A long awaited report from the Energy Department issued Wednesday said the benefits of exporting the gas far outweigh the costs.
The report clears the way for the approval of of up 15 pending natural gas export facilities – multi-billion dollar projects situated mostly along the Gulf and Mid Atlantic coasts. Keep reading →
What happens when federal regulation designed to guard against national shortages of a critical fuel runs headlong into fuel surpluses?
That’s what the US is finding out now with natural gas, and nowhere is the dilemma more clearly on display than the issue of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. Keep reading →
With global LNG demand projected to exceed supply by a wide margin, the prospects for North American exports of liquefied natural gas are exceptionally strong. But an unexpected development has raised a question about Canadian participation in this emerging export opportunity.
The question is: Will the Canadian government decide to block any of the pending acquisitions of its E&P players by foreign energy majors? Keep reading →
The concept of the United States being energy independent has been around for decades, with the past 8 US presidents calling for it and even suggesting dates by when it might be achieved. However, the recent ramp up in domestic oil and gas production has drastically reduced oil imports and rejuvenated the discussion, with some believing the long sought-after goal could finally be around the corner.
Some have suggested that North American energy independence – including petroleum exports – is a more realistic pursuit. Others maintain energy security is what really matters and that it’s impossible and even undesirable to disconnect the US from the global oil market. Keep reading →
The 31st USAEE North American Conference held in Austin, Texas featured hundreds of presentations on topics like sustainable energy and the implications of North American natural gas developments.
Breaking Energy was there covering the event from beginning to end, as well as following the US presidential elections and Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. The conference was attended by economist, analysts, industry professionals and students from around the US and around the world, who discussed dozens of topics relevant to all major energy sectors. Keep reading →
Shell Oil President and Director Marvin Odum speaks during a plenary session on the first day of the Energy Information Administration energy conference April 26, 2011 in Washington, DC.
EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski highlighted the administration’s rapid response efforts during the recent hurricane crisis in the northeast and was enthusiastic about the organization’s prospects going forward while giving a breakfast presentation at the US Association of Energy Economics North American Conference in Austin, Texas. Keep reading →
The potential implications of recent North American natural gas production increases stretch across the globe, with knock-on impacts for gas trading patterns, regional supply-demand balances and even geopolitics.
These were all topics of discussion at a recent plenary session held during the 31st US Association for Energy Economics North American Conference in Austin, Texas, where analysts, economists, students and government officials from the US and other countries gathered this week. Keep reading →
The major investment banks remain heavily engaged in the energy markets, hedging fuel prices and even producing energy for their own or their clients’ benefit. But Brad Hintz, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. research analyst who tracks the investment banking and securities industries, told Breaking Energy that the big banks are also positioning themselves for potential regulatory changes which will force the launch of a national carbon-trading market.
“Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Barclays are all major energy traders,” Hintz observed. “They are the banking giants in that space, and they – along with the commodities exchanges – provide the risk management services needed to balance demand and supply in the global energy markets.” Keep reading →
Will exporting large volumes of US natural gas in the form of LNG raise the price of the commodity and potentially create a competitive disadvantage for gas-intensive industries? And what portions of the US economy are experiencing the impacts of increasing natural gas output most? These are some of the important questions that analysts, government officials, companies and environmental organizations are trying to answer.
In this second installment of our video series about the prospects for and implications of increased US natural gas use, Ian Nathan, Manager of Global Gas and LNG Research at Energy Intelligence Research & Advisory delves a bit deeper in to the issue. Keep reading →
The dramatic ramp up in US natural gas production in recent years caught many by surprise, as an anticipated need for imports changed seemingly overnight to mainstream talk about exporting natural gas as LNG.
In addition to the export conversation, there are numerous other applications for natural gas that are now attractive given the fuel’s abundance and historically low price. The power generation, petrochemical and transportation sectors are three major sources of increased consumption, but there is even a company using cheap gas to melt down waste plastic in order to separate out crude oil that can be sold back to refineries. Keep reading →
