Costs Spiral for LNG Projects

Russia, Iran, and Qatar control the largest natural gas resources in the world

Iran is a basket case, and as long as the clinically insane are running the show, the country is unlikely to attract the investments in technology and capital assets it needs to transform its natural gas reserves into a tradable commodity. But Russia is apparently open to foreign investment, as long as that foreign ownership is limited to small, non-controlling stakes.

Despite all the headlines of Russia confiscating big projects started by international oil companies, the country doesn’t want them out entirely. On July 9, BBC News reported that state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, after discovering how difficult and costly it would be, is sheepishly reapproaching the companies it had kicked out of the Shtokman gas project…

Whiskey and Gunpowder