U.S. imports of liquefied natural gas may rise in 2009, reversing an estimated 38 percent drop this year, because of additional supplies from new projects, consultant Waterborne Energy Inc. said.

Supplies may increase by 60.2 million metric tons a year (2,868 billon cubic feet), or 36 percent, Steve Johnson, president of Waterborne Energy, said in a statement. Supplies of LNG last year rose 7.3 percent, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2008.

``Few industry observers are talking about this production 'bubble,' set to dramatically shift the dynamics of the global LNG market,'' Johnson said in the statement dated July 17 on Business Wire. Between November 2008 and December 2009, about 2,868 billion cubic feet of new LNG will be produced and ``should begin to significantly impact the U.S. LNG market by the summer of 2009,'' he said.

U.S. LNG supplies slumped in 2008, with imports falling short of expectations because of rising demand, delays in new production and ``unexpected'' incidents. LNG projects in Nigeria, Trinidad, Norway, Russia and Qatar were either delayed or failed to boost output after start up.

Domestic Gas

About 117 billion cubic feet a month of new production may be available globally by the end of March 2009, Johnson said.

U.S. LNG imports may fall 38 percent this year as strong demand and higher prices for the fuel in Asia and Europe draw cargoes to those regions, according to an Energy Department report on July 8. U.S. LNG imports this year may total about 480 billion cubic feet, down from 770 billion in 2007, according to the monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook report.

The volume may climb to 790 billion cubic feet in 2009 as new supply enters the global market, the Energy Department report said. Imports in the first half of 2008 fell 60 percent from a year earlier.

Natural gas for August delivery was $10.574 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 22 percent from the July 3 close, when prices reached the highest in more than two years.

Domestic gas available for sale in the U.S. may increase by 6 percent this year, compared with 4.6 percent forecast in May, the Energy Department said in its monthly report on June 10.

(Annual capacity is in metric tons per year)

Project        Train   Annual Capacity    Start-up Date

Qatargas       4, 5      7.8 each         Nov. 2008, Dec. 09/10

Rasgas         6, 7      7.8 each         March 2009, Dec. 2009

Nigeria LNG    6         4.1 each         Oct. 2008

Tangguh,       1, 2      3.8 each         Jan. 2009/July 2009
Indonesia

Sakhalin,      1,2       4.8 each         Feb. 2009/July 2009
Russia

Yemen LNG      1         3.3 each         July 2009

North West Shelf
Australia      5         4.4 each         Dec. 2008

Source: Waterborne Energy.