An explosion of natural gas from shale is swamping the market with an abundance of new gas, upsetting investment models for LNG terminals and making gas cost-competitive with coal. More at The Hill.

LNG or liquefied natural gas is natural gas that has been temporarily converted into a liquid. This is done to save space – 610 cubic feet of natural gas can be converted into a single cubic foot of LNG. Converting natural gas into LNG makes it easier to store and easier to transport where pipelines are not available. More at Geology.com.

An article on the Bloomberg.com website reports that demand for LNG (liquefied natural gas) is growing rapidly in China and India.

Competition between different forms of gaseous fuels might increase in China as coal-bed methane, conventional natural gas, shale gas and LNG sources compete in the marketplace. More at the Business with Wall Street Journal website.

Jamaica has been considering an LNG regasification plant since 2001. Now abundant natural gas from shale and other sources appears to present a future with reliable supplies of low-cost natural gas. More in the Jamaica Observer.

The number of countries with LNG plants is growing. According to BusinessWeek, Hunt Oil completed an LNG plant in Peru with a capacity of 620 million cubic feet per day.

An abundance of natural gas in the Louisiana-Texas-Arkansas area has prompted Cheniere Energy to consider building the first LNG (liquefied natural gas) export terminal in the conterminous United States. More at Businessweek.com

EOG Resources is buying the shares of Galveston LNG, a company that hopes to build an LNG plant on the northern coast of British Columbia. EOG is also holds a major stake in the Horn River Shale Gas Play in the same area. More in an article at Reuters.com.

An article on the Reuters website explores the potential response of the LNG industry to the new abundance of natural gas from shale plays that are developing in many parts of the United States and throughout the world.

“EIA expects U.S. net imports to be slightly higher in 2010 as a projected decline in pipeline imports is offset by lower exports and higher imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). While cold weather across the northern hemisphere has helped absorb some of the new LNG supply that has recently come on-stream, U.S. LNG imports are forecast to increase by nearly 0.8 Bcf/d over last year in the first quarter 2010. For 2010 as a whole, U.S. LNG imports are forecast to increase by about 45 percent (or 0.56 Bcf/d). As global LNG demand and import capacity expand next year, EIA expects U.S. LNG imports to show little year-over-year growth in 2011. ” Quoted from the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook.

Increasing production of natural gas from shales around the world is changing the dynamics of LNG markets and has put pressure on Gazprom, the European gas giant. More in an article on the Business Insider website.

In addition to the large amount of natural gas being produced from shale several huge LNG projects expected to ship their first gas in 2014 and 2016. More in an article on the Gerson Lehrman Group website.

Imports of LNG to the continental United States rose 29 percent or 100 Bcf in 2009 to a total of 452 Bcf, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy. Five countries supplied U.S. LNG imports during the year: Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, Norway, and Qatar. More…

In an article on the Journal of American Enterprise Institute website, Max Schultz, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute argues that new methods for producing natural gas (horizontal fracking) and new methods to distribute the gas (LNG) are going to transform the use of energy worldwide.

An article on the RigZone website reports: Although California has an improved natural gas supply situation, the state senate is still considering bills that relate to new LNG facilities that might come to the state.