noLNG

Check out the Coalition's new website

See the all new site "We Agree, No LNG". at:  http://weagreenolng.org

The WFOR website will continue to bring you local LNG interest items and national and international trends on LNG development. 

El Paso’s Elba Island LNG Terminal Has Emergency Shutdown

By Clyde Russell

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- El Paso Corp.’s liquefied natural gas terminal at Elba Island, Georgia, had an emergency shutdown after a control system failure, according to a filing to the National Response Center. The incident happened at 8:51 a.m. local time yesterday, the filing said.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-05/el-paso-s-elba-island-lng-terminal-has-emergency-shutdown.html

Two reporters, advertising consultant depart

By STEVE FORRESTER
The Daily Astorian

We will shortly be losing two top-flight reporters. Cassandra Profita will join Oregon Public Broadcasting and Sandra Swain will retire and move to Olympia, Wash.
Complete article: http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=392&ArticleID=72271

Both reporters have become a household word in the local LNG drama. This blogger like this opportunity to thank Cassandra and Sandra for their excellence in the reports and wish them much success in their future endeavors.

Kitzhaber says natural gas, not LNG, is the answer

By PATRICK WEBB
The Daily Astorian

John Kitzhaber believes natural gas is a much-needed transition fuel while Oregon embraces other sources, but he is wary of liquefied natural gas.

 
The former governor, who is seeking an unprecedented third term, set out his position Friday. He told executives at the annual convention of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association in Salem that he wasn't as vehement an opponent of LNG as Bill Bradbury, whom he defeated in the Democratic primary.

Complete article: http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=72031

U.S. May Sell LNG to China on Surplus, Standard Chartered Says

April 28, 2010, 3:54 AM EDT  

By Dinakar Sethuraman

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. may supply liquefied natural gas to China as cheaper output costs outweigh transportation charges, making the U.S.-produced fuel competitive, Standard Chartered Plc said.

China, the world’s second-biggest energy user, may have paid about $10 per million British thermal units in recent LNG contracts compared with about $6.35 for the three year-average at Henry Hub, the U.S. gas price benchmark, the bank said in a report today. China has agreements to buy LNG from Qatar and Australia.

“The likelihood of U.S.-produced gas being shipped to Asia on a profitable basis is increasing,” said Singapore-based analyst, Han Pin Hsi. “

More: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-28/u-s-may-sell-lng-to-china-on-surplus-standard-chartered-says.html

What Bankrupty???????????

Calpine to Purchase Conectiv Energy Fleet for $1.65 Billion, Adding Scale in Targeted PJM Region

Daily Astorian: Inconvenient questions are urgent

LNG game is like financial mistakes that became the Great Recession
There has been a certain turn in the long road of government deliberation over whether a liquefied natural gas terminal will be sited on the Columbia River at Bradwood. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has said it will not approve the plant without more definitive information. The National Marine Fisheries Service has said it must do more testing before giving its approval. And Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have reintroduced legislation that would end the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's sole power to license LNG plants. All of this happened last week.

The Wyden-Merkley legislation targets the absurdity and the inadequacy of the federal process by which LNG terminals are sited. But in the near chaos of this election year, their progress is unlikely. The other gaping hole in the Bradwood LNG proposal is the lower Columbia River as prime habitat for salmon and a host of other creatures. On that score, the actions by Oregon DEQ and the federal NMFS are immediately significant.

Pentagon planners these days talk about asymmetrical warfare. There is a similar phenomenon in the LNG siting process. NorthernStar LLC, Bradwood's promoter and owner, talks about jobs, investment and the supply of natural gas. That is alluring campaign talk. But construction jobs are transitory, and the river lives on. At this late date in the Pacific Northwest's manipulation of the Columbia River, our fisheries and environmental agencies cannot ignore the reality that the river off Bradwood is a highly important corridor for endangered salmon runs in which the nation has invested billions trying to restore.

There has never been a compelling case to establish the need for an LNG terminal at Bradwood. NorthernStar's proposal is all about the profits that come from flipping the terminal, once it is built. The FERC licensing process is all about who gets to federal regulators first with a completed and defensible application. The FERC process is not about establishing the basis of national need and strategic siting for a terminal. That is the role the federal government should play in this process.

All in all, the FERC process thus far shares many similarities with the financial mistakes that blew up into the Great Recession - a careless rush that is all about easy answers and quick profits. What we need, both as a region and a nation, is to slow down and ask the right questions. How many LNG terminals does America need? Where can new terminals and related pipelines be located to do the most good with the least harm to the environment? Who has the best long-term track record for safe, community-friendly operations? Can all adverse impacts to the Columbia and its species be reversed when this terminal has outlived its usefulness?

These inconvenient questions and many others have gotten short shrift. The process assumes that anything good for LNG is good for the USA. It is good to see Oregon's DEQ, federal fisheries scientists and our U.S. senators demanding answers and searching for better ways to arrive at these decisions.

A glut of articles on the domestic gas glut

Wow, there has been a flood of high profile articles in the last couple of weeks on the huge U.S. supply of shale gas, and how this completely changes the U.S. and global energy market.  It was in part spurred by a big oil and gas industry meeting in Houston last week.  Here are links to the most important articles, with some brief summaries or quotes - I especially recommend the articles in the Economist and the NY Times.  It's a whole new world.... and importing LNG makes less sense every day.  When will Northern Star and Oregon LNG/Leucadia finally wake up to reality and realize they are in an obsolete industry?

BP chief hails American breakthrough in gas supplies from shale rocks

The Guardian (U.K.)   January 28, 2010

At the World Economic Forum, the chief executive of BP says the supply of shale gas in the U.S. is “a complete game changer”.

IEA CHIEF: US Unlikely To Import LNG Unconventional supply saps U.S. interest in LNG imports

Wall Street Journal     March 10, 2010

“HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--The avalanche of shale gas that has flooded the U.S. oil market is having a "huge impact" in the global market for the commodity, International Energy Agency's Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said Wednesday. “

LNG sector rethinks long term amid US natgas glut

Reuters  March 10, 2010

“A glut of unconventional natural gas supplies from U.S. shale deposits has fundamentally recast the long-term prospects for liquefied natural gas imports that were once considered the linchpin of the nation's energy security, industry executives said on Wednesday.       ….

U.S. natural gas reserves are up by a third since 2006, thanks to unconventional gas development including shale gas, with estimated reserves sufficient to supply the U.S. market for nearly 100 years at current rates.”

Natural gas – An Unconventional Glut

The Economist    March 11, 2010

Newly economic, distributed sources are shifting the balance of power in the world’s gas markets

[This excellent in-depth article begins with a description of the significance of the Kitimat, B.C. LNG terminal that switched from import to export.  It has a map of U.S. shale gas reserves and describes how they bring U.S. reserves up to the level of Russia, which has been thought for many years to have by far the largest gas reserves.  It describes the effect on the global gas market of the combination of shale gas discoveries at the same time that LNG supplies are increasing but long-term demand is not growing due to efforts to slow global warming.]

Natural Gas from Shale Plays Create ‘New World’ for Energy Industry

New York Times   March 11, 2010

A report from a recent oil and gas industry conference in Houston:

Conoco Phillips CEO Jim Mulva, in his keynote speech, called shale gas “nature’s gift to the people of the world” and said “Some people even forecast the U.S. becoming an LNG exporter.”  The Chair of Cambridge Energy Reseach Associates, the group that organized the conference, called the “shale gale” “simply the most significant energy innovation so far this century.”

A Game Changer

By: T. Boone Pickens

I've been in the energy business my entire career, and I can assure you this 81-year-old has chased down more deals than anyone you'll ever meet. A lot of those deals didn't pan out - that's just how the game is played - but every now and then a big kahuna comes along. When it does, you'd better jump on it.

Right now, as our country struggles to rebuild its economy and replace millions of lost jobs, that sort of game changer has landed right in our lap: America has more shale gas than it knows what to do with.

More:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/t-boone-pickens/a-game-changer_b_467831.html

U.S. Overtakes Russia as Biggest Natural Gas Producer

By Stephen Bierman

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. overtook Russia as the world’s largest natural-gas producer last year as U.S. suppliers tapped unconventional resources while demand in Russia plunged amid the country’s worst economic decline on record.

U.S. output advanced 3.9 percent in January through October to 18.3 trillion feet (519 billion cubic meters), according to the latest Department of Energy data. Russian output, about four-fifths of which comes from state-run OAO Gazprom, plunged 17 percent in the period to 462 billion cubic meters.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-12/u-s-overtakes-russia-as-biggest-natural-gas-producer-update1-.html

So looking at possible export is not all that crazy, after all Kitimat,BC did.(Blogger)