Posted on 11/12/2017 7:58:39 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
CHARLESTON — After news broke that state officials had brokered an $83.7 billion deal with China Energy Investment Corporation to invest in West Virginia’s shale gas and chemical industries, one of the first questions to come up was how soon the Mountain State might see the fruits of the agreement.
“We’re going full steam ahead, immediately,” state Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher said in a telephone call from China.
According to U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Thrasher and others familiar with the memorandum of understanding, ground could be broken within six to eight months on two gas-fired power stations to take advantage of the state’s vast Marcellus Shale gas reserves.
Exploitation of the gas field has been hampered by a lack of infrastructure for getting the state’s natural gas to market.
But that all could change with the memorandum of understanding signed Thursday in front of U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Under the agreement, signed by Thrasher and China Energy President Ling Wen, the Chinese company intends to invest more than $80 billion in West Virginia in the next 20 years, including development of an ethane storage hub for the region, chemical manufacturing and industries related to the extraction and transportation of natural gas.
“West Virginia has actively sought direct foreign investment to strengthen and diversify our economy,” Thrasher said. “Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Hino Motors, Gestamp, Sogefi and other solid corporate citizens with international parent companies create jobs, generate incomes and support communities in West Virginia. In that same spirit, we welcome China Energy and the mutual benefits our energy collaboration will bring.”
Thrasher said the agreement is a methodical, 20-year-plan to develop the gas and petrochemical industry in West Virginia.
“It’s not one shot here, one shot there,” he said. “It’s a sequential ... with one step and a second step and so on.”
Brian Anderson, director of the WVU Energy Institute, said university officials have been working with the state Department of Commerce and officials with China Energy for the past two years on ideas to take advantage of West Virginia’s natural gas reserves. WVU entered into a memorandum of understanding with China Energy in 2016, and details of the larger memorandum of understanding with the state were hammered out over the past few months, he said.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity,” said Anderson.
He said the idea behind a regional ethane hub is not just to extract natural gas and ship it out of state, as happened with West Virginia’s coal reserves for the past 150 years, but to create natural gas and spin-off industries within the state and region.
While natural gas extraction and storage will create jobs in West Virginia, state officials believe the spin-off industries associated with the industry will be the real job creators. A study conducted by WVU estimates the shale gas industry in the state could lead to 100,000 jobs.
“This is all downstream (development),” agreed Jack Harrison of the West Virginia Petroleum Council, the state component of the American Petroleum Institute.
Others within the state’s oil and natural gas industry were quick to embrace the announcement of the memorandum of understanding.
Although she said “a lot has to happen” before the terms of the agreement come to fruition, West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association Executive Director Anne Blankenship was happy with the news.
“The investment will support the growth and development of natural gas end uses for which we have been advocating for many years,” Blankenship said. “Natural-gas-powered electric generation facilities, natural gas liquid storage and the petrochemical manufacturing industry have all been part of our policy initiatives, and we are excited to hear that a huge investment is planned to further those developments.
“By creating additional uses for the enormous amount of natural gas that we are sitting on in West Virginia, and using those resources here, we not only grow our natural gas industry, we grow the manufacturing industry, jobs and state revenue,” she said.
“The announcement of the investment between China Energy Investment Corporation and the West Virginia Department of Commerce presents huge economic opportunities for West Virginia and our region,” said Marc Monteleone, president of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia. “China Energy Investment Corporation plans to invest more than $83 billion dollars in our state’s shale gas development, gas-fired power plants and the Appalachian Storage Hub, all of which are great news for our state, region and our industry.
“This also will help revitalize our state’s downstream industries, such as chemical manufacturing, which is dependent on our industry for feedstock materials,” Monteleone said. “Our natural resources are of great value, and this is going to significantly impact West Virginia’s energy future, as well as the national and global energy outlook.”
State officials have yet to determine what the overall economic impact of the investment might mean to West Virginia.
“It’s larger than the entire GDP of our state,” said Capito.
“It has major impacts for our state,” she said. “At this point I’d say it’s almost incalculable.”
Some have cautioned that the memorandum of understanding is not a binding agreement, and that the Chinese might not follow through with all the components of the deal.
“I’m very optimistic that we’re going to get this across the finish line with this announcement,” Capito said. “The agreement was signed before the president of the United States and the Chinese president.”
Anderson conceded that not all the promises made in the agreement may make it to fruition. But he said every one of the projects discussed so far is viable.
“I’m very confident a significant fraction of them will move forward,” he said.
Anderson also believes the agreement will eventually lead to an ethane cracker being built in the Mountain State.
Is it wise to give American natural resources to COMMUNIST CHINA for the sake of job growth?
$85 billon dollars plus is your idea of a giveaway?
Who will own the shale? That’s key.
* "The University of West Virginia (WVU) entered into a memorandum of understanding with China Energy in 2016, and details of the larger memorandum of understanding with the state were hammered out over the past few months." A UNIVERSITY?? It seems rather unusual for a University to be negotiating with foreign governments for access to a state's energy resources. The WVU has long taken huge sums from the federal Dept. of Energy for "energy research" and has delivered little or nothing for that "investment." This is purely a legacy of Senator Byrd as a payoff to WV coal miners. Look at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, WV for starters.
* Then the article goes on "The announcement of the investment between China Energy Investment Corporation and the West Virginia Department of Commerce presents huge economic opportunities for West Virginia and our region,” said Marc Monteleone, president of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia. Now it's an investment between China Energy and the state Department of Commerce?
*" Some have cautioned that the memorandum of understanding is not a binding agreement, and that the Chinese might not follow through with all the components of the deal." No kidding!
* “I’m very optimistic that we’re going to get this across the finish line with this announcement. The agreement was signed before the president of the United States and the Chinese president.” Anderson conceded that not all the promises made in the agreement may make it to fruition. The Chinese are not the most trustworthy partners in ventures like this. I've done a lot of business with the Chinese and getting paid is always a challenge -- they pay extremely late, often pay a fraction of what they owe, and sometimes never pay at all.
* Anderson also believes the agreement will eventually lead to an ethane cracker being built in the Mountain State. So it's gone from an $83 BILLION investment to a single ethane cracker that might cost $500 million? That's a huge gap.
CONCLUSION: This article is written like a typical breathless University press release about some new invention by their researchers that's going to change the world. It is really devoid of any specifics. I do not put much stock in WV energy nor the ability of a university to negotiate such a business deal. Not much to get excited about yet.
China Energy to invest $83.7 billion in West Virginia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3603263/posts
Appalachia is littered with failed government funded alternate energy / clean coal projects. Universities are a perfect funnel for money from Uncle Sugar Daddy.
“Universities are a perfect funnel for money from Uncle Sugar Daddy.”
Exactly right. You hit it on the head. As are state “Departments of Commerce.” I’ve got years of personal experience with the DOE at Morgantown. Endless streams of Uncle Sugar Daddy money and absolutely zero return. This breathless announcement of an $80 BILLION deal with the Chinese — worthless.
That's his porn name. What's his real name?
A FReeper estimated 400,000 jobs on another thread.
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