STEPPING up to take China’s place at the centre of global oil-demand growth is the rest of Asia, led by India’s ballooning economy. The world’s third-largest importer of crude could also become an important market for liquefied natural gas.
A new energy paradigm readies for take-off
THIS year, if all goes to plan, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg will be the first pilots to circumnavigate the world in a solar-powered plane. Solar Impulse 2 will be the only aeroplane of perpetual endurance, able to fly day and night without a drop of fuel, thanks to its thin-film solar cells, clean energy motors and super-efficient batteries.
A fungible tangible
IT RIVALS iron ore as the world’s second-biggest traded commodity – after oil – yet the liquefied natural gas trade remains opaque and illiquid. This is about to change, irking the supermajors that have monopolised the long-term point-to-point business for decades. LNG is coming of age as a commodity.