Cheniere Seeks U.S. OK to Return Louisiana Sabine LNG Tank
Cheniere Energy Inc asked U.S. energy and safety regulators to approve a process that would allow the company to return to service a storage tank that leaked at its Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Louisiana:* Cheniere, the biggest U.S. LNG exporter, said in a filing earlier this week that its proposed process would prioritize work on one tank, known as S-101, and allow that tank to return to service in the near term.* The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) ordered Cheniere to shut two tanks at Sabine on Feb. 8, 2018, after plant workers on Jan.
Eagle LNG Receives Draft EIS
Eagle LNG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferus Natural Gas Fuels, informed that the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted the company their draft environmental impact statement (DEIS).The draft EIS puts Eagle LNG on a clear path to FID on the Jacksonville Export Project and continues Eagle LNG’s success in using small-scale LNG to supply bunkering to the marine industry and to provide small scale LNG cargoes to markets in the Caribbean.“Our customers, and potential clients, join us in being encouraged that FERC has released the DEIS ahead of schedule.
Canada Should Bring in Stronger Rail Cars for Crude Before 2025 - official
Canada ought to require stronger tank cars for transporting flammable liquids sooner than the current deadline in 2025, Transportation Safety Board Chair Kathy Fox said on Thursday, noting that crude-by-rail shipments are expected to rise in the country."We understand that it can't happen all at once. But we'd like to see it sooner," Fox said in an interview, without giving a specific alternative date. "We do have an ongoing concern that flammable liquids be transported in the most robust tank cars."Canada and the United States have introduced new requirements to more safely transport flammable liquids…
US Gasoline Demand Falls for Third Consecutive Month
U.S. gasoline demand fell year-over-year for the third consecutive month in March, according to federal data released Thursday, putting the country on track for its first year-over-year decline since 2012. The modest drop in U.S. gasoline demand was offset by strong demand for distillates, helping push total oil demand up by 2.1 percent in March versus last year, according to EIA's Petroleum Supply Monthly report. U.S. gasoline demand fell by 0.5 percent to 9.353 million barrels per day in March versus last year, EIA data shows. Demand fell by 1.9 percent in January and 2.4 percent in February. U.S.
Crowley to Supply LNG in Puerto Rico
Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) services group has been awarded a multi-year contract to supply additional volumes of containerized, U.S.-sourced LNG to a major pharmaceutical company’s manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico. The contract, executed through Crowley’s Carib Energy LLC subsidiary, extends a 2014 contract awarded to Crowley for LNG supply for the facilities by expanding LNG services to additional plants. The contract includes the fuel supply and transportation of LNG, which helps the customer yield substantially lowered emissions and provides an alternative to their current fuel source, diesel.
A Great Lakes Pipeline Stirs New Protest
The growing protest movement against U.S. oil and gas pipelines has so far focused on stopping or delaying new construction, with some high-profile successes. Now, in Michigan, a broad coalition of opponents is entering a new frontier: Pushing to rip out and reroute an existing pipeline - Enbridge Inc.'s aging Line 5, which crosses the Straits of Mackinac. They fear the pipeline will leak into the Great Lakes, which contain about a fifth of the world’s fresh water and sustain the state’s second- and third-largest industries, agriculture and tourism.
Broken Axle Caused North Dakota Oil Train Accident -NTSB
The National Transportation Board (NTSB) Tuesday determined that a broken axle set off a series of actions that resulted in an accident in which about 476,000 gallons of crude oil spilled and ignited near Casselton, N.D., December 30, 2013, raising additional concerns about a widely used rail tank car. The oil spilled from 18 of 20 derailed DOT-111 tank cars. The oil then formed pools that caught fire. Other derailed tank cars eventually ruptured as the heat from the fire weakened the tank steel and increased the internal pressure until oil vapor erupted in violent fireballs.
Colonial Expects Restart of Gasoline Line on Wednesday After Leak
Colonial Pipeline Co said it expects a full restart of its gasoline line by Wednesday evening after its biggest leak in nearly two decades squeezed supply and led to increased prices at the pump in southeast United States. The biggest refined products system in the U.S. restarted parts of the line a few days after a leak was discovered on Sept. 9. The damaged section of the 1.3 million-barrel-a-day line that connects the refining hub of the Gulf Coast to the East Coast has been shut for more than 12 days. Motorists have faced long lines and shortage of fuel in many states across the southeast, such as North Carolina and Tennessee.
Crowley Wins LNG Supply Deal in Puerto Rico
Crowley Maritime Corp. said its liquefied natural gas (LNG) services group has been awarded a multi-year contract to supply containerized LNG from the U.S. mainland to Molinos de Puerto Rico, the Caribbean arm of Ardent Mills LLC, supplier of flour, wheat, corn and rice-based food ingredients. The contract was executed through Crowley’s subsidiary Carib Energy (USA) LLC, and includes both the supply and transportation of LNG. The transportation of LNG from liquefaction facilities on the mainland to Molinos’ plant will be managed by Crowley’s domestic logistics team…
US March Oil Demand Rises 2% Year-on-year
U.S. total oil demand rose for the second consecutive month in March, fueled in part by the continued strength in demand for gasoline, federal data released on Tuesday showed. U.S. oil demand rose by 2 percent, or 378,000 barrels per day, from a year ago to 19.61 million bpd, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed. The March figures mark the fourth year-over-year increase in total oil demand in the last nine months, including February's growth of 1.5 percent, EIA data shows. The demand growth was led by gasoline…
U.S. Oil demand Dropped for Third Month in November -EIA
U.S. oil demand fell in November from a year earlier, the third straight monthly decline, as warmer temperatures and stagnant industrial activity weighed on distillate demand and low prices failed to boost consumption, government data showed on Friday. The drop came despite robust growth in gasoline demand due to low prices at the pump, highlighting the extent to which demand, and prices, could remain under pressure due to the warm winter, slower rail traffic and slower industrial production and slower demand from oil drillers cutting back their own activity.
September U.S. Road Miles hits Record
Drivers logged a record-breaking 259.9 billion miles on U.S. roads in September, the most ever for the month and a 4.3 percent jump from last year, according to new data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Year to date, drivers have logged 2.36 trillion miles on U.S. roads, a 3.4 percent jump compared to the same stretch last year and the highest growth since 1997, DOT figures show. The fresh numbers are the latest piece of evidence showing a sustained U.S. road revival that has been fueled by a rout in global petroleum prices and a growing U.S. economy.
Regulators tell Plains to Purge Shut California Oil Pipeline
U.S. pipeline regulators have ordered Plains All American Pipeline LP to purge a California pipeline system of crude to prevent corrosion after a separate pipeline ruptured and fouled Santa Barbara County shores last May. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said Plains must purge oil from Line 903, a 130-mile (209 km), pipeline that runs from Gaviota, California inland to Kern County. Plains also must purge three shut offshore oil pipelines operated by Freeport McMoRan that normally feed Line 903.
No Retrofit Bonanza for Tank Car Makers
When U.S. regulators adopted new rules last May to make hauling crude by rail safer, shippers anticipated relatively moderate costs and adjustments while rail tank car makers geared up for a retrofitting bonanza. It has not worked out that way. Months later, oil companies are learning that meeting the new standards is more expensive and complicated than they thought while tank car producers have yet to see the windfall from the fleet's overhaul. Blame the reality of dealing with railway operators' own technical requirements and an oil price rout that has radically changed the economics of the once-booming business. In the U.S.
U.S. Jet Fuel Demand Soars
Fuel consumption by U.S. airlines is growing at some of the fastest rates for a decade, according to data published by the federal government. U.S. carriers consumed 1.6 billion gallons of fuel in July, up 3.4 percent from the same month a year earlier (http://link.reuters.com/qad75w). Fuel consumption for the first seven months of the year rose nearly 2.9 percent, the biggest increase since 2011 and before that 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Separately, the U.S. Energy Information Administration…
Oil Train Risks Impact U.S. School Kids
Thousands of U.S. schools sit along rail corridors used to carry toxic substances such as crude oil and would be at risk in the event of a derailment, an environmental group said on Tuesday as it called for a temporary halt on oil trains. ForestEthics said its analysis of U.S. Department of Education data show nearly 15,000 schools with 5.7 million students sit inside the so-called 'blast zone', the one-mile area along railroad tracks the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) recommends be evacuated in case of crashes. The DoT moved in May to lower maximum speeds to 40 miles per hours in cities…
Marad Celebrates Deployment of Maritime Fuel Cell Project
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) today celebrated the launch of field trials for the first prototype hydrogen fuel cell unit to power onboard refrigerated containers. MARAD, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, provided $815,000 to fund the clean energy powered container unit that could pave the way to dramatically reduced harmful emissions at the Port of Honolulu. "President Obama has consistently challenged us to find new ways to protect our environment while supporting our economy,” said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. Built into a standard 20 ft.
Train Lobby Pushes to Weaken Safety Rule
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is set to be a chief beneficiary of a bid by Senate Republicans to weaken new regulations to improve train safety in the $2.8 billion crude-by-rail industry, a key cog in the development of the vast North American shale oil fields. A series of oil train accidents, including the July 2013 explosion of a train carrying crude in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people, led U.S. and Canadian regulators to announce sweeping safety rules in May. Among other things, U.S. oil trains are required to install new electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.
US Orders Owner to Clean Up Ruptured Pipeline
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a joint federal Clean Water Act order to ensure the cleanup of heavy crude oil leaked from a pipeline near Refugio State Beach, Santa Barbara County, Calif. The order requires Plains Pipeline, L.P. (a.k.a. Plains All American Pipeline), the pipeline owner and operator, to continue its cleanup work inland, beachside, and in the ocean, to contain the oil and prevent further shoreline contamination. Today’s order establishes federally enforceable timelines…
Environmentalists: California Oil Train Risks Worse in Minority Areas
Californians most exposed to the risks of oil train derailments or fires overwhelmingly live in poorer, minority neighborhoods, two environmental groups in the state said on Tuesday. The report, the first of its kind to explicitly link issues of class and race to the ongoing oil train safety debate, urged state regulators to ban oil imports by train into California and reject permits for several projects refiners have proposed to expand oil-by-rail cargo capacity. After analyzing U.S. census data for the 10 biggest cities in the state and several smaller ones near refineries…
