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Bahrain Inaugurates First LNG Terminal

Bahrain’s completes its first LNG regasification terminal.
Bahrain’s completes its first LNG regasification terminal.
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Bahrain Inaugurates First LNG Terminal

Bahrain’s completes its first LNG regasification terminal.
Bahrain’s completes its first LNG regasification terminal.

Bahrain’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal has been completed, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohamed Al Khalifa announced on Sunday.

It houses a floating storage unit (FSU), an offshore LNG receiving jetty and breakwater, a regasification platform, subsea gas pipelines from the platform to shore, an onshore gas receiving facility and an onshore nitrogen production facility.

The Kingdom may not need to import LNG after the reserves that have been recently explored in the Gulf of Bahrain field, Al Khalifa announced.

He revealed serious talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council, especially Saudi Arabia, to establish a network of gas pipelines to link Bahrain to the rest of the Gulf states.

This step will have positively impact the expansion of oil and industrial projects in Bahrain, he stressed during an online interview hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain to discuss the latest developments in Bahrain’s oil sector, in light of the global coronavirus outbreak.

He stressed Bahrain’s keenness to boost cooperation in this field with various partners to exchange ideas and expertise and learn about the latest developments in modern technologies to develop the oil, gas and energy sector in the Kingdom.

Al Khalifa said the pandemic has led to an unprecedented decrease in oil demand, leading to concern in the oil industry and development projects.

“On this basis, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) adopted decisions during its last meeting in March to reduce oil production by 10 million barrels per day from May 1, for an initial period of two months.”

He expressed hope that the global pandemic will soon recede and the economy will flourish again.

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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.