Once in a great while the San Diego paper will carry an update on the status of LNG projects taking place on the west side of the Baja Peninsual in Mexico. I believe that the gas comes from Australia or thereabouts, and that it does not become economical to liquify it and transport it across the ocean unless the enterprise can be expected to yield a good return at the end.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20021107-9999_1b7lng.html Firms line up for LNG projects in Mexico By Diane Lindquist UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 7, 2002 HOUSTON ö Mexico is moving as fast as possible to approve liquefied natural gas projects, according to a top government energy official. Since the country published an emergency rule for LNG development on Aug. 2, several companies have filed for permits to build re-gasification projects, said Alejandro Bre–a, director of the Mexican Energy Regulatory Commission's natural gas division. Most want to build in Baja California, from Tijuana to Ensenada, he said. So far, only Marathon Oil Corp.'s application has been accepted. Other applications have been returned to the firms with requests for changes, Bre–a said last week at the Center for Business Intelligence's Mexican energy conference here. He declined to identify the companies seeking permits. Another commission source said, however, that Sempra Energy, which plans an LNG project near the Bajamar golf resort about 50 miles south of San Diego, is among the firms that have filed applications not yet accepted. "If the companies meet all the requirements, we perhaps will be able to issue the license within about six months," Bre–a said. "We hope most will go online between 2006 and 2007." The issuance of the rules moved the projects a step closer to reality. Some of the world's biggest energy companies are competing to turn the northern Baja California coast into a receiving area for natural gas imported from Asia or South America. The border location gives them the possibility of selling natural gas in the United States as well as in Mexico, where population growth is outpacing energy supplies. Most of the companies intend to sell the fuel in California, where energy supplies have fallen short in recent years. The projects are expensive wagers. Building a plant to convert liquefied fuel back to gas, storage tanks, docking facilities and pipelines can cost $500 million to $1 billion. The price of establishing an entire supply chain from distant natural gas fields to the fleet of tankers needed to transport it can reach $1 billion to $6 billion. "An LNG terminal will be the major infrastructure accomplishment of the Fox administration," said George Baker, an executive with the research firm Mexico Energy Intelligence, referring to Mexican President Vicente Fox. Because Mexico has no liquefied natural gas terminals, it needed to create rules for the facilities. The rules are not the final regulations under which the facilities will be built and operated. Instead, they're part of an emergency measure that allows for construction of storage facilities with re-gasification equipment. "We needed to trigger these projects," Bre–a said. Without the emergency rules, he said, "we wouldn't be able to meet the energy demands of 2006 and 2007." The permanent LNG rules are expected to be issued next year. In the meantime, the companies are being given guidelines on what is needed to put together an LNG complex, which usually takes about 31/2 years to build. Neither Bre–a nor corporate energy executives would release a copy of the guidelines. The rules in the August directive are based on U.S. and European liquefied natural gas standards, Bre–a said, but they go further to protect the safety of surrounding communities. Containment tanks, for instance, must have double walls instead of the single walls required under U.S. and European rules. In addition to dealing with Mexico's federal government, the energy companies also must obtain building, land-use and environmental permits from local jurisdictions where opposition to some of the projects is strong. Projects being considered for Baja California already have encountered resistance from critics who contend the huge complexes will damage ecologically sensitive coastline and discourage tourists from going to the region's beaches and golf courses. In addition to Marathon and Sempra, other energy companies that have announced projects for Baja California include Shell Gas & Power and a partnership between El Paso Corp. and Phillips Petroleum Co. "I couldn't say which projects will get built," said Brian D. Knezeak, a global financial offer of ANZ Investment Bank. "Maybe all four. Maybe one. Maybe they'll consolidate. But there certainly is interest about LNG in Baja." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diane Lindquist: (619) 293-1812; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
