Texas Fines Freeport LNG – Some Feedgas Starts to Reflow
Things may finally be turning around for the problem-plagued Freeport LNG export facility located in Quintana, Texas. Last week we reported gas flows to the facility had dropped to “near zero” for at least five days in a row (see Freeport LNG Still Mostly Shut Down – 5 Days in Row at < 5% of Gas). Reuters is out with a pair of reports. One report says feedgas is finally beginning to flow to one of Freeport’s three trains again. The other report says the State of Texas recently levied fines on Freeport for violating state air pollution emissions rules between 2019 and 2021.
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Berkeley Research Group (BRG) published a very important new study yesterday that has Big Green tied up in knots. The study, “Comparative GHG Footprint Analysis for European and Asian Supplies of USLNG, Pipeline Gas, and Coal” (full copy below), analyzes methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions across leading fuel supply chains for power generation in 13 European and Asian end markets. The study has been under development since 2021. It uses a “bottom-up methodology” to arrive at a comprehensive comparison of the emissions intensity of the primary fuel sources, as well as continuously updated data from numerous sources. It’s far more rigorous and reliable than the typical Big Green propaganda that relies on aggregated emissions information to develop general theoretical conclusions. This is real science.
The EIA says the U.S. natural gas trade will continue to grow with the startup of new LNG export projects. In a Today in Energy post, the EIA says (based on its recent Short-Term Energy Outlook report) that it expects U.S. LNG exports will increase just 2% this year over last year. However, in 2025, LNG exports will soar by 18% due to three new LNG export facilities currently under construction that will come online next year.
From time to time, so-called experts will come out of the woodwork to proclaim that burning coal is better for the environment than burning natural gas. Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea (Ingraffea is now retired) attempted to make that case back in 2011 (see 
The problem-plagued Freeport LNG export plant remains out of order. The plant had been mostly offline following an episode of cold temps in January (see 
The United States exported 10% more natural gas in 2023 than it did in 2022 — a record of 20.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Natural Gas Monthly report. U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports accounted for more than half of all U.S. natural gas exports, and natural gas exports by pipeline to Canada and Mexico accounted for the remainder. You don’t often think about the fact that we export a huge amount of natural gas to our two neighbors via pipeline — Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. We exported 8.9 Bcf/d to Canada and Mexico combined (43% of all exported gas) and 12.0 Bcf/d via LNG (57%).
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee held a hearing called “Fueling Pa’s Future: Liquid Natural Gas.” In January, Joe Biden announced he would “pause” any approvals for new LNG export plants (currently 17 requests in the pipeline) for at least one year while his people fart around pretending to figure out how to measure global warming as a new consideration for whether or not to approve projects (see 
Back on Jan. 3, we brought you the news (from Reuters) that the U.S. became the #1 exporter of LNG in the world in 2023 (see 
As we told you last week, the problem-plagued Freeport LNG export plant continues to be mostly offline following an episode of cold temps in January (see 
Finally, a little legal action to push back against Joe Biden’s “pause” on approving new LNG export applications. In January, Joementia announced he would “pause” any approvals for new LNG export plants (currently 17 requests in the pipeline) for at least one year while his people fart around pretending to figure out how to measure global warming as a new consideration for whether or not to approve projects (see 
The annual CERAWeek by S&P Global conference is happening now in Houston. Everybody who’s anybody is there. (Yes, we’re nobodies; we’re not there!) Oil and gas CEOs, politicians, regulatory agencies — they all convene in Houston to talk about energy at what is billed as “the world’s premier energy conference.” Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation (the largest natural gas producer in the U.S.), was there yesterday. He had some VERY interesting things to say during a panel discussion and on the sidelines. Rice touted the need for more pipeline infrastructure, predicting wild swings in the price of natural gas absent new pipelines. He also said there’s an even bigger market than LNG for U.S. natural gas. What could it be?
In April 2022, MDN reported that the top brass at Kinder Morgan, the owner and operator of the Elba Island LNG export facility (also known as Southern LNG), was considering an expansion of its modestly-sized facility (see