UK, Belgium LNG imports soar to record, PanEurasian says

Liquefied natural gas imports into the Western European market by the UK and Belgium probably reached a record this year as new plants in Qatar boosted supplies, a consultant said.

The UK’s purchases in October probably reached an all- time high of about 870,000 metric tons, or equivalent to about 40 billion cubic feet of gas sent into the grid, PanEurasian Enterprises said in an e-mail. Belgium’s terminal at Zeebrugge may send out as much gas in October as a record set earlier this year, according to the report.

The opening of the South Hook LNG terminal in Milford Haven, plus the Dragon terminal nearby, has changed the landscape of UK LNG imports, according to the report. “This will most likely be a record year for operation of the Zeebrugge terminal.”

New projects in Qatar, Yemen, Peru and Indonesia, which together may add about 30 percent to current output, may start producing at full capacity next year. Proposed LNG capacity of about 130 million tons a year exceeds uncontracted demand of 80 million tons in the Pacific rim over the next decade, Sanford C. Bernstein said last month.

Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil Corp. own stakes in South Hook. BG Group Plc, Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and Rotterdam-based 4Gas own Dragon.

The UK purchased about 750,000 tons of LNG in 2008 while Belgium imported about 1.8 million tons, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review of World Energy June 2009.

The U.S. may consume as much as 445 billion cubic feet of LNG this year, the lowest since 2004 barring 2008, as new LNG supplies went to Western Europe, according to the report.

Low natural gas prices in the U.S. compared with other developed areas such as Europe and Japan prompted suppliers to avoid the world’s biggest energy consumer.

Supplies to Europe have also risen because the bulk of European gas is indexed to oil prices, influencing the UK gas benchmark, it said.

(Source: Bloomberg)

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