Category: Statewide MD

Cove Point LNG, built by Dominion Energy, began exporting Marcellus Shale gas in April (see First-Ever Shipment of Marcellus LNG Leaves Cove Point, Maryland). Even though it’s only been up and running for about two months, there’s already talk of shutting Cove Point down. You may recall that two countries have contracted for all of the exported LNG coming from Cove Point: India and Japan (see Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones). Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell is currently visiting Japan to commemorate the first two shipments of Marcellus LNG arriving there. Yesterday Farrell shared that although Cove Point is doing just fine, the plant will undergo “brief maintenance” of “a few weeks” in the autumn. Scheduled downtime. Does that mean LNG will quit flowing out of the facility each day? According to Farrell, it “depends” on how full the storage tanks are ahead of the planned downtime…
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On April 22, the LNG tanker Sakura left Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG export facility loaded with Marcellus molecules, heading for Japan (see Cove Point LNG Ships First Marcellus Cargo to Japan). It was the second-ever load of Marcellus molecules to depart the Cove Point facility. About a week later the ship transited the Panama Canal (see 1st Cove Point Marcellus Shipment to Japan Goes Thru Panama Canal). On Monday, the Sakura finally docked at the Negishi LNG terminal in Japan, closing the loop on the first of many such shipments of Marcellus gas that will go to the Land of the Rising Sun…
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Last week MDN reported that a ship called Adam had departed the Cove Point LNG facility in Maryland with the very first shipment of Marcellus molecules (see First-Ever Shipment of Marcellus LNG Leaves Cove Point, Maryland). Although the first shipment of Marcellus LNG was/is owned by Japan, the destination for the cargo was/is still unknown. The second shipment, ever, of Marcellus LNG from Cove Point left port yesterday–also owned by Japan. However, the ship’s manifest indicates this second shipment IS heading to Japan…
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Finally. Finally! Finally!!! The very first cargo of Marcellus Shale gas has been liquefied, loaded and as of Sunday night, set sail from Dominion’s Cove Point LNG plant–heading for we’re not sure where yet. We’ve waited YEARS for this day! Let’s pop the cork on a bottle of the bubbly and celebrate. Last week MDN told you that a ship called the Patris was due to dock at Cove Point and load the first shipment of Marcellus molecules (see Dominion Announces Cove Point LNG Open for Business). It appears that information was incorrect. It was correct at the time! Either the Patris was redirected somewhere else, or we’re not sure what happened. But news has just broken that late Sunday night, close to midnight, a ship by the name of Adam departed Cove Point loaded with the very first Marcellus shipment. Several more ships are said to be headed for Cove Point now. International shipping isn’t our specialty, so we won’t quote chapter and verse for which ships and when. This first shipment that left Sunday belongs to Japan, but there’s no indication it will actually go to Japan. As we’ve noticed and have been reporting, both Japan and India (which will take all of the LNG Cove Point can produce) are in the game of swapping cargoes they own, sending Cove Point cargoes to customers closer to the point of origin in return for receiving cargoes that originate closer to their own shores. When we hear where the first Marcellus cargo lands, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, here’s the information we can find about the very first load of Marcellus Shale gas to get exported from Cove Point…
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Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, issued its weekly Natural Gas Update report. In one of the short bullet point notes we learned important new information about the Cove Point LNG export facility. We learned that the next ship to arrive and load up at the facility will NOT be the Patris, as we were led to believe (see Cove Point LNG Gets Ready to Ship First Marcellus Molecules in Apr). Instead, the first ship that loaded molecules at the facility, the Gemmata, has returned and is (as you read this) loading a “second commissioning cargo.” Which takes some explanation. The first commissioning cargo was gas brought to the facility by an LNG tanker and unloaded, regasified, and then put through liquefaction again–in order to test the facility. That first cargo was natural gas from Nigeria, brought in by Shell. And Shell shipped out the first commissioning cargo on the Gemmata on March 1 (see Cove Point Ships First LNG Cargo – But Not M-U Gas). This is the second commissioning cargo–so apparently the ship that brought in the original Nigerian gas was bigger than the Gemmata. The Gemmata unloaded its shipment of Nigerian gas in the UK, turned around and came back, docking at the facility on Tuesday of this week. Yes, the Patris is still on the way to Cove Point and will dock on April 9, next Monday, and will begin loading the first batch of Marcellus molecules…
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In early March Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG plant shipped its first-ever load of LNG (liquefied natural gas), although the gas itself was imported from Nigeria, used in testing the plant (see Cove Point Ships First LNG Cargo – But Not M-U Gas). Last week MDN told you that a BP-contracted LNG tanker, Patris, is on the way to Cove Point but will not dock until April 9th (see Cove Point LNG: BP Ship Coming for 1st M-U Pickup; India Wants Swap). The Patris will be the first ship to carry Marcellus molecules from the facility to distant shores. It now looks like we have confirmation, of a sort, that indeed the Patris will dock and load Marcellus LNG on April 9. That confirmation comes from Platts, which reports that on Monday feed gas (from the Marcellus) spiked up to 640 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d), which is “the highest level in more than three weeks” of gas flowing into the facility. Here’s the latest on our continuing watch of Cove Point, a true game-changer for the Marcellus, and for companies like Cabot Oil & Gas that will send gas to the facility…
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“Hey Jim, what’s happening with Cove Point LNG? Didn’t you say a ship was on the way to pick up the very first cargo of Marcellus molecules?” Great question. Cove Point did see its first cargo set sail in early March (see Cove Point Ships First LNG Cargo – But Not M-U Gas). However, that first cargo was imported gas (from Nigeria) used to test the facility as part of the commissioning process. The plant chilled the Nigerian gas and loaded it onto a waiting LNG tanker and the tanker left. So yes, the plant works, but the first batch wasn’t M-U molecules, so in our book it doesn’t really count. We also told you that a second LNG tanker, called Methane Spirit, was on the way to Cove Point and would be the first ship to load and distribute M-U molecules to distant shores. Orders have changed. Methane Spirit is no longer en route to Cove Point. However, a BP-chartered ship by the name of Patris is on the way to Cove Point. Meanwhile, those who keep an eye on these things say there is currently very little feed gas (i.e. Marcellus gas) flowing into the Cove Point facility. Meaning what? Meaning it looks like the original rumor from January that Cove Point won’t be up and running, shipping Marcellus gas until April, was correct (see Uh-Oh: Cove Point LNG Exports Possibly Delayed Until April). The Patris is not due to dock at Cove Point until April 9th. Meanwhile, as India gets ready for its first contracted shipment of LNG from Cove Point, the country no longer wants it! They want to swap their Cove Point shipments with someone else. We explain it below…
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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 Ships Line Up for Cove Point LNG – 1st Ship Docked). LNG tanker Gemmata, as we reported, docked earlier this week at the Cove Point terminal. We assumed (incorrectly) that it would carry Marcellus/Utica gas when it left…
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The very first ship that will load and transport Marcellus LNG from Cove Point is now docked and waiting.
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