What Is the Current World Market Price Of Natural Gas

I am sure that not many knows how much the cost is and would like to know more about it.

Another important issue is the different type of measurement used in NGV calculation.

Natural Gas is actually gas. Gas are normally measured in either volume (standard cubic feet (scf) or standard meter cube (smc)) or in unit energy which we normaly used British Thermal Unit or BTU.

Current market price of natural gas now is within US 8 dollars to US 15 dollars per mmBTU. The mm is referred to is million.

In UK, the price now, in winter, is at US 10/mmBTU. While in Japan it is US 15 /mmBTU.

These figures fluactuate between these ranges depending on the trading down on the futures market. This is similar to that of crude oil or palm oil or gold.

How do U calculate in Ringgit Malaysia?

If the exchange rate is US 1 = RM 3.35 then the price per mmBTU is RM33.5.

Now is the next difficult question, How do convert this to liter of NGV?

Frankly I do not know the direct answer however I use my sharp mathematic sense call extrapolation.

The goverment confirmed that they are selling to our IPP at RM6.40 per mmBTU which is equivalent to RM 0.21 per liter.

So if the world price is RM33.5 per mmBTU, the world price in liter should be (0.21/6.4)X (33.5) = RM 1.099 per liter.

What is the price of NGV we are paying at the Petrol station today? Yes 0.68 sen per liter.

The different between 1.099 minus .68 = 0.419 sen is being lost of opportunity by Petronas. This is due to the fact that if they sell the same gas to other countries they will make profit from it.

Petronas will say that they subsidies the different. I personally feel that it is lost of opportunity and not subsidy.

Now let us look at how much petrol is being subsidies. For each liter the Government is subsidising RM 1.01 sen.

So if U convert to NGV you actually save our Government a total of 1.01 - 0.419 = 0.591 per liter U purchased.

If there are 1,000,000 people using petrol switch to NGV, their saving per year is equivalent to: (1,000,000 cars)X (20,000/10) X 0.591 = 1,182,000,000. Yes 1.182 billion ringgit per year.

Note the 20,000 is the estimated kilometer each car will travell in a year and the per liter the car will be able to travel to 10 kilometer.

So the conclusion is that if U convert your car today to NGV you help to save lots for the Government plus U save your bill too !!!!

Another Good Strategy By My YB

He seem to be very keen to move Petronas to put NGV as the most effective alternative fuel for the Raakyat.

On Sartuday 15th December 2007, he wrote a one page article on " NGV alternative atasi kenaikan harga petrol." in Harian Metro.

The article was in Bahasa and I cud not get them from the harian Metro website.

In this article he seem to laid down some of the basis why Petronas should give more attention to NGV for the rakyaat.

There are only 40,000 users after 23 years of implementation. The number of NGV filling stations (58 stations)is still very low causing long cues on almost all of Petronas Petrol stations with one or two dispensers installed. We should be looking at dedicated stations.

Other countries like Argentina, Brazil and Pakistan have surpass 1,000,000 vehicles while we have far away from home. Some started uning NGV just 8 years ago.

Malaysia have a huge gas reserves and producing about 2.06 billion scf and the amount used for NGV is less then 0.6% (30 million SCF).

The best points that I like to select is:

The natural gas belongs to the Raakyat. It is equivalent to drilling a water well at the back of our house and why can we offer the water to our neighbours free of charge? Is it wrong if we ask the gas to be returned to the Raakyat. We are just asking for 5% of the total amount produced by Petronas.

Just imagine if 1 million vehicle users switched to NGV. The move will save each user at least RM 2,300 a year. An the Government will save at least 16 billion a year.

In his conclusion is said: So what are we waiting for? All that we have is infront of our eyes, it is only our wish to implement or not to implement.

I guess this is another milestone to NGV implementation in Malaysia.

YB Speaks Out On NGV In the Parliment.

I am delighted that my YB raise the NGV issue in the Parliment on last Wenesday.

He pointed out that if Petronas is not keen in developing the NGV for the Raakyat let a Public sector do them.

He was very focus and put Petronas on the defensive position.

He started with pointing out that Petronas is doing enought for the Raakyat on the NGV issue and the 200 stations promised by year 2008 is not materialising as promised.

This is like making the cabinet as a laughing stock where they will carry out the instruction under pressure and they will implement the instruction at their own pace.

After five minutes on the issue, his speach was seconded by Raja Ahmad of Perak. He too agreed with my YB that Petronas is so busy with their international activities that they ignored their responsibilities to the Raakyat. His recent trip to Indonesia, he saw many NGV stations being constructed but we in Malaysia is still having one miserable dispenser per station.

One thing for sure is that the speaches were recorded in the Parliment monitoring system , Hansard, and I hope there will be some follow up after this.

I feel good but what will be next ......

Petrol and Diesel Price Hike Coming Soon !!!

Last week, after a short trip home, was invited to have a cup of coffee with a YB.

Mr YB started with his stories about his constituent and how busy he was.

Anyway my main obective was to have him listen to my idea on NGV. I hope that with the imput I have he might open his mind to bring the issue to the cabinet.

" YB, as you know the cost of crude oil is about to touch US 100 per barrel. Once it crosses that it will start to move towards US 200 per barrel".

" There is no way the Country can continue bearing the subsidies to both the Industries and the Public". " We have crossed RM18 billion and if things continue skyrocketing, we might be touching RM30 billions in Petroleum subsidies".

" Assuming our PM announced that he have little choice but to increase both the Petrol and Diesel to let say by 30% (about 50 sen a liter for RON 97), do we have an alternative to give the public to use other then Petrol?"

" The best is for the Goverment to push the use of NGV as the best alternative. If they cannot bare to pay heavy petrol price give them an suitable Alternative."

" You are well awared that the cabinet have passed a bill fixing NGV price at 50% of RON 97, so if Ron 97 goes up to 1.98 + 50 = RM2.48 the NGV price will be half of it i.e. RM 1.24."

" Yes give the public an alternative and let them decide which direction to go."

Harry, what about NGV? Do we have enought?

" YB the right answer is with Petronas. If there is no gas, how the hell they went up to China and sign a contract worth RM92 billion recently?"

" YB do U remember about that day when I had a conversation with a senior Petronas guy on my phone loud speaker and what did he said on that issue? We have enought gas to produce to sustain from now till U die and have a new life and die again and another new life."

"The issue is the cost that U are willing to pay. If the price is right we can provide U the gas." That was his conclusion.

" Right now Petronas is loosing US 1 million to every Independent Power Producer. They are not willing to supply to any new users if the price is not right."

But YB that was a silly issue for not allowing the Raakyat not to use NGV as an alternative. Petronas/Government have to sort out their problems with those IPP but they must not use that as an excuse not to help the Raakyat?

Okay if there is no subsidy, what is the cost per liter?

" One Petronas Guy indicated that the price is around RM 1.35 per liter. Now we are paying RM0.68 sen a liter. Those IPPs are paying around RM 0.21 sen a liter."

" If our PM announce the price increament I am sure what ever prive he announce will not be enought to cover the subsidies. Let say he maintain the same subsidies of RM 1.01 per liter, even the price of RON 97 is hiked to RM 2.48, the cost of NGV per liter is within the rage of zero subsidies i.e RM1.24 per liter. Only .11 sen as compared to 1.01 on Ron 97"

Now let us look at our target of getting 1 million vehicles to use NGV, the cost saving looks like 1.01 - .11 =.90 sen a liter. Every liter they can cover 10 kilometers. If each car travelled a total of 20,000 kilometer a year, the saving is 1mill X 20,000/10 X .90 = 1.8 billion.

That is a very good saving. At the same time every NGV user save half of their monthly petrol bill.

So it is a win win situation.

Why can't we get the Government to instruct Petronas to allow 5% of the natural gas to be used as NGV to the Rakyaat? Look at it as a ZAKAT.

Those natural resources belong to all of us and we elected Barisan to manage the asset. Now we are asking just 5%.

Let Petronas sell 95% of these natural Gas.

Are we asking for too much? If they cannot give 5% , give us 3%.

We understand that our reserve is getting lesser and it might last for the nest 35 years. But YB, the life of our natural resources does not depend on foreign people it is us who control them. If we look at China, they refuse to use their natural gas but prefer to import. They will only use them when they have no more sellers.

YB, Petronas is in a very powerful position to get any oil or gas fields located in a friendly Islamic country. Due to our PM being OIC head, every time Petronas people visited their office, a red carpet is laid and the best oil and gas fields are given to Petronas.

I was make to understand that, Saddam Hussein offerred Petronas an oil field that is so big that it can produce the same amount of oil produce by all the field in Malaysia combined.

In Iran, we Malaysian are only given the best Gas or oil fields to be develop.

Since we have this sweet spots with all the Islamic countries, we should not be worried the life span of our oil and gas field but how can we monopolies the opportunities given to us and at the same time share the cake with the Rakyat.

So YB, I hope U can try your utmost best to voice this issue in the cabinet and see if some one will listen to Rakyaat feeling.

Thank U

Indonesia Palm Oil Will Gravely Affect Our Global Temperature !!!

Another alert that we should consider before switching to bio diesel:


Found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7084306.stm

Palm oil warning for Indonesia

Huge swathes of Indonesia's jungles are under threatLand clearances in Indonesia to meet the growing global demand for palm oil pose a serious threat to the environment, a report has warned.

Forests are being burned and peat wetlands drained for plantations, causing huge releases of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Greenpeace said.

The environmental group warned of a potential "climate bomb" and called for the clearances to stop.

Palm oil is an ingredient in foods and a bio-fuel added to diesel for cars.
It is already controversial because it is often grown on rainforest land in South-East Asia, says the BBC's environment analyst Roger Harrabin.

But Greenpeace's "Cooking the Climate" report investigates the cultivation of the crop in Indonesian peat swamps, thought to be one of the most valuable stores of carbon in the world.

Carbon store

In normal rainforest there is much more carbon stored in microbes in the soil than in the leaves and branches of the trees.

In peat wetlands that is magnified with soils many metres deep. But these wetlands are fast being cleared and drained, causing large quantities of carbon dioxide to be emitted.
According to the report, every year 1.8bn tonnes of carbon dioxide - a major cause of climate change - are released by the destruction of Indonesia's peat wetlands.

"Unless efforts are made to halt forest and peatland destruction, emissions from these peatlands may trigger a 'climate bomb'," Greenpeace warned.

Indonesia is looking to become the world's top producer of palm oil.
But in July, environmental groups said a huge project planned for Borneo would cause irreparable harm to the territory and culture of indigenous people.

The Goverment shud Provide a GRANT of 1 Billion a Year

Dear All readers,

By year end, crude oil will be somewhere close to US100 per barrel.This will eventually hit very hard to our Government in sustaining the subsidies.In helping our dear Government I proposed that they subsidise the cost to every car owner who wish to convert to NGV either in total or part.
Currently the cost of subsidies of Petrol and Diesel is about 18 billion a year.If our government shud provide say a grant of about 1 to 2 billion to convert as many cars as possible to NGV, their saving will be huge and the grant can be recovered by charging the NGV users a fee per liter of gas pumped into their cylinder.

This subsidy idea is not new and is currently practise in Thailand.Please read this beautiful article found at:http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/11/27/2115888.htm

November 27, 2006]

RFID with NGV(The Nation (Thailand) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

Gas stations get to know wirelessly all about their customers

Don't be surprised if, in the future, when you drive into a natural-gas vehicle (NGV) station to fill up, the station knows who you are, how much gas you need, and even when your car engine needs a check-up.

With the advent of a new technology called radio frequency identification (RFID) deployed in NGV stations, NGV drivers will soon receive customised service designed especially for each individual.Nuttachat Charuchinda, PTT's executive vice president of Natural Gas Vehicles, said the company hopes to make NGV stations more intelligent, and is studying how to deploy RFID technology to enhance services at the stations.

Under the concept, NGV vehicles will be embedded with an RFID tag. Once a vehicle enters the gas station, the station, which will be equipped with an RFID reader, will read information stored on the tag related to the vehicles, including the licence plate number, the machine's number, driver information, and the price.

This way the station will know who the customer is.

He said the company was considering two models of RFID deployment: one-to-one wire line RFID, and one-to-many wireless RFID.One-to-one wire line RFID embeds the RFID reader at the nozzle, while the RFID tag is on the car's gas pipe.

When the service attendant puts the nozzle into the car's gas pipe, the RFID tag will be detected immediately by the RFID reader wirelessly.



One-to-many wireless RFID has the RFID reader embedded in each NGV station, while the RFID tag is on the car's windshield. Once the car enters the station, the reader will automatically detect and identify the customer.

He said both models would allow the station to know the customer, and which types of NGV gas each customer uses.Normally, PTT offers two different prices for different kinds of customers - Bt12 per kilogram for NGV cars with the machine modification cost subsidised by PTT, and Bt8 per kilogram for the normal NGV car whose owner independently paid for the modification.The company has not yet finalised which model they will implement.

He said the RFID system must not be so sensitive it could lead to an explosion. "We have to prove that RFID passes in terms of practical use, security, and technical tests," said Nuttachat.PTT is now in a trial period for the RFID system. The company began a trial on both RFID models in three pilot NGV stations in September, and plans to finalise the model and expand the scale of the trial to more NGV stations this month.

The trial period will be until the end of this year.The commercial launch of RFID in NGV stations will start early next year. At that time, there will be 120 NGV stations, an increase from the current 76 stations."Our plan is to increase the number of NGV stations to reach 200 stations within the first quarter of next year, 320 stations by the end of next year, and 740 stations in the next five years," said Nuttachat.Besides implementing RFID in the NGV stations, it will also encourage NGV vehicles to embed the RFID tag.

It aims to encourage 500,000 NGV-cars to be embedded with an RFID tag in the next five years.Potential NGV vehicles include corporate cars, taxis, shuttle buses, public buses, local buses and private cars."Ten per cent of the 76,000 taxis in use today are NGV enabled. We expect to encourage 30,000 more taxis to become NGV vehicles by the end of next year. By next year, there will be 2,000 new NGV-public-buses who will be our customers," said Nuttachat.A benefit of RFID is it allows the company to better know its customers, and to have their information and NGV consumption record.

With this data, the company can develop new and customised promotions specifically for its customers. It can also utilise recorded data to enhance its management purposes."Once we complete the implementation, Thailand will have the largest RFID network in gas stations in the world. There are only three other countries - Germany, Brazil, and Russia - who have already deployed RFID in gas stations," said Nuttachat.If the deployments of RFID in NGV stations work, it is possible that the company will extend the idea to vehicles which consume oil.Asina Pornwasin

The NationCopyright 2006 The Nation Publications (PVT) Ltd. Source: Financial Times Information Limited

Such A long Time

Been thinking about what to do and what will be the best to occupy my time during this semi retired age?

My conclusion is to do lot more writing especially on the blogg.

I have created a few blogs and active in NGV forums plus Birdnest Farming.

I found that these are good for me to continue writing on things that can bring good memories and perhaps share with those who wanted to know more on my specialities.

So guys let us blog more often.

World Tour Using NGV as Alternative Fuel !!!

In proving that NGV can be the best alternative fuel for all car users and of course Malaysian, I would like to discuss about this particular project by Volkswagon Caddy.

The project is well covered at: http://www.ecofuel-world-tour.com

Main objective is to: One of the goals of the EcoFuel World Tour is to show that natural gas is a globally available fuel that constitutes a real alternative to conventional fuel types based on mineral oil. And also from an ecological point of view, this alternative fuel is absolutely convincing: the Volkswagen Caddy EcoFuel’s emissions contain clearly lower volumes of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot particles than petrol or diesel-driven vehicles. And it is the team’s goal to increase the public’s awareness of these strong advantages of natural gas as a fuel.

Last Tuesday the team was in Kuala Lumpur and was reported in the Star:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/23/nation/16646845&sec=nation


Quote:

KL to Bangkok and back for only RM368

PETALING JAYA:

Fancy this – driving 3,000km from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok and back again, and all at a cost of only RM368. It is possible, but only if you're driving a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicle. Compare that to a 1.8L petrol-powered car which would probably need about RM600 to cover the same distance.

For EcoFuel World Tour organiser and driver Rainier Zietlow, 36, he believes that CNG is the way to go, and it is “the only alternative fuel which can be bought easily”.

Going for the record: Zietlow (waving) on the CNG Volkswagen Caddy with his crew (from left) Hilpert, Gunold and Janusiewicz. “CNG causes less pollution, is more environmentally friendly, it costs less than petrol, and the engine is quieter. “While there are disadvantages to it, the advantages heavily outweighs them,” he told the press yesterday after making his stop in Malaysia with his three team mates – photographer Franz Janusiewicz, cameraman Falk Gunold and mechanic Florian Hilpert.

Malaysia is the 16th in the list of 23 countries this German team is crossing, in their attempt to set a Guinness World Record by driving a standard CNG Volkswagen Caddy 45,000km around the world powered only by fuel bought en route.

The only modification that Zietlow has made to his Caddy, was adding nine carbon gas tanks to the four standard steel gas tanks that come with the vehicle. The gas used is the same as that used by the NGV (Natural Gas Vehicles) taxis operating in the Klang Valley.

That allows him to fill up to a maximum of 200kg gas, enabling him to drive 3,000km before needing to refill his gas tanks. Their next stops will be Singapore, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Canada and from there, back to Germany on April 12.

Unquote

We wish the best for the team and we hope once they complete the whole tour, NGV will no longer be looked as a second class fuel among car users.

What Happen When Only One Company Monopolise Gas Supply !!!

I have voiced my view before on this particular issue.

In Malaysia, only one company is given the lisence to provide Natural Gas to consumers and general Industries. The company is Gas Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

They have been in operation for at least 20 years and yet only 3,000 Malaysian homes are supplied with Natural Gas. Which mean they do roughtly about 15 houses a year.

Averaging about 4 person a home , only 12,000 Malaysian population benefited from their so call consumers friendly company.

Yesterday, January the 17th, 2007, the NST wrote the following article:


Quote:

Where's the gas? Factories ask Petronas

19 Jan 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MANJUNG: Factories in the district have raised concerns over the non-supply of gas by Petronas for their operations.

Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali said: "I am raising the matter now so that the national petroleum company will solve the problem as soon as possible."

Gas pipelines are only available in Lumut here and Kamunting in Taiping.

"I have been informed that there is no supply of gas to the factories in Manjung," he said after launching the third phase of the client’s charter by the Manjung Municipal Council yesterday.

He later attended the council board meeting. Present were council president Yaakop Fakir Mohd, state Local Government, Housing and Public Transport Committee chairman Datuk Chang Ko Youn and Education, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

When asked why Petronas could not supply the gas, he replied: "You have to ask Petronas. We have raised the matter with them."

According to him, many investors were keen to invest there if the gas supply was available.

Using gas for their operations could result in 40 per cent savings in costs compared to electricity and fuel.

Among the factories are six companies which would develop bio-diesel and bio-fuel operations.

Tajol Rosli said: "As Perak does not have an international airport and port, the supply of gas is a major attraction to investors due to the cost factor and we hope Petronas will provide the supply.

"The factories are also worried that the supply of gas would be rationed due to shortages."

He cited a factory which was supposed to start operations in Chenderiang, Tapah but had shifted to Kamunting when the investor was told about the erratic gas supply situation.

Tajol Rosli said Manjung is fast becoming an attraction for investors linked with "heavy industries" apart from being a tourist destination.

Unquote:

This is what happened when only one company is given the lisence to carry out the responsibilities of distributing our Natural Energy which are huge stored benith our country.

Just read about the article about the recent signing of 92 billion RM worth of LNG with China?

However, what do we get as a Malaysian? We get a pathatic Company who cannot service the Malaysian Consumers and now cannot service the General Industries?

A very sad case and we hope someone out there can voice their opinion on the matter and perhaps open the lisence to at least one operator.