05-04-05 Growing demand for natural gas in the US will force reliance on an increasingly distant supply, an ExxonMobil executive said.
To meet this need, the company hopes to begin work on at least one of its proposed LNG import terminals this year, said Mark Sikkel, vice president of ExxonMobil Development.

The investment reflects confidence in the long term gas market, Sikkel told the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. With energy demand growing 1.7 % a year on average, LNG imports are gaining importance, Sikkel said.
"When you consider declines of production around the world of both oil and gas, that's a lot of growth," Sikkel said. This trend is expected to continue, despite gains in energy efficiency, he said.

Growth in American markets will be met by supply from increasingly distant producers, he said. Pointing to federal data projecting rapid growth in LNG imports, he said, "We're on the very early part of this curve and a lot of work is going to have to go along to bring this to pass."
Approximately 40 LNG terminals have been proposed for the US and Sikkel told Dow Jones that common projections anticipate seven to ten new terminals will be built. Expeditious permitting by government agencies is needed to speed the process of terminal construction, Sikkel said.
"We feel really good about the things we're pursuing along the Gulf Coast," Sikkel said.

The region's demand is boosted by a large industrial complex as well as pipeline connections to other regions, he said.
But building an LNG import terminal like the one ExxonMobil has proposed north of Sabine Pass, Texas, requires a high level of confidence in the long-term natural gas market, Sikkel said.