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BG Group: LNG markets tight

British energy company BG Group said Tuesday demand for liquefied natural gas globally is expected to outpace production for the long haul. "Limited supply growth in 2013, the prospect that overall production will remain stalled in 2014 and strong demand growth in Asia suggests the global LNG market will continue to tighten, in line with our long-held view," BG Group Vice President for Global LNG Markets Andrew Walker said in a statement. Walker said the European economy last year received about 35 million tons of LNG, the lowest volume in nearly 10 years. He said that was in part because supplies were diverted to Asian and Latin American economies, where demand was increasing. Pipeline deliveries of natural gas increased last year in Europe, he added. BG Group, which published its annual overview for the LNG market Tuesday, said 67 million tons of new capacity from Australian projects could mark […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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UN: Thousands killed and abused in S Sudan

Politically-fueled ethnic violence in South Sudan since mid-December has led to the brutal killing and abuse of thousands of civilians and sparked a government campaign to vilify the United Nations and harass UN personnel, the UN peacekeeping chief has said. Herve Ladsous told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that despite a January 23 ceasefire agreement, forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebel soldiers loyal to dismissed former vice president Riek Machar "continue to prioritise the pursuit of military gains over talks towards a comprehensive political settlement." Fighting that broke out December 15 among presidential guards in the capital Juba quickly spread across the country and took on ethnic dimensions between the more populous Dinka tribe who support Kiir and the Nuer tribe loyal to Machar. He said prelimiary inquiry reports indicate that atrocities and very severe human rights violations were committed by both sides in the conflict, and he warned that the longer the fighting goes on "the […]

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Israel bombs Syrian posts over Golan attack on its troops

Israel attacked several Syrian military sites on Wednesday in retaliation for a roadside bombing that wounded four of its troops on the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, the Israeli military said. It said targets included a Syrian military headquarters, a training facility and artillery batteries. Aircraft carried out the overnight strike, said Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman. He described targets as military facilities on the Syrian-held side of the Golan. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized abroad. Tuesday’s wounding of the soldiers as they patrolled the separation line on the strategic plateau marked Israel’s worst casualties there since an insurgency erupted in Syria more than three years ago. Israel blamed Damascus for the roadside bombing, though parts of the Syrian-held side of the Golan are controlled by rebels, including al Qaeda-inspired militants […]

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Nigerian Oil Officials Say Crude Theft Risks Crimping Production

Nigerian oil officials said unchecked theft from pipelines may crimp the African nation’s ability to meet its target of adding 30 percent to crude output by the end of the decade. Stealing and sabotage cost the country 300,000 barrels of oil a day last year, Andrew Yakubu, group managing director of state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., said today at a conference in Abuja, the capital. Nigeria must do more to maintain its position as Africa ’s biggest producer, he said, adding that the country has a target to raise production to 3 million barrels a day by 2020, from about 2.3 million now. The nation’s oil output fluctuated by as much as 420,000 barrels a day between 2011 and 2013 amid pipeline attacks that halted flows from some fields. Nigeria has responded to theft by starting air surveillance of pipelines and allocating 15 billion naira ($91 million) for security […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran Nuclear Talks Resume in Vienna Shadowed by Crimea Vote

Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg The Geneva deal, which took effect in January, offered Iran as much as $7 billion in sanctions relief, including easing curbs on trade in petrochemicals and auto parts. Close Close Open Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg The Geneva deal, which took effect in January, offered Iran as much as $7 billion in sanctions relief, including easing curbs on trade in petrochemicals and auto parts. The specter of Crimea hangs over ’s nuclear talks resuming today, as world powers locked in a confrontation over Russia ’s move to annex the region find themselves on the same side during negotiations with the Islamic Republic. Even as they clash over Ukraine, diplomats from Russia and the U.S. and European Union are seeking to build on November’s interim accord in Geneva, which froze some of Iran’s most sensitive nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Japan's search for new energy supplies fuels business for contractors

Japan’s rush to diversify its energy supplies after the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is creating business opportunities for Japanese contractors that specialize in building energy facilities. A joint venture that includes Japanese engineering company Chiyoda Corp., said Tuesday that it had received a $6 billion contract to build a natural-gas liquefaction plant in Louisiana. Tokyo Electric Power Co. , which owns Fukushima Daiichi, is among the Cameron Liquefaction Project’s expected customers. Chiyoda’s partner is Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., which is based in The Hague. Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. are minority shareholders in the Hackberry, La., plant. The liquefied-natural-gas project is being led by San Diego’s Sempra Energy, and French utility GDF Suez SA is among […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Japan’s search for new energy supplies fuels business for contractors

Japan’s rush to diversify its energy supplies after the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is creating business opportunities for Japanese contractors that specialize in building energy facilities. A joint venture that includes Japanese engineering company Chiyoda Corp., said Tuesday that it had received a $6 billion contract to build a natural-gas liquefaction plant in Louisiana. Tokyo Electric Power Co. , which owns Fukushima Daiichi, is among the Cameron Liquefaction Project’s expected customers. Chiyoda’s partner is Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., which is based in The Hague. Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. are minority shareholders in the Hackberry, La., plant. The liquefied-natural-gas project is being led by San Diego’s Sempra Energy, and French utility GDF Suez SA is among […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Japan’s Coal Imports Rise, Raising Carbon Emissions

smaller Larger facebook twitter google plus linked in Email Print facebook twitter google plus linked in Email Print smaller Larger facebook twitter google plus linked in Email Print Japan is on a path to increase its carbon-dioxide emissions because it is shifting to coal imports from more expensive liquefied natural gas. Recent trade statistics suggest Japan’s LNG demand has peaked even though the country continues to go without any nuclear power plants in operation. Meanwhile, coal imports are moving higher. In February, Japan’s LNG imports fell 0.2% compared to the same month a year earlier, following a 0.6% slip in January, customs data released Wednesday showed. Imports of thermal coal used to generate electricity rose 4.8% in February year-on-year, following a 17% rise in January, according to the data. Japan’s CO2 emissions climbed to their second-highest level on record in the year ended in March 2013 because most nuclear […]

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China’s Shale Gas Development Potential

; China’s potential in shale gas production is nearly as staggering as its potential growth in demand  for natural gas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that China possesses by far the world’s largest reserves of technically recoverable shale gas. Although China’s shale gas industry is not as advanced  as the United States’, it could be the most advanced outside of North America. China’s target is to produce 60 billion to 100 billion cubic meters of shale gas by 2020, but there are severe limitations to hitting the target. China is more likely to produce somewhere around 25 billion cubic meters of shale gas by then. In total, China will realistically be able to access 275 billion cubic meters to perhaps 300 […]

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Are Natural-Gas Exports the Next Keystone?

A coalition of grassroots environmentalists are galvanizing around a fossil-fuel project and urging President Barack Obama to oppose it. Sound familiar? It’s not the Keystone XL pipeline, but the parameters of the fight—and the arguments—are awfully similar to the fight that’s been raging in Washington and throughout the country over the proposed pipeline for the last five years. The Sierra Club and 350.org , two advocacy organizations that have been key in rallying opposition to Keystone, helped organize a letter 16 groups sent Tuesday to the White House urging Mr. Obama to oppose exporting natural gas on the basis of global warming and are calling out one proposed project specifically. It’s the first organized letter by environmentalists urging the White House to oppose such an export policy, which Mr. Obama has so far supported. “We were told when the Keystone fight came up, there wasn’t a chance […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple