Chesapeake Energy Signs Vitol to LNG Contract for 15 Years
In March, Chesapeake Energy announced a 15-year deal to provide natural gas for LNG exports to Gunvor Singapore Pte (see Chesapeake Cuts Back on Marcellus, Signs Haynesville LNG Deal). In an interview with S&P Global Commodity Insights at the time, Chesapeake CEO Nick Dell’Osso expressed the view that over the next several years, as much as 20% or 25% of U.S. production will flow to international markets (see Chesapeake CEO Says 20-25% of U.S. Gas Production Will be Exported). Approximately 7% of Chesapeake’s natural gas production is liquefied and exported as LNG. Chessy Executive Vice President Josh Viets aims to increase that to 20% by locating more deals like Gunvor (see Chesapeake Seeks More LNG Deals, Wants 20% of Production Going Intl). Viets has just scored another LNG deal.
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Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility received Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) authorization on October 26 to place the final three liquefaction blocks (7-9) into service. The other trains, 1-6, have been online but not officially in commercial service, even though it has shipped over 200 (!) cargoes, claiming it’s still working out the kinks. Venture’s contracted customers are frustrated that they aren’t getting any shipments and have sued (see 
U.S. Department of Energy reviews for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits have lengthened under President Joe Biden’s administration to 11 months or more, from seven weeks, according to government data. The reason? According to one LNG analyst in the know, the DOE is “sitting on decisions because of politics.” Intentional political foot-dragging. The Bidenistas are feeling the heat from two groups: Big Chemical claims exporting more LNG will raise prices domestically for their feedstock. And shrill environmentalist wackos are being loud and obnoxious (what’s new?).
Freeport LNG’s export terminal with three liquefaction “trains” shut down in June 2022 after an explosion and fire (see 
On Sept. 1, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), part of the Biden Dept. of Transportation, issued a federal rule suspending a 2020 authorization of LNG transportation in rail tank cars granted under the Trump administration (see 
In June 2015, MDN told you about a cool plan by a Pennsylvania company to establish a CNG (compressed natural gas) terminal in Lycoming County, PA, as a way to get natural gas to manufacturers, fleets, and businesses where no pipeline infrastructure now exists (see 
According to analysis from Enverus Intelligence, in the first nine months of 2023, U.S. LNG developers signed 14 long-term sales and purchase agreements totaling 19.65 mtpa (million tonnes per annum). That pace is far slower than in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and set off a mass scramble by Europe to secure natgas supplies anywhere they could. One of the big beneficiaries of that scramble was the U.S. with our LNG exports. This year (so far), things have slowed down with new contracts…considerably.
The radical left has successfully funneled foreign money (from Russia and China) to Big Green groups that hire lawyers to file a blizzard of lawsuits against oil and gas pipeline projects, blocking those projects. That strategy has worked so well that the radical left has turned its attention to a new target (same tactic but new target): LNG export facilities. The first stage in a new war is to “soften the target” with aerial bombing. In this case, the bombings are the lies coming from paid Big Green shills like Bill McKibben. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is expected to approve (soon) Venture Global’s CP2 LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. In a Tuesday conference call with reporters, McKibben (being paid by Big Green) let loose with a volley of lie bombs, calling the project an “enormous carbon and methane bomb” that will further drive climate change. He also called it “an inflation machine” because exporting gas will (goes the lie) raise prices here at home.
In April 2022, MDN told you about Nopetro LNG’s plans to construct and operate as many as three liquefaction trains in Port St. Joe, Florida, that would liquefy up to 3.86 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per year of natural gas for export and delivery to markets in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America (see 
In early August, MDN told you about trouble brewing along the Gulf Coast between Venture Global LNG and its biggest customers: BP, Shell, Edison International (an Italian utility company), Repsol, and GALP Energia. Venture Global is building the Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in southwestern Louisiana’s Cameron Parish, less than 50 miles south of Lake Charles. We suspect Marcellus/Utica molecules flow to the facility, hence our interest. While Venture Global is still working on completing Calcasieu Pass, it has, so far, already shipped over 200 cargoes of LNG, much of that during the mega-high prices of last year when the Russia/Ukraine war was at its peak. Yet none of those cargoes have gone to the facility’s contracted customers, which have sued Venture Global (see 
U.S. natural gas exports set a record high in the first half of 2023, largely thanks to LNG exports. However, don’t forget that nearly as much natural gas is exported to Mexico and Canada via pipelines as LNG is exported to other countries via cargo ships. For the first six months of 2023, the U.S. exported an average of 11.6 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of gas via LNG, and 8.8 Bcf/d via pipelines. Added together, the 20.4 Bcf/d of natgas we exported during 1H23 was the most ever exported for the first half of any year on record. Pop the cork!
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell, albeit modestly, in September from August as scattered outages at four gas-processing plants led to lower shipments. A total of 7.12 million metric tons of LNG left U.S. ports in September, down from the 7.32 million metric tons exported in August, according to data from LSEG vessel tracking. That’s down just 2.7%. Maintenance outages were at Freeport, Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi, and Cove Point. In fact, Cove Point is still down for maintenance.
We spotted the following headline for an S&P Global Commodity Insights story: “Closed LNG arbitrage endangers winter supply to Asia.” What the heck is LNG arbitrage, why is it “closed,” and how is that endangering LNG shipments to Asia? Those were the answers we went seeking by reading the S&P article. And, is there a connection to LNG exports coming from the U.S.?