US Inc pushes a subtle one: US multilaterals, Opic in particular, are taking a strategic approach to energy, helping to increase global supply by investing in viable projects around the world, whether they directly diversify America's import mix or not. By Nicole Gelinas. The US government would like to encourage private-sector investment in projects around the world to increase the currently tight global production capacities - even global oil banker Saudi Arabia is often producing close to cur

South Korea and Japan are two of biggest buyers of oil and gas in the world. And the search for these has their ECAs tagging along, as well as, leading their home-based companies into new territories. Minerva Lau writes. The Asian export credit agencies, in particular, those of Korea and Japan, are showing new muscle. They are providing strong financial support in promoting exports and are pushing domestic companies to invest in oil& gas rich countries, as well as in the power sector and other i

Germany might be in recession but its institutions remain at the forefront of energy finance. By Rod Morrison. KfW's announcement in late 2003 that it was establishing a new subsidiary, KfW-Ipex, to invest €10bn pa in structured loans hardly caught the mood of the times. It was fashionable, at the time, to exit the market as Basle II loomed, indeed to run away as fast as possible from the market. KfW-Ipex could therefore be assured of a very warm reception from borrowers who were lacking o

TransCanada and Enbridge are racing to get a lead position on the Alaskan pipeline and to get agreements in place before LNG starts to land in the US. By Alison Healey.

Greenfield and brownfield gas storage projects are being announced in the dozens and the projects benefit from strong regulatory support. By Alison Healey.

The natural gas market in India has been suffering under a demand-supply inequality for a long time. By Harsh Gupta, vice-president, SBI Capital Markets.

The Italian gas market is growing but a glut of planned import projects means developers must race to ensure scheme viability. By Daniel O'Sullivan.

When the NLNG train six financing was cancelled in late 2003, the limited prospects for project finance in the country appeared to be over. Not so. By Rod Morrison. The concept of using project finance-style debt for a Nigerian scheme was established in 2002 with the completion of the US$1bn Nigeria LNG (NLNG) trains four and five deal. In addition to this, the NLNG project company raised a further US$460m for the associated LNG ships. So while the process of closing the NLNG 4&5 deal had been l

Sinopec is catching up with other oil majors, as it expands its capacities domestically and spreads its arms in the international market to secure energy resources. Minerva Lau reports. China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec Corp) is one of the three major energy companies in China, the other two being China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Petrochina Corp (of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC)). From their names alone, the mandates are clear. CNOOC is a state-owned company incorpora

International Power is in the midst of more corporate activity in Australia, having completed the company-transforming acquisition of Edison Mission Energy's global portfolio. By Sharon Klyne.