Barrelperday

Global gas markets will be transformed in the next years, and this will affect Europe as well. This transformation will start on the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and this post focuses on how the market has functioned so far and what events might turn it upside down.

There is a lot of money on the table. Oil producers want to lift the oil export ban, refineries do not, so prepare for a long debate.

The US chemical industry would rather export the natural gas in the form of plastics, the greens would not export it at all, and the foreign policy lobby regards gas exports as a tactical weapon against the Russians. The jury on exports is still out, literally.

‘The United States is on the path to a cleaner and more secure energy future’. But the President does not have much to do with that.

A pipeline project is made of steel and political stability along its route. Both of these things got scarcer and more expensive in the past 10 years, while the alternatives became more abundant. Nabucco seemed to be a good idea 10 years ago. But then the world changed.

We always suspected that Russia was taking unconventional gas more seriously than it said it did. Now the government, even if at low level, is talking about the risks to Gazprom. In this piece we are looking at the potential political consequences of unconventional gas.

Gas is more abundant and cheaper than oil, and possibly even than coal. It will spread in heating and electricity production. Whether the same happens in transportation is more questionable – electricity may push out oil first. But if not, we may have a “methane economy” in a few decades. Whatever the outcome, the important […]

Currently natural gas in the US is cheaper than the subsidized domestic gas price level in Russia. Even if this is unlikely to last, gas will be cheap, significantly cheaper than oil, eventually everywhere. This is going to be a truly enermous global supply shock.  But the US will enjoy a cost advantage for years.