New US Pipelines to Drive Natural Gas Boom as Exports Surge
U.S. energy firms are scrambling to finish a slew of pipelines that will unleash rich reserves of shale gas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio as the nation prepares to become one of the world’s top natural gas exporters. The pipelines are expected to boost output from shale fields in the three states by giving producers access to new domestic and international markets. Those states could supply about a third of all U.S. natural gas once the pipeline expansion is complete, up from about 25 percent now, according to projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
FERC Approves Lake Charles LNG Project
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has granted approval for the Lake Charles LNG export project, which will see the construction and operation of a natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Lake Charles, La. With FERC approval, the Lake Charles LNG project has now received the key remaining regulatory consent, according to BG Group, who is developing the project with Energy Transfer Equity LP and Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. The project has conditional authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy for the export of up to 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day or approximately 15 million metric tons of LNG per annum. Energy Transfer owns an existing LNG regasification facility in Lake Charles, which will be converted to a liquefaction facility.
