Dear Reader,

This week’s debate between Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s administration and proponents of Australia’s rapidly growing LNG export industry offers insights into the challenges facing LNG in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For an LNG exporter like Australia, GHG emissions rise with each additional ton of exports. But the rise is only a fraction of the amount of reduction enjoyed by LNG importers that replace coal and oil with natural gas.More...

The season’s first hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, however, could change this.

Analysts have had a tough time so far this year predicting natural gas prices. Goldman Sachs, for example, in March expected U.S. prices to rally faster than crude and heavy fuel oil prices as storage injections fell short of levels needed to meet 2008-09 winter demand. More...

On July 15, Golar announced a 50/50 partnership with Bluewater Energy Services, the goal of which is to bid on an offshore floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), to be commissioned by South Africa’s PetroSA. More...

In response to pressure from the international community, France’s Total decided to withdraw plans to develop Iranian natural gas projects in the near future. Iran acknowledged Total’s withdrawal shortly thereafter, noting that the country intends to push on without foreign investment. More...

By 2020, Korea Gas plans to triple its LNG storage capacity to 6.5 million tons. More...

On July 17, Queensland Gas Company (QGC) issued a press release noting that its takeover offer of Roma Petroleum had been unanimously recommended by Roma’s board, and that the assets to be gained from Roma would greatly augment coal seam gas (CSG) reserves for QGC. On July 1, QGC noted that its Proved and Probable reserves of CSG had risen to 2,370 petajoules (PJ). The company is targeting a CSG 2P reserve base of 7,000 PJ to supply the Queensland Curtis LNG project.More...

On July 17, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on a 242 to 175 vote that extends federal environmental protection to the lower Taunton River in Massachusetts, part of which includes the Fall River, Massachusetts project site named Weaver’s Cove LNG. More...

On July 16, nearly 100% of Gaz de France and Suez shareholders approved merger resolutions presented at an Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting. The $159.5 billion deal has been long-delayed by regulatory problems, union opposition, and corporate governance issues. More...

According to a July 4 Bloomberg report, Petrobras is mulling a decision to contract with SBM Offshore NV in order to procure floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units for LNG production. SBM is one of the largest suppliers of oil FPSOs, but the company is targeting the offshore liquefaction market as well; SBM has teamed up with Linde Engineering to develop LNG FPSOs, which have a liquefaction capacity of 2.5 million tons per year. Gas reserves between 1 and 4 trillion cubic feet are ideal for SBM’s units, and they are applicable in water depths greater than 80 feet.More...