- After spending hundreds of billions of dollars to transform themselves into global natural gas giants, energy companies including Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) (RDS.A, RDS.B), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Total (NYSE:TOT) and Cheniere Energy (LNG, CQP) now face the new challenge of creating more demand in an oversupplied market, WSJ reports.
- Producers are promoting the use of LNG for industrial trucking and shipping, and are considering building the power plants and infrastructure necessary to provide gas and electricity in developing markets such as South Africa, Myanmar and Vietnam.
- Companies mostly have found customers for new gas because it was inexpensive and technological innovations cut the cost of building import terminals, but many countries lack the infrastructure to import and distribute large amounts of natural gas for home heating and electricity; after building so much LNG production capacity, companies now are forced to look to such less-developed and potentially riskier markets.
- The opportunities and challenges of developing a global LNG market will be a focus for Shell, CVX, BP, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and others gathering this week in London for an industry conference.
- ETFs: UNG, UGAZ, DGAZ, BOIL, GAZ, KOLD, UNL, DCNG, GAZB
- Now read: Exxon's Strategy Looks Solid: For Now And In The Years Ahead
Original article