5th Circuit Pulls Air Permit for Under-Construction Port Arthur LNG
Earlier this year, Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Sempra, announced it had reached a positive final investment decision (FID) for the development, construction, and operation of the Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 project in Jefferson County, Texas (see Port Arthur LNG Pulls Trigger on FID, Tells Builder to Start Work). Sempra worked out all of the remaining financial aspects of the deal, including the sale of a non-controlling piece of the project to investment firm KKR and forming a joint venture with ConocoPhillips (see Sempra Sells 42% of $13B Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 to KKR). A key permit for the project, an air permit issued by Texas, was overturned yesterday by a federal appeals court.
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An innovative financial solutions company based in Houston, TX, called OneNexus, just announced a new “insurance” plan for drillers called WellSecure that will pay out money to plug an old oil or gas well when it hits end-of-life. WellSecure is the only insured financial contract that provides long-term financial security for the purpose of funding oil and gas decommissioning liabilities. No more worrying about whether a company will have enough money to plug old wells. With WellSecure, the money is (literally) in the bank!
A new study from the Texas Public Policy Foundation finds that the actual hidden costs of fueling an electric vehicle, which some allege equates to $1.21 per gallon of gas, is more like $17 per gallon — all things considered. In a new paper recently published called “Overcharged Expectations: Unmasking the True Costs of Electric Vehicles” (full copy below), the study’s authors argue that while the direct cost of “fueling up” to an EV owner may appear low, the real costs and considerations add up to be significantly more. The wheels are beginning to fall off EV cars.
In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natural gas-powered electric plant in rural Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County, PA (see 
In January, Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 became law with the signature of Gov. Mike DeWine (see 
Freeport LNG’s export facility on Quintana Island, TX, is again experiencing problems. Freeport LNG’s export terminal with three liquefaction “trains” shut down in June 2022 after an explosion and fire (see 
In May, the Bidenistas at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a hellscape of new regulations called the Clean Power Plan 2.0, aimed at forcing coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to close (see 
According to the prognosticators at the U.S. Energy Information Administration, North America’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity will expand to 24.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by 2027 (four years from now) from the current 11.4 Bcf/d we see today. However, the increase will not all come from the United States. Both Mexico and Canada are due to place their first LNG export terminals into service in the next few years. By the end of 2027, EIA estimates LNG export capacity will grow by 1.1 Bcf/d in Mexico, 2.1 Bcf/d in Canada, and 9.7 Bcf/d in the U.S. from 10 new projects across the three countries.
The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) is sounding the alarm that more than half of the U.S. and parts of Canada, home to around 180 million people, could fall short of electricity during extreme cold again this winter. Why? If you read certain leftwing publications, they will say we’re heading for blackouts due to an overreliance on natural gas. According to NERC and its just-released 2023–2024 Winter Reliability Assessment, the coming outages are because we don’t rely ENOUGH on natural gas! That’s right. NERC (and FERC) say we need more pipelines and natural gas to shore up a lack of supplies during the worst cold snaps. The lack of natural gas leads to a lack of fuel for electric power plants (and for people who use it to heat their homes). Both agencies, but NERC in particular, say we need more pipelines, and we need them NOW.
In September, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which has been hassled and harassed endlessly by so-called “protesters” and foreign-backed Big Green groups, sued some 40 protesters and two Big Green groups for $4 million for their ongoing illegal activity to block the final bits of the 303-mile project (see 
The U.S. rig count fell again last week, dropping another two rigs to 616 active rigs — the lowest rig total this year and the lowest count since February 2022. The count in the Marcellus/Utica stayed the same at a collective 40 active rigs. However, the M-U mix changed once again. Pennsylvania lost another rig, going from 20 to 19 last week, after dropping two rigs the week before (see 
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility recently received Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) authorization to place the final three liquefaction blocks (7-9) into service (see 
Looking for a great job in the oil and gas industry? From apprentices and graduate opportunities to highly skilled professionals in IT and technology, sales and marketing, finance, upstream, and trading, bioenergy, EV charging, hydrogen… even so-called renewables and power — six oil and gas supermajors are hiring. They include BP, Shell, TotalEnergies, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and (yes, even our enemy) Saudi Aramco. They all want new employees. Find out more below.
Last Friday, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis had signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see 
The ignominious end of an era. For a full ten years, MDN has covered the story of Canadian company Pieridae Energy and its quest to build the Goldboro LNG export project in Nova Scotia, using Marcellus/Utica molecules to feed it (