ICE to Offer First US Gulf Coast LNG Futures Contract
With the United States about to become a net exporter of natural gas for the first time in 60 years, Intercontinental Exchange Inc said on Wednesday it would begin trading the first-ever U.S. liquefied natural gas futures contract in May. ICE said the contracts would be cash-settled against the Platts LNG Gulf Coast Marker price assessment and use Platts-derived U.S. GCM LNG forward curves for daily settlement purposes. The curves will have an initial term of 48 months.
TransCanada to Shed U.S. Northeast Pipeline Stakes
TransCanada Corp said it has offered to sell stakes in two natural gas pipelines that serve the U.S. Northeast to TC PipeLines LP, U.S.-based master limited partnership in which it holds a 27 percent stake. TransCanada said it would sell its 49.3 percent stake in the Iroquois gas transmission system and the remaining 11.8 percent stake it holds in the Portland natural gas transmission system. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
BOEM Approves Virginia’s Offshore Wind Research
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced its approval of the first wind energy Research Activities Plan (RAP) for a facility to be located in U.S. federal waters, as part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop clean energy sources and cut carbon pollution. Last year, BOEM awarded a research lease to the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Virginia.
US Becomes Net Natgas Exporter for a Day with Sale to Brazil
The United States turned into a net natural gas exporter for a day after the first liquefied natural gas export from Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana left for Brazil on Wednesday. The United States however is not expected to become a net exporter of gas on an annual basis until 2017 after more pipelines to Mexico and LNG export terminals enter service, according to federal energy estimates. The United States was last a net exporter of gas on an annual basis in 1957.
Power Producer Dominion to buy Questar for $4.4 bln
Power producer Dominion Resources Inc said it would buy natural gas distributor Questar Corp for about $4.4 billion in cash to expand its natural gas operations. Dominion's $25-per-share offer represents a premium of nearly 23 percent to Questar's Friday close. Weakening power demand due to increased energy efficiency has spurred a spate of deals between utilities and natural gas distributors, which enjoy relatively stable pricing thanks to a glut of supply from shale fields. Duke Energy Corp, the largest U.S.
Norway Parliament Votes to Cut Coal Investments
Norway's parliament voted on Friday to reduce coal investments by its $880 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest, in a decision hailed by environmentalists as a model to help slow climate change. Under the unanimous deal, the fund will sell all shares in companies that get more than 30 percent of their turnover or activity from coal. The right-wing government and the fund itself will have to work out exact definitions.
US Gives Final Approval to LNG Exports from Corpus Christi
The U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday it has given final approval for Cheniere to export liquefied natural gas from its plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. The approval allows the plant to export the equivalent of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas for 20 years to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement. The U.S. Energy Information Administration believes the country could become a net LNG exporter by 2017.
BOEM Issues Offshore Wind Energy Research Lease
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has executed a wind energy research lease with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), BOEM announced today. This is BOEM’s first executed wind energy research lease, coming as part of the Obama Administration’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop domestic clean energy resources and cut carbon pollution. Under this lease, DMME proposes to design…
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rise, Despite Call for Cuts
Greenhouse gas emissions by the world's top 500 companies rose 3.1 percent from 2010 to 2013, far off the cuts urged by the United Nations to limit global warming, a study showed on Monday. The top 500 firms by capitalisation accounted for 13.8 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions and 28 percent of gross domestic product in 2013, according to the report, drawn up by the information provider Thomson Reuters and BSD Consulting, a global sustainability consultancy.
New England Power Grid Warns of Winter Natgas Constraints
New England should have enough electricity to meet demand this winter but the natural gas pipeline constraints that caused price spikes on the coldest days last winter will be a "concern" again this year, the region's power grid operator said Thursday. ISO New England, the grid operator, warned the region's dependence on gas puts it in a "vulnerable position" because current pipelines cannot deliver all the gas required for both heating and power generators, especially during cold weather.
Dominion Finds Damaged Fuel Rods at Virginia Nuclear Plant
Dominion Virginia Power has discovered two damaged nuclear fuel rods at its North Anna power plant, 90 miles (140 km) southwest of Washington, and has shut it down, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Dominion Virginia Power, a unit of Dominion Resources Inc , said it discovered the rods during a routine refueling at the 34-year-old power plant northwest of Richmond. The company shut down the reactor on Sept. 7 and reported the incident to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Sept. 17.
Cove Point LNG Export Facility Gets US FERC Approval
U.S. federal regulators on Monday approved construction of Dominion Resources Inc's liquefied natural gas export project in Cove Point, Maryland. Cove Point is the fourth U.S. LNG export project to get the green light to begin construction from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It will be able to export up to 5.75 million metric tons of LNG a year when fully operational. Dominion's facility is one of about two dozen projects that hope to ship a growing bounty of domestic natural gas to countries in Asia and Europe.
Dominion Resources, Partners Building Pipeline
Dominion Resources Inc entered into a joint venture with three other U.S. energy companies to build a $4.5-$5 billion pipeline to ship natural gas to North Carolina and Virginia. The proposed 550-mile natural gas pipeline will be built by Duke Energy Corp, Piedmont Natural Gas Co, AGL Resources Inc as well as Dominion under the partnership Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC. Reporting By Shubhankar Chakravorty
FERC Approves Freeport LNG Export Project
U.S. federal regulators on Wednesday approved construction of Freeport LNG Development LP's liquefied natural gas export project in Texas. Freeport is the third U.S. LNG export project to get the green light to begin construction from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The planned project would have the capacity to export up to 1.8 billion cubic feet a day of LNG once operational. With domestic gas production booming, U.S. companies have lined up to ship the nation's abundant shale gas abroad.
Anti-fracking Protesters Arrested in US Capital
Two dozen protesters were arrested in Washington on Monday while demonstrating against hydraulic fracturing and the U.S. gas industry's push to sell "fracked" liquefied natural gas abroad. Some workers were forced to step over the protesters to access the government building's main entrance. Police eventually began directing FERC employees around the protesters to an alternate doorway. The sit-in, organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, also left confused motorists shut out of the driveway adjacent to FERC.
EPA Asks for More Time to Review Cove Point LNG Project
U.S. environmental regulators have asked for more time to review a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant project planned for a site on a bay near Washington, D.C. The Environmental Protection Agency, one of the departments that contributes to assessments of LNG projects, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a 30-day extension to conduct a review of Dominion Resources Inc's Cove Point liquefaction project in Maryland.
BOEM Seeks Comment on Proposed Energy Research
As part of the Obama Administration's Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop domestic clean energy sources and cut carbon pollution, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced today that it is seeking public comment as it prepares an Environmental Assessment (EA) to analyze potential impacts from proposed wind energy research activities offshore Virginia. The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) has requested a research lease and proposes to design…
LNG Foes go to the Mat in Maryland
Maps of Indian and Japanese ports paper the walls of a Dominion Resources Inc conference room in a small Maryland town, population 1,835, known more for crabbing and bird watching than global trade and the U.S. natural gas revolution. Dominion, an American energy company long focused on U.S. markets, hopes to begin an expansion worth billions of dollars at its Cove Point complex on Chesapeake Bay later this year. As part of the plan…
