On the surface, LNG appears to represent a new opportunity where easy profits are for the taking. In reality, producing and delivering LNG is a difficult business, and that business will only get harder as time goes on.
Unlike natural gas, where prices are established regionally, LNG is becoming a global commodity. Market prices depend on global supplies and demand. It is expected supplies will remain constrained for the next three years. Keep reading →
Energy venture capital is a challenging business in the best of times, but greater competition from large non-traditional players and lingering economic weakness in many of the world’s largest economies mean that, more than ever, finding and doing successful deals requires a disciplined, yet open minded approach.
The entrance of large companies into the energy venture capital space, the US elections’ impact on investment cycles, identifying opportunities and dominant sector trends were just a few of the topics Breaking Energy recently discussed with Dr. Wal Van Lierop, CEO of Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital. Keep reading →
The head of the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday signaled a thaw in relations between major oil companies and the Obama administration, telling reporters that the White House has started more constructive talks with the lobby on energy development.
“We have noticed a marked change in our dialogue, perhaps just over the last three or four months,” API President Jack Gerard told reporters. “We have opened a dialogue that is constructive and we give credit where it is due: the president and his people are having a more open dialogue with us.” Keep reading →
A plan by Delta Air Lines to buy a Pennsylvania refinery and save itself $300 million a year in jet fuel costs is an audacious move that may prompt its competitors to follow suit in a bid to control their biggest single expense, analysts said.
But the airline may also face bigger bills than it expects for restarting the currently idle plant and more than doubling its previous output of jet fuel. Keep reading →
Canada’s oil sands industry has taken a major leap toward greening their operations and their image. The 12 largest producers – accounting for 80% of oil sands production – have come together to form Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, which has committed to accelerating the pace of environmental improvement, COSIA CEO Dan Wicklum told Breaking Energy recently.
Numerous environmental oversight organizations sprung up organically over time to ensure oil companies were honoring their commitment to the environment. While these ad hoc sustainability initiatives made positive strides, the public wanted more. As a result, COSIA was formed and the chief executives of each member company signed a charter on March 1st committing them to specific activities and behavior. Keep reading →
IT is poised to revolutionize the energy industry by ceding control of consumption and generation to consumers and lead to an “age of empowerment”, an influential figure in the wholesale power sector said yesterday.
David Crane, the outspoken CEO of NRG Energy, told the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco: “We’ve come a long way from the days of the legendary Henry Ford and his comment that the American consumer can have any color of model T as long as it’s black. Keep reading →
Depending on who you ask, the impending closure of a major Philadelphia refinery will either increase U.S. vulnerability to a terrorist attack on its energy supply, or simply shift demand to other suppliers of petroleum products.
Senior officials from federal energy and homeland security departments debated the loss of U.S. refining capacity with industry representatives and politicians at a field hearing of a Congressional committee outside Philadelphia on Monday. Keep reading →
The planned closure of Sunoco’s Philadelphia refinery, which accounts for a quarter of the US East Coast’s capacity, looks set to constrain supplies of diesel, heating oil, and perhaps gasoline, while pushing prices higher.
The projected shutdown, due to take effect in July if no buyer is found, was highlighted by the Energy Information Administration in a February 27 report saying petroleum product markets in the Northeast could be “significantly impacted” if the closure goes ahead. Keep reading →
The possible permanent closure of three eastern Pennsylvania refineries would make the region more dependent on outside sources for petroleum products and force marketers to overhaul supply chains for gasoline, diesel heating oil, jet fuel and lubricants, state legislators heard on Monday.
But closure isn’t likely to have a big effect on prices or supply on the US East Coast because alternative sources such as the Gulf Coast, higher overseas imports and increased pipeline shipments from the Midwest will be found, according to a new study presented to lawmakers. Keep reading →
Widening of the Panama Canal, due to be completed in 2014, will allow most LNG tankers to transit the isthmus and make natural gas from Gulf of Mexico ports “instantly economic” to transport to high-price Asian markets.
That’s key for multiple proposals to build plants to liquefy and ship surplus US natural gas, according to experts at a Brookings Institution seminar Jan. 24. Most proposals are for existing but unused LNG import terminals on the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Giant LNG tankers, like the largest modern freighters, are too big for the existing Panama locks. Keep reading →
