A major user of natural gas for chemical production has added to criticism of the Department of Energy’s report on the economic benefits of US LNG exports, saying it gives insufficient attention to the benefits of gas use in domestic manufacturing (OGJ Online, Dec. 6, 2012).

Increased natural gas exports would broadly benefit the US economy, a Dec. 3 report commissioned by the US Department of Energy concluded.

The marketing arm of OAO Gazprom reports an LNG carrier it holds under charter successfully delivered last month the first LNG cargo via the “Northern Sea Route,” that is, over the top of Europe to Asia via seas usually icebound (OGJ Online, Jan. 9, 2012).

Petronas Carigali Canada Ltd. and Progress Energy Resources Corp., Calgary, owners of what they have now named Pacific Northwest LNG, said Dec. 4 they have moved the project to pre-FEED following a successful feasibility study.

A joint venture of Noble Energy Mediterranean, Delek Drilling LP, Avner Oil & Gas Exploration LP, and Ratio Oil Exploration LP has reached agreement with Australian company Woodside Petroleum Ltd. on terms under which Woodside can buy into the 349/Rachel and 30/Amit licences offshore Israel that contain the Leviathan gas field.

Pangea LNG (North America) Holdings LLC, Ingleside, Tex., has begun seeking approvals to build an LNG export plant on Corpus Christi Bay in South Texas.

Levant LNG Marketing, a unit of Pangea LNG BV, has concluded a cost-sharing agreement with Israel’s Tamar Partners, Tel Aviv, that marks progress toward the export of LNG from Tamar and Dalit fields 60 miles off Israel in the Levantine basin.

Malaysia LNG Sdn. Bhd., a production unit of Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas, has awarded the Linde Group, Munich, a contract to build a midscale LNG plant within the Bintulu LNG complex in Sarawak, East Malaysia.

Skangass AS, Stavanger, has awarded a $57 million engineering, procurement, construction, and installation contract to Linde Group, Munich, to build an LNG import terminal at Lysekil on the west coast of Sweden about 62 miles north of Gothenburg.

Nexus Energy Ltd. of Melbourne wants to sell down some of its 17% interest in the Crux gas-condensate field in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia.