PM pushes 15 Bn gas deal with the US... All now hanging in the balance with Governor Arnold Beefcakenegger... The PM raised the issue with Vice president Dick Cheney-of-Halliburton at a private lunch yesterday.

From our caring ABC

Motorists urged to avoid Sydney CBD during Cheney visit

The New South Wales Transport Minister, John Watkins, says Sydney residents should avoid the CBD this weekend, because the visit by US Vice-President Dick Cheney is still causing major disruptions.

Mr Cheney is meeting Prime Minister John Howard today to discuss Australia's troop commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Watkins says traffic will be disrupted until tomorrow.

"We are again advising people to remain out of the CBD over this weekend, certainly until Sunday morning if that is at all possible," he said.

"There will be traffic interruptions because of the required security arrangement as the Vice-President moves around the city.

"That will be happening a bit today and also tomorrow morning on his way to the airport."

There will also be delays on several rail lines in Sydney this weekend, as track upgrade work takes place on the city circle.

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Gus: so... one old crummy gun-toting warmongering profiteer is worth several million Sydneysiders trying to carry on usual... Brother!

see cartoon above in the earliest incarnated drawings of Dick-is-there-a-buck-in-it-let's-attack-Iran...

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From our ABC

Cheney hints at possible military action against Iran

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has stepped up pressure on Iran, hinting that military action might be taken, if diplomacy and tougher UN sanctions against the country fail to deter it from its nuclear program.

 

Behind Veneer, Doubt on Future of Natural Gas

By IAN URBINA

Energy companies have worked hard to promote the idea that natural gas is the fossil fuel of tomorrow, and they have found reliable allies among policy makers in Washington.

“The potential for natural gas is enormous,” President Obama said in a speech this year, having cited it as an issue on which Democrats and Republicans can agree.

The Department of Energy boasts in news releases about helping jump-start the boom in drilling by financing some research that made it possible to tap the gas trapped in shale formations deep underground.

In its annual forecasting reports, the United States Energy Information Administration, a division of the Energy Department, has steadily increased its estimates of domestic supplies of natural gas, and investors and the oil and gas industry have repeated them widely to make their case about a prosperous future.

But not everyone in the Energy Information Administration agrees. In scores of internal e-mails and documents, officials within the Energy Information Administration, or E.I.A., voice skepticism about the shale gas industry.

One official says the shale industry may be “set up for failure.” “It is quite likely that many of these companies will go bankrupt,” a senior adviser to the Energy Information Administration administrator predicts. Several officials echo concerns raised during previous bubbles, in housing and in technology stocks, for example, that ended in a bust.

Energy Information Administration employees also explain in e-mails and documents, copies of which were obtained by The New York Times, that industry estimates might overstate the amount of gas that companies can affordably get out of the ground.

They discuss the uncertainties about how long the wells will be productive as well as the high prices some companies paid during the land rush to lease mineral rights. They also raise concerns about the unpredictability of shale gas drilling.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/us/27gas.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

 

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In November, Australia became the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), overtaking the small Arab nation of Qatar, that has over recent years been the world's top producer, the latest data from Refinitiv Eikon shows.

According to the data, Australia shipped out 6.8 million tons of LNG last month against 6.2 million tons exported by the Qatari producers. Australia's LNG exports surged by more than 15 percent compared to the previous month, while volumes of the liquefied fuel shipped by Qatar dropped three percent, marking the first decline in four years.

“It may have come later and at a higher cost than originally envisaged, but Australia has taken the crown,” said Saul Kavonic, energy analyst at Sydney-based Credit Suisse unit, as quoted by Reuters.

“Qatar, of course, will respond and we expect a new wave of projects to be launched which will see Qatar regain its position as the leading exporter by the early 2020s,” Neil Beveridge, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, told the agency.

“We are expecting this to be temporary and that Qatar will likely produce 6.5 million tons in December, meaning it will again be the largest exporter,” Wood Mackenzie analyst Nicholas Browne said, citing maintenance as the key reason for the drop in November.

Last week, Qatari Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi announced that the nation will quit the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in January 2019. According to al-Kaabi, Qatar, which currently exports around 600,000 barrels per day of crude oil, is planning to focus on developing its natural gas sector.

Qatar is expected to increase its annual LNG output from the current 77 million to 110 million tons as soon as in 2024. To achieve the goal the peninsula state is planning to add a fourth LNG production line.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/business/446074-australia-world-biggest-lng-exporter/

 

 

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