Reliance Industries (RIL) has invited potential customers to bid for a supply of coal bed methane (CBM) from its blocks at Shahdol and Annupur in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and quote an acceptable price indexed to the value of imported LNG. The advertisement, posted in a number of national and regional Indian daily newspapers on Friday, asked consumers to quote a figure in $/MMBtu, which would be added to the price at which Petronet imports LNG from Qatar under long-term contract.

Malaysia's national power utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), and state oil company Petronas will jointly invest around $660 million in an LNG receiving terminal and a 300 MW gas-fired power plant in Sabah, East Malaysia, according to media reports on Thursday. The project is expected to help ease power outages in eastern Sabah, which is frequently blighted by electricity disruptions.

Royal Dutch Shell is looking to reverse falling production trends by targeting a 25% rise in oil and gas production within six years, with output expected to average around 4 million boe/d by 2017-18. New growth will be driven by over 60 new projects, including the West Qurna 1 and Majnoon projects in Iraq, Australian LNG and liquids-rich shale exploration, which are believed to represent at least 20 billion boe in resources.

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has approved a licence application to export 1.8 mtpa of LNG from a proposed LNG facility in Kitimat, British Columbia, planned by the Douglas Channel Energy Partnership, the NEB announced on Thursday.

Despite Cheniere only announcing its intention to develop an LNG export terminal at its existing Corpus Christi site in Texas last December, Jean Abiteboul – president of supply and marketing at Cheniere – told Gas Matters Today on Wednesday that Indian LNG buyers are among a number of interested parties to have enquired about a possible long-term supply deal from the terminal.

Royal Dutch Shell is well positioned to mitigate low gas prices in the US by adjusting the rate of saleable natural gas production, according to chief executive Peter Voser. Speaking at Shell’s 2011 results and company update on Thursday, Voser said Shell was also optimising its production costs, and was less exposed than many energy companies with higher cash costs.

Gazprom said on Wednesday it has been struggling to meet extra demand from European customers during the cold snap this past week, as stored supplies and imports from Russia and Norway have been attempting to tackle the spike in heating demand. “A Gazprom company source”, quoted by Reuters has said that gas nominations from some of its customers "are higher than we can put in the pipe", adding that nominations “have been higher for more than a week."

PetroChina has bought a 20% stake in Canada’s Groundbirch tight gas project in north-east British Columbia from Royal Dutch Shell for an undisclosed fee, according to media reports on Thursday.