Free Republic

The host of the Jacki Daily show has had an impressive career in energy, law, and politics. Most recently, Jacki served as General Counsel to an engineering firm specializing in energy, national security and environmental cleanup. Previously, she served many years as legal counsel on Capitol Hill to the Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and the former Ranking Member of the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee, advising on the oversight of federal agencies. Prior to her career in Washington, she worked as a corporate litigator, and as an Assistant Vice President for a national bank. She entered...

Royal Dutch Shell is switching its trucking fleet to more liquefied natural gas-fueled vehicles in Houston and Louisiana as more companies increasingly move away from dirtier diesel fuel. The use of LNG and compressed natural gas -- another new CNG fueling station opened Thursday in Houston -- in commercial vehicles has rapidly expanded because of the nation's cheap and bountiful supply of natural gas. Shell said Thursday it partnered with Miami-based Ryder transportation company for 15 new, heavy-duty LNG trucks to support its oil and gas logistics operations in Houston and Lafayette, Louisiana. The 15 new trucks will replace diesel-fueled...

Iran is pushing to find new ways to extract and export its vast natural-gas reserves, including developing facilities to liquefy the commodity and ship it to Europe in two years, now that Western sanctions have lifted, according to a top Iranian official. Iran holds the world's largest reserves of natural gas, but has long lacked the export infrastructure of competitors such Russia and Qatar. They have networks of international pipelines as well as liquefied-natural-gas facilities that enable them to export gas by ship. Tehran is exploring several options to help the country "join the international LNG club," said Alireza Kameli,...

Rep. Sessions of GOP Leadership: DC Energy Update – Maguire’s Weinstein: Oil Exports & Geopolitics: Congressman Pete Sessions, member of House GOP Leadership, gives us our Energy updated from Washington DC, including the outlook on LNG exports. Then, energy economist Bud Weinstein of the Maguire Energy Institute talks about the geopolitics of oil exports.

Cheniere Energy has delayed the first export of liquefied natural gas from its Sabine Pass plant by about one month until late February or early March, the company announced Thursday. The shipment, which was originally secluded to depart near the end of January, is still slated to be the first cargo of liquefied gas to sail from the continental United States. While Cheniere remains ahead of its competitors, the international markets it's racing to serve have been roiled by a crush of liquefaction capacity due online in 2016 and sluggish demand for the fuel. A one-month delay isn't likely to...

he US moved one step closer to becoming a global natural gas exporter on Monday as the 160,000 cu m Energy Atlantic LNG carrier began its final approach to Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass export facility, Platts trade flow software, cFlow showed Monday. While US LNG exports from Kenai, Alaska, began as early as 1969, Cheniere's newly minted export facility will be the first to send gas produced from the Lower-48 states to consumers across the globe. Much of the newly available US gas comes from hydraulic fracking that has lifted monthly production by more than 66% over the last decade...

Energy investors got clobbered in 2015, and are hoping for things to turn positive as we head into the New Year. What can we expect in 2016? Here is a rundown of some key trends to watch for: 1. U.S. oil production contracts. Oil output in the U.S. has declined by about 300,000 barrels per day to 9.3 million barrels per day (mb/d). Most energy prognosticators, including the EIA and the IEA, see U.S. production falling by around 0.5 mb/d in 2016. The decline could be steeper than that, however, given the plunging rig count, high depletion rates, and extraordinary...

Texas shale gas is setting sail for Europe. Cheniere Energy has begun liquefying natural gas at its Sabine Pass terminal on the Texas-Louisiana border. The gas will be loaded onto a ship scheduled to travel overseas later this month. That's welcome news for Texas and U.S. gas producers. A glut of shale gas has depressed prices in the domestic market. Slower growth in China and South Korea have clouded prospects for LNG shipments from Alaska to Asia. That leaves Europe, where demand for natural gas remains strong -- and prices are much higher. Getting the gas there is the challenge....

Summary Flows On Cheniere Energy's Creole Trail natural gas pipeline have rapidly increased over the past two weeks, suggesting that the company is in the final stages of preparing its first. Despite natural gas exports being ballyhooed as the savior of the natural gas industry, their impact on supply/demand fundamentals in 2016 will be limited. Even as exports become a significant component of demand long-term, the evolving fundamentals of the international market that the U.S. is about to become a part of may limit viability. A trading strategy involving natural gas that takes into account both domestic and international natural...

The glut in oil is expected to continue for the next year or so before balancing in late 2016, but the pain for liquefied natural gas (LNG) could be just beginning. Building LNG export terminals is a long-term proposition. It can take years to develop a greenfield project, bringing a lump of new capacity online long after the project was initially planned, exposing developers to the possibility that market conditions could change in the interim. It is not unlike a conventional oil project, such as an offshore well, which also can take years (as opposed to a much shorter lead...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has rejected a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in the waters off New York and New Jersey, effectively killing the project amid an outcry from residents of some coastal communities that it could endanger the environment and be a target for terrorists. The deep-water docking station known as Port Ambrose was to be built 19 miles off Jones Beach on Long Island and 29 miles off Long Brach, New Jersey. Liberty Natural Gas LLC, the company vying to develop Port Ambrose, said the port would allow it to inject natural gas into the New...

The General Dynamics shipyard in San Diego delivered the world's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered containership to TOTE Maritime on October 16. The 764-foot long Isla Bella is the first of the Marlin class, a new class of container ship built in the United States, making it Jones Act-qualified for shipments between U.S. ports. The ship was built by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, a division of General Dynamics. Delivered nearly two months ahead of schedule, the Isla Bella will operate out of Jacksonville, Florida, providing service to and from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The second ship of...

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,...