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Summary Report - 1st Quarter, 2000


The Office of Natural Gas & Petroleum Import & Export Activities prepares quarterly reports showing natural gas import and export activity. Companies are required, as a condition of their authorizations, to file quarterly reports. This report is for the first quarter of 2001 (January through March).

Attachment A shows the percentage of takes to maximum firm contract levels and the weighted average per unit price for each of the long-term importers during the 5 most recent reporting quarters.

Attachment B shows volumes and prices of gas purchased by long-term importers and exporters during the past 12 months.

Attachment C shows volume and price data for gas imported on a short-term or spot market basis.

Attachment D shows the gas exported on a short-term or spot market basis to Canada and Mexico.

First Quarter Highlights: The table below illustrates the changes in activity compared to the first quarter of 2000.

Canadian Imports

LNG Imports

Mexican Imports

Total Imports

Mexican Exports

Canadian Exports

Japanese Exports

Total Exports

988.9 Bcf

60.6 Bcf

5.0 Bcf

1054.5 Bcf

22.9 Bcf

47.3 Bcf

14.9 Bcf

85.1 Bcf

up 11%

up 60%

up 25%

up 13%

up 14%

up 88%

unchanged

up 42%

See details below for more information.

Puerto Rican Imports

2.8 Bcf

New Project

The Puerto Rican imports are shown in the table above, in the quarterly summary on the next page, and in Attachment B-1. However, these imports are not reflected in any of the summary totals found on this page, as the summaries are only for trade pertaining to the continental U.S.

Natural gas prices peaked in January when the average price was $8.66 per MMBtu for long-term imports and $9.72 for short-term imports. These prices declined steadily in the following two months and by March, they were down to $4.97 and $5.44, or by 42.6 percent and 44 percent, respectively.

During the first quarter, 6 importers of LNG (Distrigas Corp.; Duke Energy LNG; and CMS Marketing, Services and Trading Company; El Paso Merchant Energy, L.P.; Enron LNG Marketing LLC; and Fina Natural Gas Co.) brought in 23 cargoes from 5 different countries (Algeria, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, and Trinidad), totaling 60.6 Bcf.

First Quarter Data: Comparing first quarter 2001 to first quarter 2000 data, total imports under long-term contracts decreased. Long-term Canadian imports and long-term LNG imports all decreased. Natural gas imports under all long-term contracts totaled 264.5 Bcf, compared to 376.9 Bcf in the first quarter of 2000. Of this total, long-term Canadian imports were down 30 percent (241.8 v. 347.2 Bcf). The average price of this gas was $6.53 per MMBtu, which is $1.41 or 28 percent higher than the preceding quarter and $3.96 or 154 percent higher than the first quarter of 2000. Long-term LNG imports decreased 23.8 percent (22.7 v. 29.8 Bcf). Under LNG long-term imports, Distrigas imported 7.3 Bcf from Algeria at an average price of $5.69 and 9.3 Bcf from Trinidad at $6.76. Duke imported 6.1 Bcf from Algeria at $2.89.

During the first quarter, 97 companies used short-term authorizations to import 790.0 Bcf, which is a 42 percent increase over the first quarter of 2000 (556.2 Bcf). Of this total, 747.1 Bcf was imported from Canada at an average price of $7.31 per MMBtu, compared to 543.7 Bcf at $2.43 in the first quarter of 2000, and 621.7 Bcf at $6.25 in the previous quarter. Imports from Mexico totaled 5.0 Bcf at an average price of $6.50, compared to 4.0 Bcf at $2.36 in the first quarter of 2000 and 5.5 Bcf at $7.26 last quarter. Short-term LNG imports totaled 37.9 Bcf for the quarter, compared to 34.7 Bcf last quarter. Under short-term LNG import contracts, CMS imported 7.5 Bcf from Nigeria at $7.60 per MMBtu and 2.4 Bcf from Qatar at $2.82. Enron imported 2.6 Bcf from Trinidad at $5.79 and 2.7 Bcf from Oman at $7.42. Distrigas imported 13.2 Bcf from Trinidad at $3.89; Duke imported 1.5 Bcf from Algeria at $2.90; El Paso imported 5.4 Bcf from Algeria at $5.90; and Fina Natural Gas imported 2.6 Bcf from Nigeria at $6.31.

The following is a breakdown of short-term imports from Canada by point of entry.

Point of Entry

% of Imports

Wt. Avg. $

Eastport, Idaho

Port of Morgan, Montana

Sherwood, North Dakota

Noyes, Minnesota

Sumas, Washington

Niagara Falls, New York

Calais, Maine

Waddington, New York

Other

23

17

15

13

10

9

5

4

4

$7.62

$6.46

$7.12

$7.04

$8.31

$7.36

$7.22

$8.39

$6.89

In addition, 22 short-term export authorizations were used, exporting a total of 70.2 Bcf of gas. Eleven companies exported 47.3 Bcf to Canada, at an average price of $5.35 per MMBtu. Eleven companies exported 22.9 Bcf to Mexico at $7.81. Finally, 14.9 Bcf of LNG was exported to Japan at $4.65 (delivered).

Year to Date Data: Comparing the first 3 months of 2001 with the first 3 months of 2000, total gas imports increased 13 percent (1,054.5 v. 932.7 Bcf) and total gas exports increased 41.6 percent (85.1 v. 60.1 Bcf). Canadian imports increased11 percent (988.9 v. 890.9 Bcf). Mexican imports increased 25 percent (5.0 v. 4.0 Bcf); and LNG imports increased 60.3 percent (60.6 v. 37.8 Bcf). Exports to Canada increased 88.4 percent (47.3 v. 25.1 Bcf) and exports to Mexico increased 14 percent (22.9 v. 20.1 Bcf). LNG exports to Japan remained steady at 14.9 Bcf.

This quarter's focus report is "2000 Natural Gas Import/Export Trade: A Second Look." Any questions or comments about this report should be directed to Yvonne Caudillo at (202) 586-4587 or by E-mail at yvonne.caudillo@hq.doe.gov.

 Page owner:  Fossil Energy Office of Communications
Page updated on: February 18, 2004 

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