The coming methane age – will it ever end?

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An offhand remark on my last post made me think a little more about how significant methane will become over the next decades and what will end the show - and when.

Lessons from Shtokman

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While the world was having a beauty sleep an earth moving event sent ripples through the Barents Sea - and made the infantile dreams of the classical energy monopolist in Europe (trust me - they are still an abundant species but they have learned to don the market gloves) a little less sweaty.

Diesel v/ LNG in European trucking – is EURO 6 leveling the field?

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Those going for LNG as a fuel were always on the exotic side…

Cheap oil is over – what that means for LNG

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Cheap oil is gone, expensive oil comes in. But that changes the architecture of the energy planet more than most would like to think.

LNG or emulsion fuels – whats it gonna be

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It's a thorny question. And not one with a clear-cut answer possible.…

Dancing stars with hippos – flex for regas

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LNG regasification has been a no-business for pretty much all of its history. The terminal owners/operators are pretty happy with this state of affairs as their life was real simple so far. Dont move and take in guaranteed returns - that was the mantra. All this will have to change if the LNG industry is serious about going normal.

Something is lurking beneath those waves

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Methane Hydrates are known to the world as burning ice. It is an oddity to the energy industry and easily shrugged off but they are more imminent than many executives like to think. The LNG projects under construction today will bear its scars.

We are the Borg – resistance is futile

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Many would be buyers are not very nimble when it comes to secure volumes of LNG. No surprise here, as many are behaving like the BORG from Star Trek. We are the BORG - resistance is futile. But is that really a recipe for success?

Why shale gas is great news for LNG

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Shale looks like LNG's nemesis - on the surface at least. Look harder. It sure killed THE big hope of the LNG world - namely the prospect of the US becoming a premium LNG buyer. But this also has jump started LNG as a fuel.

LNG is cold (when it should be cool)

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It’s incredible how misunderstood Natural Gas and especially LNG is by the general public. It’s the solution to many of our problems (at least energy wise) and still it has a bad name. That’s a shame as this stuff is so incredibly cool, it would have to be invented if it did not exist already.

A letter from Obama

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About 2 months ago I had written an open letter to president Obama. Here is his response. Right below it I explain why I think that LNG as a fuel is not just a blimp or a bridge technology as some like to call it. Its an energy earthquake and it will ring in a new paradigm shift.

Caribbean LNG – the steel pan paradigm

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The Caribbean would be the perfect region for LNGification. It has not happened yet which is a shame as the immaculate pearl it evokes in our phantasies has been tarnished. But things are about to change, very dramatically so.

Going nuclear – LNG’s natural friend

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Nuke and LNG could not be more different. Nuclear power is the king of cheap baseload. Once built - it makes little sense to switch a nuclear power plant off just because of changes in the demand picture. LNG is the king of flexibility. It can be switched on and off very rapidly. And as said, as a liquid it stays nicely in a vehicles tank waiting to be regasified on demand and combusted in order to produce forward motion (or any other thing you do with internal combustion engines).

Beating the megatrains – the nimble revolution

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LNG has been a history of ever larger liquefaction trains. It all culminated in the construction of the Qatari supertrains. One of those monsters is able to satisfy the needs of more than the entire gas consumption of a small country such as Austria. But do they make economic sense?

Another option for Central Asian gas

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Central Asians are the strange region out of the Natural Gas world. They have lots of it. They would like to export it. But that's very hard. In the meantime, something much more worthwhile could be done with it.

LNG from the US – between drivel and miracle drug

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Does anyone still remember the US LNG import adventure? Seems to be a long way off. Today, everyone talks about the US becoming a huge LNG exporter. Asia of course looks like a big nice ice cream on a hot summer day to a distressed LNG terminal operator. But there is also big competition on this premium LNG buying region.

What your experience is worth in a wormhole

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Expertise can be a drawback. Sometimes it's outright deadly. Some things - sometimes - change so deeply, so radically that old experience does not even serve as a valid foundation for new learning anymore. It becomes so harmful - you must get rid of it - or else you face oblivion. In Natural gas - this happens right here - right now.

Is LNG – or is it not – a commodity?

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To those outside the nebulous Natural Gas world, LNG is the stuff that evokes phantasies of miracle trades and fast riches. LNG has been dubbed a commodity many times over the last 10 years alone. But is the status deserved? A demystification.

Give to get – a winning way in LNG

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Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We all know the quote from Einstein. But that's what happens in LNG all the time. Here is an alternative proposal.

The China LNG story – more toxic than the US story was

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The US seems to be on the verge of becoming an LNG exporter. This, combined with new volumes from Australia, show the prospect of Asia being drowned in LNG. But there is a shiny white knight on the horizon. China with its ever-growing industries, with its endlessly expanding consumer markets, with its insatiable thirst for energy promises to become the new LNG El Dorado.

Business Development in Natural Gas – get the Frontschwein out

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Business Developers have to become a Frontschwein in order to face the challenges of the European Natural Gas business. That's no easy feat for companies that are still pretty monopolistic - and stiff - in spirit.

Behold the future and marvel

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The future of energy will not be the linear continuation of the past. It will be a wild, twisted and contorted process and man, will it be exciting. The world will look very different from now 20 years down the road.

LNG in the Black Sea – a pipedream?

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The Ukraine has a LNG problem. It’s a major blunder and it looks like LNG in the region is doomed. As strange as it sounds, there might be a bright future for LNG in the Black Sea still.

European energy utilities are traders now – an oxymoron

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Ten years ago, the European Union embarked on its own journey to Oz by reforming its energy markets. It successively broke the chains of hundreds of millions energy customers from monopoly utilities dictatorship and changed the very nature of the energy business. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be a trader.

The power of pain – LNG newbies in trouble

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New LNG capacity owners find themselves in excruciating economic pain. They have only themselves to blame but this crazy situation might hold the seeds for them, to become the superstars of the gas age. Or else they die.

Are your contacts worth anything in LNG business development?

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Those well-connected are supposed to be the magic cure to a rotten LNG portfolio. They are not so important, after all.

Frankenstein disease in LNG contracts

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LNG agreements pieced together from dead contractual bodies are dangerous. Still many see them as their only source of inspiration. They can do better.

Gas price formulas and the Big Mac Index

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Oil price links are finally coming to an end in Europe. In fact, they have eked an existence as Zombies of the energy world as the fundamental mechanism destroying them was not American shale but free markets.

LNG supply for Asia – fighting the Hydra

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New Asian LNG buyers (outside the JKT and China) have a problem. They are perceived to be in the “I will pay any price for LNG” club by sellers. Many of them face vastly different situations from each other in their home markets. Not an enviable position but one that can be dealt with.

“Sandy” and the power of distributed power generation

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Superstorm Sandy has blackened out large parts of the American…

OMV’s Roiss speaks out for shale

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OMV’s Gerhard Roiss makes the case for shale gas in Europe.…

LNG cost blowout – Black Mamba bites

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Sky-high CAPEX plus cost overruns and a fundamental shift in…

LNG sellers will become more like widget makers

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High fuel prices have caused the shale gas boom and there is…

European utilities and LNG supply – between a rock and a hard place

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Some companies in Europe have built up massive regasification…

Mr. Obama, could this be your LNG term?

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Mr. Obama - you are in your second term now. There is an entrepreneurial…

The tone here

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LNG has a mystery reputation. This is undeserved. This blog is…

LNG from Africa

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The combination of LNG and Africa has always been regarded with…

LNG Supply

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Willing LNG buyers in Europe look at a bleak supply picture.…

LNG – the Black Mamba principle

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LNG projects are on the expensive side but some are more expensive…

LNG – killer app for diesel

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LNG is the fuel of this century. Its clean, its feedstock is…