CNG/LNG

CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Rystad Energy Predicts Freeport LNG Restart to be March Earliest
January 23, 2023January 23, 2023

In what has become something of a parlor game, we have yet another prediction about when the 2 Bcf/d Freeport LNG export terminal, located in Quintana Island, Texas, will return to service. Freeport has been offline since June 2022, when the plant experienced an explosion and subsequent fire (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). Freeport, which exports at least some Marcellus/Utica molecules, has changed its estimated restart date multiple times. Earlier this month, Freeport revised its restart date to the end of January (see Familiar Pattern: Freeport LNG Delays Restart Again, to End Jan.). Although the company has held to that date, multiple analysts and sources say ain’t no way. The latest expert to weigh in on a proposed restart date is Rystad Energy.
Read More “Rystad Energy Predicts Freeport LNG Restart to be March Earliest”
CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

What Does 2023 Hold for the Global NatGas and LNG Industry?
January 23, 2023January 23, 2023

Zooming out for a broader view of issues around the world that affect the natural gas market here in the U.S. is helpful from time to time. What’s happening in Europe right now, and how will that affect our gas market in 2023? How about China? Is supply/demand in balance, and how does that affect the Henry Hub price? And what about LNG? Rigzone looks at six things the natural gas market can expect in 2023. Their insights give us an interesting view of what the year may hold for natgas.
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CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Every Week Freeport LNG Delayed Takes 4 LNG Cargoes Off Market
January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

The 2 Bcf/d Freeport LNG export terminal, located in Quintana Island, Texas, has been offline and not producing LNG since June 2022 due to an explosion (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). Freeport, which exports some Marcellus/Utica molecules, has changed its estimated restart date multiple times. Earlier this month, Freeport revised its restart date to be the end of January (see Familiar Pattern: Freeport LNG Delays Restart Again, to End Jan.). A week later, sources told Reuters that restart will almost certainly be sometime in February (see Sources Say Freeport LNG Won’t Restart Until End of February). Every week the Freeport facility remains offline removes another four LNG cargo carriers from delivering our LNG to the rest of the world.
Read More “Every Week Freeport LNG Delayed Takes 4 LNG Cargoes Off Market”
CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Weather

US NatGas on Track for Record Low Demand in January
January 12, 2023January 12, 2023

U.S. natural gas demand is on track to hit record lows in January if unseasonably warm weather sticks around, according to Rystad Energy. It’s just too darned warm! The warm weather reduces demand for natgas used in heating. Also, as you will read today, a Freeport LNG restart that uses 2 Bcf/d is also likely delayed further–maybe until the end of February. Given the warm weather and Freeport, demand is down, and because of lower demand, prices are crumbling.
Read More “US NatGas on Track for Record Low Demand in January”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Sources Say Freeport LNG Won’t Restart Until End of February
January 12, 2023January 12, 2023

Three different highly-placed sources have whispered to a Reuters reporter that the Freeport LNG export facility, which has been offline since last June, will continue to be offline until at least sometime in February. Are you surprised? We aren’t.
Read More “Sources Say Freeport LNG Won’t Restart Until End of February”
CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Eversource Tells New England to Import Foreign LNG to Lower Elec $
January 4, 2023January 5, 2023

James Daly, vice president for energy supply at New England’s largest electric utility, Eversource, recently delivered some blunt truth to regulators in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Daly told them if they want to lower the insanely high price of electricity in the region right now, in the short term, they need to import more foreign LNG, which is high-priced too. But not as high as burning oil (see New England Used Mostly Fuel Oil to Generate Electric During Storm). With some of the world’s biggest supplies of natural gas at some of the cheapest prices on the planet located a few hundred miles away (in the Marcellus), how did we get to the point of needing foreign LNG?

An important update was added to this post on 1/5/23. See below.
Read More “Eversource Tells New England to Import Foreign LNG to Lower Elec $”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Familiar Pattern: Freeport LNG Delays Restart Again, to End Jan.
January 4, 2023January 4, 2023

The Freeport LNG export terminal, located in Quintana Island, Texas, has been offline and not producing LNG since June 2022 due to an explosion (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). Freeport has changed its estimated restart date multiple times. In early December, Freeport swore up and down that it would begin to return to service by the end of 2022 (see Freeport LNG Changes Restart Date from Mid- to End-December). Yeah, well, that didn’t happen. Two days before Christmas, when everyone was getting ready to head out the door for the holiday, Freeport dropped another announcement…
Read More “Familiar Pattern: Freeport LNG Delays Restart Again, to End Jan.”
CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Exporting | Hydrogen | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Natural Gas Predictions 2023 for the Marcellus/Utica & Beyond
January 4, 2023January 4, 2023

It’s that time of year. Typically at the end of a year, or the very beginning of a new year, publications will pontificate on what they predict will happen in the coming 12 months. We’ve seen a number of such articles about the energy space, including some predictions targeted specifically for the Marcellus/Utica. We’ve selected three such articles to share with you–all of them from authors and publications we highly respect.
Read More “Natural Gas Predictions 2023 for the Marcellus/Utica & Beyond”
CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Freeport LNG Dips Toe Back in Water with 25 MMcf Intake of Gas
December 21, 2022December 21, 2022

The Freeport LNG export terminal, located in Quintana Island, Texas, has been offline and not producing LNG since early June due to an explosion (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). Freeport has changed its estimated restart date multiple times. The most recent declaration by Freeport LNG that it will begin to return to service by the end of this year, in another ten days (see Freeport LNG Changes Restart Date from Mid- to End-December). It’ll be a miracle if that happens. But hey, Christmas is the time of miracles, right?
Read More “Freeport LNG Dips Toe Back in Water with 25 MMcf Intake of Gas”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

FERC Asks Freeport LNG to Answer 64 Questions Before It Can Restart
December 14, 2022December 14, 2022

The Freeport LNG export facility maintains it will restart accepting feedgas by the end of December. Following a request by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to Freeport to respond to a list of 64 questions, we wonder if the plant will make that deadline. We’ve lost track of how many times Freeport, which has been offline since early June following an explosion in the plant, has changed the restart date. Last week the company said the final final final final restart would happen by the end of December (see Freeport LNG Changes Restart Date from Mid- to End-December). Yet yesterday, FERC handed the company an extensive list of questions/issues that must be addressed before a restart can happen.
Read More “FERC Asks Freeport LNG to Answer 64 Questions Before It Can Restart”
CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Weather

Natural Gas Prices in “Freefall” with Warm Weather, LNG Delay
December 6, 2022December 6, 2022

The front-month NYMEX futures contract (based on the price of gas trading at the Henry Hub) dropped like a rock yesterday–down 70 cents (-12.6%) to $5.58/MMBtu. The price has dropped for the past four trading days in a row. Some say it’s free fallin’. In total, the price has lost $1.66 (-22.9%) over the last four sessions. NYMEX trading during the day yesterday hit its lowest point since March of this year. Why? Mainly a warm short-term weather forecast, coupled with the continuing outage at the Freeport LNG export facility.
Read More “Natural Gas Prices in “Freefall” with Warm Weather, LNG Delay”
Accidents | CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Freeport LNG Changes Restart Date from Mid- to End-December
December 5, 2022December 5, 2022

Three weeks ago, Freeport LNG, which has been out of commission since early June, changed the target date it would restart from November to mid-December (see Freeport LNG Announces Fix-it Work 90% Done, Restart in Mid-Dec). That wasn’t the first time the company moved the restart date, and (it seems), not the last. On Friday, Freeport announced another delay. The company now says feed gas will not flow to the facility until the end of December.
Read More “Freeport LNG Changes Restart Date from Mid- to End-December”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Gas to Feed New LNG Plants Will NOT Come from M-U, Sadly
November 30, 2022November 30, 2022

click for larger version

Over the years, we’ve tracked how Marcellus/Utica molecules have traveled, via pipeline, to the Gulf Coast and to petrochemical, but most importantly, to LNG export facilities. We’ve shown how M-U gas feeds Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass and Sempra’s Cameron facilities in Louisiana (see How Marcellus/Utica Gas Feeds Sabine Pass & Cameron LNG in La.). We’ve also traced our molecules to facilities in Texas, to Freeport (currently offline), and to Corpus Christi. A number of new LNG plants along the Gulf Coast are now in the works that will expand our country’s LNG export capacity. Will they also tap into M-U molecules? Not likely, according to RBN Energy.
Read More “Gas to Feed New LNG Plants Will NOT Come from M-U, Sadly”
Allegheny County | CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Toby Rice Pushes LNG Benefits in Talk to Hometown Crowd
November 30, 2022November 30, 2022

Toby Rice, CEO of EQT speaks at the VisionPittsburgh luncheon at the Duquesne Club. Credit: Paul Gough, Pittsburgh Business Times

The apostle of LNG, EQT CEO Toby Rice, was once again holding court and sharing his view that LNG exported from the U.S. will bring peace, prosperity, and security to America and its allies. Rice spoke to a lunch crowd gathered at a VisionPittsburgh event at the Duquesne Club Tuesday afternoon. He also made a strong case for more pipelines and less influence by environmentalists.
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues

Boston Gets First Winter Delivery of Foreign LNG from Trinidad
November 28, 2022November 28, 2022

Ship that unloaded foreign LNG in Boston

Natural gas-starved New England, which lacks sufficient natural gas supplies because politicians like Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (taking over as Governor come Jan. 1st) blocks new pipelines, is satiating its ever-growing thirst for natural gas by importing it from foreign countries at 5-6X the cost of shipping it in via pipeline from the nearby Marcellus. In fact, a shipload of LNG from Trinidad and Tobago was unloaded at Constellation Energy Corp’s Everett LNG import terminal last week.
Read More “Boston Gets First Winter Delivery of Foreign LNG from Trinidad”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

New England’s LNG Import Terminal Faces Closure After 2024
November 28, 2022November 29, 2022

Everett LNG Terminal

Sticking with the theme of New England’s LNG import facility, Constellation Energy Corp’s Everett LNG, a story appearing on S&P Global Commodity Insights says unless the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) acts soon, the Everett LNG import facility near Boston likely will close down after 2024. Why? Following a federal court ruling, Everett can no longer pass along nearly all of its operating costs to Constellation’s Mystic Power electricity customers. Everett is willing to sign new LNG contracts with various customers, but has had to raise its prices, making such contracts uncompetitive. The company doesn’t know how much it can/should charge customers (to recoup operating costs), and how much it can pass along to Mystic Power customers.
Read More “New England’s LNG Import Terminal Faces Closure After 2024”