Cheniere Inks Deal to Liquefy Canadian NatGas at Corpus Christi
Cheniere Energy built and operates two LNG export facilities, one in Sabine Pass, Louisiana (just across the border from Texas), and the other in Corpus Christi, Texas. Marcellus gas flows to both facilities (although more M-U gas flows to Sabine Pass than to Corpus Christi). Yesterday Cheniere announced a new 15-year deal with ARC Resources from Canada to liquefy and sell 140 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of *Canadian* natural gas. Hey, if Canadian gas can make its way to Corpus Christi, M-U gas certainly can too.
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Another day, another deal from Energy Transfer (ET) in signing up customers to accept shipments of LNG produced by ET’s yet-to-be-constructed LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana located on the Calcasieu ship channel. Yesterday we told you ET had signed up Singapore’s Gunvor to accept 2.0 million tonnes (MT) per year (see 
Pipeline giant Energy Transfer (builder of the Rover and Mariner East pipelines here in the M-U) is planning a large-scale LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana located on the Calcasieu ship channel. The project will convert Energy Transfer’s existing Lake Charles LNG import and regasification terminal to become an LNG export facility. In March, ET announced it had signed a pair of 20-year deals with ENN, a Chinese company, to deliver a total of 2.7 million tonnes (MT) per year to the Chinese Communists (see 
In March Joe Biden announced a deal with Europe to deliver more LNG to the Continent, starting this year (see 
Yesterday EQT Corporation released its first quarter 2022 update and held a conference call with analysts. The big news came from CEO Toby Rice, who said in his opening remarks, “We are currently in discussions with LNG end-users across various geographies and are contemplating equity investment opportunities in LNG export facilities.” Later in the call, in response to a question, Rice added, “Our ultimate prize that we’re looking for here at EQT is to get exposure to international markets…One of the ways that we get more flexibility towards accessing those contracts is to take an investment in the LNG facility itself.”
Antero Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica (with major assets in West Virginia) issued its first quarter 2022 update yesterday. We’ve often marveled at Antero’s ability to make money on its natural gas and NGLs with hedging–preselling gas and NGLs at prices that beat whatever the current market price is at the time (see 
The world can’t get enough LNG (liquefied natural gas), specifically American LNG. The U.S. has seven active LNG export terminals, another 18 FERC-approved export terminal projects (four under construction), and six or more proposed but not yet approved projects. The world needs our natural gas/LNG, we have the ability to provide it, let’s build! Chop chop!! But wait a minute–it’s not that easy (nothing ever is). There are two big reasons why more LNG export facilities are not proceeding to final investment decisions (FIDs) and beginning to build, even with the world begging for our LNG.
When you only have one main pipeline flowing natural gas from the prolific Marcellus Shale to your region, as does Boston, if that pipe has an outage for any reason, as the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) has had, you’re in trouble. AGT declared a force majeure (an unforeseen act of God) on the 26-inch line of its J System in Massachusetts. The outage in one particular section of the pipeline means “slashing nominations downstream of Trapelo to zero for the foreseeable future.” Ouch. Guess what’s happening to the price of natural gas at the Algonquin Citygates natgas trading hub? Through the roof.
National Grid is desperately trying not to run out of natural gas for its customers in Brooklyn and Queens (on Long Island). For several years the company has fought a battle to run a tiny pipeline to its Greenpoint, Brooklyn facility, to provide extra natural gas. That project is being investigated by the Biden administration on charges of racism (see 
Pennsylvania State Rep. Marina White (Republican from Philadelphia, a true rarity) sponsored a bill that’s getting traction in Harrisburg. House Bill (HB) 2458, which passed with a vote by the full House on April 13, creates a task force to study how to establish Philadelphia LNG exports to international markets, particularly those in Europe. The bill creates a task force to study the economic feasibility, financial impact, and the security needed to turn the Port of Philly into an LNG export terminal, exporting PA’s abundant and clean Marcellus Shale gas.
When we say “natural gas exports,” what do you think about? Likely big LNG cargo ships and big LNG liquefaction plants that sit along our coastlines, right? Did you know that until roughly 2020, more natural gas was exported from the United States via pipelines than by LNG cargo ships? LNG exports are a relatively new phenomenon for the U.S. Yet in a short span of time LNG exports have eclipsed pipeline exports and will continue to do so, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), for the foreseeable future.
In early March MDN brought you information from the Toronto Financial Post that said the Ukrainian crisis has put East Coast Canada LNG export facilities “back on the map” (see 
Pipeline giant Williams announced yesterday that it will collaborate with Cheniere Energy, the largest LNG exporter in the U.S., as well as other natural gas midstream companies, methane detection technology providers, and several academic institutions to implement measuring and tracking of so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at natural gas gathering, processing, transmission, and storage systems. Williams will include the mighty Transco pipeline system in this project, a 10,000-mile pipeline system that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast (to Cheniere’s LNG export facilities).
Last Wednesday four federal government agencies, including the Department of Energy (DOE), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), issued a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) bulletin to warn about the discovery of a highly sophisticated and effective system to attack industrial facilities. The computer malware, called Pipedream, includes the ability to cause explosions at plants, specifically including (targeted at) LNG facilities. While the four agencies don’t finger a likely suspect for creating and propagating the malware, private security experts say it likely came from Russia.