Lloyd`s Register has today released the results of its extensive research into the LNG market. Talking at the LNG conference The role of LNG in North American and Caribbean gas supply in Washington DC, Lloyd`s Register said that between 27 and 75 new LNG ships will be needed to satiate the demand for LNG over the next decade in the US market alone.
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>From EIA site US Natural Gas Markets. May 2001.
LNG Trade
After nearly doubling in 1999, LNG imports continued their robust growth in 2000 to a total of 220 billion cubic feet, a 35-percent increase over 1999. Trinidad and Tobago and Qatar surpassed Algeria for the first time in 2000 as suppliers of LNG to the United States. Trinidad supplied 96 billion cubic feet of LNG, or 44 percent of total LNG imports in 2000, and Qatar supplied 46 billion cubic feet of LNG or 21 percent. Algeria continued to be a major supplier of LNG among the eight nations that export LNG to the United States, with exports totaling 44 billion cubic feet or 20 percent of all LNG imports.
In 2000 the continental United States had two operational LNG receiving terminals, at Everett, Massachusetts, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. Imports into Everett totaled 99 billion cubic feet in 2000, an increase of 3 per-cent over 1999. Almost 81 percent of the imports received in Everett came from Trinidad, primarily under long-term arrangements. The Lake Charles facility received 124 billion cubic feet, an increase of almost 85 percent over 1999. Many of the shipments to Lake Charles were spot purchases. Algeria delivered to both facilities, primarily under long-term arrangements. Expansion of LNG imports is expected in the near future as two other mothballed U.S. LNG receiving facilities are reopened for imports. Although the Cove Point LNG facility in Maryland has not received any shipments since 1980, it is filing an application with the FERC to resume importing LNG in 2002. The Elba Island termi-nal near Savannah, Georgia, has received clearance from the FERC to resume its LNG import activities and is expected to begin receiving shipments in 2002.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy, Natural Gas Imports and Exports Fourth Quarter Report 2000, DOE/FE-0428 (Wash- ington, DC).