Annual Gas News

Germany's emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Elbe river port of Stade expects its floating regasification vessel (FSRU) to arrive in February, allowing seaborne gas cargoes to be fed into local pipeline grids, its management said on Wednesday.The move is part of Germany's quest to increase LNG import capacity so it can end reliance on Russian pipeline gas, which Europe has heavily depended on prior to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year."The Transgas Force (the designated ship) is anticipated to arrive in February and will remain for three years, ahead of the commissioning

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel moored in the Tuscan port of Piombino will be moved off the coast of Vado Ligure and Savona in Italy's northwestern region of Liguria, the president of Liguria said on Tuesday.Italian gas grid operator Snam bought the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) last year as part of the Italian government's plan to reduce dependence on Russian gas, but the infrastructure was opposed by the local administration in Piombino.The decision on the proposed site was made after Liguria President Giovanni Toti met Snam's chief executive, a spokesperson for the Liguria president said. The decision on the…

Italy's Emilia Romagna region has approved a project for a new floating LNG terminal off the coast of Ravenna in the upper Adriatic sea, it said on Monday, part of the country's broader efforts to replace dwindling Russian gas supplies. Almost one billion euros ($998 million) in total will be invested in the project, Emilia Romagna's Economic Development Councillor Vincenzo Colla told a news conference. The clearance took only about four months to be secured -- rather than years for similar projects in the past. As part of its energy strategy, Italy is adding two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) to its existing three facilities. One will be off Ravenna, the other moored in the Tuscan port of Piombino on the other coast.

On the night of September 26, near the end of the calm season on the Baltic, a broiling kilometer-wide circle disturbed the face of the sea and a huge mass of methane erupted into the air. The gas formed a cloud that crossed Europe, in what’s considered the greatest single release of this potent greenhouse gas ever recorded.It was caused by four breaches of Russia’s Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, located in or near the territorial seas of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists detected explosions at a depth of 70-90 meters on the seabed.

Russia has resumed construction of the politically-charged Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, laying pipes after a one-year hiatus prompted by U.S. sanctions, the pipeline operator said on Friday.The pipeline, which Washington says compromises European energy security, has become a flashpoint in relations between Russia and the West that have sunk to post-Cold War lows. The Kremlin has called the sanctions "unfair competition".Swiss-Dutch company Allseas suspended the laying of pipes in December 2019 following the threat of sanctions from Washington, leaving Russia to utilize its own resources to construct the 1,230 kilometers (km) pipeline…

German utility RWE has delivered its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to Great Britain.The cargo, comprised of approximately 150 000 m3 of LNG, was regasified through a Milford Haven LNG Terminal, located close to RWE’s 2000 MW Pembroke B gas-fired combined cycle gas power plant (CCGT).The cargo has been sourced from the portfolio of RWE Supply & Trading, the subsidiary of RWE which is responsible for gas and LNG trading.The cargo was loaded from Sabine Pass Liquefaction Terminal in the Gulf of Mexico, USA and transported by RWE Supply & Trading to Great Britain on the Gaslog Savannah LNG carrier.Once regasified, the LNG will meet a significant proportion of any gas consumption needs of Pembroke Power Station. On a typical day Pembroke burns 8,000,000 m3 of natural gas.

British multinational energy and services company Centrica has loaded its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from the fifth LNG train at the Sabine Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana under the agreement signed in 2013 with Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P.The gas was loaded onto the GasLog Ltd chartered Skagen vessel over the weekend and will be transiting the Atlantic to land in Europe in early October.Commenting on the first cargo, Jonathan Westby, Co-Managing Director of Centrica Energy Marketing & Trading and Global Head of LNG, said:  “This cargo represents a significant milestone in Centrica’s involvement with LNG, which goes…

French oil and energy group Total said on Monday it had made a major gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect, located off the coast of the Shetland islands in the North Sea.Total said preliminary tests on the new gas discovery confirmed good reservoir quality, permeability and well production deliverability, with recoverable resources estimated at about one trillion cubic feet (1 tcf).It said Glendronach, located near its Edradour field, will be tied back to the existing infrastructure…

China LNG imports hit record in November, but set to beat that this month. China's state oil and gas majors are set to import record levels of liquefied natural gas (LNG) this month, betting on robust demand during the cold winter months and helping lift Asian prices to their highest in nearly two years. Trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon shows 7.33 million cubic metres (mcm) of LNG, equivalent to 3.33 million tonnes, are heading to China for delivery this month. This includes 10 cargoes from Qatar, an unusually high number even for the world's largest LNG exporter. That would easily top the record 2.66 million tonnes that landed in November, up from 1.81 million a year ago, as a cold snap across the north of the country spurred demand.

The Świnoujscie LNG terminal in northern Poland is ready to receive its first shipment of gas, with a tanker leaving Qatar on its way to Poland. The tanker carrying LNG left Qatar-based Ras Laffan port on last Friday and is heading to the LNG terminal. The vessel is to reach the Polish port on December 11. Over 200,000 cubic meters of fuel will be transpoerted to Poland by Qatargas. Just a few days ago, PAP reported that following an audit of the terminal in Świnoujście, the Qatar-based company has confirmed that the facility is ready to receive the first batch of liquefied gas in mid-December. The terminal, one of the largest Polish energy investments in recent years, was officially opened in September by the then prime minister, Ewa Kopacz.

Statoil ASA (OSE: STL, NYSE: STO): Statoil and Wintershall have entered into a 10-year gas sales agreement for the delivery of a total of 45 billion cubic meters (bcm) to the German and other North-West European markets. "This strategic agreement demonstrates the continued competitiveness of Norwegian natural gas in the German energy mix. "The agreement with Statoil, a long-term and reliable energy partner with Germany for decades, is a significant milestone for Wintershall. For us this means that we can also use the volumes we produce from the North Sea in Europe in the future without having to expand our own infrastructure," says Wintershall's CEO Rainer Seele. Germany consumes about 80 bcm natural gas per year and is the second largest gas market in Europe.

A bright future is forecast for the LNG industry, as long-term gas demand drives major investment in global LNG facilities. A new report from energy business advisors, Douglas-Westwood (DW), predicts the Pacific basin will be the main contributor to a ten year global investment high of $26 billion per annum by 2015. The report is being launched this week at the 6th FLNG Asia Pacific Summit, Singapore and the 5th Annual Gas Storage Conference, London, with presentations by Jason Waldie and Joseph Dutton. “Last year saw recovery in LNG demand, led by Asian consumers. China, in particular, has seen its LNG demand grow from 1 bcm in 2006 to around 13 bcm today. LNG imports to Western European and Latin American countries have also increased.

As supply and demand factors increasingly point to a future in which natural gas plays a greater role in the global energy mix, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a special report exploring the potential for a “golden age” of gas. The new report, part of the World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2011 series, examines the key factors that could result in a more prominent role for natural gas in the global energy mix, and the implications for other fuels, energy security and climate change. The report, titled, “Are We Entering a Golden Age of Gas?” presents a scenario in which global use of gas rises by more than 50% from 2010 levels and accounts for more than a quarter of global energy demand by 2035.

On the brink of the 21st century, a group of energy experts peered into the future of natural gas, and what they saw was quite promising. To satisfy growing demand, producers could crank out a third more natural gas over the next decade at "competitive prices." It could power the economy for decades to come. Or so said the National Petroleum Council in its 1999 report. But natural gas prices soon headed skyward, with prices charged by producers spiking late last year at nearly five times 1999 levels. This past winter, though starting off warm, saw the average gas-heating household spend a record $867, a 17 percent increase, according to federal data. As for that predicted robust supply, the country's annual gas output has strangely slipped by 3 percent over the past six years.