The European natural gas market has been in crisis this winter, with prices skyrocketing north of $100/MMBtu recently. Tight supplies, low storage levels, and a new gas-supply-security issue sparked by the war in Ukraine has many European nations, especially Germany, embarking on a crash course to increase supplies and diversify away from Russian gas imports. In this quest, increasing gas supplies in both the short- and long-term is a top priority and will require substantially more LNG capacity to replace — and eliminate the need for — Russian gas. With Europe’s gas-supply urgency on the rise, long-dormant prospects for exporting LNG from Canada’s East Coast are being re-examined. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the potential for repurposing the region’s only LNG import terminal into one that is geared toward exports.
Canadian crude output is rising, requiring new export routes. As traditional pathways face constraints, the U.S. Rockies—especially the Guernsey, WY hub—are emerging as key corridors for moving Canadian heavy crude to downstream markets, including the Gulf Coast.
With Europe importing as much as 40% of its natural gas from Russia, the recent collapse in Europe’s economic and energy relationship with Russia over the war in Ukraine has forced Europe to rethink its sources of gas supply. With the goal of quickly reducing its dependency on Russian gas — and with Europe’s domestic natural gas production in a slow, steady decline over the past decade — the continent has quickly shifted gears toward increased imports of LNG as a means of achieving that goal. Earlier this month, we gave readers a sense of what might be involved in You Don’t Own Me.
Although Europe has been importing LNG for many years, the surge in European natural gas prices this winter due to extremely tight supplies and the perception that Russia was deliberately withholding gas deliveries created havoc in the global LNG market. As a result, many cargoes from the U.S. and other LNG-exporting nations were diverted from lower-priced destinations in Asia to import terminals in Europe, as we discussed in Upside Down. However, it quickly became abundantly clear that a larger, longer-term fix would be needed to secure more LNG if future global price surges were to be avoided or minimized.
To this point, the German government announced in late February that it was rapidly pursuing the development of up to three new LNG import terminals along its North Sea coastline to diversify away from Russian gas, which accounts for 60% of Germany’s gas consumption, and ensure that gas acts as a bridge fuel during the energy transition to renewable fuels. Not wasting any time, a memorandum of understanding was signed March 6 between a German state bank and a Dutch gas utility for the construction of at least one terminal near Brunsbüttel, on the North Sea near Hamburg, with hopes that the facility can begin importing LNG as early as 2024.
Join Backstage Pass to Read Full Article
About the song
“You Still Believe in Me” was written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher and appears as the second song on side one of The Beach Boys’ 11th studio album, Pet Sounds. It was the first song that Brian Wilson and Tony Asher collaborated on. The pair of Wilson and Asher were also responsible for the bobby-pin-plucked piano string intro to “You Still Believe in Me.” The song was recorded between October 1965 and February 1966 at Western Studios in Hollywood, CA. Personnel on the record were: Brian Wilson (lead vocals), Brian Wilson, Marilyn Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston (backing vocals), Hal Blaine (bicycle horn, finger cymbals, percussion), Carol Kaye (electric bass), Lyle Ritz (acoustic bass), Glen Campbell (electric 12 string guitar), Barney Kessel (electric mando guitar), Al de Lory (harpsichord), Steve Douglas (acoustic grand piano), Bill Green, Jay Migliori, Jim Horn, Plas Johnson (clarinet), and Julius Wechter (bicycle bell, Timpani).
Pet Sounds was recorded between July 1965 and April 1966 at Western Studios, Gold Star, Columbia, and Sunset Sound in Hollywood. Released in May 1966, the album went to #10 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It has made every list of the greatest albums of all time. The LP was produced by Brian Wilson a year after he quit touring with The Beach Boys. His goal with Pet Sounds was to create “the greatest rock album ever made,” a cohesive work with no filler material. It was a revolutionary album in the field of record production, with Wilson elevating the role of artist/producer within the music industry. Three singles were released from the LP.
The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, CA, in 1961 by brothers Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. They have released 29 studio albums, eight live albums, 55 compilation albums, 23 EPs, and 71 singles, and have sold over 100 million records worldwide. The Beach Boys are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The Pet Sounds album is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and preserved in the Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Dennis Wilson died in 1983. Carl Wilson died in 1998. Brian Wilson still tours as a solo artist, and Mike Love, accompanied by touring musicians, still tours under The Beach Boys name.
