Listen to Paul Simon’s “The Sound of Silence” and you hear the words of a teenager coming to terms with the disconnect between the world his parents promised and the real world yet to come. In the LNG market, there’s a similar generational divide. A business built on long-term contracts, rigid trade patterns, and the promise of substantial growth potential is being met with a more skeptical outlook, one in which a large amount of incremental LNG supply has been locked up but serious questions remain about LNG demand. As we discuss in today’s RBN blog, an entire generation of LNG supply is being built on the presumption of selling it for $10/MMBtu or more, but a shortfall in demand growth could leave it selling for considerably less. And if that happens … sunk-cost economics, here we come.
Bio:
Ira Joseph is a Senior Research Associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Until 2022, he was the global head of global generating fuels and electric power pricing at S&P Global Platts, with over 30 years of experience in the sector. Prior to his pricing role, he was global head of Gas and Power Analytics at Platts. Ira joined S&P Global Platts during the acquisition of PIRA Energy Group in 2016, where he started the firm’s European Gas and Power and Global LNG services in 1999. Before PIRA, he worked at Energy Intelligence Group, where he was the editor in chief of World Gas Intelligence and authored versions of the International Crude Oil Handbook and the original Global Gas Handbook.
Ira Joseph is a Senior Research Associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Until 2022, he was the global head of global generating fuels and electric power pricing at S&P Global Platts, with over 30 years of experience in the sector. Prior to his pricing role, he was global head of Gas and Power Analytics at Platts. Ira joined S&P Global Platts during the acquisition of PIRA Energy Group in 2016, where he started the firm’s European Gas and Power and Global LNG services in 1999. Before PIRA, he worked at Energy Intelligence Group, where he was the editor in chief of World Gas Intelligence and authored versions of the International Crude Oil Handbook and the original Global Gas Handbook.
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