Free Republic

Today, Glenn Gantt of the TX Energy Council tells us all about the college scholarships they are giving away to students entering the energy sector, especially petroleum and chemical engineers.Then, Steve Everley of Energy In Depth talks about the Obama Administration's new ozone rules and why we should look carefully at who funds the studies to support this policy. Then, we talk with Rob Capehart, former Secretary of Tax and Revenue for WV about how coal and natural gas funds most of the state budget, and job retraining for coal miners who transition to natural gas extraction.

U.S.-based Cheniere Energy doesn't believe it will become Europe's leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) player despite bullish export plans. The company, headquartered in Houston, is at the forefront of what is being called a U.S. energy renaissance with plans to churn out its first batch of LNG for overseas shipments in the next few months. Export production volumes at its Sabine Pass export terminal are expected at 27 million metric tons per year (mmtpy), a number set to rise to 60 mmtpy by 2025. That's sparked market talk of whether Cheniere could overcome Russia to become Europe's leading supplier once...

Mr. Pena advises United LNG, the company with the largest contracts for LNG exports in line for licensing at the Department of Energy. He explains the benefits of exporting natural gas in the form of LNG (liquefied natural gas). LNG exports are expected to create 100,000 jobs and new investment in natural gas production. Mr. Pena explains why consumer prices for electricity can remain high even with a glut of natural gas, and why keeping the resource in the U.S. does not solve this problem. The world is demanding U.S. participation in the natural gas market.

Cheniere Energy has started the monthslong process of preparing its $18 billion Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas export terminal to crank out its first batch of super chilled gas for shipment overseas. The Houston-based company received permission from federal regulators to pipe natural gas into the sprawling plant on a remote stretch of coastline along the border between Texas and Louisiana as it starts priming the first production facilities for start-up. Last week, Sabine Pass LNG began bringing in small amounts of natural gas and burning some off, a process called flaring, providing early signs that the first phase of...

Alaska was long at the vanguard of America’s energy industry. At one time the State of Alaska accounted for as much as one-quarter of the entire country’s domestic oil production. Alaska’s vast fields also served as a source of pride – and the backbone of the state’s economy. As production surged, it was common to hear industry men revel in the United States’ diminishing reliance on foreign supplies as they worked rigs up and down regional reserves. Yet, as energy development in the lower 48 has burgeoned over the past decade, those refrains have waned – as has production. Fed...

Comments by Hawaii Governor David Ige this week has left Hawaiian Electric in a quandary regarding its plan to burn regasified LNG shipped from Canada in its oil-fired power plants, a source at the utility said Friday. "We're in a bit of a stew at the moment," the source, who asked not to be identified, said. Ige previously supported using LNG as a transitional fuel as the state moved to 100% renewable generation by 2045. "When it was first proposed, I was willing to support it as a transitional fuel because it had some clear advantages for Hawaii," Ige said...

Dive Brief: With a 100% renewable goal now on the table and oil prices falling, Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) has revealed he opposes plans to import liquefied natural gas as a bridge fuel to cleaner and less expensive power. At a business and policy conference this week in Honolulu, Ige, a keynote speaker, said the state does not need LNG and should be moving forward on its renewable goals instead. Both Hawaiian Electric (HECO) and Hawaii Gas have floated plans to construct import terminals, with gas deliveries beginning to reach the state in 2019. HECO has pledged to push...

A $27 billion energy project is rising rapidly on this icy peninsula jutting above the Arctic Circle, but the race to shore up its finances has emerged as a test of Moscow’s ability to weather Western sanctions. U.S. restrictions on OAO Novatek, the project’s Russian leader, are squeezing the massive Yamal LNG liquefied-natural-gas venture, a centerpiece of President Vladimir Putin’s plan for Russia to reduce its heavy dependence on natural-gas customers in Europe by increasing exports to Asia and, in turn, cementing Russian ties with China. Barred by the sanctions from raising long-term dollar loans, Novatek and its foreign partners,...

We recently looked at the restart of the first Japanese nuclear reactor in four years, and assessed its impact on Japanese oil demand. It was somewhat burying the lede, however, not to address the impact on LNG demand. So with Japan’s developments still fresh in our minds, here are ten challenges faced by the global LNG market: 1) Asia is the key market for LNG. Japan accounts for approximately 35% of the global LNG market. Combined with South Korea, it accounts for ~50% of it, while Asia as a whole accounts for 75%. The gradual return of nuclear reactors in...

The Obama Administration is often accused of being sluggish in granting permits for projects to ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the U.S. Critics claim it has thus denied the U.S. a historical opportunity to become a leading natural gas exporter on par with Russia and Qatar. Whether ten approvals out of forty applications in four years is sluggish or not is a matter of perspective. But the debate on the pace of approvals has masked a much more important fact: American gas is no longer desired abroad, no matter...

The North American ocean carrier TOTE is deploying the world’s first container ships fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The move anticipates imminent environmental regulations that are likely to trigger large shifts in the maritime shipping industry. TOTE is making the move to comply with the international Marpol Annex VI maritime emissions standards, first implemented in 2005. Restrictions on emissions like sulfur and nitrogen oxide will tighten in 2016 within designated emission control areas (ECAs), including the waters surrounding North America. Sulfur and nitrogen oxides are generated in large volumes by conventional maritime ships, which have long relied on so-called...

Key US senators have reached a deal on a broad package of energy sector reforms that if enacted would speed decision-making on liquefied natural gas exports, focus the intent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and require reviews of how federal rules impact electric system reliability. The agreement on the bipartisan legislative package follows a number of Senate hearings in recent months and lawmakers' consideration of more than 100 bills offered for inclusion in the wider package. The bill unveiled Wednesday is also the result of negotiations between the two leaders of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee -- Chairman...

Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. said June 1 it received authorization to export liquefied natural gas to non-free trade agreement countries at its Alaska LNG terminal. The proposed project received conditional authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy to export up to 20 million metric tons per year of LNG for 30 years. The terminal previously received authorization to export to countries with U.S. trade agreements. “As with any large scale LNG project, access to as many markets as possible will improve the commercial viability of the proposed project,” Steve Butt, Alaska LNG senior project manager, said in a statement....

U.S. net imports of natural gas decreased 9% in 2014, continuing an eight-year decline. As U.S. dry natural gas production has reached record highs, lower domestic prices have helped to displace natural gas imports. Net natural gas imports (imports minus exports) totaled 1,171 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 2014, the lowest level since 1987. Imports by pipeline from Canada account for nearly 98% of all U.S. natural gas imports, and were the main driver of the decrease in total imports. Net imports from Canada represented 7% of total U.S. natural gas consumption in 2014, down from 11% in 2009. U.S....

UGI Energy Services, a UGI Corporation unit, said it plans to build a liquefied natural gas production facility in northern Pennsylvania that will utilize Marcellus Shale gas. The proposed facility will be adjacent to UGI Energy Services’ Manning natural gas compression station located in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. Natural gas will be supplied by its Auburn gathering system, which transports Marcellus Shale gas produced from local wells to major interstate pipelines serving markets in the Mid-Atlantic region, the company said in a statement. The LNG plant, which will include both liquefaction and local storage, is expected to be in full commercial...

The Obama administration has delivered a critical natural gas export license to Cheniere Energy’s proposed liquefaction terminal in Corpus Christi, marking the first such approval for a greenfield project that would not be built on the footprint of an older LNG facility. With the move late Tuesday, the Energy Department is allowing Cheniere to export as much as 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas over the next 20 years from the planned facility to countries with which the United States does not have free trade agreements. The company announced Wednesday that its board of directors had...

HOUSTON — Panama is well positioned to serve as a distribution hub for the liquefied natural gas that will power Central America in the future, the country’s officials told attendees at Houston’s Offshore Technology Conference on Tuesday morning. The biggest advantage the country has is its namesake canal, an overseas shortcut linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, panelists said at the breakfast talk. The canal is currently too small to handle LNG tankers, but a multi-billion dollar expansion is in the works that will allow all but the largest gas-carrying ships to pass. The massive construction project was interrupted by...

The U.S. could export anywhere between 0.2 trillion cubic feet and 10.3 trillion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas annually by 2040, according to the latest government projection. Where along that spectrum the actual figure lands will be determined by global energy prices and the availability of U.S. natural gas, the agency said in a Tuesday rehashing of projections made in the Annual Energy Outlook for 2015. The wide range of outcomes hasn’t stopped U.S. companies from proposing dozens of new export facilities. While market watchers have said that it’s unlikely all of these facilities will come online, several are...

India has asked its largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier Qatar to cut gas prices to match the 60% slump in global rates in last one year. India buys 7.5 million tonnes a year of LNG on a long-term 25 year contract, indexed to a moving average of crude oil price. The price of LNG from Qatar comes close to $13 per million British thermal unit as compared to the $6-7 rate at which it is available in the spot or current market. The high price of LNG under the long-term contract has led to users in fertiliser and power...

Floating regasification is a flexible, cost-effective way to receive and process shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Floating regasification is increasingly being used to meet natural gas demand in smaller markets, or as a temporary solution until onshore regasification facilities are built. Of four countries planning to begin importing LNG in 2015, three of them—Pakistan, Jordan, and Egypt—have chosen to do so using floating regasification rather than building full-scale onshore regasification facilities. Floating regasification involves the use of a specialized vessel called a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), which is capable of transporting, storing, and regasifying LNG onboard. Floating...