Liquefied Natural Gas: The Law and Business of LNG

Citation

Bhattacharyya, S.C. (2012), "Liquefied Natural Gas: The Law and Business of LNG", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 273-274. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506221211242112

This revised and enlarged edition of the book comes at a time when the global gas industry is at the cross‐roads. The shale gas revolution has brought a new dimension to the gas market development, while the anti‐nuclear sentiment post‐Fukushima has renewed the interest in gas. These developments have tremendous impacts on the LNG market and the industry is passing through another wave of transformation. This timely edited volume that compiles essential legal and business information required to understand the LNG business and provides up‐to‐date information including the shale gas developments.

Written by gas consultants and legal specialists working in the gas business, this second edition will prove to be a valuable practical but easily accessible guide for all users. Like the first edition, the book will also be very useful to students who are interested in studying LNG and willing to learn about the different facets of the business.

Like the first edition, this edition fills this gap and makes a valuable contribution by providing an overall understanding of the LNG industry. However, compared to the first edition, the revised edition brings a lot of new materials.

Two chapters have been omitted from the previous edition (Chapter 2 – The Atlantic Basin LNG trade and the last chapter “The geopolitics of LNG”) and six new chapters have been added. These cover coal‐bed methane for LNG, Floating LNG, natural gas price reopeners and English law, US LNG import terminals – the perfect storm and shale gas for LNG. Clearly, the editors have considered contemporary topics that have significant influence on the industry and captured them well to increase the shelf life of the book.

The chapters which are retained from the previous edition have also been updated. This makes the new edition more informative, current and valuable for users.

A review of the chapters shows that the book thoughtfully covers the relevant topics related to the entire supply chain of the LNG business. In fact its comprehensive coverage makes the book highly relevant and gives it the status of a handbook. In the previous edition I noted the lack of a chapter on gas pricing. My wish has been granted in this edition and a new chapter covers the pricing issues in detail. In addition, the new chapters covering the potential areas of LNG growth including shale gas and coal‐bed methane clearly provide the future outlook of the industry. The book would prove to be an asset to the readers and would surely be an asset for any organisation working on current energy issues.