Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

This article makes an important point. Although we are fighting the ‘Oil Wars’ the demand for gas is expected to grow twice as fast as oil.

I have previously posted. Thus our invasion of oil rich Iraq has triggered a massive arms buildup throughout the world, many of which are nuclear, as countries scurry to defend themselves in anticipation of the imminent Oil Wars and the establishment of the New World Energy Order. #msg-2479385

Case in point, Nigeria, who is ramping up gas projects.

Nigeria being a smart nation and watching what has happened to Iraq and other oil and gas producing countries immediately sets out to buy nuclear weapons…...from Pakistan.

Ooops wait…it seems this was all a miscommunication. The stunning claim that a top Pakistani General, currently visiting the country, had offered its armed forces "military assistance, including nuclear power" was reversed within 12 hours with the official spokesman, Bellu Nwachukwu, explaining away the original reference to "nuclear power" as a "typographical error". And none of this would have happened if the people from India and Pakistan would only speak slower.

Well…..I’m relieved.


ANALYSIS-West Africa seeks its part in gas export boom
Reuters, 03.04.04, 7:32 AM ET

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Natural gas has found a new hotspot in West Africa, where a drive to develop under-exploited reserves for export has spawned a flurry of projects.

One Nigerian liquefied natural gas plant is up and running, Equatorial Guinea plans another, and four more West African gas export projects are at critical stages before approval.

Energy majors are pumping billions of dollars into the developments, which they and the host countries hope will boost revenues by tapping into an unfolding global gas market, where demand is expected to grow twice as fast as for oil.

The gas boom, which will help oil producers diversify away from crude and implement long-planned reductions in wasteful gas flaring, is led by growing demand for gas in the Atlantic basin, and pushed along by technological improvements.

"In LNG (liquefied natural gas) we have seen significant reductions in the costs of liquefaction and LNG ships," said independent gas consultant Andy Flower.

"Secondly, gas prices have strengthened, especially in the U.S., making it a potential market for West African LNG."

For OPEC Nigeria, ramping up gas projects has the added advantage of bypassing the cartel's limits on crude production growth.

And the more exports are sent to consuming regions, the more competition will reduce price pressure, as the exported gas helps make up for declining domestic production.

LNG, whereby gas is liquefied for transport by ship, has been the medium of choice for expansion.

Nigeria's Bonny Island LNG project, owned by Royal Dutch/Shell, Eni, Total, and the state run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has three liquefaction trains -- production units -- up and running. A fourth and a fifth are under construction, and a sixth is in the final stages of consideration.

Six operating trains would take production to around 22 million tonnes of LNG per year, and four million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas.

Tony Hanna, vice president for Africa at Shell Gas and Power, said little stood in the way of a final decision on the sixth train, which should be made this year.

LNG EXPANSION

A second Nigerian LNG venture near Eni's Brass River oilfield is also in the works, planned by a consortium of ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips (nyse: COP - news - people), Eni and NNPC.

The Brass LNG plant would produce some 10 million tonnes of liquefied gas per year using two trains.

ChevronTexaco's manager responsible for Africa, Larry Robison, said the project was only one or two months away from a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage, preceding a final investment decision.

Another project for a four- to five-million-tonne-per-year (tpy) LNG plant in Angola, with stakes held by ChevronTexaco, Total, BP, ExxonMobil and state-owned Sonangol, was also very near to the FEED stage, Robison added.

"They are very close to FEED. In each project there are just a couple of crucial issues that have to be cleared up," he said.

And in Equatorial Guinea, Marathon (nyse: MRO - news - people) Oil has won permission to build a 3.4-million-tpy LNG plant. The U.S. independent has said it sees potential for the Bioko Island site to rival production in the Caribbean island of Trinidad -- where there is a plant with a nine-million-tpy capacity.

Forecast demand for LNG in the United States has been a major driver in the expansion of gas projects, with the industry National Petroleum Council predicting demand growth to as much as 15 billion cubic feet (425 million cu metres) per day by 2025, from a current figure of less than two billion.

West Africa's situation relative to the United States Gulf Coast affords it easier access to the most prominent LNG market than many competitors. Nigerian LNG production was initially aimed at European buyers, but anticipated U.S. demand has turned dealmakers' eyes westwards.

"It does go down to position," Robison said. "Just the transportation advantage is tremendous."

But he also pointed to the presence of associated liquids, which can be sold as condensate to generate extra revenue, and the relative cleanliness of West African gas relative to Middle Eastern finds, as additional advantages.

GROWING GAS DEMAND

Globally, demand for gas is seen growing about twice as fast as that for oil, at between two and three percent per year.

The gas developments are part of a wider boom that has seen Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Algeria and others building LNG capacity, while a proposed Nigerian gas-to-liquids project would join operational or planned units in South Africa, Malaysia, and Qatar.

GTL is seen as an important diversification into other fuel markets to avoid dependence on LNG.

Europe will provide the market for the proposed ChevronTexaco (nyse: CVX - news - people) and Sasol <SOLJ.J> Escravos gas-to-liquids plant. Robison said the 34,000-barrel-a-day unit, which will consume some 350 million cubic feet of gas per day, was due for a final investment decision this year.

The diesel produced would be sold into Europe on the spot market, unlike the majority of LNG, most of which is currently sold under long term agreements.

"It would be more like a crude market, where it is cargo by cargo," he said.

Locally, ChevronTexaco is also planning to build an 800-km (550-mile) pipeline connecting Nigerian gas supplies to Ghana, Benin and Togo.

West African states have a long-standing commitment to phase out gas flaring. With little or no domestic industry to use the gas produced on oil fields, most of it has historically been burnt off.

Angola and Nigeria both want to end flaring, which will allow them to boost revenues as well as reducing damage to the environment.

Early last year, Nigeria brought forward its deadline for the end of flaring to 2004 from 2008.

Nigeria has said it hopes to earn 50 percent more than its current oil revenues when projects designed to end gas flaring are completed.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2004/03/04/rtr1285996.html


Nigerian 'typo' stumps Pakistan
SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, MARCH 04, 2004 11:09:04 PM ]


Mirza Aslam Baig.

NEW DELHI: Islamabad's run of disastrous luck on the nuclear front continued on Thursday with Nigeria first making — and then withdrawing — the stunning claim that a top Pakistani General, currently visiting the country, had offered its armed forces "military assistance, including nuclear power".

The claim — made in a Nigerian defence ministry statement about the visit of the chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff Gen Mohammed Aziz Khan — was reversed within 12 hours with the official spokesman, Bellu Nwachukwu, explaining away the original reference to "nuclear power" as a "typographical error".

While its writ lasted, however, the astonishing Nigerian "typo" sent a jittery Pakistani establishment — already reeling from recent revelations about the clandestine links between Dr AQ Khan and Libya, Iran and North Korea — into a rage. "We are denying it. This is baseless. (Gen Aziz Khan) said nothing of this kind," a Pakistani military spokesman said, angrily.

Nigerian military officials told The Times of India there was no question of any nuclear cooperation with Pakistan and that there had obviously been some "miscommunication".

They said Gen Aziz Khan had boasted of Pakistan's nuclear capability in his meetings with Nigerian defence minister Rabiu Kwankaso and chief of defence staff Gen Alexander Ogumudia and, separately, had offered to help Nigeria produce defence equipment. "But somewhere, these two things seem to have got mixed up. All you people from India and Pakistan speak too fast."


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow/538067.cms