Pipeline from Sicily? Labour prefers tankers from Algeria: and look what Bloomberg has to say about the cost
This is from a Bloomberg report in February last year:
Record demand for liquefied natural gas is causing the decade-long glut of vessels that carry the fuel to disappear, doubling freight rates and at least tripling profit for shipping lines Golar LNG Ltd. and Exmar NV.
(…)
While owners of oil tankers and coal carriers are slowing down, anchoring ships and scrapping them because rental rates have been unprofitable, gas ships are sailing at the fastest speeds since at least 2008, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Average spot LNG tanker rates will about double to $70,000 a day this year, the highest since 2007, according to Martin Korsvold, an analyst with Pareto Securities AS in Oslo, whose ratings on Golar earned investors an 87 percent return in six months.
“High-growth economies such as China and India are using more and more natural gas and Europe is using more LNG for environmental reasons,” said Zach Allen, president of Pan Eurasian Enterprises Inc., a Raleigh, North Carolina-based company tracking gas shipments.
“It will benefit the LNG tanker owners more than anyone else because there are really very few additional tankers coming on line.”
(…)
Increasing profit is encouraging owners to sail vessels faster, with the average speed of the fleet increasing to 13.4 knots last week, from as low as 12.1 knots in July, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s also spurring them to stop idling tankers. There were an average of 51 anchored last week, down from 91 in June, the data show.
(…)
“We are not seeing a huge expansion on the LNG fleet side,” said Jorn Bakkelund, an analyst with RS Platou, an Oslo- based shipbroker and investment bank. “That’s what separates LNG from most of the other shipping segments.”
The LNG tanker fleet has a total of 347 vessels. There are 26 new ships on order, equal to 10 percent of the existing capacity of the fleet, according to IHS Fairplay data.
Part of the reason is the expense in building the vessels. An LNG ship cost about $210 million in March, compared with $99 million for a supertanker and $57 million for a capesize, according to the UN.
Gas carriers need equipment to hold about 155,000 cubic meters of liquid that expands to 95 million cubic meters in gas form, equal to about 25 percent of peak daily winter demand in the U.K., Europe’s biggest gas market.
LNG tankers are often the only option to connect producers and consumers. All pipeline projects into Europe combined wouldn’t be enough to meet anticipated demand, according to Clarkson. Qatar, the biggest LNG supplier, is about 5,000 miles away from Japan, the largest consumer.
“By 2020, we will need another 100 ships and by 2035 the fleet has to double,” said David Glendinning, president of Teekay Gas Services, a unit of Hamilton, Bermuda-based Teekay Corp. that provides LNG transport for energy companies and utilities.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-16/lng-tanker-rates-seen-doubling-as-ship-glut-disappears-freight-markets.html
Even more recently
http://www.shippingherald.com/Admin/ArticleDetail/ArticleDetailGas/tabid/120/ArticleID/7965/LNG-Shipping-Rates-Seen-Rising-as-Scarce-Vessels-Restrict-Trade.aspx
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130118/local/former-enemalta-engineer-says-gatt-caused-loss-of-favourable-gas-investment.453676
Does a dark cloud follow Minister Gatt around, or is he simply not fit for purpose. I am beginning to lean towards the latter.
At some point, the Minister should have had the balls to assume responsibility for the various mishaps that happened under his watch. The budget would have been approved and the chances of the Labour buffoons winning the forthcoming elections would have been nullified.
[Daphne – That story was published originally (and certainly in the print edition) without the basic reporting requirement of getting Gatt’s side of the story, even though the story was all about him. It has since been updated – but too late, when damage has been done already.]
‘… Eni would construct and own the pipeline and no capital expenditure was required from the Malta side. A gas supply contract for 25 years was proposed,” he says.
This was before EU funding could be considered. No strategic quandaries there.
Doesn’t it also force the suspicion Labour’s already committed to a deal?
Ing. Pace is one of the best and greatly respected by the engineering community.
Minister Gatt was eminently fit for purpose. In my opinion, the issue about the new power station is being used as a strategy by the PL in order to sidetrack more pressing issues and to make people forget about the good lifestyle they enjoy and about the transformation brought about by the PN in Government, of which Minister Gatt was a prominent and able and leading member.
I really think the PN should be harping on the various projects carried out in the country, such as the lift at the Barracca and the long road leading to Marsa and the City Gate project, to mention just a few – even by using an iPAD if need be on TV as was done so effectively by Tonio Fenech.
As if saving Euro100 on electricity bills in the year can even begin to compare with massive investment in education, health and employment, with the dozens and dozens of embellishment projects carried out by the PN and with the economic and financial stability in the country when other countries in the region are floundering all around us.
Pulling out all the stops – http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130118/elections-news/free-childcare-for-working-parents.453768
Yes, but Konrad is considering all options ministru.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d0zy_iwbDs
If, as they are saying, we would need two ships per month the cost would total $3,360,000 annually.
[Daphne – On what basis are you calculating the days? Do you actually know how long the trip is?]
How nice to see we have all these experts on gas etc.
At least I can now find someone to fix my gas heater because it’s refusing to work. I suspect it’s been listening to Tonio saying how dangerous gas can be.
[Daphne – Heater repairs: 9924 5880. He’s very good. Mine are paraffin, but I’m quite sure he works on gas heaters too.]
Xi hsibtha Malta, Silvio?
You asked for it, Silvio. Watch it, sweetie, her bite is lethal. I suggest you take on another with less guts.
I liken the debate on PL’s proposed new power station to a chess game where one of the players, the Labour Party, is receiving advice from people who have no idea how pieces move on a chess board.
PL’s advisors do not know anything about how gas markets operate, just like they do not know that the Knight cannot move like it were a Queen.
PL’s advisors do not appreciate the time required for the various studies and permits, just like they do not know that the King can only move one square at a time.
PL’s advisors do not understand the cost and time required to build a power station, the gas storage tanks and the supporting infrastructure, just like they do not know that the Bishop cannot jump over pieces.
I really cannot understand why people keep on discussing how gas would be brought to Malta when it is a no-brainer that tankers are not an option for all the reasons mentioned, not the least cost.
This is further compounded by the fact that a gas pipeline would probably be part financed by the EU and is without a shadow of a doubt the best option, albeit needing more time to implement and commission.
Labour had to go down this route to have a credible timescale for the introduction of cuts in the utitility bills, but that was part of the sales pitch. Labour WILL reduce the utility bills by 25% and I have NO DOUBT it will keep it’s promise, but the project that they are professing will not see the light of day, at least not in this grand scale.
What will happen is that Malta will probably go for a second interconnector, and replace Phase 1 of Delimara with a more advanced and more powerful gas-fired power station. We need 500 mega watts at maximum peak so we can look at 650 mega watts maximum peak for 15 years down the line.
So two power stations (Phase 1 and 2 at Delimara) and two interconnectors will provide this outout, plus we will forcibly have 10% power provided by alternative energy by 2010, by which time a gas-pipeline would have been linked with minimal storage requirements. Eventually Delimara by itself would be able to cope with demand with the assistance coming from the interconnector when the need arises.
These childish squabbles are really useless.
It is a fact that Malta needs to change over to gas and also that we must have 10% alternative energy sources by 2010. At least there should be consensus on this issue and in this way we can finally address four issues in one go: lower the rates, produce cleaner energy, comply with EU directives and finally start repaying back money owed by Enemalta!
PL have said they will adopt the budget but voted against it, showing extreme greed as everyone knew the election was on the door step.
Following this non-required havoc Malta’s long term sovereign credit rating was downgraded to BBB+, just above junk.
What I cannot understand why, Labour is blaming it on the government?
It’s true Malta has a high governmental debt burden but let alone with the additional investment of a power station and additional discounts to the prices of water and electricity. How are we supposed to decrease this burden and work towards achieving a better rating?
It is definitely not the case of working towards the interest of the Maltese Island especially, the Maltese people.
L-aqwa li ‘Malta taghna lkoll’.
I hope the Maltese voters understand what they will be getting the nation into before choosing to change government.
In relation to oil and Algeria:
http://blogs.ft.com/nick-butler/2013/01/18/algeria-and-the-implications-of-terrorism/
Being MEPA Board member and a MEPA employee, Roderick Galdes is the Labour politician who is most knowledgeable on planning permits and environmental assessments.
He did not come out to support Konrad Mizzi’s claim that a current EIA for the site can be reviewed in four or five weeks. Nor did he come out to support PL’s claim that all necessary permits will be obtained within six months.
Why the silence, Roderick?
Have you not noticed that nobody in the party is allowed to speak out unless told to?
And if you are told to speak out and you miss you get fired or sent to purgotory to get recycled.
Anglu Farrugia case 1, Tony Abela case 2 – the next one?
So now (Sunday: It-Torca) we know that the gas terminal will probably be built by Qatar, with a 25-year fixed price or tied with the price of gold (remember the Russian ships for which we received peanuts), with Chinese labour against all European norms (probably a secondhand Chinese gas power station) – so forget the interconnector (the Sicilians are objecting),and forget the gas pipeline (they will ‘object’ even more), out of the Euro, out of the EU, and may somebody also see the Maltese ‘contractor’ on the horizon now?