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Come with me if you wanna live …

The last couple of weeks were a real rollercoaster. When I went…
September 8, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Summer Recess

2020 has turned out to be a weirdly exciting year for all of…
July 14, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The industrial revival of North America

Last week we have seen that COVID-19 might have been the wake-up…
July 7, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The awakening of the zombie

Early in 1981, a man walked into a village in Central Haiti.…
June 30, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Fuelling the skies

In the second blogpost of the space series, we have seen that…
June 23, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Better than pie in the sky – Venus

Thanks for all the feedback I got on this space series so far.…
June 16, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

With LNG to the stars

In 1768, the french author François-Marie Arouet, also known…
June 9, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The problem with fuelling rockets

The last few years have gotten us in touch with new, radical…
June 2, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Russia is trying to save what cannot be saved

I love quotes and of all quotes, those from Nicollo Machiavelli…
May 26, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Cherrypicking reference periods

2011 a new mountain pass was discovered in the Lomseggen mountains…
May 18, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Is the current oil market mayhem beneficial for shale

Wow, the last couple of weeks have been on the very wild side…
May 12, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Why the world needs a Trump

The last decade has seen a veritable explosion of new superhero…
May 5, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The Compliance Industrial Complex

Whoever has been to South Africa and really engaged up close…
April 28, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

LNG for free – who can take it?

Ever since the very first cargo of LNG was shipped a little more…
April 21, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Will the OPEC++ oil deal do any good?

If you are an oil and gas professional I want you to make a little…
April 14, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Border Adjustment Tax – Control Knob for Free Trade

Last week we saw that unchecked free trade leads into the abyss…
April 8, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

How free shall trade ever be

In nature, it often happens that two organisms form a mutually…
March 31, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

How COVID-19 will reshape energy

In 1347, a ship of the Genoese merchant fleet arrived in Messina…
March 24, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Warming waters …

I grew up with tales of aliens that had visited Earth in ancient…
March 17, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The 5th Climate wave

Years ago, a friend of mine wanted to perform a financial transaction…
March 10, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

A flawed world economy laid bare by COVID-19

In 1955, the then North Korean leader Kim Il Sung gave a speech.…
March 3, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Show me – the problem with evidence

On May 8th, 1978, the Austrian/Italian Reinhold Messner and his…
February 25, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The wrath of the Tsar

Every group of people has its stories, fables, and prejudices.…
February 18, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

There is (an old) a new sow in the village …

In the beginning - there was light. Many creation myths have…
February 11, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Escaping Potemkin

In 1783, the Russian ruler Catherine the Great toured her new…
February 4, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Helios – The weather machine in the sky

My hometown Vienna currently experiences the coldest time of…
January 28, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The first LNG Market Maker

Late in 2008, the foundational agreements for the GATE terminal…
January 21, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Terra Methanum – the methane machine

In early summer 2019, the scientific world was elated. They thought…
January 14, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

Is wine a good proxy for temperature changes

To all those reading my articles for the first time, a word of…
January 7, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The wonderful world of methane 2

So, what will the new breed of methanopreneurs be hatching under…
January 1, 2020/by Rudolf Huber

The wonderful world of methane 1

Another year comes to a close. We all have a good hard look back…
December 25, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

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

During the 1950ies, the energy world started to understand that…
December 17, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The LNG seesaw is out of whack

In part 2 of this series, I have described the events that have…
December 10, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

LNG – Banishment from paradise

Anyone studying the history of humankind from its beginnings…
December 3, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The original sin of LNG

Every business person - secretly - dreams of controlling a monopoly.…
November 26, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

LNG – The nature of the beast

The greatest enemy that any human ever faces lies within oneself.…
November 19, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Gas Rails – The next level of LNG distribution

Who invented railways? Easy, you say. It's the Brits when the…
November 12, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Life after reliable energy

In April 2009, the History channel aired the Pilot for the series…
November 5, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The smallest LNG lobbying organisation does the heavy lifting to change excise taxes in Austria

The year is 2019 A.D. The energy world is entierly occupied by…
October 29, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

A bigger planet – Fossil free transport

In 1873, Jules Verne published his most acclaimed novel. “Around…
October 22, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Electric Anarchy – Life without fossil fuels

Imagine you had demanded world leaders 10 years ago to stop using…
October 15, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Oil Farming

Herbert Hoover is one of the most misunderstood presidents of…
October 8, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Who stole my dreams

About 24% of the world's population are children. This means…
October 1, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

NOPEC’s last battle

In October 1973, the member countries of the Organisation of…
September 24, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The end of effortless oil

German literature knows the expression “Schlaraffenland”.…
September 17, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The Holy Church of Climatology

In May 1969, almost exactly 50 years ago, the Soviet space program…
September 8, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The gas of life and the climate

I was a bookish child. While others honed their skills on the…
September 3, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Taking the heat

I was 18 years old when Robin Williams hit my awareness level…
August 27, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The new American age

What comes to mind when thinking of ancient civilizations? Yes,…
August 20, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Is it smart for the US to export LNG

Oscar Wilde once observed that there are two tragedies in life: 

…
August 13, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The road to hell is paved with discarded business models

15 years ago, North America was any LNG seller's wet dream. It…
August 5, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Statistics

 In 1906, the North American Review published Mark Twain’s…
July 23, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Damned lies

About 180 years ago, the great Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen…
July 14, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Lies

In 1920, an Italian immigrant tricked thousands of New England…
July 9, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

The fallacy of external costs

The International Monetary Fund released a new report on fossil…
July 2, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Sleeping in the pendulum clock

The funny battle against so-called zero-emissions vehicles
In…
June 25, 2019/by Rudolf Huber

Destination Clauses – Japan got it all messed up

Anyone following the current flurry of activity in the Asian…
April 17, 2017/by Rudolf Huber

LPG producers – act now or go away forever

About two years ago I was deeply involved in some LPG project…
March 26, 2017/by Rudolf Huber

Could Russia be importing US LNG soon?

Yeah, I know what you are going to say when reading the title.…
January 15, 2017/by Rudolf Huber

Who will pull the curtain on the first gas-electric 18 wheeler/excavator/locomotive

This article is more than 1000 days old and has been remastered.

Lads,…
January 8, 2017/by Rudolf Huber

Is LNG more expensive than pipeline gas?

This is my last post for this year as I go into Christmas recess.…
December 19, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The Ethane conundrum

Some time ago, I have written about the LPG tidal wave that hits…
December 11, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

There is a monster waiting for OPEC – and it’s not shale

So, OPEC has finally shown that they mean business and decided…
December 4, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Open letter to President-elect Donald J. Trump

Dear President-elect Donald J. Trump,

This letter might be…
November 27, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Distributed electricity Generation with LNG

This blog post was written a long time ago and it was sort of…
November 21, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

How energy communism has gotten us into this mess

My year 1988 was dominated by my mandatory spell of military…
November 14, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The book of Elon

So, Elon has announced what he wants Tesla to do over the next…
November 6, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The Qatar LNG backflip

Look wherever you want, you are swamped by stories on the LNG…
October 31, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Can LNG prevail against the dark side of energy

LNG is clean and hence destined to be part of the world's war against coal. Japan bucks the trend as it increases coal consumption and reduces LNG.
October 25, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Why some trading and smart contracts don’t make LNG hubs yet

Everyone who has touched upon trading - as the term is understood…
October 18, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Just imagine OPEC reduces supply and nobody cares

OK, we got it by now. In an unfathomable show of splendor, OPEC…
October 12, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

US shale to the Caribbean

In 2005, the Natural Gas world looked at North America to become…
September 27, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Methane 3.0 – or should we say LMG

After wood, coal, oil and its derivatives, it's methane gas that…
September 18, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Does Russia have the gas Europe needs

It’s one of the most commented topics of the last couple of…
August 28, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

We must suffer – from here until Methanopolis coming

After the collapse of communism in 1989, Fukuyama famously predicted…
August 21, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

When will US LNG Terminals switch off

Now that even the most bull-headed traders have understood that…
August 14, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

We see the LNG supply – but where is the demand?

Those who have seen the first installment of the famous "Hellboy"…
August 7, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The LNG battery – better than real batteries and coal

More than 3 years ago I wrote about North America being the El…
July 31, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

An Eastern Mediterranean LNG hub

More than 2000 years ago, before the dawn of the Roman Empire,…
July 25, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Jogging on a clogged street – no more dangerous than jogging in a mountain village

Joggers know the problem. Every time you jog close to a road…
July 17, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

LNG production will become cheap – real cheap

Three and a half years ago I wrote about the Black Mamba. That's…
July 10, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Are those low oil prices the best chance Africa had in a long time?

We are halfway through 2016 and Africa looks set for despair…
July 3, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The first LNG Market Maker – born when the world was not looking

For the longest time (about a decade or so) the LNG world was…
June 26, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

LNG in South Africa

The new situation we have with comparatively cheaper LNG is sharpening…
June 18, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Why we could see less than 30 USD oil again – part 2

Last week we have seen that there is more and more oil coming…
June 12, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Why we could see less than 30 USD oil again – part 1

So, OPEC has met and decided that the world is good as it is…
June 7, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The first German LNG terminal

Looking at the North Western European coastlines one can see…
May 29, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Iran / India – an energy partnership?

Iran's sanctions have been lifted a couple of months now and…
May 24, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

South Africa’s LPG dilemma

About 2 years ago I was contacted in order to work on the South…
May 17, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

DieselGate – why the US drew first blood and how to get out

No matter how many years I blast the message to the world, nothing…
May 8, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Floating Regasification – a reality check

Many years ago, an old sea bear and meanwhile a good friend told…
May 1, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

What would happen to OPEC if it won the oil price war

We are living in weird times. OPEC floods the market with crude…
April 25, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

How anarchy works for shale oil

It's a bit obscene - for years we have watched the meteoric rise…
April 18, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

What effect would the dismemberment of Russia have to European security of Gas Supply

Here is a warning - this article is speculation as many others…
April 11, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

My lost 28 USD oil price wager

In June 2014, I made a wager with a friend (here is the full…
April 3, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Pakistan – the manacled LNG player

The last 12 months have seen 3 new LNG consumers added to the…
March 29, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Henry Hub in Europe – Gazproms magic kingdom of sunk cost simulations

The mother of all battles is on in the gas industry. Don't see…
March 22, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Fukushima and why we cling on to ruins

It's a bit late to write about Fukushima, don't you agree? If…
March 14, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Wanna get into LNG? A reality check.

Back in early 2012, I dashed down some thoughts I had with a…
March 7, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

News from the deathbed – how marginal technologies may enjoy a revival because of low oil prices

Free falling oil prices are blamed for much of the ills of the…
March 1, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

A rude awakening for NWE regasification terminal customers and operators

In the dying days of 2008, a bunch of renegade gas players congregated…
February 22, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Shale, not shallow – the ghosts of hardship

Who knows the tale of Heracles who - for a moment - carries the…
February 15, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Why the African LNG projects boom fades (will be different)

Until about one year ago, every time I went to Sub-Saharan Africa,…
February 9, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The value of the anchor customer in LNG projects

When Nigeria LNG started operations in 1999, it had become the…
February 1, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

LNG pricing – the enemy within (and the one at the door)

I am just getting out of the thick of the Central European Gas…
January 25, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Why there won’t be a rush for Iranian oil investments – just now

Poor Iranians are really in bad luck. Or are they?

Their agreement…
January 18, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

Could The Comoros be a base for hydrocarbon products to Africa

Everyone holds his breath as one of the most important hydrocarbon…
January 8, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The Energy Industrial Complex is dead

Who remembers what's this on the picture above. That's right,…
January 5, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

World – meet Methanumorphosis

It's almost 9 years ago that I was asked to perform an in-company…
January 4, 2016/by Rudolf Huber

The end of diesel

This article was written in summer 2015, before the break of…
December 21, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Drowning in LPG

Anyone checking regularly on the oil price must blush from time…
December 5, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Fighting the wrong war

It’s a staple of the green movement. CO2 is bad for the planet.…
November 23, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

The end of the oil price cycle

Since my very earliest days in the Natural Gas business, I have…
November 8, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Are diesel emissions a human rights violation?

The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) was born on September…
October 31, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Unpredictable energy markets – or just the turn of the architect

In the second installment of the famous Matrix trilogy, Neo meets…
October 24, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Persian gas for the emerging Gulf gas market

One of the first assignments I had, when I joined the gas world,…
October 17, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

LNG in Africa – LNG is not a rich man’s fuel

I have been writing about LNG in Africa for years now. Remember?…
October 9, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

For our children – and ourselves

Its more than 3 years now that I am fighting for some improved…
September 27, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

In the crosshairs – how diesel makes us mutants

We all believe that protecting the environment around us is something…
September 23, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Use it or lose it for African flares

Africa - just like many other regions on earth - suffers from…
September 15, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

The great EURO 6 scam

Now it's official. Since September 1st this year, all new diesel…
September 6, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Microbial Coal Conversion – putting lignite coal to good use

Good ideas are incredibly frequent and it’s even more astonishing…
August 30, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

My 28 Dollar WTI wager

In July 2014 I made a wager. I said that before March 2016 (don’t…
August 25, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Cold energy – how Stirling can help energy efficiency

Who knows what a Stirling engine is? Most of us won’t. Well,…
August 22, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Is your energy job safe?

A couple of days ago I had a conversation with a trader friend…
August 17, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Is shale a blessing in disguise for OPEC

How many times have I written about the implications of shale…
August 10, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

LPG in Africa – may the games commence

It is difficult not to be stunned by what happens in energy nowadays.…
August 5, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Don’t try to avoid the F-word in LNG

There is a German saying. He, who does a voyage, shall have stories…
July 19, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Iranian LNG for Europe – reality or pipe dream?

Since my earliest days in LNG, I have lived with the specter…
July 1, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Why pigs should not sing

After nearly a decade in LNG I tend to believe that I should…
June 12, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Is the Nigerian fuel crisis the mother of energy opportunities?

The news about the current Nigerian fuels crisis is already spreading…
May 29, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Micro generation – the next African mobile phone revolution

When I was exposed to Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time in…
May 25, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

OPEC’s catch 22

This is not my first post on the current oil price dilemma and…
May 15, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Could the Emirates be to the Middle Eastern gas market what the UK was to European one

In the mid Nineties, the UK transformed its gas market unleashing liberalization.…
May 5, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Was shale a frackin bubble?

Those who have spent the last 10 years in oil and gas were in…
April 24, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

The third reign of life – clean energy from another realm

Most of us will remember from our time at school that life divides…
March 29, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

AGRI and a new energy future for the Black Sea region

2011 I was briefly involved in a project called AGRI - the Azerbaijan,…
March 11, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

How to beat chicken and egg in LNG bunkering

Just imagine it’s Christmas but nobody is there. That’s a…
February 17, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

Ragnarok for oil sellers – and you thought the mayhem is over

All those interested in Norse mythology (I am sure there are…
January 6, 2015/by Rudolf Huber

The real reason for the (so called) low oil price

So we have lived through the last OPEC meeting in Vienna holding…
December 27, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The Pharaoh dimension – LNG in Egypt

One in 3 Arabs worldwide lives on the banks of the Nile river?…
December 15, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

Evolution in the LNG garden

Modern man with all his marvels is roaming the planet because…
December 7, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

Alaska LNG – no lessons learned from Australia

There is something exciting up in the north. Its big, it’s…
December 7, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

Where is the oil-price headed?

If one does a long-term project, one needs good forecasts. But…
December 1, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

LNG, CNG and electric vehicles – what’s doing what

I cannot remember how many times I had the issue on the table.…
November 24, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

80 USD oil is not cheap

I am feeling a little like in a warp bubble - don't you?

Browsing…
November 9, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The last wonderland for LPG and condensate exporters

The world of those who trade liquefied gasses and light condensate…
October 13, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The real hybrid car – not just a Prius

Since Toyota has bequeathed the Prius on us, all eyes are on…
October 7, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The demise of the dinosaurs – some parallels

65 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the planet. They had conquered…
September 7, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

Peak everything is bullshit – how about peak idiots

It's incredible how some old, bad ideas linger on in human minds…
August 26, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The smart grid lie – why the real smart grid will blow your mind

Already in 2008, Smart Grids were all the rage. Everything was…
August 14, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

How about lunar strawberries?

Humanity is capable of astonishing feats from making atoms visible to landing probes on saturnian moons. In business though, there are limits of what should be done - or not.
August 6, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

Use LNG or lose money – the example of Iran

Let me give you some figures straight. Iran consumes a little…
July 18, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The unholy alliance

In September 1815, 3 leading powers of the 19th century Europe…
July 2, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

FLNG – great technology, wrong business model

This blog is almost two years old now and I have been asked multiple…
June 23, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

We must get off Russian gas – and it’s not because of Putin or Ukraine

News on another potential Russian gas crisis is galore. Not a…
June 12, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

No filter will save us – particulate matter kills

Anyone knowing this blog and me sure knows the rationale. Diesel…
April 24, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The true price of LNG

Multiple times since I have turned into the Pitbull, I have faced…
April 22, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

Dealing with Russia – what makes sense for European gas

It is hard to ignore Russia in today’s newscast and even those…
March 24, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The Danube river – from backwater to energy artery

Some days ago I met an old couple from Düsseldorf in the tram.…
January 22, 2014/by Rudolf Huber

The shape of things to come – Methanopolis

Robert Kennedy said in a 1966 Cape town speech "There is a Chinese…
December 18, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

LNG startup companies and the investors game

No cash - no business. That’s stone old wisdom. Any LNG venture…
December 4, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

The value of bad news – only good news is toxic

Too much good news can kill an otherwise perfectly healthy project as it raises a lot of alarm bells. Those problems are not to be taken lightly and need careful planning and constant calibrating of the project. But denying that it’s there is not going to make things better as educated partners, customers, officials and investors will not miss out on it.
November 11, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Forget hydrogen – here comes biomethane

Hydrogen is often being touted the final solution to all our problems with vehicles and pollution. It does not produce CO2 (at least not directly) and for that fact alone its the darling of the tree huggers. But reality - as so very often - is much more complex. On balance hydrogen is not really the stuff you want in your tank and it comes at a very heavy price.
October 23, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Why shale is good for mankind but bad for the US

But America needs to fix its addiction to easy money and the current crisis could have been the best thing happening to the country in a long while for its curative properties. Its going to be bluntet by the shale gas boom as this puts new easy money at the fingertips of politicians.
October 14, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

America is the new energy El Dorado – what about Europe now?

America rapidly transforms from the energy problem child to become the new el Dorado. The economy is pimped by all the investment going the other side of the Atlantic. The population is blessed with much cheaper fuel and lets not forget - the environment does better than any time after World War 2. Why cant we have that in Europe?
October 8, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

The taming of the shrew – vehicle owners and LNG

LNG is a fringe fuel - or it still is because we can see it becoming mainstream very fast. The old fuelling world is staging a fierce defense battle. And they will not shy back from making it real ugly to switch. But as Victor Hugo once famously said "You can't beat ideas when their time has come".
October 1, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

The emerald factor – LNG from Colombia

Many know Colombia for its Emeralds, even more for its wild past during the drug wars. The wars are over and visitors can enjoy one of the most beautiful counties on earth again. But to the energy man, Colombia rings for its huge super high quality coal reserves. But how is coal important to a LNG man?
September 24, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

The Lala-land factor and how greens exploit it

The late 1970ies saw the rise of various green political movements in Europe. Today they are a fundamental feature of any European parliament. Ever since, they were known as those who would fight for Mother Nature and on the side for progressive politics. Do they?
September 10, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Africas energy master plans – any good in them

I have seen many of those plans and they have never worked. Not because they are African. This stuff cannot work if you put it in Europe or North America. Because grand Master plans generally are impossible to realize. They inherently lack flexibility, which is necessary to deal with unforeseen events or twists and turns in the market or the international energy scene.
September 3, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

You’ll get what you are given – attitudes in LNG sales

Its hard to get LNG if you need it - its even downright impossible if you are competing in a pipeline gas driven market. Much of the blame lies with the buyers as I have pointed out in many posts. But the sellers attitudes are not helpful.
August 27, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

The diesel engine – a driving garbage incinerator

The diesel engine is the backbone of our transport economy. But diesel is also trash. It is a formerly unwanted by product of refining oil and its the disillate closest to the bottom of the barrel which is even worse. It is a very dirty fuel that produces a plethora of nasty byproducts, all of them deleterious to human health. Its a shame that the world of the 21st century is still hooked on it.
August 20, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Leapfrogging – LNG for Africa

Many African countries are oil producers but they are also beset by frequent power outages. At the same time they flare Natural Gas in huge volumes. Infrastructure to bring that gas to power plants and then further distribute electricity is weak or non existent. That could be a blessing in disguise as the continent is on the verge of an energy revolution.
August 13, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Beyond the thunderdome – pigshit and LNG

The pigshit produces methane which keeps Bartertowns lights going and vehicles fuelled in Mad Max. That huge tapestry of pigs is the films true moment to be remembered as this is innovation at its purest. Forget wind turbines and solar panels. In the future, we will get our fuel from hog-poo.
August 6, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Whats so natural on natural gas – a contrasting juxtaposition

From 2005 until now I had a lot of time to learn about the different sources of gas feedstock for pipelines and LNG liquefaction plants. But something strange occurred to me. Why the hell do we call Earth crust derived methane Natural Gas and treat everything else as some other form of the same molecular mix.
July 30, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Natural Gas and Chaos theory – predicting unpredictability

Scientific chaos is not the same as your ordinary chaos. It simply means that it is impossible to predict exactly what will happen in all but the very simplest systems, even if every detail of its past and current conditions is known.
July 23, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

European Natural Gas prices – where are we headed

European natural gas prices are a shambles. The ones say that one can't make a living under those conditions as the price is to low for comfort.
The others say that it's to high for gas to be competitive. Who is right? An off the beaten path analysis.

A couple of things were conveniently forgotten by those driving the portfolios. First gravity - everything that goes up eventually will come down. European energy utilities and gas traders deluded themselves into believing that the Bonanza would be never ending.
July 18, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

LNG on rails – networking fuel

Road transport might offer ultimate flexibility as one can easily bring anything just about anywhere but when that flexibility is not even needed it comes at a horrendous price.
The main difference between a network model and point to point transport is that the network is a loose system of different nodal points between which lumps of whatever (in our case LNG) zip zap around. These nodal points supply smaller satellite distributors which in turn are the backbone of the supply system.
July 15, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Why terrorists will hate the new LNG world

We cannot easily say that we did not try (in homeopathic doses) to wean ourselves off our addiction to imported hydrocarbons but who wants to take a reduction in lifestyle, even if that meant financing (directly or indirectly) some people that may wish to harm us. In simple words, we gave some of those who might want to kill us money - to increase their ability to do so. Plus our presence on their lands further stoked their ire. Not really smart but a reality we seemed had to live with so far.
No more. The unconventional gas revolution has already done more for US national security than all nation building programs combined.
July 3, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Nabucco is dead – but thats what fossils are

Wouldn't it make sense to try bringing the incredible gas wealth of the Middle East and the Caspain Sea to well paying European customers? OK, back to the moment when OMV was in heavy labor, just about to give birth to the Nabucco idea. Europe was a big fat gas pie for the newly liberalized Gas market players.
The market grew to infinite proportions (at least in our wet dreams) and it was believed that no matter what volume of gas one threw at it, the market would gobble it up voraciously.
June 28, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

The coming methane age – will it ever end?

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.
June 24, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Lessons from Shtokman

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.
June 19, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

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

Those going for LNG as a fuel were always on the exotic side…
June 12, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Cheap oil is over – what that means for LNG

Cheap oil is gone, expensive oil comes in. But that changes the architecture of the energy planet more than most would like to think.
June 4, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

LNG or emulsion fuels – whats it gonna be

It's a thorny question. And not one with a clear-cut answer possible.…
May 28, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Dancing stars with hippos – flex for regas

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.
April 12, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Something is lurking beneath those waves

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.
March 20, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

We are the Borg – resistance is futile

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?
February 28, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Why shale gas is great news for LNG

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.
February 21, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

LNG is cold (when it should be cool)

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.
February 13, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

A letter from Obama

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.
February 6, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Caribbean LNG – the steel pan paradigm

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.
January 30, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Going nuclear – LNG’s natural friend

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).
January 23, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Beating the megatrains – the nimble revolution

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?
January 17, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Another option for Central Asian gas

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.
January 14, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

LNG from the US – between drivel and miracle drug

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.
January 10, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

What your experience is worth in a wormhole

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.
January 7, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Is LNG – or is it not – a commodity?

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.
January 3, 2013/by Rudolf Huber

Give to get – a winning way in LNG

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.
December 24, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

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

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.
December 20, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

Business Development in Natural Gas – get the Frontschwein out

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.
December 16, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

Behold the future and marvel

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.
December 13, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG in the Black Sea – a pipedream?

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.
December 10, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

European energy utilities are traders now – an oxymoron

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.
December 6, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

The power of pain – LNG newbies in trouble

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.
December 3, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

Are your contacts worth anything in LNG business development?

Those well-connected are supposed to be the magic cure to a rotten LNG portfolio. They are not so important, after all.
November 30, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

Frankenstein disease in LNG contracts

LNG agreements pieced together from dead contractual bodies are dangerous. Still many see them as their only source of inspiration. They can do better.
November 28, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

Gas price formulas and the Big Mac Index

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.
November 26, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG supply for Asia – fighting the Hydra

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.
November 22, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

“Sandy” and the power of distributed power generation

Superstorm Sandy has blackened out large parts of the American…
November 21, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

OMV’s Roiss speaks out for shale

OMV’s Gerhard Roiss makes the case for shale gas in Europe.…
November 19, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG cost blowout – Black Mamba bites

Sky-high CAPEX plus cost overruns and a fundamental shift in…
November 16, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG sellers will become more like widget makers

High fuel prices have caused the shale gas boom and there is…
November 13, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

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

Some companies in Europe have built up massive regasification…
November 12, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

Mr. Obama, could this be your LNG term?

Mr. Obama - you are in your second term now. There is an entrepreneurial…
November 9, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

The tone here

LNG has a mystery reputation. This is undeserved. This blog is…
November 6, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG from Africa

The combination of LNG and Africa has always been regarded with…
November 6, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG Supply

Willing LNG buyers in Europe look at a bleak supply picture.…
November 6, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG – the Black Mamba principle

LNG projects are on the expensive side but some are more expensive…
November 6, 2012/by Rudolf Huber

LNG – killer app for diesel

LNG is the fuel of this century. Its clean, its feedstock is…
November 5, 2012/by Rudolf Huber
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