For more details, please call Dalton Perras at +1 617 866 5101

Service Benefits

This service provides objective, independent research that can help your organization

• Understand the global gas market fundamentals and driving forces to provide a sound basis for gauging the future possible scenarios for the LNG industry.
• Develop strategies, and benefit from analytic support for long-term investment decisions in E&P, midstream LNG and trading assets,
  and sales agreements.
• Identify arbitrage and purchase/sales opportunities.
• Distinguish between long-term global trends and short-term regional conditions.

Future Research Themes: Big Questions

Members receive strategic reports that address questions of critical importance to the global LNG industry:

• Is gas a growth business for international oil companies (IOCs)?
• Home or abroad? Where will major industry players look to invest in the face of the economic crisis?
• How will the relationship between IOCs and national oil companies develop?
• Can Australia develop as “next Qatar”?
• What is the impact of the technological revolution?
• Is there a global gas price?
• How long will the buyer’s market remain?
• What will be the future relationship between gas and oil prices?
• What does the growth of North American indigenous supply mean for global LNG trade?
• What is the impact of the green agenda on the gas industry, and what are the long-term implications for demand?

Recent Research

• Breaking the Link: Winter 2009 NBP Outlook. New LNG regasification terminals will allow the United Kingdom to import up to 30 percent of its winter demand, up from 15 percent in 2008. At the same time there has been reduced demand, particularly in Asia; increased unconventional production in North America; and significant global liquefaction capacity additions—all of which have increased the volume of spot LNG looking for a home in the Atlantic.
• Global Gas Surplus: How Will the Industry Deal with Oversupply? The global natural gas industry is suffering from the triple whammy of reduced global gas demand, growth in unconventional gas in North America, and the long-anticipated surge in global LNG supply. Now a global gas supply bubble has emerged.
• Shale Gas Outside of North America: High Potential but Difficult to Realize. The resource potential for shale gas outside of North America is vast. The continuing growth in gas demand and issues concerning the security and diversity of natural gas supply are shaping the next chapter in the unconventional gas story.
• Where Is the Global Gas Price Floor? A “triple whammy”—a dramatic decline in global industrial demand for natural gas and electricity, an expected surge in LNG supply, and an unexpected surge in North American unconventional gas supply—has resulted in much lower natural gas prices. Knowing that a fundamental rebalancing of the global gas market will take several months, the question increasingly being asked is, How low could global natural gas prices go?
• Global LNG: No Immediate Return to Balance. The current significant LNG supply overhang is driven by the “triple whammy” of decreased gas demand, increased liquefaction capacity, and significant growth in North American shale gas. This overhang is expected to endure through the next couple of years. IHS CERA has extended our global projections through 2012 and sees balance returning to the market, assuming that liquefaction utilization returns slowly to a historical range.
• Global LNG: Cryogenic Storage Steps into the Breach. The global gas surplus is weighing down prices and has put the spotlight on storage. Meanwhile the large investments in LNG of recent years—liquefaction, shipping, and regasification—have increased the amount of cryogenic storage available, providing an extra buffer against the surge of LNG supply. Indeed much of the new LNG receiving terminal capacity is operating as storage rather than regasification.

Research Deliverables

Periodic Reports

• Semiannual Market Watches focus on short- and medium- term outlooks
  • Updates to IHS CERA’s 5-year Outlook, including
    • Global LNG supply-demand balances by quarter for
      one year ahead
    • Global availability and call on shipping one year ahead
    • Emerging industry trends, upcoming investments, and strategic insights
• Market Briefings focus on the short-term markets (8–10 times per year)
  • Globally integrated quarterly LNG supply-demand balances
  • IHS CERA outlooks for benchmark global gas markets and
    term and spot prices
  • IHS CERA outlooks for shipping capacity and fleet utilization
  • Global gas inventory stock levels and movements
  • Projected netbacks to key hubs
  • Evolution of spot trade

Strategic Reports
Research driven by the service’s Big Questions, which have implications for corporate leaders, investors, government policymakers, and energy users. The answers to these questions will set the stage for future strategy in the LNG industry. Published as Private Reports and Decision Briefs.

Data Center

• IHS CERA’s liquefaction and regasification capacity inventories, listing plants, capacities, potential commissioning dates, and ownership
• Long-term LNG market supply and demand
• Estimates of short-term vs. contractual LNG deliveries

Access to LNGAnalytics, IHS CERA’s online interactive tool providing critical information and economic analysis of the global LNG business through a unique combination of comprehensive data, forward-looking IHS CERA projections across markets, and project economics analysis tools.

Access to research staff

Multimedia conference calls help clients interpret key trends and market developments

Events: Advisory Service members may participate in exclusive client gatherings fostering interaction among senior-level decision makers and IHS CERA experts. Membership includes seats at IHS CERA’s Executive Roundtables held each spring and fall. Members may also attend CERAW^_EEK , featuring IHS CERA’s Executive Conference and related events, held annually in Houston, for a reduced fee.