Granholm Won’t Limit LNG Exports, Might Restrict Oil Exports

On Tuesday, the Bidenistas ruled out limiting or banning exports of LNG from the U.S. to our friends in Europe and other countries. However, Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy, arrogantly told Big Oil companies in a “bitter” meeting last Friday that the administration is still considering limits on exports of petroleum products (diesel, gasoline, oil) because the White House is in butt-covering mode with the price of domestic gasoline beginning to rise again before the election. It would be just fine for gas prices to spike after the election–but not before. So Granholm is making serious threats to curtail exports of petroleum products in order to artificially lower prices for a month or so, just until the election passes.
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According to a column by a Reuters analyst, U.S. natural gas production will need to increase significantly to continue growing LNG exports while ensuring natgas remains affordable for domestic electric power producers, households, and industrial users. This is the first article (we’ve seen) that puts numbers to the claim that LNG exports are beginning to drive the price of domestic natgas to higher levels.
Yesterday was the first day of the two-day Shale Insight conference being held in Erie, PA. By all accounts, it was a great day. Among the all-stars presenting were Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation, Nick Dell’Osso, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, Greg Floerke, COO of MPLX, and Neil Chatterjee, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman. The important role of LNG, pipelines, regulations, and more were discussed. One of the themes of the day: Natural gas is not a bridge fuel, but the destination.
The price of natural gas here in the U.S. has roughly quadrupled in price over the past two years. If you are a landowner or rights owner, you’ve certainly noticed a nice increase in royalty revenue. As we have reported about publicly traded drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, profits and free cash flow over the past couple of quarters have gone through the roof–because of the high price of natgas. The question is, why have prices for natural gas gone so high? And relatedly, will they stay high?
Two New York City Councilmembers recently introduced a resolution to block the construction of gas vaporizer expansions in National Grid’s Greenpoint Newtown Creek facility. The resolution calls on the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to deny a permit, and for the state Public Service Commission to deny allowing National Grid to fund it. National Grid is desperately trying not to run out of natural gas for its customers in Brooklyn and Queens (on Long Island). Antis are trying to force National Grid to do just that–run out of natural gas, leaving citizens in the cold in the dead of winter.
In June, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about Germany buying LNG from Canada (see
Quick…grab the paddles! The patient is still alive and needs to be shocked and revived! The patient we’re talking about is New Fortress Energy’s (NFE) Repauno Port and Rail Terminal on the shoreline of the Delaware River in Gibbstown, N.J. We thought the project to build a new dock for cargo ships to load and export LNG from the facility was pretty much dead after NFE withdrew a request to build an onshore LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA, earlier this year–a plant that would have fed the export operation on the Delaware River (see
The Bidenistas are at it again. The radicals that now occupy the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have denied a request by Cheniere Energy (THE largest LNG exporter) to exempt compressor turbines at its Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi facilities from an obscure but onerous new regulation cooked up by the left. Cheniere currently exports 56% of all exported U.S. LNG. The EPA decision means Cheniere and other LNG exporters with large turbines will have to scale back exports to comply with this new reg–which is the intention. Bottom line: Biden is now screwing Europe as our exports will decrease at the very time Europe needs them the most. Go Joe!
Located in Lusby, Maryland, Cove Point LNG is the first major LNG export facility to locate on the East Coast. It is recognized as one of the most technically advanced and environmentally sensitive LNG facilities in the world. The Cove Point LNG Terminal has a storage capacity of 14.6 billion cubic feet (Bcf) and a daily send-out capacity of 1.8 Bcf. The owners/managers of Cove Point recently filed a preliminary request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to increase export capacity by an extra 20 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) by installing a small liquefaction unit to capture “boil off gas” the plant currently evaporates during normal operations.
Three LNG export projects in the U.S. are now under (or are about to begin) construction, including Golden Pass LNG, Plaquemines LNG, and Corpus Christi Stage III. According to a chart provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), when those three new facilities come online by early 2026, the U.S. will be exporting some 20 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of American gas molecules. Cool!
The left finds the most devious ways to sink their claws into the fabric of American society and force it to conform to their twisted worldview–like using an obscure regulation promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In February 2022, the EPA announced a “minor” change to a regulation governing gas-fired turbines under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), a framework in place since 2004. At first glance, the EPA’s announcement seems to be a minor update to a highly technical rule. However, a careful examination of the list of impacted units reveals that the change in enforcement framework could have significant impacts on both supply and demand dynamics in natural gas markets in the U.S. and beyond, affecting LNG exports, gas-fired power plants, and gas transmission and processing infrastructure (pipelines) in particular.