Quick update to my recent story on Libya’s largest oil field shutting down — with reports yesterday suggesting that the Sharara field has once again gone offline following possible rebel activity along connecting pipelines. That’s a critical development for global crude markets. And upcoming events in another part of the world may be equally important for the natural gas space. Commercial testing of a completely new natgas source, in the key market of Japan. The target here is methane hydrates — massive accumulations of natural gas that occur around the world on the seafloor. Which the Japanese government has been investigating for nearly 15 years as a potential new source of energy supply. Up until now, production of natgas from methane hydrate has been completely theoretical. But it’s about to get real — with Japanese officials saying that a drill ship is poised to begin commercial testing of a […]