North America braces for 'tsunami' of LNG imports: analyst
platts.com
Houston (Platts)--27Jan2004
North American is bracing for a "tsunami" of liquefied natural gas imports,
which will have a profound impact on the continents gas market structure,
according to speakers at an LNG conference in Houston Tuesday. "There's a
tsunami of LNG tankers approaching North America," said Hill Huntington,
executive director of the Stanford Energy Modeling Forum, at the fourth annual
LNG Economics & Technology Conference. With approximately 40 projects on the
drawing board to bring LNG into North American markets, Huntington said,
"There is a potential to overbuild." David Sweet, executive director of the
International LNG Alliance, said that non-traditional gas sources will rapidly
increase as a proportion of the total gas market, while supplies from more
traditional supply basins will contract or stay flat. According to some
estimates, LNG and arctic gas combined will account for 20-25% of the US gas
market by 2020, he said. |
