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Strategies & Market Trends : John Pitera's Market Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Pitera who wrote (3591)	3/27/2001 9:45:44 AM
From: John Pitera	Respond to of 33421

I'm a secular bull on Natural Gas and this caught my attention----Bouygues Offshore: Floating LNG Plants Can be Built ------------ Thursday March 8, 1:32 am Eastern Time MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2001-- Bouygues Offshore (NYSE:BWG - news; Paris Bourse:BOS.) announced the successful completion of the AZURE R&D project for the development of floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities concepts. Bouygues Offshore was leader of a consortium of 9 European companies including M.W. Kellogg Ltd (MWKL), Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Fincantieri, FMC Europe, Gaz Transport & Technigaz (GTT; 30% owned by Bouygues Offshore), Bureau Veritas (BV), Registro Italiano Navale (RINA) and Institut de Recherches de la Construction Navale (IRCN). Five international oil and gas companies gave their technical and financial support to the project: Shell, TotalFinaElf, Chevron, Texaco and Conoco. This innovative project was performed with the support of the European Union's Thermie program. Its objective was to address all technical issues in order to demonstrate that a fully floating LNG chain, from gas well to gas distribution network, is a safe and viable industrial proposal. The 18-month work program called for designing floating liquefaction plants, floating LNG terminals and offshore LNG transfer systems. It included thorough testing of all the key components of the chain. The cryogenic storages are based on a membrane containment system, proposed by Technigaz (a wholly owned subsidiary of Bouygues Offshore) and GTT. For the liquefaction barge, two different scenarios were developed by MWKL. In South East Asia, a stand-alone gas field involving a 3 MMTPA capacity, based on a dual mixed refrigerant process cycle and in West Africa, a single processing train, involving a 1 MMTPA capacity with a nitrogen expander cycle for the liquefaction of the associated gas for a deep sea oil field. The design for the floating receiving terminal located in Southern Europe was developed by Fincantieri, while the SN Technigaz regasification process was based on submerged combustion vaporisers with a LNG storage capacity of 200,000 m3. The transfer of LNG in open seas can be performed safely in a tandem loading configuration, using the Boom-To-Tanker designed by FMC. A large scale model of this device was successfully tested, using motion data from basin tests. The project included both steel and concrete hull designs for the LNG FPSO. Chantiers de l'Atlantique developed the steel hull options, while Bouygues Offshore designed the concrete hull alternative. Safety assessment of the various facilities of the floating LNG chain was performed under the supervision of BV and RINA. The necessary safety criteria can be met by combining current engineering practices from the offshore industry with those of onshore LNG terminals. Advanced computer tools were developed by IRCN to address the liquid motion of the slack LNG storage tanks. It was found that sloshing was not an issue and this was confirmed by testing performed by GTT (liquid motion tests and impact testing on membranes). These latest developments are further evidence of the Company's commitment - and its subsidiary SN Technigaz - to its offshore LNG concepts either on floating barges or on Gravity Based Structures. From design engineering to start-up and maintenance, Bouygues Offshore provides its customers with turnkey projects in offshore-onshore oil and gas contracting, liquefied gases, maritime and river works and chemicals-refining/energy-industry. Further information on the company can be found on line at www.bouygues-offshore.com.

To: John Pitera who wrote (3591)	3/27/2001 10:06:49 AM
From: John Pitera	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 33421

LEH upped their global asset allocation in stocks yesterday and today GS has cut their European equity allocation to underweight from neutral while at the same time upping their US equity allocation. These 2 firms have a pretty big following in asset allocation circles. more on Europe: ------The euro is underwater against the dollar this morning, and while no one else is really talking about it, Goldman Sachs has decided to cut its European equity allocation to underweight from neutral, while raising its exposure in US equities. Here we can pretty much kill two birds with one stone. The lack of structural reform in the zone, which was highlighted earlier this morning by the Fed's Poole, is expected to steer the more significant reflationary flows away from Europe. Of course, the whole idea of global reflation has been on the backburner with the hawkishness of the ECB. This brings us to our other concern when it comes to Europe. The central bank's reluctance to shift its focus away from what has largely been energy-induced inflation and towards growth has not only prevented Europe from picking up some of the slack in the global economy left by the US, but has also wreaked havoc on the insulation card that has been flaunted by officialdom. While we have been screaming at the top of our lungs that the ECB needs to loosen up, and fast, we still do not expect a rate cut this week. Yes, central bank officials have toned down their inflation rhetoric, but their comments continue to suggest a "wait and see" approach. In addition, the bank is not only obsessed with inflation, but also with credibility, particularly with a currency that has been keen to demonstrate the law of gravity since its inception. With EU politicians and now both the IMF and the OECD applying the pressure for European rate cuts, the ECB seems likely to assert its independence, as it has been particularly quick to hype the fact that price stability, not growth is its mandate. -----------