Come with me if you wanna live …

The last couple of weeks were a real rollercoaster. When I went into my summer recess, I had the intention to clean up and streamline the portfolio of projects that I worked up for the last 5 years. Pursuing everything at once clearly stretches…

The industrial revival of North America

Last week we have seen that COVID-19 might have been the wake-up call the world needed. It is most certainly not the cause of our current economic woes. Those have their roots decades back in the past. The remedy is a re-industrialization…

The awakening of the zombie

Early in 1981, a man walked into a village in Central Haiti. He walked up to a peasant woman and identified himself as her brother Clairvius. The woman did not believe him as there was one problem. Clairvius died 18 years earlier and was buried.  If…

Fueling the skies

In the second blogpost of the space series, we have seen that methane is likely a dream come true for spacefarers. Because when it comes to fuel, two things are important. Easy and cheap production of a lot of it. And ease of storage. We…

With LNG to the stars

In 1768, the french author François-Marie Arouet, also known under the nom de plume Voltaire, composed a verse epistle. He addressed it to the anonymous author of The Three Impostors. Voltaire felt like he needed to reply to this virulently…

The problem with fueling rockets

The last few years have gotten us in touch with new, radical green groups that seem to seek mankind's return to a pre-industrial state. Sometimes one would be forgiven to assume that some of those radicals want to expel humans from Earth.  If…

Russia is trying to save what cannot be saved

I love quotes and of all quotes, those from Nicollo Machiavelli rank among my favorites. There is hardly any subject I can write about that would not find a fitting quote from the man.  "For the initiator has the enmity of all who would…

Is the current oil market mayhem beneficial for shale

Wow, the last couple of weeks have been on the very wild side for any oil and gas person. Frankly, I know some old-timers in O&G and even they say that none of them has seen anything similar in about half a century. So, this is the end-time.…

LNG for free – who can take it?

Ever since the very first cargo of LNG was shipped a little more than 60 years ago by now, the entire LNG world was dominated by the notions of reliability and financial safety. The dogma is that LNG terminals and ships are very big investments.…

The first LNG Market Maker

Late in 2008, the foundational agreements for the GATE terminal were in final negotiation. For the first time, a multiuser regasification terminal strictly separated the owner/operator from the capacity customers. We often met in small teams…

Terra Methanum – the methane machine

In early summer 2019, the scientific world was elated. They thought that they had found an unmistakable sign of life on Mars. The Mars rover Curiosity detected significant concentrations of methane in the atmosphere of the planet. Methane…

The wonderful world of methane 2

So, what will the new breed of methanopreneurs be hatching under their wings? Short answer - I don't know. Yes folks, even I don't know the future. Not even one second into the future. But even if we cannot predict the force and direction…

The wonderful world of methane 1

Another year comes to a close. We all have a good hard look back at our past sins. Let's not quite do that right now as it's the now and the immediate tomorrow we should be concerned with. Because things are quite a bit different now than…

Europe – from LNG’s killing fields to its innovation hub

During the 1950ies, the energy world started to understand that something useful had to be done with Natural Gas. It was a by-product of nearly every oil well and as it could not be put to good use most of the time, it was flared. Environmental…

The LNG seesaw is out of whack

In part 2 of this series, I have described the events that have led to the situation we are in now.  Oversupply. Oh no, I am really downplaying things now. It's not way more than simple oversupply.  This is the mightiest, most impressive,…

LNG – Banishment from paradise

Anyone studying the history of humankind from its beginnings to this very day will reach a point where he wonders what makes humans tick. Many times, a collectivity, a state, a people reaches a point of relative wealth and well-being. They are…

The original sin of LNG

Every business person - secretly - dreams of controlling a monopoly.  They want everyone to beat a path to their respective doors to buy whatever is on offer. For the price and on the conditions they decide. It's a natural urge. The realist…

LNG – The nature of the beast

The greatest enemy that any human ever faces lies within oneself. It seems to be the most fundamental of all human natures. Our shallowness. Our love for the simplified.  Our fear of our true selves. Few persons ever face their inner…

Gas Rails – The next level of LNG distribution

Who invented railways? Easy, you say. It was the Brits when the Industrial Revolution started to get into high gear. And it revolutionized land transport.  For the first time, moving big and heavy objects was possible as a part of normal…

Oil Farming

Herbert Hoover is one of the most misunderstood presidents of the United States ever. His presidential term took a very negative turn due to the fallout of the world economic crisis. He took the reigns of the country right after that fateful…

The end of effortless oil

German literature knows the expression “Schlaraffenland”. A rough and dirty translation into English would be  “the land of milk and honey”.  German literature and fairy tales used it to describe a fictional land. Everything exists…

Is it smart for the US to export LNG

Oscar Wilde once observed that there are two tragedies in life:  one is not getting what one wants; and the other is getting it; Developers of new, unsanctioned US-based LNG terminal projects are in a bind. And I don't blame you…