Us Energy Department News

A tanker of U.S. sour crude was delivered at Germany's port of Rostock last week for the first time ever, according to sources, analysts and vessel tracking data, as local refiners test alternatives to Russian oil.The European Union plans an almost-complete embargo of Russian barrels by year-end, and is trying to wean itself off Russian crude imports, which have fed inland refineries in Germany, Poland and other central European nations via pipeline.Refiners plan to replace Russian oil with seaborne Norwegian, Saudi Arabian, British and U.S. crude grades. Russia has already shown through its natural gas exports that it is willing to cut off European destinations in a tit-for-tat over the EU's financial sanctions that followed Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February.

The U.S. Department of Energy intends to commit $2.25 billion for projects to store carbon dioxide underground and help fight climate change, it said on Thursday.The funding for carbon storage validation and testing over the next five years will come from the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden last year."The goal here is that at the end of the day, you do actually have commercially available facilities for storage," said Emily Grubert, deputy assistant…

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell about 8% last month, according to preliminary Refinitiv vessel tracking data on Monday, but Europe remained the top importer as the continent secures alternate supply following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.U.S. LNG exports to all destinations came to about 7.10 million tonnes (MT) last month, according to Refinitiv, down from a record high 7.67 MT in March.Europe was the top importer of U.S. LNG for a fifth straight month, taking about 64% of U.S. exports, according to the data.

Flex LNG announced on Friday that Cheniere has declared it option to employ a fifth liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier under a time charter deal announced in April 2021. Flex Aurora will commence a 3.5-year time charter during third quarter of 2022.Earlier this month the U.S. Energy Department authorized additional LNG exports from Cheniere's Sabine Pass, La. and Corpus Christi, Texas terminals In addition, Cheniere and Flex LNG agreed that Flex Volunteer will be the fourth ship under the agreement and that this ship will be delivered to Cheniere mid-April 2022 rather than during third quarter of 2022 as originally agreed. The 3.5-year time charter has therefore been extended by about 2.5 months to facilitate early delivery.Last year…

The United States has increased oil supply to Europe in July for the first month since May, making up for output cuts from OPEC+ members, according to traders and Refinitiv Eikon data.U.S. crude supply to Europe reached nearly 31 million barrels in July, according to Refinitiv Eikon data as of July 24. With crude prices back above $40 a barrel, U.S. producers have rushed to claim market share while the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, is still cutting supply drastically.U.S.

The U.S. Energy Department on Monday approved the export of up to 1 billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas from a proposed terminal in Oregon, a move it said would ease U.S. sales of the fuel to Asian markets.The approval advances efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to increase U.S. fossil fuel shipments around the globe at a time big projects are increasingly under strain from environmental protests and lawsuits.“Today’s export authorization for Jordan Cove, the first U.S West Coast LNG project, will ease access to further position the U.S.

The minimal impact on oil prices from a global deal for record output cuts showed that oil producers have a mountain to climb if they are to restore market balance as the coronavirus shreds demand and sends stockpiles soaring, industry watchers said.After several days of discussions, oil producing and consuming countries aim to remove nearly 20 million barrels per day (bpd) or 20% of global supply from the market, Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Monday.The oil market has barely shrugged, however: Brent crude gained 1.5% on Monday, while U.S. crude ended the day lower. The move underscores what both…

Oil prices settled 2.2% higher on Thursday after attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman stoked concerns of reduced crude trade flows through one of the world's key shipping routes.The attacks near Iran and the Strait of Hormuz reignited worries about an impact to flows from the Middle East if insurance companies begin to reduce coverage for voyages through the region and additional shipping companies suspend new bookings, analysts said.Such a disruption "could further exacerbate the supply problem…

Exxon Mobil Corp expects high-sulfur fuel oil demand to fall 25 percent by 2025, as a new set of emission regulations from the International Maritime Organization capping sulfur content in shipping fuel at 0.5% kicks in in 2020, a top-level official at the U.S. oil and gas company said on Monday.The International Energy Agency has forecast high-sulfur fuel oil demand to fall 60 percent next year, while marine gas oil demand to more than double.Exxon's forecast comes as its refining business is struggling to find enough heavy crude to make fuel oil and other distillates, in the face of U.S.

The United States last week exported more crude oil and fuel than it imported for the first time on record, underscoring the nation's growing influence as a supplier of oil to the world.Exports of crude surged in the week to Nov. 30 to more than 3.2 million barrels per day, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.When adding in all imports and exports of crude and refined products, for the week the U.S. exported a net 211,000 bpd – the first time that has happened, according to U.S.

Beijing surprised oil markets with threats to levy tariffs on imports of U.S. crude oil, natural gas and other energy products on Friday, just as China has risen to the top of the list of importers of oil from the United States.China responded to $50 billion in tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump with a similar amount of levies on a variety of U.S. goods. But China also said it would impose tariffs on U.S. energy products, which analysts considered a surprise as previous tariff threats had centered on agricultural goods and automobiles."This is a big deal.

United States taking share from OPEC nations in Asia, Europe, as China’s biggest U.S. crude buyer to double imports. In the two years since Washington lifted a 40-year ban on oil exports, tankers filled with U.S. crude have landed in more than 30 countries, ranging from massive economies like China and India to tiny Togo. The repeal has unleashed a flood of U.S. shale oil, undercutting global crude prices, eroding the clout of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and seizing market share from many of its member countries. In 2005, before the shale revolution, the United States had net imports of 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and fuels - compared to just 4 million bpd today. U.S.

A vessel that may be carrying liquefied natural gas from Russia's new Yamal LNG export terminal could be heading to the United States despite sanctions against the company that operates the Russian facility, according to a report by S&P Global Platts and Thomson Reuters shipping data. The tanker Chris. De Margerie picked up a cargo from Novatek PAO's Yamal facility, Russia's second LNG export terminal, on Dec. 9 and dropped it off at National Grid Plc's Isle of Grain LNG facility near London on Dec. 28, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Tankers carrying record levels of crude are leaving in droves from Texas and Louisiana ports, and more growth in the fledgling U.S. oil export market may before long test the limits of infrastructure like pipelines, dock space and ship traffic. U.S. crude exports have boomed since the decades-old ban was lifted less than two years ago, with shipments recently hitting a record of 2 million barrels a day. But shippers and traders fear the rising trend is not sustainable, and if limits are hit, it could pressure the price of U.S. oil. How much crude the United States can export is a mystery. Most terminal operators and companies will not disclose capacity, and federal agencies like the U.S. Energy Department do not track it.

U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to a Reuters review of government data, allowing President Donald Trump's administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working. The increased shipments came as the European Union and other U.S. allies heaped criticism on the Trump administration for its rejection of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal agreed by nearly 200 countries to cut carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like coal. The previously unpublished figures provided to Reuters by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed exports of the fuel from January through May totaled 36.79 million tons, up 60.3 percent from 22.94 million tons in the same period in 2016.

The first ever reported export of North Dakota's crude oil to Asia left port last month, according to a shipping document seen by Reuters on Wednesday, in what is expected to be the first of numerous cargoes once the key Dakota Access pipeline starts moving oil in May. Swiss-based Mercuria Energy Trading S.A. loaded more than 600,000 barrels of Bakken crude, as well as some Mars Sour crude, in late March off the coast of Louisiana onto the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Maran Canopus, destined for Singapore, according to the bill of loading and ship tracking data. The burgeoning appetite for U.S. crude among Asian refiners could be a boon for Bakken crude, especially when the Dakota pipeline starts up.

Cheniere concluded its maiden LNG spot trade earlier this week at for late-July delivery to an Asian buyer, reports Platts quoting a source with direct knowledge of the deal. Sources told Platts that the maiden trade was completed at $7.20 per mmBtu and the cargo will be delivered onboard the 162,000 cbm Clean Ocean LNG carrier to the Asian buyer. The cargo will be loaded aboard the LNG carrier Clean Ocean, currently idled offshore Singapore and on charter to Cheniere. Cheniere has chartered the vessel from Dynagas on a five-year deal ending in the second quarter of 2020 with an option to extend the deal for additional two years. The vessel has been chartered together with two Teekay’s 173…

The expected boom in liquefied natural gas exports from the United States risks being hampered by a lack of vessels to handle the trade, the head of the U.S. coast guard told  shipping industry executives on Tuesday. The LNG tanker market, currently suffering from oversupply due to weak demand for natural gas, could thus in a few years face a shortage of capacity, Paul Zukunft told the Nor-Shipping conference. Several large projects are under construction on the U.S. Gulf coast, including Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass, due to come on stream later this year, and Sempra Energy's  Cameron LNG, set for completion in 2018. "Right now we have one of the largest LNG facilities in the world being built in Louisiana," Zukunft said, referring to the Cameron plant.

The U.S. should immediately begin a push to exploit its enormous trove of oil in the Arctic waters off of Alaska, or risk a renewed reliance on imported oil in the future, reports AP. The US Arctic potentially contains enough oil and gas to allow it to be a significant contributor to the country’s future energy needs, filling the hole left by expected declines in production of shale and other domestic sources of oil. The U.S. has drastically cut imports and transformed itself into the world’s biggest producer of oil and natural gas by tapping huge reserves in shale rock formations. But the government predicts that the shale boom won’t last much beyond the next decade. A U.S. Energy Department advisory council study released Friday says that in order for the U.S.

U.S. oil trains delivered more than 13.5 million barrels of crude oil from the Midwest to the East Coast in January, according to government data that gives a first of its kind snapshot of such shipments. The data from the Energy Information Administration is the first if its kind from the independent statistics arm of the U.S. Energy Department. Oil producers in North Dakota have relied on oil trains to reach East Coast refiners eager to process the light, sweet crude from that energy patch. Link to data: http://tinyurl.com/nlhsvak Reporting By Patrick Rucker and Timothy Gardner

The U.S. Energy Department said Thursday it has given the final approval for Dominion Resources to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Cove Point, Maryland plant. The Cove Point plant is investing $3.8 billion in new infrastructure to ship up to 0.77 billion cubic feet of LNG starting late in 2017 to countries with which the United States does not have free trade agreements. The DOE said it conducted "an extensive careful review" of Dominion's applications and considered the economic…

The U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday it has given final approval for Cheniere  to export liquefied natural gas from its plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. The approval allows the plant to export the equivalent of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas for 20 years to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement. The U.S. Energy Information Administration believes the country could become a net LNG exporter by 2017. The boom in domestic energy drilling and demand from gas consumers in Europe and Asia has pushed companies to build multi billion-dollar facilities to export the fuel. Cheniere hopes to export LNG from Corpus Christi beginning in 2018. Last week, the DOE approved LNG exports from Dominion Resources Inc's Cove Point plant in Maryland.

Expanded U.S. liquefied natural gas exports would mean a modest price increase for domestic consumers, but the higher costs would be offset by a boost to the economy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Residential natural gas prices would likely be 5 percent higher than otherwise would be the case between 2015 and 2040 if U.S. LNG exports rose to 20 billion cubic feet per day, said the EIA report. Growth of LNG exports would be supported mainly by more shale gas production, according to the report, which was commissioned by the U.S. Energy Department. "Increased energy production spurs investment, which more than offsets the adverse impact of somewhat higher energy prices," the EIA said.