FERC Grants Cove Point LNG Permission to Begin Commercial Ops
As MDN reported last Friday, the very first cargo of LNG (liquefied natural gas) left the Cove Point LNG export facility in Lusby, Maryland (see Cove Point Ships First LNG Cargo – But Not M-U Gas). However, as we accurately surmised, that first shipment did not contain Marcellus/Utica gas molecules, but instead the gas aboard was previously shipped in from Nigeria by Shell, used in the commissioning process to test the facility. Now that the commissioning process is complete, Dominion Energy, operator of the plant, requested (on Friday) a full-blown kiss of approval from FERC to begin real, commercial operations–chilling and liquefying Marcellus gas for export. On Monday, FERC granted its big, sloppy, wet kiss of approval. Cove Point is now up and running “for real”…
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Earlier this week MDN told you the ship that would carry the very first cargo of LNG from Cove Point LNG had docked (see 
Southern LNG, a unit of Kinder Morgan, filed a request with the Dept. of Energy yesterday asking the DOE for “blanket authorization” to export LNG from the Elba Island LNG plant in Georgia beginning in the third quarter of this year…
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy has just released an interesting report that shows the number and volume of LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports from Feb. 2016 (when U.S. LNG exports began) to Dec. 2017. It’s really quite fascinating. For example, which country do you think we have (so far) shipped more LNG to than any other country? Someplace in Europe? Maybe Japan or China? Nope. The #1 one trading partner that received our LNG for 2016-2017 was…Mexico! That’s right, Mexico. Even though we have all sorts of natural gas pipelines crossing the border into Mexico. Apparently those pipelines don’t connect with large parts of the country, so LNG tankers meet the need instead. Number two on the list of countries receiving our LNG exports: South Korea. Followed by China (#3), Japan (#4) and Chile (#5). The report also breaks down deliveries by other criteria. For example, even though Mexico was #1 on the list for our exports, if you break our exports down regionally, Asia/Pacific received most of our exports, while Latin America (including Mexico) was the #2 region. Or how about this: Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries vs. non-FTA countries. Would it surprise you to learn that non-FTA countries got more of our exported LNG (52.7%) than FTA countries (43.3%)? The reason MDN readers should be interested in LNG exports is because exports are a huge future market for Marcellus/Utica gas. Be sure to spend some time with this important report…
On Monday, Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell reported that the company’s Lusby, Maryland Cove Point LNG export facility will become operational and begin to export LNG in “early March” (see 
Earlier this month MDN brought you news that Dominion’s Cove Point LNG export facility along the shore of Maryland has delayed its official start-up until perhaps as late as April (see 
We consider this REALLY BIG news–and yet we’ve only seen it mentioned in a single mainstream news story. For the first time since 1957, in 2017 the United States exported more natural gas to other countries (Canada, Mexico, and internationally) than it imported (from Canada, Mexico and other countries). That is, in 2017 the U.S. became a “net exporter” of natural gas–the first time in 60 years! The reason is, of course, because of shale. And because the Marcellus/Utica produces over 40% of all the shale gas produced in the U.S., you can justifiably say we just became a net exporter, thanks to the Marcellus/Utica. So pop a cork on the champagne bottle. It’s Friday. Let’s celebrate!…
We’ve been waiting, with bated breath, for an announcement from Dominion Energy that their $4 billion LNG export terminal is finally (finally!) up and running and shipping out condensed Marcellus/Utica Shale gas as LNG, heading to Japan and India. In April of last year, Dominion said the plant would be up and running, shipping LNG to India beginning this month (see 
For months Dominion’s top brass has signaled that the country’s newest LNG export facility, Cove Point (situated along the coast of Maryland), would begin full commercial operations “by the end of this year” (see 
We have to confess, the LNG (liquefied natural gas) world is sometimes confusing for us. The overall theory is pretty simple. Huge plants super-cool natural gas into a liquid state (called liquefaction) and load it onto tankers. The tankers (typically ships, sometimes rail) convey the LNG to a distant port somewhere and it’s unloaded. At the receiving end, the gas is then reheated back into a gaseous state (called regasification). However, the technology that both cools and reheats the gas is complex. Dominion began working on the Cove Point LNG export plant in October 2014 (see 
Dominion announced yesterday it has introduced “feed gas” into it’s new $4 billion LNG export plant in Cove Point, Maryland. Feed gas is used for testing purposes and is the final step before the plant goes online into full production later this month. Dominion said the feed gas will come from Shell, and Shell will take delivery of the LNG that results. Following the test, Marcellus/Utica gas will begin flowing to the plant and the LNG produced will begin shipping to Japan and India. We are on the cusp of something we’ve waited for, cheered for, and agonized over for more than three years. Think of the Shell’s feed gas as the dress rehearsal the night before a play opens…
Black & Veatch, a leading engineering, consulting and construction company, released their “2017 Strategic Directions: Natural Gas Industry Report” earlier this week (full copy below). In the report, B&V examines how organizations are planning for long-term, sustainable operations that can handle rising supplies and deliver those supplies to markets eager to use natural gas as a cheaper and cleaner power generation source. The report finds that LNG (liquefied natural gas) is key in shifting oversupply from countries like the U.S. to growing demand centers in Asia, Latin America, India and Sub-Saharan Africa. The report emphasizes calls from the industry to fund infrastructure investments to enable increased LNG imports and exports, including floating LNG (FLNG) and natural gas-based power generating plants. There is no doubt, according to the report, that the U.S. is now in the driver’s seat with respect to LNG. Below is a summary of the key points, followed by the full report…
Yesterday a three-judge panel from the US District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the Sierra Club’s petitions challenging Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorization of three LNG export projects: Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG in Maryland, Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG in Louisiana, and Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG in Texas. As we said in a post on Oct. 3rd: “The Sierra Club lawsuit against all three projects challenges FERC’s approval of them, arguing the plants negatively affect the environment and will make Mom Earth sick. While no one expects these lawsuits to go anywhere, you never know, which is why it’s important to keep an eye on it” (see