Natural Gas Daily

• LNG and pipeline vie to lead China gas imports
  23 May 2013 13:54 GMT
  
  
  China is importing more gas by pipeline than by sea for the first time, but new supply sources and regasification infrastructure may swing the competition back in LNG’s favour.
• Trans-Caspian talks stalled despite EU optimism
  23 May 2013 13:02 GMT
  

  Despite promotion by EU officials, plans for the Trans-Caspian pipeline appear to be going nowhere fast.

• Turkmen advances mean little for trans-Caspian
  23 May 2013 10:41 GMT
  

  Turkmenistan expects to produce between 75 and 80 billion cubic metres of gas this year, up from 70 bcm in 2012, the country’s Deputy Minister of Oil and Gas and Mineral Resources Annageldi Mametyazov said on Wednesday.

• TAP and Nabucco announce latest agreements
  22 May 2013 10:17 GMT
  

  The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and Nabucco consortiums have each made a strategic announcement over recent days as a decision looms over which of the schemes will receive first gas offtake from the Shah Deniz 2 project in Azerbaijan.

• Sinopec to enter Hebei gas market with pipelines project
  21 May 2013 11:28 GMT
  

  Sinopec has agreed with Hebei’s largest gas distributor to build three pipelines to supply the northern Chinese province, a tie-up that experts said is a challenge to China National Petroleum Corp.’s (CNPC’s) grip over gas supplies to Hebei.

• Market sounding launched for Bulgaria/Greece link
  17 May 2013 14:33 GMT
  

  The sponsors behind the Bulgarian and Greek joint venture interconnector project IGB launched a two-phase market test for the allocation of capacity this week.

• Second force majeure of 2013 declared at Nigeria LNG
  17 May 2013 12:25 GMT
  

  Yet another force majeure has been declared on feedgas supplies to the Nigeria LNG liquefaction facility, cutting output by around 50%, operator Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria announced this week.

• Shan State Army denies MOGE attack
  16 May 2013 12:20 GMT
  
  
  The Shan State Army has denied involvement in an attack on a Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise compound – which has the potential to delay operations at the China-Myanmar pipeline.
• Guanghui prepares to bring Kazakh-Sino pipeline onstream
  15 May 2013 12:38 GMT
  

  Guanghui Energy has completed pre-commission checks on an international pipeline that will feed gas from Kazakhstan to an LNG plant in west China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a company executive confirmed to Interfax on Tuesday.

• CNPC gets belated approval for Xinjiang gas grid project
  15 May 2013 12:37 GMT
  

  China’s top economic planning agency has approved the feasibility study for a major gas grid project in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region – nearly three years after China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) broke ground on the RMB 6.41 billion ($1.04 billion) project.

• CNPC reaches WEP III construction milestone
  13 May 2013 11:47 GMT
  

  China National Petroleum Corp.’s (CNPC) construction of the third West-East Pipeline (WEP III) reached a landmark last week when welding of the pipeline’s eastern segment began in central China’s Jiangxi province, the company announced on Monday.

• China’s push into Central Asian gas
  13 May 2013 11:42 GMT
  
  
  Xu Qinhua, executive director of the Centre for International Energy and Environment Strategies in Beijing and an expert on China’s foreign energy policy, speaks to Interfax about the country’s energy strategy in Central Asia and around the world
• Diversifying pressures in Ukraine
  10 May 2013 13:30 GMT
  
  
  The Ukrainian gas sector is in flux, with increasing sources of imports. And with ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in jail, the gas contract she signed with Russia appears to be benefiting her rivals.
• France – net storage injections as demand falls
  10 May 2013 11:13 GMT
  

  The requirements for restocking gas storage facilities in France are likely to put some upwards pressure on demand over the spring/summer injection season.

• A coda to BG’s sour Argentine tango
  8 May 2013 10:05 GMT
  

  Argentine state-controlled company YPF took formal control of Metrogas this week, ending an unhappy 15 years of involvement in Latin America’s largest gas distributor for UK-based BG Group.