Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), is singing a different tune than it did less than two months ago. In late June, EIA published a post discussing the drastic drop in U.S. LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports, saying a recovery to pre-COVID levels would not happen until sometime next year (see EIA Says U.S. LNG Exports Fall by Half in 2020, Recovery Late 2021). EIA is back with a new prediction, which we like better…
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Category: CNG/LNG
KM Puts Elba Island Train #10 into Service – One Train Remains
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted permission to Kinder Morgan to begin service on train #10 at KM’s Elba Island LNG export facility, located near Savannah, Georgia. KM’s Elba project consists of 10 mini-trains, each capable of liquefying 0.3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG–or roughly 40 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. There’s just one train left to bring online…
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New Fortress Cracks the Code to Sell LNG Anywhere in the World
New Fortress Energy (NFE), which is building an LNG liquefaction facility in northeastern Pennsylvania and a dock on the Delaware River to export their PA LNG, is expanding rapidly. NFE issued its 2Q20 update yesterday. In reading a transcript of a conference call with analysts, the light bulb went off for MDN. NFE has figured out how to deliver (sell) LNG to just about any market on the planet. It’s pure genius. We’ll explain it below.
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Work Paused, Not Canceled at New Fortress LNG Plant in NEPA
What’s happening with New Fortress Energy’s $800 million LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing (Bradford County), PA? We recently had an inquiry from a union member/MDN reader wondering whether or not the project has been scrubbed because there is no activity at the site. We have an answer…
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KM’s LNG Train #9 (out of 10) at Elba Island Ready to Come Online
Wow, that was fast! Yesterday Kinder Morgan filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking for permission to start up train #9 at the Elba Island, George LNG export facility. And yesterday FERC turned around and issued that permission. Same day! How many trains (of the 10 total) are left to go online?
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Hearing Officer Approves New Fortress Dela. River LNG Export Dock
In May the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held a virtual public hearing on the issue of the DRBC’s prior decision to approve construction of a dock in the Delaware River that will allow New Fortress Energy to load LNG tanker ships with LNG transported to the dock from a new liquefaction plant being built in northeastern Pennsylvania (see DRBC, New Fortress Crush Antis’ Arguments Against LNG Export Dock). Both New Fortress and the radicals at THE Delaware Riverkeeper were given time to make their case for and against. The hearing officer (i.e. judge) recently announced his decision…
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Kinder Morgan 2Q Update: Elba Island, Tennessee Gas Pipe to NYC
Earlier this week Kinder Morgan, one of (perhaps THE) largest pipeline company in the U.S., issued its second-quarter update. While most headlines blare that the company “lost” $637 million during 2Q, what they don’t say (until you read a few paragraphs in) is that it was a paper loss. Yes, revenue was down. But if you take the impairment (writedown) charge away, KM actually made $363 million in profit during 2Q. It was not, however, KM’s financial performance that caught our attention. It was the update on Marcellus/Utica projects like the Elba Island LNG export facility and a new project to expand Tennessee Gas Pipeline to provide more gas into New York City that caught our eye.
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New Fortress Pushes Back Against FERC re Puerto Rico LNG Facility
New Fortress Energy, which likes to build and own as much of the LNG supply chain as possible, built and recently finished an LNG import terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently dinged the company, asking for an explanation as to why they built it without FERC permission (see FERC Orders New Fortress to Explain Unauthorized PR LNG Facility). New Fortress just officially responded, to say that FERC told them no permission was needed!
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Riverkeeper Campaign to Pass Local Laws Banning LNG Transport
The devious minds at THE Delaware Riverkeeper are working in overdrive. In an apparent concession that their lawsuits to try and stop the New Fortress Energy LNG liquefaction facility from getting built in Wyalusing (in northeastern PA) by stopping the construction of a new dock New Fortress wants to build on the Delaware River, Riverkeeper is changing strategies. If they can’t stop the facility and they can’t stop construction of the loading dock (in Gibbstown, NJ), Riverkeeper hopes to convince towns between Wyalusing and Gibbstown to pass zoning ordinances forbidding the transport, via truck or rail car, of LNG through their communities.
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KM Asks Permission to Start Up Elba Island LNG Train #8
Yesterday Kinder Morgan asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to bring Elba Island Train #8 online to produce and ship LNG. Train #8 will increase Elba’s active train count to seven (out of ten). One month ago KM asked FERC for permission to begin testing Train #9 (see FERC Approves Feed Gas for Elba Island LNG Train #9). The site is getting close to completion!
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KBR Pulls Out of Deal to Build Goldboro LNG Export Plant in N.S.
Pieridae Energy wants to build an LNG export plant in Nova Scotia, Canada. The project is called the Goldboro LNG project. Yesterday Pieridae announced the company they had contracted with to build Goldboro, KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root Limited), has notified Pieridae it is pulling out of the contract to build it. Pieridae says it is evaluating its legal options.
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EIA: Gas Price Avg <$2 in 2020, 110 LNG Export Cargoes Canceled
Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) yesterday. We’re interested mainly in the natural gas numbers. The expert number crunchers at EIA predict the price of Henry Hub traded gas will average $1.93 for all of 2020 (although EIA predicts the price will rise in Q420 to $2.46). The report also says U.S. LNG exports are taking a nosedive this summer. From June through August at least 110 LNG cargoes have been canceled–meaning a decrease in 75% of our LNG exports. That will have a big impact on gas drillers.
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Thigpen & Blue Roads Merging to Form Sapphire Gas Virtual Pipe Co
This is one of those “follow the bouncing ball” stories with lots of names. Bear with us because there is a connection to the Marcellus/Utica region. BP Energy Partners, a private equity firm based in Dallas, TX, invests in (and ultimately controls) a number of companies. Two of their portfolio companies are Thigpen Solutions and Blue Roads Solutions, both virtual pipeline companies delivering CNG and LNG to different types of customers. BP is merging the two into one company and renaming it Sapphire Gas Solutions.
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National Grid Band Aid Solution – Truck CNG to Long Island
National Grid, a huge utility company that supplies natural gas to all of Long Island, including two New York City boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn) has both a short-term and long-term gas supply problem. Corrupt Gov. Andrew Cuomo single-handedly decided to deny National Grid new natural gas supplies via a new pipeline (see Cuomo Rejects NESE Pipe Again, Williams Walks Away). That’s the long-term problem. The short-term problem is that National Grid needs extra supplies for this coming winter. How do they meet an increase in demand so Long Islanders don’t run out?
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EIA Says U.S. LNG Exports Fall by Half in 2020, Recovery Late 2021
As we have been saying for some time, LNG exports from the U.S. are low and staying low for at least a few more months (see May NatGas Deliveries to US LNG Plants Lowest Since Last October). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), our favorite government agency, published a post yesterday detailing just how low. So far this year LNG exports from the U.S. have declined by half from previous levels. Looking at one of the charts where EIA forecasts future LNG exports, it looks like it will be third or fourth-quarter 2021 before we hit the same level of exports we had in 1Q20.
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FERC Orders New Fortress to Explain Unauthorized PR LNG Facility
New Fortress Energy, which likes to build and own as much of the LNG supply chain as possible, has built and recently finished an LNG import terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Just one teeny, tiny problem: New Fortress didn’t get permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) before building it. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including the regulation that requires FERC approval *before* building such a facility. Luuuucy, you have some ‘splainin to do!
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