 International interest on the Debate on Natural Gas - 07/07/2008 09:22:32 |
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• Chaney: ‘Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) constitutes a cost-effective method to monetize otherwise stranded gas reserves’.
• Stenning: ‘Marine transport of CNG is a safe and reliable solution’.
• Economides: ‘The CNG solution seems particularly attractive for the case of Cyprus due to the size of the island and due to fact that Cyprus’ neighboring countries are natural gas producers’.
The Debate on Natural Gas, organised by SFS Group attracted the interest of economic operators from Cyprus and abroad. A great number of stakeholders from Cyprus as well as economic operators from the U.S.A., Russia, Singapore, Israel and Greece attended ‘The Debate on Natural Gas: The facts’, organised by SFS Group to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Three distinguished scientists analysed the advantages of CNG.
Mr. Patrick A. Chaney, Market Sector Manager at Gas Ships American Bureau of Shipping, talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the transportation of CNG compared to that of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). He pointed out that there is a large number of smaller gas reserves around the world that do not warrant the expense of extraction and liquefaction. Therefore, Mr. Chaney claimed that CNG constitutes a cost-effective method to monetize otherwise stranded gas reserves’. LNG is more suitable for cases where the distance of transport exceeds 2,500 kilometres.
At his presentation entitled ‘Marine CNG – a safe, reliable and economic alternative for regional markets’, Mr. David Stenning, CEO of Sea NG Corporation, a company with a global network for the transportation of CNG, pointed out that a significant advantage of CNG over LNG is that ‘any plants that may be installed by Cyprus would be of a low cost compared to those of LNG’.
Dr. Michael Economides, Professor at the University of Houston, one of the top analysts on energy issues in the U.S.A., talked about ‘CNG Marine Transport in the Mediterranean and Cyprus’. Dr. Economides stressed out that the compression, transportation and decompression procedure of natural gas has lower fixed and operational cost compared to those for LNG. He also pointed out that the installation of CNG plants and vessels will take less than two years. Dr. Economides suggested that ‘The CNG solution seems particularly attractive for the case of Cyprus and for other Mediterranean countries as well, due to the size of the island and due to fact that Cyprus’ neighboring countries are natural gas producers such as Libya and Egypt’.
At his welcome address, Mr. Christodoulos Ellinas, CEO of SFS Group, explained that SFS Group initiates the dialogue on natural gas mainly because ‘all statements and reviews, contradictions and juxtapositions that we have heard until today have not contributed to the sound, calm as well as round and unbiased information of the public’. Mr. Ellinas reaffirmed the Group’s interest to involve in the transportation of natural gas, both in Cyprus and the wider Mediterranean basin. ‘As a natural gas carrier, we should not normally be interested in the form of the natural gas to be imported that is LNG or CNG. However, we believe that there is no room for any frivolous moves or short-term approaches to such serious issues’, Mr. Ellinas said. |
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