Good news for the drillers who sell their Marcellus/Utica molecules to Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island (Georgia) LNG export facility: Demand is up. S&P Global Platts is reporting gas deliveries to Elba, near Savannah, registered approximately 312 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) on July 23. That was the highest level of deliveries into Elba since July 1.
Read More “Marcellus Gas Deliveries into Elba Island LNG Pick Up”
So-called environmentalists filed a lawsuit last week to block the construction of an LNG unloading facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. National Grid, a huge utility company that supplies natural gas to all of Long Island, including two New York City boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn), needs a way to inject more natural gas into its distribution system…or else. Or else during extreme winter weather events some folks will run out of gas for heating and cooking. Antis don’t care–until they’re the ones who run out.
Read More “NYC Antis Sue to Block Brooklyn LNG Truck Depot – Shortage Coming”
According to one of our favorite Forbes authors and research analyst, Jude Clemente, “demand for natural gas can only grow.” Right now the world collectively uses 375 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natgas. Clemente says demand “is set to grow substantially in the years ahead.” One of the drivers of that growth will be carbon-neutral LNG. What is it and why will it drive more use of natgas? Clemente explains…
Read More “Carbon-Neutral LNG is Another Reason Why Natural Gas Will Win”
Strong demand for LNG from Europe and Asia is causing the price of natural gas to go high and (for now) stay high (see LNG Exports Play Starring Role in Current High Price of NatGas). Of course “high price” is relative, depending on what part of the country here at home, and what part of the world for markets abroad. Lately, American exports of natural gas have been running at less than full capacity. Why? Because portions of a number of LNG export facilities have been offline for maintenance. That’s now pretty much over and LNG export volumes are once again increasing.
Read More “With Maintenance at LNG Plants Over, Sales Volumes Increase Again”
The natural gas markets just made a bit of history. Friday, July 2nd, marked the last day in a series of nine days that the NYMEX futures price for natural gas increased from the previous day. Beginning Monday the price has slide down just a bit. Nine straight trading days of higher natgas prices is the longest period of day-over-day price rises in the past 20 years! The weather certainly had a lot to do with the increase in prices, but a key part, perhaps the starring role in why prices have continued to climb, is the role of LNG exports.
Read More “LNG Exports Play Starring Role in Current High Price of NatGas”
Pieridae Energy’s Goldboro LNG project, located in Nova Scotia (with the potential to export Marcellus/Utica molecules) has been on our radar for years. Nine years to be exact. In the middle of May, the company said a final investment decision (FID) would happen no later than June 30 (see Goldboro LNG Predicts FID Coming by June 30 – Some 9 Yrs Later). We now have the answer of sorts. The project will not go forward as planned. Instead, Pieridae says it’s going to rework the project to be “more compatible with the current environment.” Whatever that means.
Read More “Goldboro LNG FID Deadline Passes, Pieridae CFO Resigns”
Yesterday, National Grid issued its Natural Gas Long-Term Capacity Second Supplemental Report (full copy below). The report reaffirms the company’s commitment to achieving a mythical so-called “net zero carbon” future. Whatever. The report provides an update on the short- and long-term energy needs of downstate New York customers, reviews the status of targeted solutions identified by the company in 2020, and emphasizes the importance of ensuring that no customer is left behind during the transition to a magical net zero future. How will they accomplish it? According to this updated report, with *more* natural gas.
Read More “National Grid Sounds the Alarm – NYC Needs More NatGas, or Else”
According to Bloomberg, the world’s importers of natural gas are waking up to a stark realization: “there isn’t enough supply to go around.” Our long, cold winter (so much for “global warming”) coupled with a warm and toasty summer has (a) depleted natural gas supplies, and (b) will keep those supplies low going into next winter. Despite all the blabbering from Europe and Asia about switching to so-called renewable energy sources, the stark fact is that natural gas supplies more heat and electricity to the world than any other single source. Period. Sooner or later the left must deal with reality and pull their collective heads out of their… fantasies.
Read More “NatGas Supplies Fall Short Creating “Desperate Scenario” for World”
Cheniere Energy Inc., the biggest LNG exporter in the U.S., is using its bigness to lean on natural gas drillers (in the upstream) and pipeline companies (in the midstream) to “clean up the natural gas supply chain.” How? To force drillers and pipelines to get their operations to so-called net zero carbon emissions sooner rather than later. Given the fact Cheniere buys up 7-8% of ALL natural gas supplies in the country on any given day, they can and are throwing their weight around to force others to do what they want. The LNG tail is wagging the natural gas dog.
Read More “LNG Tail Wags the Upstream NatGas Production Dog”
A preliminary report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine finds the transportation of LNG (liquefied natural gas) by various methods–sea, road, AND by rail–is perfectly safe. Currently, LNG is not widely transported by rail in the U.S., but rail is used in other countries to transport LNG. Last year Congress instructed the government-funded National Academies to study the issue. They’ve issued a preliminary study called “Preparing for LNG by Rail Tank Car: A Review of a U.S. DOT Safety Research, Testing, and Analysis Initiative” (full copy below).
Read More “US Task Force Finds LNG by Rail is Safe, but More Study Needed”
We spotted a fascinating article on the Forbes magazine website about Freeport LNG, which is fed (in part) by Marcellus/Utica molecules traveling through the Williams Transco Gulf Connector pipeline (see Williams Gulf Connector Goes Online – M-U Gas to Corpus Christi?). The article is about Freeport’s founder/builder/CEO, Michael S. Smith. However, it is some of the ancillary information woven into the article revealing the economics of the facility that caught our attention. How much money does it cost to build these plants? How much money do they make? And how long does it take to begin turning a profit?
Read More “The Economics of Big U.S. LNG Export Facilities”
LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports are, without a doubt, one of the key current and future markets for Marcellus/Utica drillers. We simply have more gas than we can use. Why not share our abundant blessing with the rest of the world–at a price. We liked Donald Trump’s attitude–let’s *dominate* world energy supplies. Under Trump we did. Under Biden we won’t. The fact remains that right now, in 2021, exports of U.S. LNG will hit another all-time, record high–despite the best efforts of the Biden administration. This is great news for M-U drillers!
Read More “U.S. LNG Exports on Track for Another Record High in 2021”
One of our favorite Forbes contributors, Jude Clemente, has written an article detailing how LNG (liquefied natural gas) usage worldwide along with exports from the United States, have both come roaring back now that the pandemic is beginning to appear in the review mirror. There is a fantastic chart in the article (below) identifying the 12 biggest U.S. LNG importers by country. The number one importer may or may not surprise you: South Korea. We bet the number two importer will surprise you (it did us)…
Read More “LNG Exports Come Roaring Back – Top 12 Markets for U.S. LNG”
How does this work in the real world? Gas and electric customers on Aquidneck Island (part of Rhode Island) ran out of natural gas leaving thousands without heat on the island for days during a frigid cold snap in 2019. Customers without heat subsequently launched a class action lawsuit. On Wednesday a judge ruled the lawsuit may continue. Yet RI legislators will not allow the utility, Narragansett Electric (formerly part of National Grid) to implement any permanent fixes (like a new pipeline) to prevent another outage from happening! And it will happen at some point. This is what passes for “justice” in Rhode Island.
Read More “RI Gas Outage Lawsuit Continues, Utility Not Allowed to Stop New Outage”
Calling it “an extraordinary year for the global gas industry,” the International Gas Union (IGU) yesterday released its 12th annual World LNG Report–the world’s most comprehensive public source of information on key developments and trends in the LNG sector (full copy below). From huge drops in demand levels at the height of the pandemic lockdowns, through exceptional spikes when the winter deep freeze sent the world’s energy systems into crisis, the IGU says LNG, quite literally, delivered.
Read More “IGU’s 2021 World LNG Report: 39% of Potential New LNG in U.S.”
New Fortress Energy, which likes to build and own as much of the LNG supply chain as possible, built and finished an LNG import terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico in early 2020. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) then dinged the company, asking for an explanation as to why they built it without FERC permission (see FERC Orders New Fortress to Explain Unauthorized PR LNG Facility). New Fortress responded that FERC told them permission wasn’t needed (see New Fortress Pushes Back Against FERC re Puerto Rico LNG Facility). FERC persisted, and now New Fortress is asking a federal court to get involved.
Read More “New Fortress Asks Court to Rein in FERC Jurisdiction on PR LNG”