The global market for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) these days is much like Atlantic Canadian weather – if you don’t like what you see, wait five minutes.
In The LNG Window of Opportunity: Opened or Closed?, author Angela Tu Weissenberger explains that the global market for LNG is changing rapidly as more new players enter the market. Once called a golden opportunity, staying on top of the evolving market has become critical to the success of any project.
The LNG Window of Opportunity examines global demand and supply for LNG and the changing market dynamics in North America. It considers the implications for the LNG facilities in Atlantic Canada and those proposed for the Atlantica region.
Two years ago, Weissenberger wrote LNG in Atlantic Canada: Opportunity for Regional Development, and concluded that first mover advantage was critical to the success of any of the three projects then in the works in the region.
In this latest Commentary, Weissenberger says first mover advantage is still important. However, she says there are additional complications for the economics for many terminal projects in North America.
“A key issue in the next five years is whether there will be sufficient LNG supply entering the terminals to make them economic,” she says. “The rapid evolutions of the global LNG market and supply constraints are changing the economics for many projects even as they proceed to construction.”
LNG is natural gas cooled to -160 degrees Celsius making it a liquid, and reducing its volume by about 600 times, which takes a lot less space to transport. This liquefied gas is brought by specially designed tankers from remote locations around the world to regasification plants, converted back to the gaseous state, and then pumped into pipelines to customers.
Weissenberger leads a consulting practice that provides strategic, economic, and competitive advice for market growth and access to capital. She is formerly Group Head of Global Energy Research at RBC Financial Group. Prior to her tenure at RBC, she was a natural gas markets analyst at the Alberta Department of Energy.
