Free Republic

DAEGU, South Korea — Asia’s large-scale gas importers, long saddled with premium prices, say a cheaper alternative lies several thousand feet below North American soil, where companies are unlocking enormous gas reserves from shale rock. The shale boom has already revolutionized the gas market in the United States and Canada, giving both countries not only a reliable domestic supply but also the ability to sell overseas. Asian utility and gas company executives, speaking this week at a global energy forum here, have said that North America’s gas wealth could prove nearly as transformative across the world, leading to the first...

Soon old-school diesel locomotives could be replaced by ones powered mainly by liquified natural gas. GE Transportation presented retrofit technology that enables locomotives to use both diesel and liquid natural gas at Railway Interchange 2013, the North American rail industry’s largest trade show and technical conference, the International Railway Journal reported. The system allows up to 80 percent natural gas substitution. The LNG is cryogenically stored in a tender and enables trains to travel further without refueling. New LNG powered locomotives will allow many industry players to meet stringent Tier 4 locomotive emissions standards set to take effect Jan. 1,...

The companies seeking to advance a multibillion dollar natural gas pipeline project in Alaska have a leading contender for the terminal site where gas would be liquefied and shipped to Asia, signaling that a decades-old dream could still become a reality. Exxon Mobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and TransCanada Corp. announced Monday that the Kenai Peninsula town of Nikiski is the leading contender. Senior project manager Steve Butt said there are three or four other sites are still being considered — he declined to identify those — but said Nikiski has the land needed for the plant and the companies know they...

A California liquefied natural gas producer is set to build a production plant in North Texas that could initially produce 86,000 gallons of fuel per day. Applied Natural Gas Fuels said Wednesday the plant in Midlothian, about 30 miles south of Dallas in Ellis County, would fire up in 2015 seeking to attract buyers in high-horsepower, trucking, oil and gas and similar industries that normally consume diesel fuel. A boom in U.S. natural gas production has made LNG competitive with diesel for such uses. The Midlothian plant will be the company’s first in Texas. It is also doubling production at...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper are expected to agree to increase Canadian shale gas exports to Japan from around 2020, Japanese officials said Sunday. Canada’s envisioned shale gas exports are likely to total 40 million tons a year. The gas will be shipped after being processed into liquefied natural gas, the officials said. Abe and Harper plan to reach the agreement in a meeting on Tuesday in Ottawa during the Japanese leader’s five-day visit to Canada and the United States from Monday.

Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE ) has jumped more than 7% during trading over Tuesday and Wednesday as investors applaud two major catalysts for the stock. For one, CEO Andrew Littlefair just purchased 127,000 shares, valued at approximately $1.6 million. Investors always like to see management with skin in the game, so to speak. It's a vote of confidence in the company and also aligns CEOs with shareholders' interests. Additionally, the company announced a joint venture with industrial giant General Electric (NYSE: GE ) to develop liquefied natural gas projects throughout the United States. Motley Fool analyst Taylor Muckerman appreciates...

This week that the Department of Energy (DOE) tentatively approved a fourth non-FTA permit to export liquefied natural gas (LNG). Secretary Moniz is credited with improving the speed with which his Department has moved on exports, having approved three permits in his short tenure compared to one under his predecessor. The Department of Energy’s approval of non-FTA permits is just the first step in the process of bringing U.S. natural gas to the world market, so a lot is riding on its approval stamp. Without the DOE’s approval, U.S. natural gas exports – and the important economic benefits – will...

The Obama administration on Wednesday authorized natural gas exports from a fourth U.S. facility, speeding up a review process that would-be gas exporters and their allies in Congress had criticized as too slow. Dominion Resource Inc's conditional permit for liquefied natural gas exports from its Cove Point terminal on Maryland's Chesapeake Bay came just over a month after the Energy Department approved exports from a terminal in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Dominion's was the fourth natural gas export permit issued by the administration. It was the third permit issued this year, following a pause of nearly two years in review of...

Why has the little nation of Qatar spent 3 billion dollars to support the rebels in Syria? Could it be because Qatar is the largest exporter of liquid natural gas in the world and Assad won't let them build a natural gas pipeline through Syria? Of course. Qatar wants to install a puppet regime in Syria that will allow them to build a pipeline which will enable them to sell lots and lots of natural gas to Europe. Why is Saudi Arabia spending huge amounts of money to help the rebels and why has Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan been...

Why is it that natural gas sells in the U.S. for $3.94 per 1,000 cubic feet and in Europe and Japan for $11.60 and $17, respectively? Part of the answer is our huge supply. With high-tech methods of extraction and with discovery of vast gas-rich shale deposits, estimated reserves are about 2.4 quadrillion cubic feet. That translates into more than a 100-year supply of natural gas at current usage rates. What partially explains the high European and Japanese prices is the fact that global natural gas markets are not integrated. Washington has stringent export restrictions on natural gas. Naturally, the...

Acceptance of natural gas as a consumer motor fuel has a long road ahead, even if Texans soon will be able to travel it in a gas-powered version of their favorite vehicle – a Ford F-150 pickup. Concerns about a lack of refueling stations, higher up-front costs and limited availability of the vehicles themselves mean that customers will probably not be rushing to buy natural gas trucks or cars any time soon. Still, a bi-fuel option on 2014 models of the top-selling F-150 – which will let the trucks run on natural gas or gasoline – along with changes in...

Japan registered a ¥4.84 trillion ($48.7 billion) trade deficit for the six months through June, the biggest on record for any six-month period, as the yen’s sharp slide boosted import costs despite a rebound in exports, the government said Wednesday. During the first half of 2013, the value of imports rose 9.2 percent on year to ¥38.8 trillion, with those of liquefied natural gas jumping 13.2 percent and of crude oil increasing 6.0 percent, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. Exports, a key engine of Japan’s economic growth, grew 4.2 percent to ¥33.96 trillion on the back of...

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is finding a home in an increasing number of transportation applications. On land, the fuel is gaining acceptance as a cleaner-burning and cheaper alternative to diesel in truck fleets and rail locomotives. The waterborne transport community is also turning to LNG to power ferries, tankers and other marine vessels. It will only be a matter of time until the aviation sector begins adopting LNG as a transport fuel as well, according to Graham Dorrington. The senior lecturer in aeronautical engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia contends that commercial airlines will find the environmental and economic...

The perception of natural gas as a mainstream fuel for vehicles runs the gamut, dependent upon where you live: from the improbable…to the viable…to the everyday reality. So from recent burrito research expeditions, here are ten points to stir up the melding pot of the great natural gas vehicle debate. 1) Here is a breakdown of the total number of natural gas vehicles globally. The key takeaways: there are A LOT of natural gas vehicles already in the world (15 millionish in 2011) and the number is rapidly increasing. However, there are relatively few in North America (aka, the tiny...

Moscow has reiterated its vivid interest for Cyprus’ natural gas by expressing once again its interest for the exploitation of the reserves in the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The interest was expressed during a meeting in Moscow between the Cyprus House President Yiannakis Omirou and Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Yury Sentyurin. The meeting lasted two hours and was also attended by the members of the parliamentary party delegation which accompany Omirou, as well as by representatives of Russian natural gas companies, NOVATEK and Gazprom Bank. Omirou arrived in Russia this morning, for a two-day official visit, heading a...

While the 16th round two-day India-China border talks concluded in Beijing Saturday seeking to resolve the vexed boundary disputes, some of which dates back prior to the establishment of either an independent India or the establishment of the People's Republic of China, but both the Asian giants have pitched themselves in the deep waters of Mozambique - home to the world's biggest gas discovery in a decade - for a higher stake in global energy assets. India made a difference with the Oil and natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd. (OIL) clinching a deal, an entry into...

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) said on Saturday that it has completed the purchase of 50 percent of Chesapeake's share in its Mississippi Lime assets for 1.02 billion U.S. dollars. Chesapeake is the second-largest natural gas developer in the United States and its Mississippi Lime oil and natural gas assets are in northern Oklahoma. Sinopec signed the agreement with Chesapeake on Feb. 23 through its wholly-owned subsidiary Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation. The deal means Sinopec acquires 425,000 acres (171,991 hectares) in the Mississippi Lime shale formation, with estimated proven and probable (2P) oil...

As the possibility of free market competition in liquefied natural gas sales looms, Gazprom is preparing to do battle with potential domestic and international rivals. The gas giant plans to take as much as 15 percent of the world LNG market, up from its 5 percent share today, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said at annual shareholder meeting held at company's headquarters on Friday. Europe's own gas production is decreasing, while many LNG producers prefer to supply premium markets in the Asia-Pacific region. As a consequence, Europe's share in world LNG imports decreased from 28 percent in 2009 to 21 percent...

Natural gas turbines now are powering the world’s fastest ferry, according to GE. Two of the turbine-maker’s engines, capable of generating a combined 59,000 horsepower, were installed on a 325-foot passenger and vehicle ferry, GE said. The ferry has reached record speeds while running fully on natural gas and will soon be delivered to Argentina, where it will begin shuttling passengers between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, Uruguay, according to GE. The “wave-piercing catamaran” can travel at a speed of 58.1 knots, or 67 miles per hour, Australian ferry builder Incat Tasmania said in a statement. “Of course there’s a few...

ExxonMobil is hoping to get the green light from Canada’s National Energy board to export 30 million tons liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year and build a new export terminal in British Columbia. This is the biggest export plan ever proposed for Canada’s west coast. The oil giant has optioned land from the government of British Columbia in a place called Grassy Point, just north of Prince Rupert, and is now seeking approval for the massive LNG terminal project.