Lodamun

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Once more buoyed by the overtures and encouragement by both the Secretary of Commerce and Industry and the Merchant-General of the Harrington Company to begin looking beyond Lodamun’s borders for opportunities for growth, Jackson Energy, one of Lodamun’s leading crude oil and natural gas companies has announced that it has been granted approval to construct a gas-fired powerplant in Dolgava. Via a press statement issued earlier this morning, the company noted that the decision came amidst months of negotiations between the firm and the Dolgavan Government, with the Dolgavan Government finally signing onto the agreement yesterday. “This announcement is the culmination of months of hard work and dedication by our team of negotiators who continued to engage with the Dolgavan Government in what we believe could be a worthwhile venture,” the statement read. The terms of the agreement, as negotiated underscore Jackson Energy’s broader commitment to the Dolgavan power-generation market, noting the behaviour of previous competitors to make an initial investment and simply forget about said investments later down the line. The terms are clear in that in order to remain in the market, Jackson Energy must commit to a medium to long-term investment programme. The company noted that its involvement in the Dolgavan market would be managed through its subsidiary Jackson Electric operating from the company’s headquarters in Harrington. As the company continues to expand natural gas production, which compared to North Seleyan Petroleum’s crude oil heavy portfolio, is its main product, the company believes that it is important to begin diversifying the opportunities it can accrue from natural gas. Some energy analysts have expressed concern at what seems to be a “crisis in the making” in the Lodamese natural gas market as the nation’s investment into nuclear energy and renewables grows. Lower demand for natural gas for power generation amidst both the federal government’s moratorium on new gas-fired powerplants within Lodamun alongside increased investment into alternatives by the Civil Projects Administration and the Department of Energy and Natural Resources is beginning to show its double-edgedness.

Although increased natural gas to Berkwaki’s downstream petrochemicals industry (which includes refining, basic chemicals, urea, ammonia, methanol, etc) is nonetheless a positive, limited capacity within the sector to cause a situation wherein the nation may have to stop importing natural gas altogether to prevent “overproduction”. “Weakening domestic demand, notwithstanding the case of Berkwaki, is becoming a major concern. Long-term supply contracts coupled with growing investment in renewables and little to no investment into natural gas stock is a recipe for a dramatic collapse in the price of natural gas in Lodamun and potentially the Northern Hemisphere,” Dr  Thomas Pearce, Director of the Resource Information Bureau, explained. Although the company noted that its decision to establish a gas-fired powerplant in Dolgava has not been in response to alleged rumours of a natural gas price collapse, it nonetheless underscored that the investment was but the first step in a series of investment decisions aimed at establishing a vibrant market in the Northern Hemisphere and diversifying its portfolio. “Although natural gas, primarily its extraction and refining has been a long-establish practice in the Northern Hemisphere, there has been little to no significant investments made in the various bi-products that occurred from natural gas outside of Lodamun and Kalistan. It is our intention to change that,” the statement also read. The Harrington Company, as Lodamun’s de-facto export-import bank, has noted that projects which it views to be of benefit to Lodamese exports and imports, it will “tag along”. This is a significant announcement coming from the entity noting that for the better half of the past two (2) centuries, its operations have been primarily limited to managing the nation’s exports and imports and governing over trade agreements. However, it appears that its recently reconstituted charter now allows for it to act as the nation’s Export-Import Bank.