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Chester, PA Mayor Claims PA LNG Export Project for Philly “Dead”

Stefan Roots

The mayor of Chester, PA (a suburb of Philadelphia), Stefan Roots, boldly proclaimed over the weekend that an LNG export project planned for his community called Penn LNG is “dead in the water.” He bases his claim on Joe Biden’s recent declaration that all LNG export projects are “on pause” (see White House Makes it Official – Biden Declares War on LNG Exports). The radical-left Roots has been against the Penn LNG project from the beginning. No surprise there — radical is as radical does.
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White House Makes it Official – Biden Declares War on LNG Exports

The White House has made official what we warned you about yesterday (see Biden Attacks NatGas by Blocking 17 U.S. LNG Export Terminals). This morning, the Biden administration announced it has put “a temporary pause on pending decisions of Liquefied Natural Gas exports.” The reason? The so-called “climate crisis” is “the existential threat of our time.” Which connotes that LNG is, at least in part, causing the climate crisis (a crisis that doesn’t actually exist!). There are 17 multi-billion-dollar LNG export projects with applications before the Dept. of Energy that will now, at a minimum, be delayed. We expect many of them will get canceled. Biden has just declared war on LNG exports.
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Biden Attacks NatGas by Blocking 17 U.S. LNG Export Terminals

Two weeks ago, MDN warned you that the Bidenistas were conducting a secret “review,” being led by the Department of Energy (DOE), to evaluate whether regulators should consider mythical “climate change” when deciding whether a proposed natural gas export project meets “the national interest” (see Bidenistas Look to Block Authorization of New LNG Export Projects). It is a prelude to introducing new guidelines that will block the approval of ANY new LNG export project. It’s now happened. The DOE is about to announce it will delay the approval of Calcasieu Pass 2 while considering so-called global warming considerations. The pattern is: delay, then deny, then defend the denial.
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Gas Exporting Group Predicts Tight Global LNG Market Until 2026

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is a group of natural gas exporting countries, including Qatar, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela — terrorist-supporting countries led by thugs and dictators. Whoops! A little too much honesty there? We don’t normally track the actions and statements of the GECF. However, the group holds more than two-thirds of the world’s gas supplies (so they say). So you can’t totally ignore them. The GECF is predicting a “tight” LNG market worldwide until at least 2026.
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U.S. LNG Exports Dip in Jan. Due to Cold Temps, Freeport Problem

According to Reuters, the amount of natural gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants (called feedgas) dropped to a one-year low this week as an Arctic freeze caused some energy firms to divert fuel to the domestic market, and as Freeport LNG’s facility in Texas experienced mechanical problems. Yep, another outage at Freeport. Surprised?
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Venture Global Continues Fiction that Calcasieu Pass LNG Not Ready

In what is a laughable defense, Venture Global LNG told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it cannot meet contractual obligations to provide liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to several major customers because its export plant is not yet ready to meet three criteria found in the contracts. Venture Global continues its charade that the Calcasieu Pass export facility is not yet ready for primetime — even though it has shipped over 200 cargoes! Venture Global is using language in the contracts as an excuse to continue profiting from not honoring those contracts and instead selling cargoes at a higher non-contract price. It’s disgusting, and it’s giving American LNG a black eye.
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Iranian-Backed Terrorists Put a Damper on Red Sea LNG Shipments

QatarEnergy, the world’s second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, has stopped sending tankers via the Red Sea, although production continues. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group has, since November, attacked vessels in the Red Sea, part of a route that accounts for about 12% of the world’s shipping traffic. The terrorists are using Israel’s justified war in Gaza as the excuse to attack ships in the Red Sea. The U.S. and U.K. dropped some bombs on the Houthis in Yemen last week. The Houthis have continued to attack ships in the region, despite it raining bombs. Maybe it’s time for bigger bombs to be dropped?
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Haynesville & LNG the Main Driver of Chesapeake/Southwestern Deal

Even though separately (and together) Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy own MORE assets in the Marcellus/Utica than in the Haynesville shale play, the main driver to do a merger between the two companies is the Haynesville and that play’s close proximity to LNG export facilities along the Gulf Coast. That is the conclusion of most analysts based on comments made yesterday by Chesapeake and Southwestern in announcing a $7.4 billion deal to combine the companies (see Deal is Done! Chesapeake & Southwestern Announce $7.4B Merger). So, the big question is, What does that mean for the Marcellus/Utica?
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EQT Announces Deal to Send 66 MMcf/d to LNG Export Plant in S. Texas

Port of Brownsville, TX, on the border with Mexico (click for larger version)

Somewhat lost in yesterday’s big news of the Chesapeake/Southwestern merger (which sucked up most of the news oxygen) was an announcement by EQT Corporation, the current largest natural gas producer in the U.S. EQT unveiled a new 15-year deal with Glenfarne Energy’s Texas LNG export facility to liquefy 0.5 million tons per annum (MTPA) for EQT, which works out to be roughly 66 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of EQT’s Marcellus/Utica molecules hitching a ride to South Texas.
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Bidenistas Look to Block Authorization of New LNG Export Projects

The Bidenistas are conducting a secret “review,” being led by the Department of Energy, to evaluate whether regulators should consider mythical “climate change” when deciding whether a proposed natural gas export project meets the national interest. It is a prelude to introducing new guidelines that will almost certainly block the approval of ANY new LNG export project. Yet another attack by the Bidenistas against fossil fuels in general and natural gas in particular. Surprised? We aren’t.
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EQT CEO Toby Rice: NatGas Price Below $3.50 Means Less Production

EQT CEO Toby Rice appeared on CNBC’s ‘Money Movers’ program last Friday to discuss what he expects for natural gas prices this year, what lower natural gas production means for EQT, and more. It was an interesting segment (watch it below; it is just four minutes long). Rice said, among other things, that a key issue for people to understand is that the marginal cost (i.e., the breakeven cost) in the U.S. to produce natural gas is around $3.50/MMBtu, which will hold production levels flat. Prices lower than that lead to lower production.
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Williams Buys Gulf Storage & Pipes, Connects to Transco for LNG

Wow! That was fast! On Dec. 27, pipeline giant Williams issued a press release to announce a deal to buy six underground natural gas storage facilities located in Louisiana and Mississippi with a total capacity of 115 billion cubic feet (Bcf), as well as 230 miles of gas transmission pipeline and 30 pipeline interconnects, for $1.95 billion. Some of the interconnections connect to the Williams Transco pipeline system, a huge system that transports Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast area. One of the big reasons for the deal, according to Williams, is to connect more gas supplies to LNG export markets. Yesterday, Williams issued a second press release to say the deal is already done! Williams now owns the assets.
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Shell Asks FERC to Force Venture Global LNG to Release Documents

Shell, one of the contracted customers to receive LNG from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility, added its voice to BP’s request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to release documents from Venture Global related to an ongoing delay in making the plant commercial. The Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility recently received FERC authorization to place the final three liquefaction blocks (7-9) into service (see Venture Global Gets FERC OK to Commission 3 Calcasieu Pass Trains). The other trains, 1-6, have been online for 19+ months but are not officially in commercial service, even though the facility has now shipped over 200 cargoes. Venture Global claims it’s still working out the kinks. Venture’s contracted customers are frustrated that they aren’t getting any of their contracted (price-guaranteed) shipments and have sued (see Repsol Joins Shell, BP in Suing Venture Global for Missed LNG).
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U.S. Became #1 LNG Exporter in the World in 2023

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports hit monthly and annual record highs in December, according to tanker tracking data reviewed by Reuters. Analysts say the data shows the United States leapfrogged both Qatar and Australia to become the largest exporter of LNG in 2023. The two main factors for the U.S. achieving the #1 position are (a) Freeport LNG returned to full service after being down for 10 months following an explosion and fire, and (b) Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass facility adding more capacity to a facility that it still claims is not commercially ready.
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Charif Souki Exits Tellurian & Driftwood LNG with $8 Million Payout

Last week, Charif Souki, an Egyptian-born but naturalized U.S. citizen, was booted from the company he co-founded, Tellurian (see Tellurian Fires Charif Souki – Out as Chairman & Executive Officer). The board fired Souki but let him keep a board seat. Souki is now gone from the board, too. He worked out a deal to leave the company with a severance package worth roughly $8 million.
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U.S. Customs Decision re Jones Act Makes Exporting LNG Harder

Bureaucratic incompetence? Or yet another attack by the Bidenistas against the American fossil energy industry? It’s hard to say. We’re speaking of a new policy decision by the Biden Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency that prohibits LNG tankers from partially filling up at one U.S. export plant and moving up the coast to finish filling up at another U.S. plant. The CBP says doing so violates the 103-year-old Jones Act. We’ll explain.
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