Posted on 03/10/2014 12:20:28 PM PDT by Olog-hai
I will agree that ultimately, some NG exports and thus the massive infrastructures to do so will be built. But don’t you think that this is astoundingly risky if (as I understand it) fracking technology is largely unused outside of Germany? By that I mean, with fracking, we have discovered NG in dozens of places it was never suspected of being present. We both know the rabid depth of eco-freakishness in the EU, plus we know the resistance that is there for NG terminals in CONUS. So building same is likely a 5-year proposition. Meanwhile, sooner or later the Euros are likely to catch on to fracking and if you are an owner of facilities and ships on say the East Coast and NG is discovered in Europe in bulk, then overnight those facilities are surplus.
I thought it was all headed for Asia
LNG terminals in the CONUS are increasingly less problematic than, say, in 2005. Further, they are NON-problematic in Emirates and Qatar, where (believe it or not) they are still flaring natty. Given those countries' resources, you don't really expect that they WON'T build LNG terminals, do you? As a side note, pls consider that the Persian Gulf is a far, far more weather-and-tide friendly locale for LNG terminals than is the Gulf, ne c'est pas?
As to Germany, what the devil does fracking (and/or the Germans' refusal to utilise this technique) have to do with the export/import of LNG to that besotted bunch of bozos in the so-called "EU"? Hmmm? The geologists that I read, just btw, consider the likelihood of finding enormous deposits of "frackable" natty (if I may use such a term) is, anywhere other than off the Portuguese coast and possibly the near North Sea, rather lower than Merkel winning any given beauty pageant.
“What a good enterprising US company should do is to offer to bring a several fracking rigs and poke some holes on spec until they find some damn natty in exchange for some decent royalty. “
The UK is sitting on about 400 years of natural gas reserves. Unfortunately, the majority of Britons believe that fraking causes earthquakes, pollution and probably hemorrhoids, too. Mention fraking and all these gnarled, old hippies show up to frighten the Brits back into their rabbit holes. Here’s one story about the initial discovery of the gas reserves:
What can be said? Enjoy freezing in the dark...
What makes nat gas a cheap easy fuel in petroleum producing countries makes it a precious expensive commodity in non-producing ones.
Not at the moment. But dozens are under construction:
“Currently there are orders for 94 LNG carriers
with delivery dates up to 2017”
http://www.brs-paris.com/annual/annual-2013/pdf/07-lng-a.pdf
And If demand grows, supply will follow.
“and Poland imported 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas, then one tanker will provide less than 1 percent of Poland's imports.”
But one ship should easily make ~15 deliveries a year, so that's ~15% of import with just one ship transporting LNG across Atlantic. Anyway, It's not about replacing Russian import totally for the whole EU or even for some of the members but about allowing the market of trans-Atlantic shipments to develop. Russia's share in EU’s import of crude oil is nearly the same as in case of natural gas but with several thousand of oil tankers in service, there's no way Russia can use it as a tool against Europe, before reserves are gone, other suppliers could increase production and tankers can be taken of the market to transport it. Natural gas is a different story at the moment and that's a problem.
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