EIA study confirms.

Gas Utility & Midstream - Operations and Strategy
Anti-LNG group uses EIA, state studies as ammunition against import terminals
December 24, 2008 3:01 PM ET
By Toni DeSalvo

New energy projections from federal and California agencies show "the LNG speculative bubble is over," according to San Francisco-based Ratepayers for Affordable Clean Energy.

The group, which is opposed to the construction of LNG import terminals on the U.S. West Coast, cited a recent report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that said natural gas imports will decline from the current 16% to only 3% in 2030. The difference will be made up in increased domestic natural gas production, the EIA said in an early release to its 2009 Annual Energy Outlook. The full report will be available in early 2009.

Also, according to a staff presentation from the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission, the state's natural gas demand will remain flat until 2030. The only LNG import terminal currently serving California, the Costa Azul facility in Baja California, Mexico, will not receive "significant deliveries," the commissions said.

"These projections make clear that the West Coast does not need LNG," Rory Cox, California program director at Pacific Environment and coordinator for RACE, said in a Dec. 22 statement. "LNG was an inappropriate choice to begin with, and it remains so."

Dan Serres, conservation director at Columbia Riverkeeper, said the new projections are a game changer. "LNG is now off the table as a wise investment choice," Serres said. "The current LNG proposals are now just moving forward under nothing but their own momentum."