Natural Gas From Abroad

To keep pace with our burgeoning natural gas requirements, most experts agree that even under the most favorable circumstances, this country is going to have to manufacture high Btu pipeline gas from coal and oil products, and import huge quantities of natural gas from abroad in the form of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). How much LNG? In the range of 1 to 2 trillion cubic feet per year by 1980 and in the range of 1.5 to 4.0 trillion cubic feet per year by 1985. Where will this LNG come from? The most likely of the present known sources are Algeria, Trinidad, Venezuela, Nigeria, Russia and Libya. Of these, Algeria contains very large reserves of natural gas, conservatively estimated at 100 to 150 trillion cubic feet. One field alone—the Hassi R'Mel Field—contains over 60 trillion cubic feet of recoverable reserves, making it one of the two largest gas fields ever discovered in the entire world. And the first project for the import of huge quantities of LNG for base load purposes project for the import of huge quantities of LNG for base load purposes will be the El Paso-Sonatrach project which I am going to describe. Sonatrach is the Algerian state-owned company charged with the responsibility of finding, developing and commercializing Algerian hydrocarbons. It is a large company staffed with relatively young, but technically competent, men who have assumed tremendous responsibilities and who are working about as hard as any group I know. P. 1