Monday 11 December 2017

Natural gas golden age becomes golden bubble

Natural gas golden age becomes golden bubble:

"The “golden age of gas” has not turned out quite as the forecasters and the gas producers who promoted the slogan a few years ago expected.

Gas was supposed to be the irresistible fuel of the future. After the disaster at Fukushima, nuclear power stations across Japan were closed and natural gas imports surged with the result that prices in the north Asian market more than doubled, at times touching $20/mmbtu. Gas was the safe, reliable fuel and it was cleaner than coal – making it the obvious replacement as the world became more serious about tackling the risks of global warming and climate change.

In addition, what was traditionally mainly a pipeline business within three regional markets was being made global by LNG – the process through which gas is liquefied and then transported to distant markets in tankers. A thriving world market was in the making. To meet the promised growth in demand much greater volumes would be needed – and that led to a rush of investment in highly expensive LNG projects."



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