Variations in Inland Transport Regulation: a Barrier to a Competitive Global LNG Market

摘要

LNG trade traditionally existed as an industry dominated by long-term contracts between regions of resource abundance—with excess supplies of gas—and regions of resource scarcity—with a great need for fuel. Now, a new type of landscape is emerging with the impending entry of North American unconventional gas exports. These new exports are produced and transported by sellers in the competitive North American gas market. But there is little ability for exporters to reach consumers at the other end of the journey because regulation outside of North America means that, by and large, the only potential buyers are monopolies that own the regasification facilities, the transmission pipelines, and the distribution companies. Before a worldwide gas market akin to the global oil market can emerge, a paradigm shift in gas transport regulation outside North America would have to take place. The cost of maritime gas transport would have to also decline to make LNG more attractive than local unconventional gas production.