Exporting

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Williams

Rumor Now Reality: Williams/Boardwalk to Build Gulf LPG Terminal
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners announced in March they will build a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that would run from the Marcellus/Utica region all the way to the Gulf Coast. They dubbed the new pipeline the Bluegrass Pipeline (see Williams, Boardwalk Announce Marcellus-to-Gulf Coast NGL Pipeline). But where would the new pipeline connect to along the Gulf Coast to process the NGLs? In July, we heard rumors that Williams and Boardwalk were considering building a new LPG export facility to process and export the Marcellus/Utica NGLs (see Bluegrass NGL Pipeline Recap, Builders Eye LNG Exports Too).

It’s no longer a rumor…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

WashPo Turns on Anti-Drilling Friends Over Cove Point LNG Exports
September 20, 2013September 20, 2013

MDN told you the happy news that the Dept. of Energy, under new Secretary Ernest Moniz, has approved a project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). However, Dominion is not yet out of the woods with respect to putting shovel to ground–there are another 60 or so signoffs required by various agencies before they can begin to build. Anti-drillers, like the Sierra Club, have vowed to fight Dominion tooth-and-nail every step of the way, hoping they can block the LNG export facility.

In an amazing (to us) editorial, the Washington Post editorial board turns on anti-drillers (whom they usually support) and tells them, in essence, to get a life and leave it alone. The Post says we need that LNG export facility and we need it now…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility
September 12, 2013

It’s been a long, hard fight. Dominion has finally won approval from the Dept. of Energy (thank you new Secretary Ernest “Hair” Moniz!) to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at their Cove Point, Maryland location. The LNG facility will allow Dominion to super-cool and condense natural gas to a liquid state–Marcellus and Utica Shale gas–and export it to India and Japan, countries who are allies of the United States but don’t have a free trade agreement with us. This is great news for those two countries who previously signed deals with Dominion to take 100% of the LNG the Cove Point facility can produce (see Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones). It’s also great news for Maryland: Dominion will spend between $3.4-$3.8 billion to build the plant.

The new facility has been opposed by the Sierra Club and other well-known anti-drilling organizations because they believe the facility will encourage more fracking (see Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal). With this approval from the DOE, Dominion says they plan to begin construction next year, in 2014, and that the facility will be online and shipping in 2017…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

When Will DOE Approve Cove Point, MD LNG Export Facility?
August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

In early August the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) approved a project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) via a facility along the Gulf Coast–in Lake Charles, LA (see Third Houston company gets LNG export approval). No doubt the DOE’s newly minted secretary, Ernest “Hair” Moniz, had a great deal to do with it (we affectionately call him Hair, if you’ve seen his picture, you know why). So far, Lake Charles is the third LNG export facility to receive a green light from the Obama administration over the past two years–all of them along the Gulf Coast.

What about a little LNG action along the East Coast–so we can export some of this abundant (and cheap!) Marcellus Shale gas? Dominion is still waiting for a green light from the DOE for their Cove Point, MD LNG project–a project heavily protested by the likes of the Sierra Club and other anti-fossil fuel groups. Japan and India–two good allies of the U.S.–are lined up and waiting, ready to buy the entire output of the Cove Point facility when/if it starts to ship…
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Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Consultant: Retooling PGW LNG Terminal for Exports Problematic
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

MDN previously told you that the 176 year-old Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) natural gas utility company went on the auction block in July with the aim of privatizing it (see Phila. Gas Works Goes on Auction Block – Marcellus Key in Sale?). At the time, it seemed like one of the keys to a sale would be converting an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility owned and operated by PGW into an export facility for exporting Marcellus Shale gas.

However, according to a confidential report issued earlier this year by a PGW consultant, such a scenario would not be all that attractive for a potential buyer. The cost to convert the facility would be far more than the existing value of the entire company, plus there are real estate issues to contend with…
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Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Chilean Execs Visits PA – Interested in Buying Marcellus Shale Gas
July 18, 2013July 18, 2013

Last April, PA Gov. Tom Corbett went on a South American visit to promote Pennsylvania–especially PA’s shale gas. Looks like he did a good sales job. This week, energy executives from Chile are making their own trade visit to PA and guess what they want to see? PA’s Marcellus gas fields…
Read More “Chilean Execs Visits PA – Interested in Buying Marcellus Shale Gas”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Exporting | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

France Sticks its Collective Head in Frack Sand
July 15, 2013July 15, 2013

Apparently the matter is now settled in France. As long as President Francois Hollande is in office, he will not allow shale drilling in France. Too bad for the French people. Great news for the U.S.–France just became a huge export market for us…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Enviro Groups Once Again Ask FERC to Refuse Cove Point LNG Plant
July 10, 2013July 9, 2013

A small group of individuals pretending to be large groups of many people yesterday sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking them to reject the Cove Point, Maryland LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility Dominion is planning to build because they, said groups, believe in scary climate change fairy tales (oceans rising, tornadoes swirling, hurricanes churning), and so, because they believe these fairy tales, FERC should refuse a permit to Dominion. Uh, right.

Bonus observation from the press release below from said so-called “environmental groups”: any time you see the word “Riverkeeper” in a group name, run the other way. Any time you see “Sierra Club” in the name, run the other way. They are radicals and frankly, off their collective rocker. Here’s the letter they sent yesterday:
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Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Phila. Gas Works Goes on Auction Block – Marcellus Key in Sale?
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

Philadelphia is about to put the 176 year-old Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) natural gas utility company on the auction block with the aim of privatizing it. Although it’s not viewed as a great opportunity (fixed base of around 500,000 customers who are getting more energy-efficient each year), the utility has an ace in the hole: the Marcellus Shale. Specifically, a buyer may consider converting an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility owned and operated by PGW into an export facility for exporting Marcellus Shale gas. If that were to happen, let’s just say the world would be your oyster…
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Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Williams

Bluegrass NGL Pipeline Recap, Builders Eye LNG Exports Too
July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

An update on the proposed new natural gas liquids (NGL) Bluegrass Pipeline, a joint venture between Williams Partners and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners. As MDN previously reported, the Bluegrass will run from Ohio/Pennsylvania all the way to the Gulf Coast (see Williams, Boardwalk Announce Marcellus-to-Gulf Coast NGL Pipeline).

The update below, courtesy of the Akron Beacon Journal, does a good job of recapping what we do and don’t know about the pipeline project and where it will be built. The update also includes new information: In addition to gas liquids going to the Gulf, Williams and Boardwalk are eyeing LNG export terminals along the Gulf Coast as a market for the methane portion of what they’ll pipeline from the Utica/Marcellus…
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Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Public Opinion

API Poll: Vast Majority of Americans Think NatGas Exports Good
May 22, 2013May 22, 2013

The American Petroleum Institute, the premier organization that represents the drilling industry in the U.S., hired Harris Interactive to poll Americans on their opinion about exporting natural gas. The results (full copy embedded below) are very revealing. Some 71% of American adults either agree strongly or agree somewhat with the statement that exporting will create jobs here at home. A majority also agrees exporting makes us more secure and reduces our trade deficit with other countries.
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Commodity Price | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

Bipartisan Policy Center: U.S. NatGas Prices Will Stay Low
May 21, 2013May 21, 2013

It seems as if everyone is hauling out their crystal balls to try and divine where the price of natural gas will go in both the short and long term–and they all pretty much say the same thing: The price won’t go much higher for a long time–even if demand really picks up and even if the U.S. starts exporting natgas. The latest organization to take a stab at the prediction game is the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), a Washington, D.C. based organization founded by liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans (mainstream media’s definition of bipartisanship).

The BPC’s Energy Project staff released a new report yesterday titled “New Dynamics of the U.S. Natural Gas Market” (full copy embedded below). The key findings of the study will not make the anti-drilling nutters happy, that’s for sure:
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Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Marcellus/Utica Gas Going to Japan: TGP Signs 20-Year Export Deal
May 20, 2013May 20, 2013

Last week the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), which runs through the Marcellus/Utica region, signed a 20-year agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan to ship natural gas to the Gulf Coast (Louisiana) where it will be liquefied–turned into LNG–and exported to Japan. This is the second such agreement to export Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to Asia. A little over one month ago Dominion announced a 20-year deal to export 100% of the output from their planned Cove Point, MD LNG plant. The gas from Cove Point will go to both India and Japan (see Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones).
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Gas Going to Japan: TGP Signs 20-Year Export Deal”
Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Senate Confirms MIT Prof Moniz as Energy Secretary, Antis Mad
May 20, 2013May 20, 2013

The U.S. Senate last week confirmed the appointment of Ernest “Hair” Moniz to be the new Secretary of Energy. You know why we affectionately call him “Hair” if you’ve seen a picture of him. Make no mistake–Moniz is a liberal Democrat and tilts left in many things. However, he’s probably the best candidate we could have hoped for in the tragedy called the Obama administration.

Dr. Moniz is a really smart guy–like Albert Einstein smart. He’s also a realist when it comes to natural gas–he believes it’s a good bridge fuel for the next 50 years or so, until we reach renewable nirvana. In other words, he speaks the truth and he speaks his mind. Of course, the nutty anti-drillers don’t like it and are bellyaching about his confirmation…
Read More “Senate Confirms MIT Prof Moniz as Energy Secretary, Antis Mad”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

A group of the same old, tired “we’re against all progress” groups–including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and a variety of X Riverkeeper groups–keeps making noise (increasingly just ignored by everyone) that, “OMG! the Cove Point LNG terminal in Maryland will kill off life as we know it in the Chesapeake!” Their tone is shrill and their argument (“because we hate fracking and this will cause more it”) is fallacious.

Here’s the latest claptrap to be issued by the Sierra Club, et al:
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Economic Impact | Exporting | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

Report: Benefits of NatGas Production/Exports for Small Biz
May 6, 2013

The nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy, research and education organization the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) published a new report last week titled “The Benefits of Natural Gas Production and Exports for U.S. Small Businesses” (full copy embedded below). The report looks at the period 2005-2010 and the rocket growth in jobs and new small businesses created by shale drilling in states like OH, PA and WV–three of the ten states highlighted in the report. It also looks forward to the opportunity for small businesses should the U.S. start to export natural gas.

An overview of the report from the SBE Council:
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