Winter is always an interesting time of year in the energy industry, as demand spikes and any shortfalls need to be addressed. This winter has already seen demand for liquid natural gas (LNG) imports and exports rise to levels not seen in years.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, the UK began this winter heating period with low long-term stockpiled levels of LNG, due to issues both at home and abroad. The recent cold weather brought an expected increase in demand across Europe and the UK’s economic situation made UK LNG more attractive to foreign buyers. New deals are also being signed to supply more LNG to the UK to prevent any threat of a shortfall going forward.

The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) are increasing their investments in LNG exploration, production and pipelines to nearly double their annual output to around 180 billion cubic metres (bcm) by 2020.  This comes against a backdrop of low oil and gas prices, a cut in overall investment in the industry and losses recorded so far this year.  Whether the move away from oil towards gas is driven by environmental or economic factors is unclear.

With the development of major new European gas pipelines, 'small scale' operations are often overlooked.  Spain, despite not producing any LNG themselves, is the biggest exporter of LNG in Europe.  This is due to their capability to reload it for small, medium and large applications in large multimodel terminals.  Truck loading has played a major part in Spain's share of the export market and in 2015 35,000 trucks were loaded with LNG which represents 80% of the EU's truck loading traffic.  Coincidentally, transport is also providing a growing market for LNG as increasing numbers of trucks and ships are powered by it.

As oil and gas companies across the Caspian Sea region have seen profits fall dramatically due to the collapse of the price of oil, many are letting their profits fall further by investing funds in projects to increase their production levels. Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkmenistan are all looking to increase their gas production due to a variety of factors including foreign investment and extra export capacity.

In the UK, researchers estimate that £25 billion of natural gas is metered using an orifice plate. Vital decisions are made based on this data so it is essential that it is accurate.  The international standard, ISO 5167, ensures consistency in equipment and calculations to improve the accuracy of these measurements. Now, in new book, Dr Michael Reader-Harris of flow measurement consultancy NEL, part of the UK measurement infrastructure responsible for the management of the UK National Standard for Flow Measurement, gives operators a greater understanding of the physics and research that underpins the standard.