Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Royal Dutch Shell delayed a final investment decision (FID) on the Lake Charles LNG export project in Louisiana that had been planned for this year, International Oil Daily (IOD) reported June 29.
The deferral is the second Shell has made on a North American liquefaction project in a matter of weeks, after it delayed LNG Canada in British Columbia indefinitely earlier this month.
"In terms of FIDs for the rest of this year, I don't see any," Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told journalists on a media call Tuesday, as the company reported a more than 70 percent year-on-year drop in second-quarter earnings.
The U.S. began shale gas exports by sea this year and is projected by the International Energy Agency to become the world’s third-largest liquefied natural gas supplier in five years. Gas will challenge coal at European power plants and become affordable in emerging markets, where prices have been high and supplies limited, Bloomberg reported reffering the IEA and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Last week a cargo of US LNG landed at Spain's Murgados LNG import terminal, making it the second cargo to reach the European market since US LNG exports began at the end of February.
By 2019, the US is expected to pump out around 60 million tonnes of LNG annually, according to Reuters.