CNG/LNG

CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Small Victory: NY to Allow LNG Storage Facilities – Again
January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

Fracking to obtain natural gas is potentially too dangerous for public health, according to New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. Or so he said in December when he agreed with a trumped up report by Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. (Stay tuned, Zucker won’t be “acting” much longer–he’ll soon be rewarded with the full title for his performance in December–the quid pro quo for prostituting himself for Cuomo.) However, it’s just fine with Joe if fracked gas from other states is liquefied and stored in facilities in NY, available for use by trucking fleets and other customers. Today (Wednesday) Martens will release new rules that allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities to operate in the state–facilities that have been banned since the 1970s following an explosion at an LNG facility on Staten Island that tragically killed 40 workers. Anti-drillers have fought the re-introduction of LNG facilities tooth and nail, so we count today’s announcement as a small victory for the good guys in the ongoing fracking wars in NY…
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Can Risk-Averse Phila. Gas Works Successfully Expand LNG Plant?
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) was up for sale, a winsome suitor was found (UIL Holdings from Connecticut) and the deal to sell the nation’s largest publicly-owned gas utility was obliterated by a corrupt City Council. We won’t recount the history (see our stories here). With the $1.86 billion deal now dead, PGW is moving on and trying to act and behave like a private sector company–except it’s not a private sector company. Last week they announced a 12-day “open season” to gauge interest in expanding their liquefied natural gas plant, a plant that would be fed by Marcellus Shale gas (see Phila. Gas Works Launches 12-Day Open Season to Expand LNG). However, LNG is not regulated like the delivery of natural gas, PGW’s main “business.” That is, there’s risk involved–and the people who bear the risk for PGW, being a municipal-owned utility–are the ratepayers, not the investors/owners, which would be the case if PGW were a private sector company. Are Philly residents willing to risk higher rates if PGW bungles the LNG expansion?…
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Phila. Gas Works Launches 12-Day Open Season to Expand LNG
January 13, 2015January 13, 2015

An interesting footnote to the drama that’s played out over the past 10 months in the proposed sale of the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), Philly’s city-owned natural gas utility. You may recall that Philly’s Democrat Mayor, Michael Nutter, worked out a deal to sell PGW for $1.86 billion to UIL Holdings, a Connecticut utility (see Phila. Gas Works Deal for $1.86B – Marcellus/Utica One of Keys). Eventually, after months and months and months, City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, acting like a corrupt Philly crime boss, refused to allow any hearings on the sale and killed the deal (see Philly City Council Kills the Phila. Gas Works $1.86B Deal). The crown jewel of PGW (see LNG Facility the Crown Jewel in Scuttled PGW Sale) is once again in the limelight. PGW announced yesterday they are holding a 12-day, non-binding “open season” for potential new customers of LNG sold by the plant with an eye to expanding the LNG plant. If they do expand it, they’ve said they will use Marcellus Shale gas to feed it…
Read More “Phila. Gas Works Launches 12-Day Open Season to Expand LNG”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Anti Groups Ask FERC to Stop Construction on Cove Point LNG Plant
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently concluded a years-long process of evaluating all of the ins and outs, environmental and otherwise, for the proposed LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland. FERC decided, after years of research, untold thousands of comments and hundreds of hours of testimony, to approve the project (see Dominion Gets Final Fed Approval to Build Cove Point LNG Plant). Dominion has since broken ground and is actively building the new plant. So what do the environmental extremists from the Allegheny Defense Project (ADP) and Wild Virginia, people who hate fossil fuels, do? They tell FERC, “You didn’t do your job right, stop Dominion’s construction until we can file a lawsuit to block the project.” Before ADP and Wild Virginia can file a lawsuit, they must first get a “rehearing” with FERC, something they’ve requested. FERC takes its time with these things, and the groups are afraid Dominion’s construction will get far enough along that the project can’t be stopped. So ADP and Wild Virginia are asking FERC to temporarily stop the Dominion project until the rehearing, the inevitable ruling in favor of Dominion, and then a newly-minted lawsuit can be filed in federal court. In other words, ADP and Wild Virginia want FERC to help them stack the deck against Dominion. FERC isn’t playing along…
Read More “Anti Groups Ask FERC to Stop Construction on Cove Point LNG Plant”
CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Range Resources Corp

Cheniere Deal Means Some Marcellus Gas Will Go to Portugal
December 19, 2014December 19, 2014

At least one Marcellus Shale producer, Range Resources, will send Marcellus gas all the way to the Gulf Coast and Cheniere Energy’s LNG export facility in Sabine Pass near Corpus Christi, TX (see Range Announces Multiple Agreements to Sell Natgas & Ethane). It’s quite probable other producers will also ship Marcellus and Utica gas to the Cheniere facility for export as well (see More Marcellus Gas Going to Cheniere LNG Export Facility in TX?). So who will be buying at least some of that Marcellus gas? Yesterday, Cheniere announced a 20-year deal to sell LNG to Portuguese utility company EDP…
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wyoming County (PA)

P&G Plant in NEPA Adds Marcellus CNG Filling Station
December 19, 2014December 19, 2014

One of the most overlooked stories of the past few years in MDN’s opinion is the story of Proctor & Gamble in Wyoming County, PA (near Wilkes-Barre). P&G has some 150 massive manufacturing plants worldwide to make their products. The plant in Wyoming County makes Pampers and Luvs diapers, and Charmin toilet paper. Like the other P&G plants, the massive Wyoming plant consumes a LOT of electricity–800 billion killowatt hours, enough energy to run 40,000 homes. However, as of last year, all of the electricity P&G needs at the Wyoming plant is produced by P&G–using Marcellus gas to power its own electric plant (see P&G’s Only Energy Self-Sufficient Plant is Powered by Marcellus). It is the only P&G plant worldwide that is 100% energy self-sufficient–right in northeast PA. Now, Marcellus gas from the P&G property will also be used to feed a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station located at the plant…
Read More “P&G Plant in NEPA Adds Marcellus CNG Filling Station”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania

Trucking Co Building CNG Station in Scranton, PA for New Fleet
December 15, 2014December 15, 2014

C.A.T. Inc. (formerly Canadian American Transportation) is taking the plunge. They’ve decided to convert nearly a third of their tractor trailer fleet (100 out of 325) to compressed natural gas (CNG). C.A.T. is leasing 100 new CNG tractors from Ryder for their national fleet. In order to ensure those trucks can fuel up, they’ve contracted with U.S. Oil to build five new GAIN® Clean Fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) stations. One of those stations will be located in the heart of the Marcellus Shale–in Scranton, PA–using clean, abundant Marcellus Shale gas to keep the big rigs rolling…
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CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

More Marcellus Gas Going to Cheniere LNG Export Facility in TX?
December 12, 2014December 12, 2014

Earlier this week Kinder Morgan signed a new 15-year agreement with Cheniere to supply Cheniere’s Sabin Pass LNG export facility near Corpus Christi, Texas. One of the pipelines that will deliver the gas is Kinder’s Tennesses Gas Pipeline. Although the press release doesn’t say so, we believe at least some of the gas that Kinder will provide to Cheniere via the TGP will be Marcellus Shale gas…
Read More “More Marcellus Gas Going to Cheniere LNG Export Facility in TX?”
CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

The Connection Between Natgas Development & the Price of Oil
December 12, 2014December 12, 2014

Another story about the relationship between the price of oil and it’s impact on natural gas development–this time a story about the Marcellus. We noticed a brief mention in an article published on The Street (Jimmy Crammers website) that provides an important piece of the puzzle for us–and we thought you would be interested too. The article says the price of LNG (liquefied natural gas) is pegged to the price of oil. Low oil prices, low LNG prices, and that may affect drillers in the Marcellus and elsewhere. Except, according to the article, even though the price of oil is in a free fall, production and drilling of natural gas in shale areas like the Marcellus have not been affected…
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CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Research

Bank of America: OPEC is Dead, Oil Goes to $50/Barrel, LNG Drops
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

The price of oil, as certainly connected to shale drilling. Even the price of natural gas is influenced by what oil is doing (see our recent story Will Low Oil Prices Slow Northeast (Indeed All) Shale Drilling?). So it was with great interest we read that Bank of America analysts have declared that OPEC is effectively dead and that oil prices may make a run at $50 per barrel–and begin to swing wildly in the coming years. BoA also sees LNG prices dropping like rock…
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Antero Resources | CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | WGL Holdings

WGL & Antero to Provide Marcellus Gas to India via Cove Point
December 5, 2014December 5, 2014

An exciting announcement yesterday. You know that Dominion was given the green light in September and is now building an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland (see Dominion Gets Final Fed Approval to Build Cove Point LNG Plant). Dominion has already lined up Japan and India to purchase all of the LNG the plant can produce. The question has remained, who will ship natural gas to the plant, and where will that gas come from? Stands to reason most of it (perhaps all of it) will come from the Marcellus and Utica. We previously told you that Cabot Oil & Gas is one of the suppliers–supplying 0.35 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas to Japan when the plant is up and operating (see Cabot Signs Deal to Export Gas via Cove Point, MD). We now know of the first official supplier for India: WGL Midstream, using Marcellus gas supplied by Antero Resources…
Read More “WGL & Antero to Provide Marcellus Gas to India via Cove Point”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | Statewide WV | West Virginia

New LNG Plant for Drillers Coming to Panhandle of WV
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

LNG (liquefied natural gas) use is beginning to pick up in the Marcellus/Utica. Demand for LNG is increasing as drillers shift away from using diesel fuel to power rigs and instead use field gas, CNG (compressed natural gas) and LNG. Sensing an opporunity to serve drillers in the tri-state area of PA, WV and OH, Dave Moniot, CEO of Fairmont Brine Processing, who is also building a new brine plant in Wheeling (see today’s related story), is investing in an LNG plant in the Wheeling area–likely at the same site where he’s building a new brine processing plant. Moniot is partnering with Plum Energy to build the new plant under the name of TriState LNG…
Read More “New LNG Plant for Drillers Coming to Panhandle of WV”
CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

LNG Facility the Crown Jewel in Scuttled PGW Sale
November 13, 2014November 13, 2014

We find it interesting now that the corrupt Philadelphia City Council has torpedoed the deal to sell the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to Connecticut utility company UIL Holding, the talk by council members has returned to the shiniest jewel in the PGW crown: their small LNG facility. You may recall that MDN previously warned of an ex-Enron employee, Boris Brevnov, who wanted to tank the sale to UIL so he could gain control of the LNG facility for himself (see Former Enron Exec Makes “Unethical” Play to Derail PGW Deal). With the deal now hosed, is Brevnov working in the background to get the LNG facility? We have no proof of that, but the thought has crossed our mind. The Philadelphia Inquirer has an article delving into the LNG facility and what may happen next in the ongoing saga of the PGW sale…
Read More “LNG Facility the Crown Jewel in Scuttled PGW Sale”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

New EIA Study: LNG Exports Covered by Increasing Shale Supplies
November 12, 2014November 12, 2014

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released the results of in-depth research to answer the question, will we have enough natural gas if we start exporting a boatload of it? The study/research report EIA recently released, titled “Effect of Increased Levels of Liquefied Natural Gas Exports on U.S. Energy Markets” (full copy embedded below) finds that yes, we’ll have more than enough natural gas to keep prices low here at home AND export a boatload of it to other countries. It won’t even raise the price all that much, if at all…
Read More “New EIA Study: LNG Exports Covered by Increasing Shale Supplies”
CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Hancock County (OH) | IGS Energy | Industrywide Issues | Ohio

Latest Utica CNG Station Opens in Findlay, OH
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

It seems like to us what was once barely a trickle has turned into a steady stream of compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations that are popping up across the country–particular in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. The latest one to open is in Findlay (Hancock County), OH…
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CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Dominion Breaks Ground on Cove Point, MD LNG Export Facility
October 31, 2014October 31, 2014

It was only Wednesday night of this week (Oct. 29) at the Oil & Gas Awards dinner in Oklahoma City, OK that a fellow attendee (from Eagle Rock) asked me at dinner when Dominion would break ground on the Cove Point LNG plant. I told him I had not heard they’ve yet broken ground, but it should be any day now. Little did I know how prophetic those words would be! Yesterday Dominion announced that they have now officially broken ground on the Cove Point LNG export plant, a project that will inject between $3.4 and $3.8 billion in Calvert County, Maryland and pump upward of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of cheap, abundant Marcellus and Utica Shale gas…
Read More “Dominion Breaks Ground on Cove Point, MD LNG Export Facility”