on the open market to the highest bidder.
He said with LNG prices increasing, this was a possibility and said that this could carry prices further up.
On oil and the world’s demand for it, Bertani said this was not going to change soon. He took the view that the world’s ceiling for oil can be sustained in the US$140- US$150 bracket, adding that after that it becomes unsustainable.
He said at such a price, companies are looking at going after oil that was once considered unattainable.
“There is now pressure to explore and extract,” he said, noting that for oil companies it was now possible to take the risk.
Giving a global overview on energy, he said developing countries like China and India and their increased energy demand is what is pushing up the price of oil. On ethanol, he said this was extremely lucrative and profitable and stressed that with massive tracts of land, the Caribbean could reap the benefits.
To back his case, he said the world consumes about 20 billion tonnes of gasolene a year with half of that being consumed in the US. Stressing that this was a huge opportunity for the Caribbean, Bertani said ethanol coming from the Caribbean into the US would face no tariff.
He said in the case of Brazil, the US has imposed a tariff on ethanol coming into the country.
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