LNG Growth | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
“World Oil” cites a recent report by Global Data which projects global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) capacity more than doubling by 2019. Current capacity of 341 million tonnes per year (mtpa) is expected to grow to 811 mtpa based on projects already scheduled for construction.
This global trend is led by unprecedented growth in North America where 32 liquefaction plants with a total throughput of 287 mtpa are scheduled through the end of the decade. Additional capacity is anticipated in Africa, Europe and Asia. Growth in the U. S. is driven by unconventional (shale) gas production. In spite of long regulatory approval processes, and massive investment, the persistence of operators is about to pay off.
Since 2009 domestic shale operators have eyed international LNG markets and their premium prices. At that time British Gas (BG) entered into a joint venture with Exco Resources and began the process of building the Chenerie liquefaction facility. The move to LNG exports has continued to gain momentum worldwide with total investment in liquefaction projects of $700 billion underway, half of which are in North America.
Concurrently, global investment in regasification is expected to grow by 50% by 2019 to 60 trillion cubic feet (tcf) with a capital investment of approximately $34 billion. $20.6 billion of this regasification investment will be in China and India to increase capacity by 7 tcf by 2019. An additional 1 tcf of regasification capacity is also anticipated at the massive Cantaxx LNG import terminal in the U. K.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to http://www.worldoil.com/news/2015/8/13/north-america-spearheading-rise-in-lng-liquefaction-capacity-growth .
