2017 NAGF

Check out the 2016 post-forum video to hear more about participants’ experience at the NAGF

2017 Press Coverage

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  FERC urged to slow grid resiliency overhaul: Update

  Washington, 3 October (Argus) — Oil and gas producers, independent power plants and renewable energy groups fighting against a sweeping “grid resiliency” proposal appear to have at least one sympathetic ear at the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

  FERC commissioner Cheryl LaFleur today did not directly criticize the resiliency proposal from US energy secretary Rick Perry. But she indicated skepticism about proposals to overhaul electric rules that start with a predetermined goal of helping certain power plants. Perry’s proposal instructs FERC to develop special payments to “fuel secure” generators with at least 90 days of on-site fuel supplies, an attribute that would apply almost exclusively to coal and nuclear plants.

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  LNG Shippers Have a $45,000-a-Day Problem at the Panama Canal

  Liquefied natural gas shippers are dealing with costly delays in getting tankers through the Panama Canal, according to Octavio Simoes, president of LNG export terminal developer Sempra LNG & Midstream. Every day a cargo is held up at at the canal can cost a trader $45,000, he said at Energy Dialogues LLC’s North American Gas Forum in Washington Monday.

  More than one-third of ships are running up against delays in getting through the canal, and “we are working with the current administration” to fix that, Simoes said, warning that the holdup could limit the amount of LNG the U.S. can sell to Asia.

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  American LNG developers wade into market awash with gas

  A new route is about to open up to take US gas to the world. Dominion Energy’s Cove Point, about
  50 miles south-east of Washington, is scheduled to start producing liquefied natural gas by the end
  of the year.
  It is part of a first wave of LNG plants built to take advantage of low-cost gas from the US shale
  revolution. LNG — gas super-cooled to -160°C so it can be carried in tankers — is bringing the surge
  in US gas production over the past 15 years to the rest of the world.
  This moment of triumph for the US LNG industry, however, is shadowed by uncertainty. A second
  wave of about 20 more proposed plants, backed by companies including ExxonMobil and Royal
  Dutch Shell, is waiting to go. They have the support of the US administration, which is trying to
  boost gas exports to contribute to President Donald Trump’s goal of reducing the trade deficit. But those projects first need to find buyers for their gas…

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  Shell Exec On LNG: Seize ‘This Incredible Moment’

  Timing is everything in building any successful enterprise and the U.S. stands now at a critical moment in the development of a world-class LNG business, according to a Shell senior executive.

  “Let’s not let this incredible moment pass us by,” Greg Guidry, Shell’s executive vice president of unconventionals, told the 2017 North American Gas Forum Oct. 2 in a keynote address.

  He added: “The legacy we create for our future will come by either commission or omission” by the gas business and regulators. It is vital that they work together to get it right, Guidry said, because the U.S. enjoys major advantages over other LNG exporters that could be lost.

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  US developer Tellurian presents LNG equity offer

  US LNG developer Tellurian is offering a 60% to 75% equity interest in its proposed greenfield Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana.

  “There are very large customers that would be happy to be equity investors,” said Tellurian president and CEO Meg Gentle on 2 October at the North American Gas Forum in Washington DC.

  Tellurian is planning a 27.6mtpa liquefaction project, consisting of 20 trains of 1.38mtpa each, using new technology.

  Tellurian stated that equity costs would be an estimated $1,500/tonne, which would be the total cost divided by ownership being sold.

  The project has not yet completed front-end engineering and design. Assumptions for depreciation and potential financing costs were not provided.

  Gentle said…

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  FERC's LaFleur, A Competitive Markets Fan, Hoping DOE’s NOPR Proposal Draws Public Comments

  FERC Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur said this week she hopes the Commission receives many public comments over a Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to provide reliability and resiliency compensation to coal and nuclear baseload generators, on the grounds that “a lot of people will be affected by this.”

  In her first public appearance since the DOE unveiled the proposal, LaFleur told attendees of the North American Gas Forum in Washington, DC, on Tuesday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has also noticed increased opposition to interstate pipelines at the state level, and that several states have offered — or are considering — subsidies for coal and nuclear power.

  “When I look at a proposal, there’s really three things I’m looking for:

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  Energy Industry ‘Very, Very Close’ to Voluntary Methane Emissions Reduction Program, Says Shell Exec

  The American Petroleum Institute is getting “very, very close” to formally adopting a voluntary program to
  curb methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Greg Guidry, executive vice
  president of unconventionals, said this week.
  Speaking at the North American Gas Forum in Washington, DC, on Monday Guidry said the “very
  comprehensive program” would go into effect in January. “It’s focused on the three primary sources of
  fugitive emissions based on all of the studies through” the Environmental Defense Fund, the University of
  Texas at Austin and others.
  Guidry’s announcement preceded that of the Bureau of Land Management, which on said it plans to suspend
  the Obama administration’s venting and flaring rule for oil and gas producers. He told the audience that the
  industry…

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  Tellurian Gets Ducks in a Row Ahead of LNG Second Wave

  Tellurian Inc is getting its ducks in a row in advance of the LNG “second wave” coming around 2022, according to CEO Meg Gentle.

  At the Energy Dialogues 2017 North American Gas Forum held in Washington, D.C., Gentle said the company is seeing robust LNG demand growth. “We’ve seen year over year growth through September of 18%. Prices work and the market is responding,” she said. “We’re happy that finally the netback prices in the U.S. are saying…yes, please build more capacity.”

  She asked and answered the question, “How do we win a market that is becoming more commoditized?”

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  FERC's LaFleur Comments on DOE Rulemaking Order; Rhodium Group Reports It's Not Needed

  In her first public appearance since the surprising Department of Energy (DOE) notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) recommendation to FERC on Sept. 29, Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur said she had to “choose her words wisely” to comment on the NOPR order to financially support coal and nuclear.

  And a Rhodium Group report released the same day says the NOPR support isn’t needed.

  DOE ordered FERC to “consider and complete” a wholesale power market rulemaking that would support greater use of “reliable” power with a 60-day timetable. At the Energy Dialogues LLC North American Gas Forum in Washington, D.C.  on Oct. 3, LaFleur did not address the content of the rule making so much as the timetable. “DOE wanted an answer from FERC in 60 days. I know from the Twitter verse that was not met with jubilation,” she said.

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  LNG Trends Top of Mind at Gas Forum

  LNG trends were top of mind at the Energy Dialogues LLC North American Gas Forum on Oct. 2 and 3. PointLogic spoke on the sidelines to three LNG movers and shakers at the Washington, DC event.

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  Sempra looks to ease ‘growing pains’ on Panama Canal

  More than a year after the Panama Canal was expanded to accommodate larger ships, Sempra Energy wants to fix logistical issues at the canal that force some shipments to take longer routes, according to one executive.

  “I think they’re experiencing some growing pains in their logistics processes, in their scheduling processes, in securing and reserving slots, in being comfortable moving ships,” Sempra LNG & Midstream President Octávio Simões said Oct. 2 on the sidelines of Energy Dialogues’ North American Gas Forum in Washington, D.C.

  “The Panama Canal is a key passageway for U.S. LNG from the Gulf to the Pacific Rim, and so we are putting pressure on everybody we know to make sure these things get resolved,” he said.

  Cheniere Energy Inc., the first operational LNG exporter in the Lower 48, said it has not had any issues. Cheniere Chief Commercial Officer Anatol Feygin said he “vehemently”…

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  ‘Rip it up’ deregulation could burn sector, analyst says

  Setting up the possibility that the U.S. political pendulum could swing from one extreme to another, a Washington policy analyst Monday urged the natural gas sector to turn attention to writing thoughtful regulations it can live with in the future. “When society starts burning its carbon witches, it won’t matter so much who is a good witch,” said Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners. His remarks at the North American Gas Forum in Washington came as a Shell executive there also disclosed that the oil and gas industry is getting closer to arriving at voluntary standards for reducing methane emissions from the sector. Speaking on a panel at the forum Monday, Book said…

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  DOE NOPR on Grid Resiliency Lights Firestorm; Eyes Turn to FERC for Response

  Rarely has a proposal from the Department of Energy (DOE) created as much buzz and controversy in energy circles as the notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) submitted to FERC designed to improve compensation for generation facilities in organized markets that have on-site fuel supplies.

  On Capitol Hill, at energy industry functions and in social media, reactions to the NOPR (RM18-1) have been swift and strong. Coal and nuclear power groups and companies that own or support coal-fired generation and nuclear power praised the proposal. Essentially every other interest group blasted the plan and the notion of FERC supporting specific generation resources as requested by DOE and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

  The oil and natural gas sector, consumer groups, competitive generators, environmental groups, renewable energy interests such as solar and wind power, and Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate are taking issue with the market intervention sought by DOE and the Trump administration.

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  LaFleur, Lawmakers Address LNG Export Potential, DOE Plans

  A panel of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives, FERC Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, and others commented on the natural gas production gains the gas industry has made and resulting LNG export potential of the U.S. at the North American Gas Forum in Washington D.C.

  LNG project developers and RobertSmith, assistant secretary for oil and natural gas at DOE, declined to address DOE’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) submitted to FERC designed to improve power grid resiliency by improving compensation for coal and nuclear generation units in organized wholesale power markets.LNG project developers and Robert Smith of the Department of Energy also addressed LNG market developments and the DOE approval process for liquefaction facilities and export projects.

  LaFleur sought to assure the conference attendees that FERC staff can work through the backlog of cases stemming from the period when FERC lacked a quorum, including pipeline certificate applications, while also addressing the DOE NOPR.

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  Pipelines Aim to Stay Ahead of Opponents on Legal Challenges and Protests

  At two different gas industry conferences recently, pipeline proponents discussed successes and challenges in building new infrastructure in an era when nearly every project is contested, with court decisions both favorable and unfavorable for pipeline developers.

  Decisions at the federal appeals court level have placed some “bumps in the road” for pipeline owners to address, but pipelines are being built following FERC and state approvals, with 31 projects on track to begin service before the end of 2017, said Don Santa, president and CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA).

  Santa and former FERC Commissioner Tony Clark, senior advisor at Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, spoke on a panel at the North American Gas Forum in Washington, D.C., where FERC Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur gave a keynote address October 3.

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