據能源世界網7月7日倫敦報道， 據周二公布的一份報告顯示，近一半的全球液化天然氣出口基礎設施建設項目的前景在近幾個月里出現了下滑，因為人們對氣候變化、公眾抗議以及冠狀病毒大流行造成的延誤的擔憂日益加劇。

全球能源監測機構的研究人員發現，在全球45個在建前開發的大型液化天然氣出口項目中，至少有20個項目(資本支出約2920億美元)目前面臨融資延遲。

這標志著投資者對許多人曾認為前途光明的燃料市場的態度發生了明顯轉變。由于需求增長放緩、來自可再生能源技術的競爭加劇，以及該行業排放導致氣候變暖的問題遭到反對，這個市場已經受到打擊。

歐洲投資銀行(European Investment Bank)副行長表示，該報告強調了投資液化天然氣資產的不可接受的風險。

Andrew McDowell在一封電子郵件中對路透表示，投資液化天然氣(LNG)終端等新的化石燃料基礎設施，從經濟角度看越來越不明智。

該行在去年11月宣布，將在2021年底停止為化石燃料項目提供融資。

液化天然氣行業對更為樂觀的前景押下了重注，因為許多分析師預測，未來10年的某個時候，需求將超過供應。

總部位于舊金山的非營利研究機構的研究人員表示，2019年，世界各地的企業承諾在新建液化天然氣出口終端上投入1600億至1700億美元，幾乎是2018年承諾的650億美元的三倍。

各公司已經宣布了總計7580億美元的項目建設計劃，這些項目目前仍處于前期建設階段。但研究人員告訴路透社，由于目前有20個項目處于危險之中，其中包括美國的9個項目，如果拖延無限期地持續下去，該計劃的資本支出可能會減少2920億美元，即38%。

瑞典養老金機構基金部門主管Erik Fransson表示，液化天然氣基礎設施面臨著成為擱淺資產的風險，應該予以避免。該機構管理著120億美元的資產。、

與此同時，權威者表示，自疫情爆發以來，液化天然氣終端的開發速度已經推遲了至少18個月。

《全球能源監測》執行董事特德·納斯（Ted Nace）對路透表示：“就進一步推進新項目而言，該行業目前確實處于關閉狀態。”

液化天然氣投資在許多國家都得到了政府的大力支持。美國、歐洲和其他地方的石油公司仍計劃在未來10年增加液化天然氣出口。

這引發了人們的擔憂，即由此產生的二氧化碳和甲烷的排放，可能會加大實現2015年巴黎氣候協議中設定的溫度目標的難度。

盡管燃燒天然氣產生的每單位能源比煤炭排放的使地球變暖的二氧化碳要少，但氣候科學家警告說，該行業的快速增長以及甲烷(一種強有力的溫室氣體)的泄漏，威脅著限制氣候變化的進展。

至于未來的項目，路透調查顯示，12家公司今年初表示，計劃在2020年做出最終投資決定，在北美建設新的液化天然氣出口工廠。現在，這一總數已降至4個，分析師預計今年只有一個項目會繼續推進。

郝芬 譯自 能源世界網

原文如下：

Global LNG projects jeopardized by climate concerns, pandemic delays: report

Prospects for nearly half of the world's projects to build infrastructure for exporting liquefied natural gas have faltered in recent months, amid rising concerns about climate change, public protests and delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report published Tuesday.

Out of 45 major LNG export projects in pre-construction development globally, at least 20 - representing a capital outlay of some $292 billion - are now facing delays to their financing, researchers at Global Energy Monitor found.

That marks a stark shift by investors away from what many had considered a promising fuel market, already buffeted by slower growth in demand, rising competition from renewable energy technologies and opposition over the industry's climate-warming emissions.

The vice president of the European Investment Bank said the report underlined the unacceptable risk of investing in LNG assets.

"Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure like liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals is increasingly an economically unsound decision," Andrew McDowell told Reuters in an email.

The bank had announced in November that it would stop financing fossil fuel projects at the end of 2021.

The LNG industry has made big bets on a more positive outlook, as many analysts have predicted that demand would outstrip supply sometime in the next decade.

Companies committed $160 billion to $170 billion to new LNG export terminal construction around the world in 2019, almost triple the roughly $65 billion committed in 2018, said researchers at the San Francisco-based non-profit research group.

In total, companies had announced plans to build $758 billion of projects that are as yet in the pre-construction phase. But with 20 projects now in jeopardy, including nine in the United States, that planned capital outlay could be reduced by $292 billion, or 38 per cent, if the delays persist indefinitely, the researchers told Reuters.

"LNG infrastructure faces the risk of becoming stranded assets and should be avoided," said Erik Fransson, head of the fund department at the Swedish Pensions Agency, which has $12 billion of assets under management.

Meanwhile, the pace of LNG terminal development has been pushed back by at least 18 months since the pandemic, the authors said.

"The sector is really shut down at the moment in terms of advancing further new projects," report co-author Ted Nace, executive director of Global Energy Monitor, told Reuters.

LNG investment has had strong government support in many countries. And oil companies in the United States, Europe and elsewhere still plan to boost LNG exports over the next decade.

That has raised worries that resulting emissions of carbon dioxide and methane could make it harder to achieve the temperature goals in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

Though burning natural gas emits less planet-warming carbon dioxide than coal per unit of energy produced, climate scientists have warned that the industry's rapid growth as well as leaks of methane - a potent greenhouse gas - threaten progress in limiting climate change.

As for future projects, 12 companies had said at the start of this year that they planned to make final investment decisions in 2020 to build new LNG export plants in North America, according to a Reuters survey. That total is now down to four, and analysts only expect one project to move forward this year.