Tag Archive for: Paradigm Changes

Is LNG more expensive than pipeline gas?

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This is my last post for this year as I go into Christmas recess.…

US shale to the Caribbean

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In 2005, the Natural Gas world looked at North America to become…

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

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The mother of all battles is on in the gas industry. Don't see…

Was shale a frackin bubble?

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Those who have spent the last 10 years in oil and gas were in…

The third reign of life – clean energy from another realm

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Most of us will remember from our time at school that life divides…

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

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All those interested in Norse mythology (I am sure there are…

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

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So we have lived through the last OPEC meeting in Vienna holding…

Evolution in the LNG garden

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Modern man with all his marvels is roaming the planet because…

Where is the oil-price headed?

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If one does a long-term project, one needs good forecasts. But…

80 USD oil is not cheap

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

The demise of the dinosaurs – some parallels

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65 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the planet. They had conquered…

Peak everything is bullshit – how about peak idiots

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It's incredible how some old, bad ideas linger on in human minds…

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

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Already in 2008, Smart Grids were all the rage. Everything was…

How about lunar strawberries?

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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.

Use LNG or lose money – the example of Iran

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Let me give you some figures straight. Iran consumes a little…

The Danube river – from backwater to energy artery

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Some days ago I met an old couple from Düsseldorf in the tram.…

The shape of things to come – Methanopolis

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Robert Kennedy said in a 1966 Cape town speech "There is a Chinese…

Why shale is good for mankind but bad for the US

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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.

The taming of the shrew – vehicle owners and LNG

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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".

Leapfrogging – LNG for Africa

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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.

LNG on rails – networking fuel

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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.

Why terrorists will hate the new LNG world

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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.

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.

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.…

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.

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.

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.

LNG – killer app for diesel

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