CNG/LNG

CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues

Potential Shutdown of Boston LNG Terminal Discussed at FERC Forum
June 26, 2023June 26, 2023

A month MDN told you about a coming real-life nightmare that the Everett LNG import terminal, which accepts and regasifies foreign natural gas, may shut down following the closure of New England’s biggest natural gas-fired power plant, the Mystic Generating Station in Everett, MA (see Nightmare in Boston – Everett LNG Import Terminal May Close 2024). The potential shuttering of the Everett LNG plant was the main topic of discussion at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) second New England Winter Gas-Electric Forum last week in Portland, Maine.
Read More “Potential Shutdown of Boston LNG Terminal Discussed at FERC Forum”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Time Crunch for Freeport LNG to Make FID, Build 4th Export Train
June 14, 2023June 14, 2023

Freeport LNG’s export terminal with three liquefaction “trains” shut down in June 2022 after an explosion and fire (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). What was originally thought to be a three-week outage lasted for ten months! The plant finally returned online at the end of March this year (see Freeport LNG Plant Back to Full Capacity Using 2.1 Bcf/d of NatGas). Taking a back seat due to dealing with the outage were plans to build a fourth liquefaction train at Freeport. The clock is ticking, and time is rapidly running out if Freeport still wants to build it.
Read More “Time Crunch for Freeport LNG to Make FID, Build 4th Export Train”
CNG/LNG | Delaware County (PA) | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Philadephia

The World Needs PA Marcellus Gas – Philly Port Could Export It
June 12, 2023June 12, 2023

Last June (one year ago), the story broke that Penn LNG, headed by Franc James, a native of Philadelphia, had “quietly lined up support to build a $6.4 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal near Philly.” Not wanting this golden opportunity to die from opposition by radicalized environmentalists, Pennsylvania State Rep. Marina White (Republican from Philadelphia, a true rarity) sponsored House Bill (HB) 2458, which passed and was subsequently signed into law by then-Gov. Tom Wolf (see PA Bill Looks to Convert Port of Philly into LNG Export Terminal). HB 2458 created a task force to study how to establish Philadelphia LNG exports to international markets, particularly exports to Europe. The task force is supposed to deliver its report by November of this year.
Read More “The World Needs PA Marcellus Gas – Philly Port Could Export It”
Bradford County | CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | New Fortress Energy | Pennsylvania

New Fortress Confirms Intent to Build Wyalusing LNG Export Plant
June 6, 2023June 6, 2023

In March, MDN brought you the news that New Fortress Energy (NFE) confirmed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it plans to apply for updated permits to build an LNG export plant in landlocked northeastern Pennsylvania (see New Fortress to Reapply for Permits to Build Wyalusing LNG Plant). The project has been dead as a doornail for over three years. In May filings, NFE once again signaled to the SEC that it intends to build an LNG plant in Wyalusing, PA.
Read More “New Fortress Confirms Intent to Build Wyalusing LNG Export Plant”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Radicals Try to Bully Insurance Cos. to Drop LNG Export Policies
June 6, 2023June 6, 2023

There is no doubt that LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports are a key and increasingly critical customer for our domestic natural gas–including gas produced in the Marcellus/Utica. The evil (and clever) minds of anti-fossil fuel zealots are always thinking up new ways to block domestic oil and gas production. Their latest strategy is to pressure (i.e., bully) Big Insurance companies into dropping insurance policies for LNG export plants. If the plants can’t get insurance to protect them against potential disasters, they can’t operate.
Read More “Radicals Try to Bully Insurance Cos. to Drop LNG Export Policies”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Jacksonville’s Eagle LNG Export Waiting for Final FERC OK to Build
May 30, 2023May 30, 2023

In September 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave its blessing to Eagle LNG to build a small LNG export facility project at a site on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida (see FERC Grants Final Approval to Jacksonville, FL LNG Export Plant). According to our research, at least some of the gas that will feed it will come from the Marcellus/Utica. Last summer, Florida approved a lease for what is known as “sovereign submerged lands” controlled by the state–in essence, an easement related to a docking facility and permission for dredging (see Eagle LNG Export Close to Building in Jacksonville? FL Easement). Yet construction has still not started. Why?
Read More “Jacksonville’s Eagle LNG Export Waiting for Final FERC OK to Build”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA Report Ponders the Effect of LNG Exports on U.S. NatGas Market
May 25, 2023May 25, 2023

In March, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published its Annual Energy Outlook 2023 (see EIA Annual Outlook Predicts O&G, M-U Still Going Strong in 2050). In AEO2023, the EIA considers long-term energy trends in the U.S. and presents an outlook for energy markets through 2050. The same EIA number crunchers are back with a supplement to AEO2023–a report that looks at the effects of exporting LNG on domestic U.S. natgas markets.
Read More “EIA Report Ponders the Effect of LNG Exports on U.S. NatGas Market”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Nightmare in Boston – Everett LNG Import Terminal May Close 2024
May 22, 2023May 22, 2023

Everett LNG import terminal

The Democrat left’s blockade of new natural gas pipelines from the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale into New England is about to be exposed as the biggest mistake ever made by people like current Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (who blocked pipelines as Attorney General). Next year, New England’s biggest natural gas-fired power plant–the Mystic Generating Station in Everett, MA (Boston suburb)–will shut down. It’s no longer profitable for the owner, Constellation Energy, to keep operating. Next door to the power plant is another facility owned by Constellation–the Everett LNG import terminal, which accepts and regasifies foreign natural gas. Speculation is that since the power plant’s main source of gas comes from the LNG import terminal, the LNG terminal may close down too. Which means Boston and New England are in deep doo-doo.
Read More “Nightmare in Boston – Everett LNG Import Terminal May Close 2024”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

DOE Rule Change Means LNG Projects Must Build Within 7 Years
May 16, 2023May 16, 2023

The Dept. of Energy (DOE) grants permission for LNG export facilities to ship LNG to non-free trade agreement countries. It can take years to sign up enough customers (via contracts) and investors to make a “final investment decision” (or FID) to move forward with a project that often approaches $20 billion. LNG builders need to know once the plant is built, it can actually ship to other countries. But the DOE grants its permission to export with a string attached: The plant must get built and begin shipping within seven years–or the permit expires. Until April, LNG builders would routinely ask for an extension to the seven-year period. In April, the DOE changed its policy and declined to extend a permit for Energy Transfer’s Lake Charles LNG project beyond seven years (see Biden DOE Denies Lake Charles LNG Time Extension for Exports).
Read More “DOE Rule Change Means LNG Projects Must Build Within 7 Years”
CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

U.S. NatGas Production to Hit Record High in 2023, Demand to Fall
May 10, 2023May 10, 2023

Once a month, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysts issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. Yesterday’s May edition predicts that U.S. natural gas production will rise to hit a new, all-time record high of 101.09 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) this year! That’s up from last year’s record-high of 98.13 Bcf/d. However, the report also predicts domestic gas consumption will fall. What about prices? More supply with less demand typically means lower prices.
Read More “U.S. NatGas Production to Hit Record High in 2023, Demand to Fall”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bradford County | CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | New Fortress Energy | Pennsylvania

Dela. Riverkeeper Releases Sham “Report” Against LNG Export Plan
May 10, 2023May 10, 2023

THE Delaware Riverkeeper appears to be obsessed with New Fortress Energy’s plan to liquefy natural gas in Bradford County, PA, and ship it via rail and truck to a former DuPont dynamite factory site in New Jersey along the Delaware River for export. Riverkeeper released a “report” (propaganda) bashing the LNG export plan. Riverkeeper paid a consulting firm that hires itself out to Big Green groups to produce the report.
Read More “Dela. Riverkeeper Releases Sham “Report” Against LNG Export Plan”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

US LNG Exports Hitting New Highs – 107 Cargoes Departed in April
May 2, 2023May 2, 2023

U.S. LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports are hitting new highs each month now that the Freeport LNG facility came back online in March (see Freeport LNG Plant Back to Full Capacity Using 2.1 Bcf/d of NatGas). March saw a new, all-time high export of 7.80 million tonnes of LNG (see U.S. LNG Exports Hit New All-Time High in March Thx to Freeport). Last month (April), U.S. export volume was virtually the same at 7.78 million tonnes.
Read More “US LNG Exports Hitting New Highs – 107 Cargoes Departed in April”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

US NatGas Production, LNG Exports Keep Growing Thru 2050 & Beyond
April 28, 2023April 28, 2023

Although the Bidenistas are now in control of the formerly objective U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and try to hide the truth about fossil energy, the truth has a way of coming out. In March, we told you about the latest edition of the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook for 2023 (see EIA Annual Outlook Predicts O&G, M-U Still Going Strong in 2050). While the information was somewhat buried in the AEO23, if you sifted through the report, you came to the conclusion that fossil energy will still be going strong 30 years from now. In a follow-on post about that report issued yesterday, the EIA admitted in a Today in Energy post that, “U.S. natural gas production and LNG exports will likely grow through 2050.” That had to be a painful headline for a Bidenista to write.
Read More “US NatGas Production, LNG Exports Keep Growing Thru 2050 & Beyond”
Bradford County | CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | New Fortress Energy | Pennsylvania

Bad Guys Win: Biden DOT Won’t Renew PA-to-NJ LNG Rail Permit
April 26, 2023April 26, 2023

On December 5, 2019, the PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) granted a special permit to Energy Transport Solutions, LLC (i.e. New Fortress Energy) to transport LNG in DOT-113C120 rail tanker cars between Wyalusing, PA and Gibbstown, NJ (see U.S. Gov’t Grants New Fortress Permit to Ship NEPA LNG by Rail!). At the time, New Fortress was working on plans to build an LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA, aimed at liquefying locally-produced Chesapeake Energy Marcellus gas, shipping it (via rail and truck) to a port facility on the banks of the Delaware River and exporting it from there.
Read More “Bad Guys Win: Biden DOT Won’t Renew PA-to-NJ LNG Rail Permit”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Biden DOE Denies Lake Charles LNG Time Extension for Exports
April 25, 2023April 25, 2023

Energy Transfer’s (ET) Lake Charles LNG project, in Louisiana, has been plagued with trouble from the beginning. The project began life as a 50/50 joint venture with Shell. However, Shell pulled out in 2020 (see Shell Pulls Out of Lake Charles LNG Project, Energy Transfer Stays). While ET has signed a number of customers to long-term contracts for LNG to be produced at the plant, ET is nowhere near having the necessary contracts in place to pull the trigger on a final investment decision (FID). So, ET keeps pushing off an FID and asking for more time from the Dept. of Energy to begin exports. The latest request is for an extra three years, from 2025 to 2028, to begin LNG exports to non-free trade agreement nations. The Bidenistas just denied ET’s request and put other LNG projects on notice not to expect extensions.
Read More “Biden DOE Denies Lake Charles LNG Time Extension for Exports”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

17 Planned US LNG Export Projects Face Delays from Cost, Competition
April 25, 2023April 25, 2023

There is no question of a huge world appetite for U.S. LNG exports. Even so, the effort to bring new LNG projects online in the U.S. is problematic for several reasons. An extensive article in the Financial Times says “intense competition between developers” and “escalating costs” are making it hard to bring new projects online. Where do things stand? Over the next four years, six projects currently under construction will come online, delivering an extra 64.82 million tonnes per year (mn t/y) of LNG. However, there are another 11 projects that have not yet made a final investment decision (FID). Some may end up getting built, some won’t. If (by a small miracle) all of the 11 were to get built as planned, it would deliver another 110.37 mn t/y of LNG for the world to purchase and use.
Read More “17 Planned US LNG Export Projects Face Delays from Cost, Competition”