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US shale gas exports won’t cut British energy bills, Shell chief Peter Voser warns
Shell chief Voser says politicians are wrong to think they can import cheap shale gas from the US to reduce UK energy bills
Shell chief Peter Voser said the impact of US exports would be 'not that significant' because the added costs of liquefying, transporting and then re-gasifying the gas would mean its eventual cost was comparable to existing market prices Photo: Bloomberg News
By Emily Gosden, in Goeje, South Korea
11:26AM BST 16 Oct 2013
86 Comments
It is a “myth” that exports of cheap shale gas from America will cut gas prices in Europe and Asia, Peter Voser, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, has warned.
America is sitting on a glut of shale gas that has seen prices plummet to as little as a third of UK prices. It is now in the process of developing export terminals where the gas will be cooled for shipping abroad as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
UK politicians have hailed the prospect of Britain importing cheap gas from the US as one solution to help consumers struggling with rising energy bills as domestic gas production dwindles.
But Mr Voser said that the idea of “cheap US gas going into the rest of the world and therefore changing the pricing structures across the world” was a “myth”.
The price impact of US exports would be “not that significant” because the additional costs of liquefying, transporting and then re-gasifying the gas would mean its eventual cost was comparable to existing market prices, he said.
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Earlier this year British Gas owner Centrica struck a £10bn deal to export LNG from the US. Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the deal claiming that “future gas supplies from the US” would help provide British consumers with a new “affordable” source of fuel.
Former energy secretary Chris Huhne last month urged the UK government to pressure the US to allow more exports, which he claimed would “gradually equalize the gas price in the US with the rest of the world” and to help reduce UK prices.
US benchmark gas prices are currently about $3 to $4 per million British thermal units, having dipped below $2 last year.
However, Mr Voser said that while US gas might cost between $4 and $6 – Shell’s assumption of longer-term prices - it would arrive in Europe at a cost of $8 to $10, comparable with European prices that have averaged between $6 and $11.
Shell has repeatedly played down the prospects for shale gas development in Europe and the UK.
The oil company has shunned involvement in the embryonic UK shale industry – which the Prime Minister has also suggested will cut energy bills.
It is involved in shale gas exploration in other areas like China but Mr Voser said that Chinese shale gas would be consumed by the country’s domestic gas market and would not “alter the pricing mix and the volume in Asia-Pacific”.
Shell chief Voser says politicians are wrong to think they can import cheap shale gas from the US to reduce UK energy bills
Shell chief Peter Voser said the impact of US exports would be 'not that significant' because the added costs of liquefying, transporting and then re-gasifying the gas would mean its eventual cost was comparable to existing market prices Photo: Bloomberg News By Emily Gosden, in Goeje, South Korea
11:26AM BST 16 Oct 2013
86 Comments It is a “myth” that exports of cheap shale gas from America will cut gas prices in Europe and Asia, Peter Voser, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, has warned.
America is sitting on a glut of shale gas that has seen prices plummet to as little as a third of UK prices. It is now in the process of developing export terminals where the gas will be cooled for shipping abroad as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
UK politicians have hailed the prospect of Britain importing cheap gas from the US as one solution to help consumers struggling with rising energy bills as domestic gas production dwindles.
But Mr Voser said that the idea of “cheap US gas going into the rest of the world and therefore changing the pricing structures across the world” was a “myth”.
The price impact of US exports would be “not that significant” because the additional costs of liquefying, transporting and then re-gasifying the gas would mean its eventual cost was comparable to existing market prices, he said.
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Earlier this year British Gas owner Centrica struck a £10bn deal to export LNG from the US. Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the deal claiming that “future gas supplies from the US” would help provide British consumers with a new “affordable” source of fuel.
Former energy secretary Chris Huhne last month urged the UK government to pressure the US to allow more exports, which he claimed would “gradually equalize the gas price in the US with the rest of the world” and to help reduce UK prices.
US benchmark gas prices are currently about $3 to $4 per million British thermal units, having dipped below $2 last year.
However, Mr Voser said that while US gas might cost between $4 and $6 – Shell’s assumption of longer-term prices - it would arrive in Europe at a cost of $8 to $10, comparable with European prices that have averaged between $6 and $11.
Shell has repeatedly played down the prospects for shale gas development in Europe and the UK.
The oil company has shunned involvement in the embryonic UK shale industry – which the Prime Minister has also suggested will cut energy bills.
It is involved in shale gas exploration in other areas like China but Mr Voser said that Chinese shale gas would be consumed by the country’s domestic gas market and would not “alter the pricing mix and the volume in Asia-Pacific”.
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