New Fortress Pushes Back Against FERC re Puerto Rico LNG Facility
New Fortress Energy, which likes to build and own as much of the LNG supply chain as possible, built and recently finished an LNG import terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently 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 just officially responded, to say that FERC told them no permission was needed!
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The devious minds at THE Delaware Riverkeeper are working in overdrive. In an apparent concession that their lawsuits to try and stop the New Fortress Energy LNG liquefaction facility from getting built in Wyalusing (in northeastern PA) by stopping the construction of a new dock New Fortress wants to build on the Delaware River, Riverkeeper is changing strategies. If they can’t stop the facility and they can’t stop construction of the loading dock (in Gibbstown, NJ), Riverkeeper hopes to convince towns between Wyalusing and Gibbstown to pass zoning ordinances forbidding the transport, via truck or rail car, of LNG through their communities.
Yesterday Kinder Morgan asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to bring Elba Island Train #8 online to produce and ship LNG. Train #8 will increase Elba’s active train count to seven (out of ten). One month ago KM asked FERC for permission to begin testing Train #9 (see 
Pieridae Energy wants to build an LNG export plant in Nova Scotia, Canada. The project is called the Goldboro LNG project. Yesterday Pieridae announced the company they had contracted with to build Goldboro, KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root Limited), has notified Pieridae it is pulling out of the contract to build it. Pieridae says it is evaluating its legal options.
Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) yesterday. We’re interested mainly in the natural gas numbers. The expert number crunchers at EIA predict the price of Henry Hub traded gas will average $1.93 for all of 2020 (although EIA predicts the price will rise in Q420 to $2.46). The report also says U.S. LNG exports are taking a nosedive this summer. From June through August at least 110 LNG cargoes have been canceled–meaning a decrease in 75% of our LNG exports. That will have a big impact on gas drillers.
This is one of those “follow the bouncing ball” stories with lots of names. Bear with us because there is a connection to the Marcellus/Utica region. BP Energy Partners, a private equity firm based in Dallas, TX, invests in (and ultimately controls) a number of companies. Two of their portfolio companies are Thigpen Solutions and Blue Roads Solutions, both virtual pipeline companies delivering CNG and LNG to different types of customers. BP is merging the two into one company and renaming it Sapphire Gas Solutions.
National Grid, a huge utility company that supplies natural gas to all of Long Island, including two New York City boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn) has both a short-term and long-term gas supply problem. Corrupt Gov. Andrew Cuomo single-handedly decided to deny National Grid new natural gas supplies via a new pipeline (see 
As we have been saying for some time, LNG exports from the U.S. are low and staying low for at least a few more months (see 
New Fortress Energy, which likes to build and own as much of the LNG supply chain as possible, has built and recently finished an LNG import terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Just one teeny, tiny problem: New Fortress didn’t get permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) before building it. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including the regulation that requires FERC approval *before* building such a facility. Luuuucy, you have some ‘splainin to do!
In April 2019 President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the Secretary of Transportation to write a new rule allowing specially constructed tanker cars for railroads (DOT-113 tank cars) to ship LNG, i.e., liquefied natural gas (see 
The ne’er-do-wells from Big Green groups including THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch and a mish-mash of other loudmouths are attempting to bully the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) into overturning their previous decision to allow a simple ship dock to get built along the shore of the Delaware River in New Jersey so ships can load LNG already liquefied and waiting. Given the DRBC’s weak leadership, we wonder if the DRBC will (again) cave to the demands of the radicals.
In early May MDN reported Elba Island LNG, a Marcellus Shale gas export facility located near Savannah, Georgia, was in the process of firing up train #8 of the 10 mini-trains being built (see 
Two weeks ago MDN told you that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which had been hired to liquidate the assets of Australian company LNG Limited (LNGL), had found a second buyer for the Magnolia LNG export project for $2 million (see