Energy Shortages News

Potential energy shortages in the U.S. northeast this winter have led to arguments that the U.S. Jones Act should be waived. These arguments rarely, however, grapple with what exactly it takes to waive the Jones Act. This is not blameworthy because the Jones Act waiver standard has been a mess. For decades the standard for granting a waiver was interpreted in way as to make it all but meaningless, and now the standard is so strict that waivers are all but forbidden.Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, the so called “Jones Act,” is a “if this, then that” kind of law.

Top U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter Cheniere Energy Inc asked federal regulators to extend the amount of time it has to build the proposed Stage 3 expansion at its Corpus Christi LNG export plant in Texas due to pandemic delays.When the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved construction of Stage 3 in November 2019, the regulator gave Cheniere five years, or until around November 2024, to complete the project.Cheniere asked FERC in a filing late Tuesday…

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Cheniere Energy Inc said Wednesday its marketing arm agreed to sell LNG to a unit of Chinese natural gas distribution company Foran Energy Group Co Ltd for 20 years starting in January 2023.Analysts said the deal should move Cheniere closer to making a final investment decision (FID) to build the proposed Stage 3 expansion at its Corpus Christi plant in Texas, which is expected in 2022.The deal is one of several announced in recent weeks…

Happy 80th birthday Maritime Reporter & Engineering News! Eighty years is a significant publishing and business accomplishment!Birthdays always cause a look back. An 80-year review starts in 1939, the close of one very challenging decade, the start of events still reverberating today. History’s most important history is contained in the last 80 years.Energy dominated every one of those decades. Consider energy use, say, starting after World War II, from 1950 to 1975. There was power for everything…

Bangladesh on Thursday signed a deal with Texas-based Excelerate Energy to build its first floating terminal for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) as it looks to ease chronic energy shortages. The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminal at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal will be able to handle 5 million tonnes of LNG per year, Istiaq Ahmed, chairman of the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, said at a signing ceremony in Dhaka. Excelerate will develop the terminal by the first quarter of 2018 and operate it for 15 years, he said. The terminal will have berthing and mooring facilities and a daily regasification capacity of at least 500 million cubic feet. The government is in talks with Qatar to import LNG.

One of the U.S. Senate's top advocates for lifting the ban on domestic crude exports urged the Commerce Department on Thursday to disclose whether any oil swaps with Mexico have actually been finalized after the agency approved the transactions in August. Administration officials told Reuters in August that the Commerce Department was "acting favorably on a number of applications" to export U.S. crude in exchange for imported oil from Mexico, in a step seen as loosening the ban on most crude oil exports.

Norway-based BW Gas will provide Egypt with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating import terminal under a five-year contract. This comes as as the North African country's government grapples with energy shortages. "BW has been selected by The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to provide LNG regasification services utilizing a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Ain Sokhna, Egypt," said a statement from the company. The floating regasification and import terminal, which converts super-cooled LNG into gas, is Egypt’s second. An import terminal from Norway’s Hoegh LNG arrived in Egypt in April, allowing Egypt to begin LNG imports. The new terminal will have a capacity of 750 million cubic feet per day, the official said.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski said on Thursday she will unveil a bill next week to reverse the U.S. oil export ban in an effort to build support for killing the 1970s-era restriction that drillers say threatens to choke the domestic energy boom. Murkowski, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said she will unveil the bill on Tuesday, although it was uncertain when the measure would get a vote in her committee. "I am going to be looking for every opportunity we might have to advance it," Murkowski said in a press conference.

For the second time this month, Qatar has sent a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Egypt, a country struggling to meet energy demands amid much deadly violence and political unrest, Reuters reported. Qatar’s tanker reportedly left Ras Laffam terminal on August 9, one week after the first cargo was sent as part of an agreement between Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood government backed by Doha. According to Reuters, Doha agreed in June to supply Egypt with five shipments of an unspecified amount of LNG to help lessen the frequency of recurrent power cuts throughout the country. Egypt is said to have borrowed billions of dollars in attempts cover some of the energy shortages, but its many of its payments to oil companies and suppliers have been delayed.

The world’s largest power ship lies anchored off Pakistan’s energy-starved port city of Karachi, just one of its 19 chimneys puffing smoke into the sea air, reports Haris Amwar in  Blooberg Business Week news item. The Kaya Bey and a sister vessel, whose furnace-oil generators could halve the city’s peak 600-megawatt energy shortfall, has been largely idle since the Supreme Court suspended its license amid an anti-corruption probe. Karachi’s 18 million people face another summer without the power they need to cool homes or run businesses. The Turkish floating power station dropped anchor in November 2010 as part of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s bid to curb a nationwide power deficit that widened to 6,000 megawatts this month, or 30 percent of demand.

The Washington Times recently reported that Cuba is drilling for oil 60 miles off the coast of Florida with help from China, Canada and Spain even as Congress struggles to end years of deadlock over drilling for what could be a treasure trove of offshore oil and gas. Republicans in Congress have tried repeatedly in the past decade to open up the outer continental shelf to exploration, and Florida's waters hold some of the most promising prospects for major energy finds. Their efforts have been frustrated by opposition from Florida, California and environmental-minded legislators from both parties. Florida's powerful tourism and booming real estate industries fear that oil spills could cost them business.

Critics of a proposed floating liquefied natural gas terminal off the Ventura Coast outnumbered supporters by more than 2-1 during a public hearing in Malibu. More than 60 people spoke at the hearing. Officials with the California State Lands Commission and U.S Coast Guard were taking public comments on a draft environmental impact report released last month on BHP Billiton"s proposed Cabrillo Port facility. The terminal would sit 13.8 miles off the Ventura County coast where LNG would be converted to natural gas and piped ashore. Those opposing the plan argue that the LNG terminal would worsen air pollution, hurt marine wildlife, threaten security and lower Malibu"s pricey real estate values. Many called for more emphasis on conservation and renewable energy sources.

After winning a $1.7 million contract to supply technology to Cuba, Deep Sea Electronics, a North Yorkshire manufacturer of control systems for the power generation industry, will distribute more than 4,000 generators for the project which is expected take 18 months to complete. The systems will help alleviate Cuba's growing electricity problems, caused by lack of investment which has resulted in frequent blackouts and energy shortages – a situation made worse by Hurricane Ivan. The company has recently invested $1.3 million to extend its production facilities at Hunmanby, near Filey, to prepare for future expansion. (Source: Yorkshire Post Today)

Petrobras plans to announce oil and natural gas exploration and production plans for the Santos Basin today in Santos, Brazil, home to Latin America's largest port. The Santos Basin contains Brazil's largest proven gas reserves. Brazil gets about half of its natural gas, 24 million cubic meters a day, from Bolivia where unrest has threatened supplies and new taxes have raised costs. A shortage of natural gas in Brazil is already forcing companies to consider expansion abroad. Petrobras' $56 billion plan to almost double oil and gas output by 2010 includes provisions to boost Brazil's gas-fired electricity generation capacity. If Brazil fails to expand generation capacity, it faces economic slowdown and energy shortages as early as 2008, according to Bloomberg. (Source: Bloomberg)