Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are delaying construction projects from Australia to Nigeria, and that may raise natural gas prices for years to come.

None of the world's biggest energy companies approved developments last year to increase production of liquefied natural gas, which helps heat homes and run power plants from Tokyo to Boston. The main reason is the cost to build LNG plants has tripled in six years, according to Bechtel Group Inc., the biggest U.S. contractor.

Natural gas prices are three times higher than during the 1990s and consumption of the fuel will outpace the 1.6 percent annual gain in energy demand for the next 25 years, according to the International Energy Agency. Gas is also becoming more popular because it emits 29 percent less carbon dioxide than oil and 45 percent less than coal burned in power stations.

"Costs are going up and they're going up far faster than anybody expected," said Andy Flower, a U.K.-based consultant to the LNG industry and a former BP Plc executive. He forecasts that the world LNG shortage will last until at least 2011.

Gas may become more important than oil in the next 50 years because crude supplies are running out faster, according to the Paris-based IEA. Global oil and natural gas reserves were about the same at the end of 2005, equal to 1.2 trillion barrels of crude, according to data compiled by BP. Oil reserves are being burned almost twice as quickly as gas.

LNG sales rose about 11 percent last year to 157 million metric tons, according to Wood Mackenzie Consultants Inc. in Edinburgh. It may jump about 66 percent to 261 million tons in 2010 and another 87 percent to 488 million by 2020, the group said.

Record LNG prices won't fall for "years to come," said Ari Soemarno, president of Indonesia's state energy company, PT Pertamina, until 2005 the world's largest LNG exporter. Prices under multiyear contracts, excluding freight and insurance, range as high as about $10 per million British thermal units in Asia, assuming $60 a barrel for oil, part of LNG price formulas.

Natural gas deposited near industrialized nations is typically transported through pipelines. The challenge is getting gas from the biggest producers -- Russia, Qatar and Iran -- to consumers worldwide who aren't linked by those networks. Now, gas that can't be transported is pumped back underground to force more crude to the surface, or burned off.

Cold Brings Increased Natural Gas Usage

A sprawling winter storm system continues to plague much of the nation today with ice, snow and heavy rain.

Ice storm warnings remain posted from portions of western and northern Texas northeastward to the mid-Mississippi Valley. Over the next 12 hours, the most significant icing--up to a quarter of an inch or so--seems likely from north-central and parts of northeastern Texas into eastern Oklahoma. But that's not to say that other areas under ice storm warnings won't experience problems. Even freezing drizzle can be extremely dangerous on roads.

Freezing rain hit Oklahoma on Friday at the start of what forecasters say could be a brutal ice storm.

Millions of people in the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and eastern Missouri are being warned that conditions will deteriorate Friday afternoon and the storm could spread as far east as Ohio and New York over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

"This is a one-in-maybe-15-to 25-year event," CNN severe weather expert Chad Myers said Friday of the forecast freezing rain, sleet and snow.

Freezing rain was also forecast for southeast Kansas into central Missouri Friday and is expected to hit I-44 by late Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.

Ice up to three-quarters of an inch will be likely by Saturday morning, and some parts could see ice accumulations of an inch and a half by Sunday, all of which could mean widespread power outages, the weather service said.

Temperatures in the week ahead will have highs in the 20s and lows in the teens and possibly single digits, the weather service added, according to AP.

In addition to the central U.S., a cold snap also was predicted this weekend for California, where farmers were preparing to monitor the health of a nearly $1 billion citrus crop, The Associated Press reported.

Crude oil for February delivery rose as much as $1.06, or 2 percent, to $52.94 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its first gain this week. The contract traded at $52.34 at 12:58 p.m. in London.

Brent crude oil for February settlement climbed as much as $1.24, or 2.4 percent, to $52.94 a barrel in electronic trading on the ICE Futures exchange and traded at $52.36 in London.

Some analysts and brokers expect a forecast for colder weather next week to push prices higher. Colder weather will reach the northeastern U.S. Jan. 17 through Jan. 21, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. Temperatures in the region were milder than normal through the first part of winter. New York had its third-warmest December on record.

``The temperature is expected to drop below normal after'' the next five days, said Michael Davies, an analyst in London with broker Sucden (U.K.) Ltd. ``Many traders are expecting OPEC to take action in order to support prices.''

Working gas in storage was 3,025 Bcf as of Friday, January 5, 2007, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decline of 49 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 401 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 461 Bcf above the 5-year average of 2,564 Bcf. In the East Region, stocks were 241 Bcf above the 5-year average following net withdrawals of 28 Bcf. Stocks in the Producing Region were 182 Bcf above the 5-year average of 751 Bcf after a net withdrawal of 9 Bcf. Stocks in the West Region were 38 Bcf above the 5-year average after a net drawdown of 12 Bcf. At 3,025 Bcf, total working gas is above the 5-year historical range.