Energy demand is expected to grow further. Given increased environmental concerns, natural gas will have a heightened role in the future. In 2006, natural gas constituted 22.9% of the global energy mix and this is forecasted to increase annually by 1.6%. The industry will need to tap unconventional resources primarily from CSG reserves.

Given the high cost environment seen in the industry in recent years, coupled with the current global economic recession, delays in FID decisions will mean a tight market situation post-2014. Therefore, it is important that the CSG to LNG proponents surmount the inherent challenge of developing the unconventional resources to meet the growing market needs.

An LNG development carries with itself commercial and technical challenges across the integrated chain. With the added intricacy of developing large scale CSG reserves, it is very important that the CSG to LNG proponents understand the complex nature of an integrated LNG development.

The development of Malaysia LNG (MLNG), MLNG Dua and MLNG Tiga in Malaysia and ELNG in Egypt involved a total of 10 LNG trains equating to approximately 32 Mta of volumes. PETRONAS offers 30 years experience in developing large scale integrated LNG projects from wellhead, pipelines, liquefaction and re-gasification facilities.

Although the techno-commercial understanding of the integrated LNG project is a must-have, what cannot be ignored is the need for a well co-ordinated collaboration among all key stakeholders, between the individual project developers, the community, LNG customers, and, importantly, the authorities, in order to enable the economic benefits to be shared.