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Recent NEXUS Pipe Decision by DC Circuit Benefits LNG Exports
A few weeks ago, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the D.C. Circuit) sided with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and NEXUS Pipeline against Big Green and the City of Oberlin, OH, in a case that challenged FERC’s right to approve NEXUS based on the pipeline exporting some of its natgas across the Canadian border (see DC Circuit Rules NEXUS Pipeline Approval by FERC was Righteous). The decision establishes an important precedent that helps not only other pipelines, but LNG export facilities too.
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It has been a wild ride for LNG over the past few years. From record low prices for LNG to record high prices. From not being able to give it away to not being able to produce enough. Earlier this month, the International Gas Union (IGU) released its 13th annual 2022 World LNG Report–the world’s most comprehensive public source of information on key developments and trends in the LNG sector (full copy below). Global LNG trade grew by 4.5% last year, reaching an all-time high of 372.3 MT. A strong post-pandemic recovery resulted in a surge in LNG imports, even though the annual growth rate of 4.5% remains far from pre-COVID-19 levels of 13.0% in 2019. We suspect this year’s growth rate (which will be reflected in next year’s report) may swing back to pre-COVID levels.
Baker Hughes, one of the biggest oilfield services companies on the planet, issued its second quarter earnings update yesterday. The company reported a net loss of $839 million during 2Q, but more than half that number is due to a write-off of its oilfield services business in Russia. What caught our attention was not the company’s financial performance, but the words of its top leaders in describing the near- and long-term future for natural gas. Baker Hughes is VERY bullish on natural gas and natural gas infrastructure (including LNG and pipelines).
The second-largest LNG export terminal in the U.S., Freeport LNG located near Galveston, Texas, experienced an explosion and fire in early June (see 
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, did the country (and his own party) a huge favor when he pushed the temporary pause button on committing trillions of dollars of new inflationary spending on Big Green programs called the Biden Build Back Better bill (see 
If you monitor the oil and gas industry long enough, you’ll come to discover cycles, trends, and the old saying, “Everything old is new again.” That’s what is happening with the LNG market. For years (several decades), LNG was sold on long-term contracts of 10 to 20 years. Buyers would agree to purchase X amount of LNG for Y amount of cash for long periods of time. Long-term contracts offer price stability and guaranteed availability. But then came shale…
Each month the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issues a monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). In May, the STEO made the startling prediction that the average Henry Hub price for natural gas (the national benchmark) would average $8.59 for the entire second half of this year (see 
Although we understand self-interest and wanting to protect one’s profit margin, we continue to be distressed that some of the biggest chemical companies in the world (meaning in the U.S.) are actively trying to block LNG exports. Why? They want the natural gas they buy (in very large quantities) to be as cheap as possible. In 2017, Big Chemical–companies like Dow Corning, BASF, Eastman Chemical, and others–via their trade association Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA), launched an effort to try and persuade Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the Trump Administration to create barriers to exports of natural gas (see 
Yesterday the NYMEX natural gas price lost 20% of its value in a single day for the second time in two weeks. When news broke on June 14 that the Freeport LNG plant would not likely return to full service before the end of this year, the NYMEX front-month contract lost $1.42 (19.75%) to close at $7.19/MMBtu (see 
In March MDN brought you information from the Toronto Financial Post that said the Ukrainian crisis has put two East Coast Canada LNG export facilities “back on the map” (see 
The Group of Seven (G-7) is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. G-7 countries are the world’s largest democratic (freely elected) economies, representing roughly half of the world’s wealth (but only 10% of the world’s population). President Biden and the leaders of the other G-7 countries had a confab yesterday in Germany and issued a joint communique (copy below) that says, in part, it’s OK to invest in natural gas and LNG infrastructure.
President Biden began a five-day “swing” through Europe on Sunday. Yesterday he met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss energy security in light of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. European countries are in various stages of reducing the import of Russian natural gas and oil, which is leading to upheaval in the world market. Biden and von der Leyen issued a joint statement following their meeting (pre-written, of course). What does the statement say about energy and LNG in particular?
Two weeks ago the second-largest LNG export terminal in the U.S., Freeport LNG located near Galveston, Texas, experienced an explosion and fire (see 
Wrapping up the coverage of the recent Hart Energy DUG East Conference, Pittsburgh Business Times reporter Paul Gough pulled together comments by various speakers on the topic of LNG and whether or not the Marcellus/Utica can and will benefit from a growth in American LNG exports. Opinions by some of the biggest drillers in the M-U diverged on this topic.