WORLD WATCH
Add Brazil to the ranks of the world's LNG importers. Petrobras received its first cargo from Trinidad this week, and executives at Petrobras are discussing tentative plans to install a third LNG receiving terminal, which would be supplied with LNG from Brazil's offshore fields. Petrobras expects its natural gas production to increase rapidly from its giant new subsalt fields. Brazil's first LNG cargo arrived in northeast Brazil on Tuesday at a floating LNG storage and regasification vessel. Petrobras is working on a second LNG receiving facility at Guanabara Bay in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which will receive its first cargo in 2009. BG and Royal Dutch Shell have both signed flexible supply deals for three years. The LNG is mainly destined for power plants when hydroelectric power dwindles in the dry season from May to October. Conveniently for Brazil, northern hemisphere demand for natural gas is generally lower then. Lisa Viscidi, New York |
