Monday, April 30, 2018

Analyst: Comstock Resources’ Deal With Jerry Jones ‘Bold’

The deal by Comstock Resources Inc. (NYSE: CRK) to swap out 88.6 million shares for Jerry Jones’ Bakken oil production is being viewed positively by analysts and investors as shares rose after the announcement. Analysts from Seaport Global and Coker Palmer said the deal, which calls for Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Ltd. to own 84% is a step in the right direction for Comstock Resources and brings about significant upside as shares of the stock nearly doubled the day after the deal was announced. “We’re convinced that getting married to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys (Jones now has 84% of the equity) was actually an excellent path to go down,” said Seaport Global in a research note.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/analyst-comstock-resources-deal-with-jerry-jones-bold/

Maryland’s Wind Farm Project is Still a Bad Idea

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K.J. Rodgers
Crownsville, Maryland  

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There is a lot of support for the Maryland wind farm project, but unfortunately, it all comes from environmentalists or the pressures they put on others.  

Summer is right around the corner and as we see every year in Maryland, thousands of tourists and state residents will be voyaging to the Great Eastern Shore of Maryland to relax in the sun, enjoy off-shore fishing charters, and many will have just one-too-many drinks at the famous Secrets bar and restaurant.

ocean-city-maryland-512x302.jpgAll those things are a Maryland tradition that even Maryland transplants like my family enjoy, with the exception of the last. This year and probably the next season may be the last few times vacationers will enjoy before the massive offshore wind farm starts popping up and littering the view.

I have discussed this boondoggle of a project several times and pointed out how very visible these monstrous contraptions will be from the sand. For those who may not know, Maryland has decided to move forward with a large windfarm right off the coast. The $1,900,000,000 project is set to raise 187 tall (60-stories each) windmills 12 miles offshore. The project is touted to provide 750 megawatts of power – enough to serve the needs of 500,000 homes. Ultimately, taxpayers are going to pay the outstanding price of these towers while the developer, an Italian-backed company, U.S. Wind, will be able to sell energy credits at $132 bucks a pop for each megawatt hour they generate, “to help cover their costs.”

Ocean City’s Mayor has been reluctantly agreeing with the project, but he wants to see the massive windmills pushed out further to be out of sight; only visible to those deep-water fishermen who will be navigating the water’s new maze. Of course, moving the wind farm further out will cost more money and environmentalist groups know more money and delays may threaten the project as a whole. They know this all too well as this is their primary bag of tricks when fighting pipelines or new wells. The website, DelmarvaNow, ran an op-ed that is, frankly, just silly but illustrates the thought processes of those who wear rose-colored glasses too tinted to see the forest for the trees.

The writer is Larry Ryan and I couldn’t find out much about him from a few quick searches, but he touts the wind farm as likely to produce 3,500 jobs. He doesn’t seem to understand these jobs are highly skilled workers and many will be coming from out of state. Those that are local, will only be for a short duration of the project, as opposed to pipeline workers who typically come from surrounding areas, despite opponents’ claims to the contrary.

The primary example of this is that those in charge of the project expect to fire up Sparrow’s Point Steel Mill again to manufacture many of the components (I assume using natural gas since solar panels do not melt steel #keepitintheground), but the likelihood of those jobs lasting much longer than a season is dim. He also argues that through the advancement of technology, turbines will get smaller – allowing for more of them. This is a horrible solution as it presents itself like the Edison Direct Current monopoly. US Wind would keep this racket going forever with the taxpayers paying for it and them selling off the credits for more profit.

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While technologies are making wind turbines more efficient, they are not getting smaller; in fact, they are getting larger, just as this NY Times article posts. These new age turbines in Osterild have blades larger than the wingspan of an Airbus A380 and takes upwards of three days to make.  This is not settling for me, as these things are completely overvalued in both capacity and impact. When you speak of the 32% actual capacity versus what they claim to produce, you are labeled anti-environment and people like Bill Nye put hits out on you, but it is true. Furthermore, although these are offshore wind farms, there are many studies indicating how horrible they are for marine life – especially those who use echolocation.

When a new pipeline is in the beginning stages, environmentalist groups make all of the fuss about the “deforestation” and go full radical by climbing into trees in protest. However, we see they don’t give two cents for the trees if the ecosystem is being demolished for solar or wind farms. Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute notes this:

“Even if we ignore the deleterious health effects that low-frequency noise produced by wind turbines can have on humans and the murderous effect that turbines have on birds and bats, the idea of covering a land area larger than California with nothing but wind turbines is ludicrous on its face. It’s doubly absurd given that over the past few years, rural communities from Maine to California and Ontario to Scotland have been rejecting the encroachment of Big Wind. Among the latest examples of the rural backlash: On April 10, in South Dakota, the Davidson County Commission unanimously rejected a permit for a proposed nine-turbine wind project.”

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Energy Efficiency and Fracking—Not Wind and Solar—Are Reducing Carbon-Dioxide Emissions

No one is saying that we shouldn’t have renewables in our playbook; at least wind exhibits some performance as I discussed here. It can be used to extend our reserves, or it can even power up those who want to be off the grid, but it has no chance of replacing natural gas for the US or the rest of the world. We do, however, need to stop allowing interest groups to dictate our direction with misinformation and keep them from ruining our summer.

The post Maryland’s Wind Farm Project is Still a Bad Idea appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/marylands-wind-farm-project-is-still-a-bad-idea/

Russians Are Colluding with CA and NY to Kill Drilling in the U.S.

New Yorkers who are missing out on the natural gas revolution could be victims of Russian spy operations that fund popular environmental groups, current and former U.S. government officials and experts on Russia worry. Natural gas development of the celebrated Marcellus Shale deposits has spurred jobs and other economic growth in neighboring Pennsylvania. But not in New York, which nearly 10 years ago banned the process of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, to produce natural gas. Two environmental advocacy groups that successfully lobbied against fracking in New York each received more than $10 million in grants from a foundation in California that got financial support from a Bermuda company congressional investigators linked to the Russians, public documents show. The environmental groups Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club Foundation received millions of dollars in grants from the San Francisco-based Sea Change Foundation. The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. “Follow the money trail, and this ban on fracking could be viewed as an example of successful Russian espionage,” Ken Stiles, a CIA veteran of 29 years who now teaches at Virginia Tech, told The Daily Signal. To Stiles and other knowledgeable observers, this looks like an actual case of knowing or unknowing collusion with Russia. Both Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club Foundation also accepted tens of millions from the Energy Foundation, the top recipient of grants from Sea Change, according to foundation and tax records. When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, renewed his state’s ban on fracking three years ago, the Natural Resources Defense Council issued a statement supporting the ban. So did the Sierra Club, the primary recipient of grants from its sister organization, the Sierra Club Foundation. Environmental activists associated with the groups receiving Sea Change Foundation grants continued to pressure Cuomo and other public officials to maintain and expand New York’s fracking ban. Most recently, the two environmental groups scored another victory when the Delaware River Basin Commission, an interstate regulatory agency that includes the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, proposed a ban on fracking within the Delaware River Basin cutting across all four states. The Sierra Club and the Natural Resource Defense Council have pressed the regional commission to impose the ban, issuing statements (here and here) calling for restrictions that are tighter than what the commission proposed. PennEast Pipeline Co. is set to begin construction on a 120-mile-long pipeline to transport natural gas from the Marcellus Shale across Eastern Pennsylvania into New Jersey. In a new public relations campaign, PennEast asks New Jersey residents if they would rather obtain their energy from Pennsylvania or Russia. PennEast cites media reports describing how anti-pipeline policies in Massachusetts forced the state into a position where it had to rely on Russian imports of liquified natural gas during peak cold periods this past winter. The Russian Money Trail Government officials and environmental leaders have a responsibility to track the money, Stiles, the former CIA officer, told The Daily Signal in an interview. “The Russians are very adept and skilled at making long-term investments,” Stiles said. “They sit back very patiently to see how their funding can pay off over a period of many years.” Stiles added: Whether these environmental groups realize it or not, they could be operating as what we call ‘agents of influence.’ By working to block natural gas production, environmental activists are advancing policies that work to the advantage of Russia and to the disadvantage of America and America’s allies. Joseph F. Barone ShaleDirectories.com 610.764.1232 jbarone@shaledirectories.com www.shaledirectories.com

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/russians-are-colluding-with-ca-and-ny-to-kill-drilling-in-the-u-s/

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Working gas in storage barely tapped: EIA

The volume of working natural gas pulled from storage during the week ended April 20, was exactly half the amount taken one week earlier, and the lowest volume since early November, the Energy Information Administration reported.

Just 18 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of working gas was pulled from storage during the week ended April 20, with total working gas remaining underground falling to 1.28 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), from 1.3 Tcf one week earlier. (All numbers are rounded.)

The most recent total for stored working gas was down a whopping 897 Bcf, or 41.2%, from the year-ago total of 2.18 Tcf, and was down 527 Bcf, or 29.1%, from the five-year average of 1.81 Tcf, Kallanish Energy calculates.

Three of the five regions EIA divides the Lower 48 U.S. states into when tracking stored working gas recorded a week-to-week drop in the fossil fuel, EIA found.

The biggest drawdown was in the Midwest region, 17 Bcf, or 7.5%, to 211 Bcf, from 228 Bcf stored during the week ended April 13.

The latest Midwest total was down 291 Bcf, or 58%, from the year-ago total of 502 Bcf, and was down 157 Bcf, or 42.7%, from the five-year average of 368 Bcf, EIA reported.

The Mountain and Pacific regions each reported an increase in stored working gas, but combined, the addition totaled just 3 Bcf.


https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/working-gas-in-storage-barely-tapped-eia/

Can’t We Just Stop the Green Energy Insanity, Please – Part II

Tom.jpg?resize=75%2C95Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.

 

There are two aspects of green energy insanity that never get adequate attention, the reliance on rare earth minerals and the demolition and wastes issues.

The lousy economics, especially compared to those of natural gas and its emissions cutting benefits, is part of the green energy insanity I wrote about a few days ago. I provided a followup in my Best Picks of the Week post yesterday with a feature titled “The Answer Is Blowin’ Away in the Wind” about the unwinding the German Energiewende wind venture. Ever alert reader Mark Dye investigated, found the author had identified error an in the original article that has since been corrected. Another part of story has also surfaced, he noted, a part that seldom gets any attention. It’s about what to do with old windmills, which provides further insights into green energy insanity.

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Mongolian mine where rare earth minerals used in wind energy generation are harvested

The front-end problem with both solar and wind is that they depend on rare earth minerals that often have to be imported and the mining of which is about as anti-environment as it gets. The German story, though, is about the back end, when old windmills have to be demolished. The original story may be found here in German and this is the translated second part (emphasis added):

Recycling of the components poses a particular challenge when it comes to dismantling. “We set up wind turbines with massive subsidies, but no one thought what would happen to the plants afterwards, for example, that the funds used must also be recyclable,” says Herwart Wilms, Managing Director of Germany’s largest waste management company Remondis.
Although the material of steel parts or copper pipes is very good recyclable. However, one problem is the rotor blades, which consist of a mixture of glass and carbon fibers and are glued with polyester resins. “We are facing a huge problem,” said Michael Schneider from Remondis to Handelsblatt. Because it is hardly possible to separate the resin-bonded fibers again. “We can not get them apart anymore,” says Schneider. From 2021, 16,000 tonnes of such materials could be produced annually.
Although the wind power industry wants to develop solutions for recycling. Whether these then not only technically but also economically, but is in the stars. So in the end, only the energy recovery could be left, ie combustion. But even this is difficult because the residues of rotor material are fine-grained and clog the filters of incinerators.
But with the dismantling of the plants themselves, it is not enough. The concrete pedestals, which form the foundation of wind turbines, would also have to disappear. In a large plant, this base can quickly cover more than 3,000 tons of reinforced concrete and often reach more than twenty meters deep into the ground. According to the German building code, wind turbines have to be “completely dismantled” – and the explanations to the law make it clear that dismantling includes the foundations.
Also, several courts have confirmed that after the end of an investment, the concrete foundations have to be removed. That makes ecological sense. As Godehard Hennies, managing director of the Water Association Day Bremen / Lower Saxony / Saxony-Anhalt has stated to the world, the foundations often pierce several geological horizons and cause a serious mixing of previously separated aquifers.
The complete removal of the concrete base can quickly cost hundreds of thousands of euros…

Other sources suggest the old propeller blades can be recycled but it doesn’t seem so great either, unless you like the idea of combusting resins to produce cement:

A previous study that was commissioned by Scottish National Heritage (SNH) forecasted that there would be a need to ‘recycle’ approximately 225,000 tons of rotor blades by the year 2034. Something similar is happening in Germany, where the rotor blades are ‘reprocessed’ in industrial scale factories and then shredded and mixed with other waste. The final product is then used in cement manufacturing facilities as fuel.

Cement production also happens to be “one of the largest sources of industrial process-related emissions” according to the EPA, but I’m sure adding windmill resins will improve the process.

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Abandoned windmill, Cape Clear Island, Ireland

All sarcasm aside, there’s no doubt technology will eventually solve the problem, just as the natural gas industry has solved the problem of dealing with flowback and produced water by recycling it. That isn’t the point, though, No, the point is that renewables come with waste issues, too, and a host of others environmental,ental concerns that need to be addressed. The cost will be the ultimate arbiter of what works and what doesn’t. Green energy insanity is believing “green energy” is somehow free of such issues and there are no costs to be addressed.

The post Can’t We Just Stop the Green Energy Insanity, Please – Part II appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/cant-we-just-stop-the-green-energy-insanity-please-part-ii/

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Stone Energy To Acquire Ram Powell Unit In US GoM Viosca Knoll Area

Stone Energy Corp. (NYSE: SGY) said April 27 it had agreed to purchase the Ram Powell Unit in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from Shell Offshore Inc., ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and Anadarko US Offshore LLC. The acquisition includes 100% working interest in the Ram Powell Unit, which is located in 3,200 ft of water in the Viosca Knoll Area, Block 956, and is capable of processing 60,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and 200 million cubic feet per day of gas. The terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. The assets comprise six lease blocks and the Ram Powell tension leg platform. Production for the Ram Powell Field averaged roughly 6,100 bbl/d during 2017.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/stone-energy-to-acquire-ram-powell-unit-in-us-gom-viosca-knoll-area/

Natural Gas NOW Picks of the Week – April 28, 2018

Tom.jpg?resize=75%2C95Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.

Natural Gas NOW readers pass along a lot of stuff every week about natural gas, fractivist antics, emissions, renewables, and other news relating to energy.

 Understanding New York and New England Fractivism

If you really want to understand what motivates the opposition of wealthy New Yorkers and Bay Staters to fracking and absolutely essential pipeline development in a region ever more dependent on natural gas, it’s worth reading this article about what’s happening with California housing.

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Graydon Carter (or is it Carter Graydon as gentry class names are typically reversible?), Laurie David and Michael Bloomberg at NRDC gang gala — a classic gentry class event

The gentry class has several reasons to oppose natural gas development, including hedge fund investments in “green energy,” protecting land scams designed create private preserves around their own holdings and assuaging of their trust-funder guilt, but keeping out the rabble may be the biggest:

 recalls the aristocratic, even feudal, days of yore when the lords in their estates didn’t wish to be crowded by the bourgeoisie, to say nothing of the peasantry.

To be sure, modern political niceties prevent the lords and ladies of today from pronouncing that they wish the rabble to be gone. And so the exclusionist argument is laundered through the green vernacular of “sustainability.” It’s by this linguistic transmutation that the selfish NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) activist is elevated into a high-minded eco-hero.

It’s fair to say  greenwashed NIMBYism—is the dominant ideology in California. Bolstered by big money from tech gods and trust funders, gentry  simply bought the state’s politics.

Well said, I’d say. “Green vernacular” is employed as a facade for old-fashioned NIMBYism and keeping the rabble of employed middle-class folks associated with gas drilling and building pipelines as far away as possible.

Analysis Shows Storage Projects Uneconomic?

The beauty of renewables, of course, is that they’re always just over the horizon, awaiting the one technological gains leap, except that the horizon keeps moving due to other technological leaps with natural gas. The giant leap needed for renewables is said to be storage, but that’s not doing so well either (emphasis added):

Oregon was the first state to follow California in implementing an energy storage mandate. But, as Pacific Power’s recent filing with the Oregon Public Utility Commission shows, the economics of energy storage may take more time to become favorable, at least for some.

iu-1-508x512.pngIn 2015, Oregon’s legislature passed H.B. 2193, which requires the state’s two main investor-owned utilities, Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp’s Pacific Power, to have a minimum of 5 MWh of energy storage in service by January 1, 2020. The mandate is capped at 1% of a utility’s peak load from 2014, except for a project of “statewide significance.” The law also allows the utilities to recover the costs of those energy storage systems through electric rates…

In its analysis, Pacific Power used seven different use-case scenarios, but found that energy storage is not cost effective in any modeled scenario

Based on its forward looking projection for energy storage on the PacifiCorp network, the utility estimated that energy storage has the potential to become cost effective in 2029.

Yeah—2029—that’s it. That’s the horizon now. Meanwhile, natural gas storage effectively serves as the real electricity storage and the gas industry technology leaps continue.

FERC Looks for Input on Its Regulations

FERC says it wants input on updating its regs. Well, good. Here’s what up:

…the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking stakeholder comments on whether, and if so how, it should adjust its current policy1 on certifying new natural gas transportation facilities. Specifically, it requests input on:

“(1) its methodology for determining whether there is a need for a proposed project, including the Commission’s consideration of precedent agreements and contracts for service as evidence of such need;

(2) its consideration of the potential exercise of eminent domain and of landowner interests related to a proposed project; and

(3) its evaluation of the environmental impact of a proposed project.”

iu-4-1.jpegThe full notice, unfortunately, gives almost no attention to the single greatest problem right now; the corrupt abuse of the Section 401 Water Quality Certification process by Andrew Cuomo and others who are using it to insert them into every aspect of FERC’s authority. The agency is looking for comments and I have but two suggestions.

The first is to draft a rule that says: (1) water quality certification must be about water and not FERC’s business, (2) that one-year to act means one-year and not several, and (3) decisions must be based on real water quality criteria and not speculation or different criteria than would be applied to any other activity. Secondly, it’s time to end the abuse of the FERC process itself by Delaware Povertykeeper types who only seek to kill projects by delay. Keep them out of the process as intervenors. Check out the notice and make your comment!

The Answer Is Blowin’ Away in the Wind

The German Energiewende continuers to unwind:

This is yet another blow to Germany’s Energiewende (transition to green energies). A few days ago, I reported herehow the German solar industry had seen a monumental jobs’ bloodbath and investments have been slashed to a tiny fraction of what they once were.

Over the years, Germany has made approvals for new wind parks more difficult as the country reels from an unstable power grid and growing protests against the blighted landscapes and health hazards.

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German wind farm

Now that the wind energy boom has ended, the Baseler Zeitung reports that “the shutdown of numerous wind turbines could soon lead to a drop in production” after having seen years of ruddy growth.

Today a large number of Germany’s 29,000 total turbines nationwide are approaching 20-years-old and for the most part, they are outdated.

Worse: the generous subsidies granted at the time of their installation are slated to expire soon and thus make them unprofitable.

After 2020, thousands of these turbines will lose their subsidies with each passing year, which means they will be taken offline and mothballed…

The Baseler Zeitung adds that some 5,700 turbines with an installed capacity of 45 MW will see their subsidies run out by 2020…

So with new turbines coming online only slowly, it’s entirely possible that wind energy output in Germany will recede in the coming years, thus making the country appear even less serious about climate protection.

Who could have seen this one coming? Pretty much anyone with an ounce of common sense. Renewables can’t be forced. They have to compete. Moreover, as they say, political correctness that simply can’t go on, won’t.

The post Natural Gas NOW Picks of the Week – April 28, 2018 appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/natural-gas-now-picks-of-the-week-april-28-2018/

Friday, April 27, 2018

Energy Executives Favor More Robotics, Artificial Intelligence To Perform Tasks

We could soon see more robotics and other artificial intelligence technology performing tasks and jobs in the energy sector. KPMG’s recent 2018 U.S. Energy Survey, which polled 92 energy executives, revealed that the majority of them are in favor of utilizing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and intelligent automation to improve business operations without a reduction in human workforce. Regina Mayor, KPMG’s global and U.S. energy sector leader, said the survey revealed this is an exciting time in the industry as it moves toward streamlining and making production more efficient.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/energy-executives-favor-more-robotics-artificial-intelligence-to-perform-tasks/

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Continental Resources Announces Firm Transportation Agreement On Enable's Project Wildcat

Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) announced the execution of a firm transportation agreement on Enable Midstream Partners' (NYSE: ENBL) Project Wildcat. Project Wildcat will provide Continental Resources 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of additional takeaway capacity from its properties in the SCOOP and STACK plays in Oklahoma. Project Wildcat will provide Continental direct access to premium markets, including the expanding Dallas Fort Worth area where supplies of natural gas from the Barnett shale continue to decline.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/continental-resources-announces-firm-transportation-agreement-on-enable039s-project-wildcat/

The Undocumented Andrew Cuomo Surreptitiously Heats with Oil, Cooks with Gas

Tom.jpg?resize=75%2C95Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.

 

The supposedly undocumented Andrew Cuomo is attempting to appease every special interest imaginable but this we know; he heats with oil and cooks with gas.

It’s easy to tell when Andrew Cuomo is lying; his voice goes into nauseating New York crime boss tone and he starts snarling. He did so the other day when he decided he needed to outflank Cynthia Nixon in welcoming illegal aliens, calling himself “undocumented.” It was a moment of ridiculousness, but the undocumented Andrew Cuomo acts that way a lot when he’s turning on what he supposes is political charm but is especially obnoxious to those of us on this side of the Hudson. Yet, he wasn’t all wrong either. He really is undocumented with respect to his oil and gas use.

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The home of the undocumented Andrew Cuomo in Westchester County, New York

The undocumented Andrew Cuomo is Governor of New York and was born in 1957 in New York City. One can presume there’s a birth certificate, so it’s quite clear he’s no illegal alien. He does come off as alien, though, when he launches into those lying political tirades on whatever is the politically correct issue of the day. That grating voice is one he can turn on and off at will. I learned this in 2014 when a client invited me to attend one of his fund-raisers in the City. It wasn’t to be heard at that event, but he found it again when he wanted everyone to know he might be the undocumented Andrew Cuomo. That’s how Machiavellian demagoguery works when you’re not very good at it, I guess.

There is one sense in which Andrew Cuomo is thoroughly undocumented and that’s with respect to his oil and gas use. He lives in the Town of New Castle, Westchester County, with his wealthy girlfriend of many years, Sandra Lee. She is a well-known cooking celebrity. The house, which she bought in 2008, is in her name alone, making him the undocumented Andrew Cuomo in the sense he pay no property taxes, although he claims to share in the home expenses.

There’s another undocumented Andrew Cuomo, too. It’s the one who said he knew nothing about the fact Sandra Lee was making several taxable improvements to her/their property without getting building permits. The story was told in several New York outlets at the time, including this one in the Democrat & Chronicle and became campaign fodder (emphasis added):

“We want to be crystal clear on what we are saying about Governor Cuomo today,” Astorino campaign spokeswoman Jessica Proud said in a statement. “We are directly suggesting that Andrew Cuomo hid renovations to his home in order to evade the higher property taxes he would have to pay if those renovations had been properly permitted, as is required of other citizens.”

Astorino’s camp also criticized Cuomo for not allowing the assessor into the home for a review of the interior. The law does not require a homeowner to allow an assessor into the home.

Cuomo said he was unaware that the assessor wasn’t allowed into the home.

I don’t know that the assessor wasn’t allowed in,” Cuomo said. “I think that’s how it works, isn’t it?”

He later added that,”In terms of local rules, I’m not all that familiar with it.

As for Astorino’s criticism, Cuomo said “I have no response.”

Cuomo was asked what’s in the home’s basement because it is believed to have been remodeled, but apparently is not on the assessment records.

Last time I was there, nothing,” Cuomo responded.

One could say these statements are more than adequate bona fides for claiming to be the undocumented Andrew Cuomo, wouldn’t you?

But, there’s still more to the undocumented thing. Sandra Lee’s kitchen appears to have a gas range. Most great cooks prefer to cook with gas (probably propane in this instance) so it’s hardly a surprise, but take a look and decide for yourself:

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It looks like a gas range to me and a quick search of tax records available from a service to which I subscribe indicates the heat is generated by a hot water steam system, which, of course, mean gas or oil and another service says it’s oil. Yes, the undocumented Andrew Cuomo stays warm in the winter courtesy of oil and his girlfriend cooks with gas it appears. The Governor, in other words, gets to deny pipelines, stop-fracking and proclaim he’s anti0-fossil fuels as his living quarters are embellished with them. And, there are no solar panels on the roof either, not in that neighborhood. Now, that’s undocumented. Just do its all in your girlfriend’s name. That’s all it takes.

The post The Undocumented Andrew Cuomo Surreptitiously Heats with Oil, Cooks with Gas appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/the-undocumented-andrew-cuomo-surreptitiously-heats-with-oil-cooks-with-gas/

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Why Is the DRBC Bullying Shale Landowners Rather Than Addressing Real Problems?

Tom.jpg?resize=75%2C95Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.

 

The DRBC is willing to bully shale landowners over imagined threats to water quality but it won’t touch the real pollution down river where the power is.

Monday of this week I wrote about the absurdity of the DRBC attempting to ban fracking over speculated risks when, in fact, there was evidence of real pollution in the Delaware from commercial shipping of chemicals downstream. That evidence involved a spill of up to 600,000 gallons of chemicals that went directly into the Delaware River just upstream from 558,000 New Jersey and Pennsylvanian residents who get 19.9 million gallons of drinking water out of the river. Yet, the DRBC does nothing to address that and focuses its attention on imagined risks of spills at shale gas well pads miles from the river.

One of our readers followed up by pointing out a study from 2002 showing those residents who get drinking water from the Delaware are far more likely to be impacted by a whole host of activities than fracking, yet the DRBC stays relentlessly focused on bullying of shale gas landowners. Why? Because they can. They also want to divert attention from pollution downstream by virtue signaling elsewhere.

The “Hazardous Material Transportation Study” by the State of Delaware Emergency Response Commission, sets out lots of factual data. The most important data is found in two tables, one of which details incidents on the Delaware River itself and the other of which compares risks for different modes of transportation with respect to hazardous materials. Here’s the incidents list:

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Notice this list doesn’t even include the 1993 cumene spill, which took place upstream north of Delaware, so we get a sense of the real risk involved. While it may not be cause to ban anything, it’s very real—not imagined—and demonstrates fracking is the least of the threats to the Delaware River when all this happening downstream. The second table evaluates the relative risks of differing methods of transporting hazardous materials.

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This table shows water transportation incidents do, in fact, top the list in absolute terms, but truck transportation of hazardous materials represents more than five times the risk of incident per ton moved. Those trucks move on highways paralleling the river, like railroads, and they cross bridges over the Delaware River. They also have accidents. Take, for example, this 2015 incident in Pennsauken, upstream from Camden, New Jersey (emphasis added):

A tanker truck carrying about 8,000 gallons of gasoline overturned and exploded into flames in Pennsauken, New Jersey Monday morning.

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The crash happened at about 11 a.m. on the off-ramp from Route 90 to Route 130.

As KYW’s Kim Glovas reports, the fire was put out with foam in 30 minutes, but some gasoline spilled into a nearby waterway. Lieutenant Dan Kerr, Pennsauken Fire Marshal, says some of it got into the Puchak Run.

“There was approximately 200 gallons left on the tanker that has not burned and during the course of the fire, the gasoline that spilled out of the tanker had gotten into the Puchak Run, a non-closed sewer system,” said Lt. Kerr.

“Puchak Run does feed into the Delaware River and we’ve been assured by our local hazmat teams, that they’ve been ahead of that spill and they have contained it into the Puchak Run.”

Numerous other accidents have occurred downstream of the shale region. Water pollution downstream is real, not speculative. Yet, it’s the upstream possibility of fracking literally miles from the river that gets all the attention. Why? Well, for one thing, it’s human nature to harass the innocent person asking for permission while ignoring the violator as long as possible. The reining in of violators takes real work and it can be very difficult, whereas questioning an applicant is easy. Bureaucracies are always better at red tape than handcuffs. Red tape is the cowardly approach of natural born bullies.

Secondly, those downstream polluters represent real economic and political power. Take, for instance, DuPont, the company to whom the Haas family of William Penn Foundation infamy sold its own chemical business. According to this admittedly inflammatory article, some 6.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals were estimated to have been released into the Delaware in 2010 from the DuPont Chambers Works in Salem County, New Jersey. Environment New Jersey and the Delaware Riverkeeper are hardly credible sources, but they draw upon EPA data and make some interesting observations:

The Delaware River, running along the western border of New Jersey and providing drinking water to millions in the Garden State, is the fifth most-polluted river in the country, according to a report released Wednesday by Environment New Jersey, a nonprofit environmental activist group.

“The problem is that government agencies allow these discharges to continue by issuing permits to pollute, a perverse interpretation of the Clean Water Act,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network…

DuPont Chambers Works has reduced its releases by 60 percent since 1987, said a company spokeswoman. Most of the remaining releases are nitrates — the product of a treatment process breaking down waste ammonia. Other materials released include nickel, zinc and ammonia, according to EPA data…

The Environment New Jersey report is “biased and bogus” and “irresponsible,” according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The state’s facilities and waterways were not near the top of the list with regard to dangerous carcinogens or developmental-affecting toxicants, said Larry Ragonese, a department spokesman. The report, he said, was not fair to New Jersey water quality, which has improved over the last 20 years.

“We question them. We question the numbers in this report — it makes a few brief New Jersey allegations that are unfounded,” Ragonese said. “DuPont does meet federal, state and Delaware River Basin standards.”

If the Delaware River is really the fifth most polluted river in the world and the Upper reaches are rated “High Quality” and “Special Protection Waters” in the case of the DRBC, as we know they are, then the pollution is obviously concentrated in the lower reaches and DuPont is a big contributor, perhaps the biggest.

The State is quite right, of course, that DuPont meets all its standards and those of the DRBC, but that misses the point; the standards are low, much lower than those of us living and doing business in the upper reaches have to meet. We’re “special,” you see. So, while Tracy’s “permitted to pollute” comment is silly in one sense (treated discharges aren’t likely to be a serious threat), it is on the money in another. DuPont is being allowed to pollute because it’s difficult to clean up things and far easier to just not allow them. She’s correct bin saying the Clean Water Act is being perversely interpreted to set lower standards where there is the most pollution. It would clearly be more logical to require more of polluters, their threats have been proven, and to give the benefit of the doubt where the threats are merely speculative.

Politically, though, no government of Delaware or the DRBC is going to take on DuPont, which is Delaware’s largest company and third largest employer. It isn’t going to happen. They’re not going to take on Chemours, the DuPont spin-off that took over the Chamber Works facility, either. Chemours is, in fact, now proposing a hazardous waste recycling facility that fractivists are trying desperately to make a fracking issue (it isn’t) but the New Jersey Legislature just passed a loophole bill to enable the operation on votes of 38-0 in they Senate and 67-4 in their House.

All the enviros want their buddy, Phil “the Panderer” Murphy to veto it, but even if that happens, it won’t matter as the votes are there to override anyway. No one is going to stop it, including the DRBC, which will simply say that Chemours meets their standards. Who knows; perhaps that’s the reason they’re allowing for import of fracking wastes in their fracking ban?

But, they are going to vote for the fracking ban because that’s valuable virtue signaling that buys cover. Moreover, it’s easy to bully around the shale landowners upstream even though they’re willing and able to meet the DRBC’s perversely much higher discharge standards. We don’t have the economic and political muscle of a DuPont or a Chemours. We’re just kids to be kicked around around for lunch money in the form of our land; land they dearly want as a playground preserve.

The post Why Is the DRBC Bullying Shale Landowners Rather Than Addressing Real Problems? appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/why-is-the-drbc-bullying-shale-landowners-rather-than-addressing-real-problems/

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Here We Go Again: DEC Denies Another NY Pipeline Project

17d9481.jpg?resize=75%2C85Jim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

Corrupt Andrew Cuomo and his DEC deny yet another important NY pipeline project claiming “incomplete” information on the water crossing permit application.

A new fight is shaping up in the (crumbling) Empire State. Once again Andrew Cuomo, at the prompting of Big Green groups (corrupted by their big donations to his campaign war chest) has instructed his lackeys who run the Dept. of Environment Conservation (DEC) to reject a modest pipeline expansion proposal by Williams’ Transco Pipeline subsidiary. The project, which we’ve previously written about and are actively promoting, is called the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project.

The project is meant to increase pipeline capacity and flows heading into northeastern markets. Transco wants to provide more Marcellus natural gas to utility giant National Grid beginning with the 2019-2020 heating season. National Grid operates in New York City, Long Island, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

There are a number of components to the project, but the key component, the heart of the project, is a new 23-mile pipeline from the shore of New Jersey into (on the bottom of) the Raritan Bay–running parallel to the existing Transco pipeline–before connecting to the Transco offshore. In a pattern we’ve seen before, the DEC claims, falsely, that an application for a state water crossing permit is “incomplete.”

The DEC, like Lucy with her football in the old Charlie Brown cartoons, offers the promise that “if only” the pipeline company will submit a “complete” application THEN they will approve it. But just like Lucy with the football, when the company gets close, the DEC pulls it away yet again. Fool me once… The DEC used this same tactic to defeat the Constitution Pipeline project. It sure feels to us like “here we go again.”

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The DEC’s action in denying the water crossing permit by saying it is incomplete offers the implied hope that with a “complete” application, whatever that is, the project will get approved. We think it’s nonsense, that the DEC has no intention of ever approving this project. Unfortunately, Williams has no other options. They must play along with the charade, hoping that this time it will be different.

From the Dissociated Press:

New York regulators have denied a permit for a pipeline expansion designed to increase natural gas deliveries to New York City.

The Northeast Supply Enhancement project proposes to expand the Transco pipeline, which extends from Texas to the Northeast coast. It would include installation of 17 miles of 26-inch-diameter underwater pipeline from New Jersey to Queens.

The Department of Environmental Conservation says Friday the application for a state water quality permit shows “potentially significant environmental impacts.”

A spokesman for Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Partners says the company intends to resubmit its application and work with DEC to satisfy conditions for permit approval.

Food and Water Watch, an environmental group, says it will continue to fight the pipeline and other fossil fuel infrastructure.

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NGI’s Shale Daily:

DEC said Transco’s application, which was filed in June 2017, was incomplete. It also said that FERC’s ongoing environmental review could result in changes to the project. About a month after the application was filed last year, DEC told Transco that its application was administratively incomplete, pending the project’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FERC issued a favorable DEIS last month, but DEC said it has until May 14 to comment on the document. The department also said it would not ultimately have the information it needs to make a determination about the application within the one-year statutory deadline because a final environmental impact statement won’t be issued until September 2018.

Transco parent Williams said it’s been working closely with the DEC for the last year to satisfy requirements for a WQC. Prior to the denial, DEC “informed the company that it required additional time to complete its review of potential water quality impacts beyond the statutory permit review period,” spokesperson Christopher Stockton said. “Williams, with the support of our customer National Grid, fully intends to resubmit the project’s 401 WQC application so that the agency can continue its permit evaluation and provide the clearances necessary to construct this critical piece of pipeline infrastructure.”

Previously, Williams, at the request of the DEC, resubmitted the Constitution Pipeline application (after the DEC had the original application for a full year), which gave the DEC yet another year on top of the previous year they had to review it. Running out the clock. Williams dutifully played along. At the end of the second year, the DEC rejected the Constitution project fully and completely. Just an observation.

Click here to read the DEC’s rejection letter, stating the application is “incomplete.”

For more great articles on natural gas development every single business day, subscribe to Marcellus Drilling News using this convenient link.

The post Here We Go Again: DEC Denies Another NY Pipeline Project appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/here-we-go-again-dec-denies-another-ny-pipeline-project/

Phillips 66 Partners To Construct West Texas Crude Oil Pipeline System

Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP) said April 24 it has received sufficient binding commitments on an initial open season to proceed with construction of the Gray Oak Pipeline system. The Gray Oak Pipeline will provide crude oil transportation from West Texas to destinations in the Corpus Christi and Sweeny/Freeport markets. Origination stations will be constructed in Reeves, Loving, Winkler, and Crane counties in West Texas, as well as from locations in the Eagle Ford production area in South Texas. The pipeline is expected to be placed in service by the end of 2019, and is backed by long-term, third-party, take-or-pay commitments with primarily investment-grade customers.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/phillips-66-partners-to-construct-west-texas-crude-oil-pipeline-system/

Sunday, April 22, 2018

NGL storage hub stops Appalachia ‘crime’

Not separating liquids from the natural gas stream pulled from the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky for lack of a market and storage capacity is like “cooking breakfast with $100 bills.”

“It really is a crime,” according to Brian J. Anderson, director of the WVU Energy Institute at West Virginia University. Anderson was part of a three-person panel discussing natural gas liquids storage in the Appalachian Basin at the recent Special Institute on Petrochemicals, presented by the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, held in Pittsburgh.

With Shell Chemical hard at work raising iron and installing hundreds of miles of pipe to construct its ethane cracker roughly 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, underground storage for natural gas liquids is considered the petrochemical industry’s “next big thing” in Appalachia.

Anderson told the audience, comprised primarily of attorneys involved in energy, the basin is producing roughly 400,000 barrels per day of ethane, with the Shell cracker needing roughly 100,000 BPD of the liquid when it comes online in the 2022 timeframe.

Intermediate storage of NGLs is necessary since produced volumes typically exceed the pipeline takeaway capacity and processing capacity. Large volumes of NGLs are typically stored as a pressurized liquid in underground caverns, according to Anderson and Steven B. Hedrick, president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research and Innovation Center (MATRIC).

“Through 2040, there will be growth in the volume of NGLs, Hedrick said. “The lowest priced ethane on Earth is in Appalachia.”

Both Anderson and Hedrick are involved in the Appalachian Storage Hub, or ASH, a multi-billion-dollar NGL hub project that is expected to be built along the Ohio River.

Hedrick is CEO of the Appalachian Development Group, which is heading up the massive project, including securing public and private funding.

“It’s like building the International Space Station below ground,” according to Anderson.

The storage hub received a huge monetary boost just days into 2018, when it received approval for the first of two application phases for a $1.9 billion U.S. Department of Energy loan.

“We’re also talking with people around the world to secure a $1.4 billion equity pool, Hedrick told the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation audience.

 “We also have name-brand companies that are interested in doing the work (constructing the storage hub),” Hedrick said.

The trade association American Chemistry Council has projected the storage hub could attract up to $36 billion in new chemical and plastics industry investment, and create 100,000 new jobs in the basin.


https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/ngl-storage-hub-stops-appalachia-crime/

Short-Sighted Supposed Environmentalists Brought Russian LNG to American Shores

IER-light-noletters-75x38.pngInstitute for
Energy Research

….
….  

Individuals and groups claiming to be environmentalists have successfully (to date) kept Marcellus Shale gas out of New England and brought us Russian LNG.

Environmentalists are winning in Massachusetts by getting natural gas infrastructure projects shelved. Natural gas consumers in the state, however, are losing out because those pipelines would supply natural gas to consumers at a lower cost than imported liquefied natural gas (LNG)—some of which is coming from Russia through the Everett LNG terminal—the only LNG import terminal still operating in the lower 48.

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Why is Massachusetts getting its natural gas from this Russian LNG terminal? Because Massachusetts politicians prefer it to Pennsylvania gas.

Environmentalists seem to be obsessed with stopping the construction of domestic pipelines in this country, regardless of what they carry, what fuels they displace, and how global greenhouse gas emissions may be affected. Liquefied natural gas results in greater emissions than pipeline gas because cooling the gas to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit and then shipping and regasifying it requires more energy than pumping natural gas through domestic pipelines. Generally, LNG produces 5 to 10 percent more emissions over its entire life cycle than piped gas.

Russian LNG Shipments to Massachusetts

Three years ago Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker proposed an energy policy consisting of 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy, 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind, and an expansion of natural gas pipeline capacity. Environmentalists fought the natural gas pipeline expansion and won, shelving several pipeline proposals. (For instance, officials in Massachusetts and New Hampshire blocked the $3 billion Access Northeast Pipeline.)

Environmentalists want to rely solely on solar and wind power—intermittent sources of electricity that need back-up power. As Massachusetts has been shuttering its coal-fired power plants, that back-up power has mostly been supplied by natural gas, raising the price of electricity as cold weather forces different sectors to compete for natural gas.

The shortage of natural gas was clear earlier this year when a cold snap caused prices for natural gas to spike and the purchase of Russian LNG to supply the Everest LNG import terminal a few miles north of Boston. The Russian LNG comes from a new $27 billion terminal on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic Circleoperated by Yamal LNG—a joint venture among Russia’s gas company Novatek, France’s Total, and China’s CNPC.

Novatek is on the Treasury Department’s financial sanctions list. However, the LNG shipment does not violate the prohibitions that the Obama Administration imposed four years ago because it is owned by a French energy trader arriving on a French-owned vessel (Gaselys) and consisting of Russian gas as well as gas from other European sources.

European Countries Want to Use Less Russian Gas

While Massachusetts is importing LNG from Russia, Eastern and Western Europe want to find other sources of natural gas and are coming to the United States as a growing source of LNG. The Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania met with President Trump recently. Lithuania signed two memorandums of understanding to increase the country’s imports of U.S. natural gas.

The first memorandum was signed with Texas-based Freeport LNG and Lithuania’s Klaipedos Nafta for cooperation on liquefied natural gas terminals. The second memorandum was signed between Freeport LNG and Lithuania’s natural gas supply and trading company, Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas, for LNG shipments. When Lithuania constructed its LNG import terminal, it brought Russia to the negotiating table to renegotiate the price of its contracts. However, Russia’s gas exports to Europe still rose 8.1 percent last year to a record level of 193.9 billion cubic meters (about 6.85 trillion cubic feet).

Across Europe, LNG use is increasing with imports to the 28 member states of the European Union (EU), rising an annualized 22 percent at the end of the third quarter, with nations such as the U.K. and Spain in the lead in developing import capacity. Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects EU’s LNG demand to continue to grow significantly after 2020 before declining somewhat by 2030. (See chart below.)

EU LNG Demand

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Source: Bloomberg

The furor between Russia and the U.K. in the wake of the nerve-agent attack on British soil prompted Prime Minister Theresa May to look for alternatives to Russian gas, including LNG produced at the Yamal LNG plant that has been under U.S. financial sanctions. Recent winter shortages forced Britain to import emergency gas supplies from Russia.

Germany is looking to build a liquefied natural gas industry to reduce the nation’s dependence on gas supplies shipped by pipeline from Russia and Norway. Due to gas reservoirs being depleted from the U.K. to the Netherlands, Germany is becoming increasingly reliant on Russia for its energy needs. Russian gas made up over 60 percent of Germany’s total imports for most of last year.

Since Germany has no LNG import terminal, Angela Merkel is planning to build terminals on the North Sea and Baltic Sea that would bypass LNG import facilities in the Netherlands, Poland, and Belgium. The first LNG import terminal planned is the Brunsbuettel import terminal on the Elbe River near Hamburg, which will cost about 500 million euros and is scheduled to open by the end of 2022. (See map below.)

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Source: Bloomberg

In addition to the one at Brunsbuettel, the utility RWE AG is working on one on the Rhine river at Duisburg.

Conclusion

Massachusetts’ anti-fossil-fuel policies are the primary reason why the state has relied on LNG imports from a Russian company that the State Department sanctioned during the Obama Administration. It is ironic that Massachusetts is importing Russian gas, while European nations are looking to reduce their dependence on Russian gas by building LNG import terminals and signing memorandums of understanding with U.S. firms.  The irony is enhanced by the U.S. position as the number one producer of natural gas in the world.

In 2016, Massachusetts and New Hampshire blocked financing for the $3 billion Access Northeast Pipeline, which would have lowered prices and eliminated the reliance on Russian LNG. Expanding the pipeline capacity from the Marcellus shale gas fields in Pennsylvania to the New England region makes more sense than importing LNG.  Clearly, the difference in emissions besides the other benefits of using domestic resources should make the state’s decision in favor of new pipeline capacity straightforward.  However, their policies seem to benefit the Russian government and its efforts to use energy as a hard currency source.

Editor’s Note: The real problem here is the political demagoguery on the part of Massachusetts and New York politicians such as Maura Healy, Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Eric Schneiderman and Andrew Cuomo, all of whom have chosen to appease radical fringe ideological groups at the expense of actually addressing the needs of the larger population they serve. This, in turn, is a reflection of the power of special interest groups in today’s politics, where loud voices and big money delivered via trust-funder run foundations calls the shots. It’s the new form of graft.

The post Short-Sighted Supposed Environmentalists Brought Russian LNG to American Shores appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/short-sighted-supposed-environmentalists-brought-russian-lng-to-american-shores/

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Natural Gas NOW Picks of the Week – April 21, 2018

Tom.jpg?resize=75%2C95Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.

Natural Gas NOW readers pass along a lot of stuff every week about natural gas, fractivist antics, emissions, renewables, and other news relating to energy.

Rolling Stone Bumps Into Truth

Our guest blogger, Robert Bradley, Jr., from the Institute for Energy Research, has a nice piece in Forbes making mincemeat of yet another failed Rolling Stone attempt at independent investigative reporting. The conclusion is a beautiful thing:

Ironically, activists’ obsession with discrediting fracking blinds them to the well-established truth that fracking is an ecological and environmental godsend. Fracking has enabled an unprecedented boom in American natural gas production. Natural gas isn’t just cheaper than coal; it also burns much cleaner.

It’s no wonder that as a power plants have switched from coal to natural gas, air quality has improved. Air pollutants, as well as carbon dioxide emissions, have dropped. And a recent increase in natural gas exports has done wonders for energy market competition.

Activists ought to be celebrating a new era of energy plenty and reliability. Instead, they remain determined to smear fracking with shoddy science. It’s almost as if they have a hidden agenda — one that has nothing to do with what’s good for people and the planet.

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Well said, Robert. When will Rolling Stone just go away?

A New Hybrid Ag Work Horse

I’ve done some consulting work in the San Joaquin Valley of California and it is agricultural nirvana with almond groves stretching as far as the eye can see, huge olive farms, mega-dairies, citrus operations and vegetable farms all existing side by side between the mountains. Now it has a new hybrid work horse:

Efficient Drivetrains Inc. (EDI) has integrated its EDI PowerDrive 4000 into a Class 4 General Motors Low Cab Forward platform, creating what EDI calls an “industry-first” electrified work truck for agriculture applications.

The vehicle combines the benefits of a compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel system and plug-in hybrid technology, says EDI.

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The truck will be operated in California’s San Joaquin Valley, a 250-mile-long region susceptible to air pollution due to its bordering mountain ranges, says EDI.

While in operation in San Joaquin Valley, the new vehicle will provide 40-plus miles of all-electric, zero-emissions driving, as well as range extension using cleaner-burning CNG – resulting in a significant elimination of particulate matter that its traditional diesel counterparts expel, says EDI.

Nice! And, it will use natural gas twice; once to make the electricity and, second, to extend the range of the vehicle itself. Love it!

A Second Shale Revolution?

The Permian Basin suggests there’s a second shale revolution  on the way:

In less than two decades, Permian Basin operators have unleashed a shale revolution that has virtually tripled crude production from the region and upended global energy markets.

Now a second revolution is on the horizon as operators prepare to re-enter those wells that launched the first revolution and implement secondary recovery projects. That can consist of operators reinjecting gas into the reservoir to restore pressure and then producing the additional crude and natural gas.

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“It looks like the second shale revolution will be huge,” said Lewis Matthews, data scientist with CrownQuest Operating.

He said the Permian Basin has been producing for close to 100 years and “we’re not even close to getting all the oil.”

CrownQuest alone has 200 years of drilling inventory, said Matthews, who expects companies such as Concho Resources and Pioneer Natural Resources have similar inventories.

This dose of happy news is sure to give many fractivists heartburn, but, then again, they thrive on misery.

Tony the Tiger Resorts to Whining

Tony the Tiger Ingraffea’s declining influence, following his descent into political advocacy, is obvious from the fact he’s not resorted to whining about the natural gas industry’s success. Here’s what Desmog Blog reports he said at some fractivist mutual whining session where everyone reflected on what might have been:

So what happened?

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, U.S. natural gas production was flat or falling. If that trend had continued along the same track it was following from 2006-2008, then wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources might have had a chance to displace both natural gas and coal as major energy sources in America, according to Ingraffea.

Instead, the shale gas rush, propelled by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), swept across the U.S., with drillers snapping up land to drill for previously inaccessible fossil fuels locked in geologic formations of shale rock from coast to coast.

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Chart from Tony the Tiger Ingraffee’s whiny presentation

If the shale gas rush hadn’t disrupted trends around that time, Ingraffea estimates that the wind energy sector alone could have produced roughly triple the amount of energy expected by the end of this coming decade, a difference of roughly 400 gigawatts.

“We can easily see there is a loss of potential — large amounts of wind energy — because of the injection of shale gas into our energy economy,” Ingraffea explains in the lecture.

It’s all ideology all the time with these folks. Their whining says it all.

The post Natural Gas NOW Picks of the Week – April 21, 2018 appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/natural-gas-now-picks-of-the-week-april-21-2018/

Friday, April 20, 2018

What the Shale Revolution Wrought: Fuel Cell Power Changing the World of Power

ConnieMellin.jpgConnie Mellin
Natural Gas NOW
“PAShaleAdvocate”

 

Fuel cell power plants made possible by the plentiful natural gas unleashed by the shale revolution are changing the world of heat and power as we know it.

A fuel cell is a source of power which will efficiently convert clean natural gas into virtually emissions free electricity. You can almost compare a fuel cell to a battery, but the fuel cell will never run down or need to be charged.

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Fuel cell power plants are gaining momentum as they are relatively inexpensive to setup and operate.  They need considerably less real estate and have no moving parts making them extremely quiet. They are also very versatile; powering whole communities or serving as backup power to places such as hospitals.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration published a report today explaining the diverse ways fuel cell power plants are being used:

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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860, Annual Electric Generator Report

At the end of 2016, the United States had 56 large-scale fuel cell generating units greater than 1 megawatt (MW), totaling 137 megawatts (MW) of net summer capacity. Most of this capacity (85%) has come online since 2013. Fuel cells collectively provided 810,000 megawatthours (MWh) of electricity in 2016, representing 0.02% of total U.S. electricity generation.

Fuel cell systems typically produce hydrogen gas from hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas using thermochemical processes such as steam reforming. The hydrogen reacts with oxygen across an electrochemical cell similar to that of a battery to produce electricity and water. Although nearly 85% of fuel cell capacity in 2016 used natural gas, fuels such as landfill gas or biogas from the decomposition of sewage at wastewater treatment plants were also used, potentially allowing the generation from fuel cells to qualify for renewable portfolio standards in certain states.

Fuel cell power plants are sometimes used for backup power at small facilities such as hospitals. They can also be used to operate data centers for large private corporations that have committed to consuming 100% of their electricity from renewable sources.

Commercial and industrial sector fuel cell power plants are sometimes used in combined heat and power application, meaning they produce heat and steam in addition to electricity. Overall combined heat and power applications made up 26 MW of the 137 MW operating in 2016; the rest provided only electricity.

Fuel cell capacity factors in 2016 ranged significantly, reflecting a wide operating range for these fuel cells. Some were operated infrequently: 8 of the 50 plants in operation for all of 2016 had a capacity factor of 30% or lower, likely reflecting limited-use applications such as peak shaving or back-up capacity. Some were operated more frequently: about 25% of fuel cell generators had capacity factors exceeding 85%, likely reflecting primary power supply applications.

Fuel cells with combined heat and power applications typically had much lower capacity factors than those that delivered electricity only, with median capacity factors of 44% and 81%, respectively.

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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860, Annual Electric Generator Report, Form EIA-923, Monthly Power Plant Report

In 2016, 36% of total U.S. fuel cell capacity was in California, which has a number of incentives for distributed generators such as fuel cells. Fuel cell generating units in Connecticut accounted for 27% of U.S. 2016 fuel cell capacity, and plants in Delaware accounted for 22%. Both states allow fuel cells with nonrenewable fuel to meet requirements for renewable portfolio standards. The remaining fuel cell power plants are located in North Carolina and Utah.

Thanks to the shale revolution, fuel cell power plants are sure to be a large part of our future electricity generation.

The post What the Shale Revolution Wrought: Fuel Cell Power Changing the World of Power appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/what-the-shale-revolution-wrought-fuel-cell-power-changing-the-world-of-power/

Why New York City Needs More Natural Gas

The New York Building Congress stressed that New York City needs more natural gas pipelines before the planned closure of the Indian Point nuclear plant.

Natural-Gas.jpg New York City’s need for energy will expand as Indian Point’s scheduled 2021 deactivation approaches. It points out that 81.5% of the city’s electricity comes from natural gas burned in the five boroughs—and that more will be needed to keep New York’s lights on once the Indian Point nuclear plant is taken offline. The city’s move to transition public and private buildings away from burning heavy oil for heat has accelerated this need. Last winter’s tumultuous weather conditions also provided an important reminder of the growing demand for affordable, reliable energy – and the urgent need for efficient energy infrastructure. Williams’ Northeast Supply Enhancement project is a direct response to this urgent need, providing enough natural gas to serve 2.3 million American homes in time for the 2019/2020 winter season. Northeast Supply Enhancement will also support more than 3,000 jobs and generate approximately $327 million in additional economic activity (GDP) in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Click Here to ADD YOUR NAME NOW and COMMENT to the FERC requesting the prompt approval of this critical project. Thank you for supporting this key piece of natural gas infrastructure and helping to keep the lights on in New York City. Joseph F. Barone ShaleDirectories.com 610.764.1232 jbarone@shaledirectories.com

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/why-new-york-city-needs-more-natural-gas/

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Freeport LNG Delays Start Of Texas Export Terminal To September 2019

Freeport LNG, a privately held U.S. LNG company, said on April 19 it pushed back the projected start date for its $13 billion export terminal under construction in Texas by about nine months to around Sept. 1, 2019. Freeport LNG now expects the first liquefaction train to enter service around Sept. 1, 2019, with the second and third trains seen in service around Jan. 1 and May 1, 2020, respectively, said Zdenek Gerych, a spokesman at Freeport. Previously, the three trains under construction had been expected to enter service between fourth-quarter 2018 and the final quarter of 2019. Each train will have the capacity to liquefy about 0.7 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day of gas. One bcf is enough gas to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/freeport-lng-delays-start-of-texas-export-terminal-to-september-2019/

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Kinder Morgan Canada Sees Continued Risk On Oil Pipeline Expansion

Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. said April 18 that its Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project was facing "unquantifiable risk" due to the British Columbia government's continued opposition and reported a 5.1% drop in first-quarter earnings. British Columbia said April 18 that it would file a legal challenge in the province to determine whether it has the jurisdiction to stop the C$7.4 billion (US$5.9 billion) expansion, which was approved by the federal government in 2016. Kinder Morgan Canada, which was spun off from parent Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) in May last year, reported a net income of C$44.4 million (US$35.17 million) for the first quarter ended March 31, down from C$46.8 million for the same period last year.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/kinder-morgan-canada-sees-continued-risk-on-oil-pipeline-expansion/

Anchor’s Away: Marcellus Shale Leaves Cove Point, Future Arrives

17d9481.jpg?resize=75%2C85Jim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

The first real shipment of Marcellus Shale LNG leaves Cove Point, launching a future of US energy dominance and sustained rural Northeast economic revival.

Finally. Finally! Finally!!! The very first cargo of Marcellus Shale gas has been liquefied, loaded and as of Sunday night, set sail from Dominion’s Cove Point LNG plant, heading for we’re not sure where yet. We’ve waited YEARS for this day! Let’s pop the cork on a bottle of the bubbly and celebrate.

LNGTankerAdam-512x289.jpg

Last week MDN told you that a ship called the Patris was due to dock at Cove Point and load the first shipment of Marcellus molecules. It appears that information was incorrect. It was correct at the time! Either the Patris was redirected somewhere else, or we’re not sure what happened.

But, news has just broken that late Sunday night, close to midnight, a ship by the name of Adam departed Cove Point loaded with the very first Marcellus shipment. Several more ships are said to be headed for Cove Point now.

International shipping isn’t our specialty, so we won’t quote chapter and verse for which ships and when. This first shipment that left Sunday belongs to Japan, but there’s no indication it will actually go to Japan.

As we’ve noticed and have been reporting, both Japan and India (which will take all of the LNG Cove Point can produce) are in the game of swapping cargoes they own, sending Cove Point cargoes to customers closer to the point of origin in return for receiving cargoes that originate closer to their own shores.

When we hear where the first Marcellus cargo lands, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, here’s the information we can find about the very first load of Marcellus Shale gas to get exported from Cove Point.

From Reuters:

The first contractual liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Dominion Energy Inc’s newly constructed Cove Point LNG export plant in Maryland in the United States left the facility on Monday, Thomson Reuters Eikon ship tracking data showed.

The cargo is expected to act as a drag on spot LNG prices as it coincides with the resumption of exports of the fuel from the Papua New Guinea LNG plant, which had been shut following a powerful earthquake.

The 160,000-cubic meter LNG tanker Adam LNG left Cove Point on Monday with a draft of 91 percent, suggesting it was full, according to the data. Its destination was not immediately clear.

The facility has exported two commissioning or test cargoes already, which were sold to Royal Dutch Shell. The first cargo from the facility left the terminal in early March heading for Britain’s Dragon LNG terminal.

Dominion Energy was not immediately available for comment outside operating hours.

But the company said last week the terminal had entered commercial service for natural gas liquefaction and exports.

After completing a planned outage for maintenance, the facility has been ramping up to full production of LNG from natural gas provided by its export customers since late March, the company said.

The 177,000-cubic meter tanker LNG Sakura and the 163,000-cubic meter tanker Meridian Spirit are heading to the Cove Point terminal, according to Eikon data.

Cove Point is the second LNG export plant in the lower 48 U.S. states after Cheniere Energy Inc’s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, which exported its first cargo in February, 2016.

Dominion sold the project’s capacity for 20 years to a subsidiary of GAIL (India) Ltd and to ST Cove Point, a joint venture of units of Japanese trading company Sumitomo Corp and Tokyo Gas Co Ltd.

Some of the LNG for ST Cove Point will go to Tokyo Gas and some will go to Kansai Electric Power Co Inc, according to Sumitomo’s Pacific Summit Energy (PSE) unit.

Dominion-Cove-Point-Terminal-512x247.jpg

From Platts:

Dominion Energy has exported what appears to be the first commercial cargo from its Cove Point terminal in Maryland, S&P Global Platts vessel tracking software cFlow shows.

The Oman Shipping-owned Adam tanker departed Cove Point about 11:30 pm local time Sunday (0330 GMT Monday) with a nearly full load, en route toward the Suez Canal with the destination unspecified, vessel tracking data shows.

A Dominion spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. The company said last week that commercial service had started, though it did not disclose when the first cargo under long-term contracts with Gail India and a joint venture of Sumitomo Corporation and Tokyo Gas would be exported. Shell had a deal to export all of Cove Point’s commissioning cargoes, suggesting the cargo that left aboard the Adam was a commercial delivery.

The Adam moored at Cove Point’s export platform early on Saturday with a draught of 9.0 m and left a little over 36 hours later with a draught of 11.4 m, just short of the vessel’s maximum draught of 11.8 m, cFlow data shows. The draught is the depth of the vessel below the waterline. Vessels sink lower as more LNG is loaded.

Cove Point feedgas flows have rebounded to a high of 616 MMcf/d for Monday from the recent low of 163 MMcf/d on Thursday and an average of 535 MMcf/d over the last four days, S&P Global Platts Analytics data shows. As of now, the Adam is heading back to where it came from, the Suez Canal. Cove Point is still expecting two more unladen vessels in the coming week as the Kawasaki Sakaide and the Meridian Spirit continue to travel toward the plant with an estimated arrival of April 19 and 21, respectively.

Editor’s Note: And, off we go into a bright new future for Marcellus Shale and the communities benefitting by it. Hail to the future!

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The post Anchor’s Away: Marcellus Shale Leaves Cove Point, Future Arrives appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/anchors-away-marcellus-shale-leaves-cove-point-future-arrives/