US natural gas production in the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio region from the Marcellus and Utica shale basins is continuing to grow, resulting in adequate domestic supplies being available in the northern region and feed-gas been transported south for LNG plants on the Gulf Coast.
Baker Hughes-GE, the US energy services company and a main provider of turbomachinery for liquefied natural gas production plants, said the LNG outlook was improving and the company “conservatively” estimates a total of 65 million tonnes per annum of new capacity would be sanctioned by 2020.
Chart Industries, the US-based global manufacturer of engineered equipment for the LNG, industrial gas and energy industries reported solid third-quarter results and said it expected more LNG project orders through 2019 as developers moved to its products.
The 4.3-billion Rover Pipeline, among the largest US natural gas expansions under development and designed to deliver Marcellus and Utica shale gas to LNG ventures on the Gulf Coast and markets in the Midwest, has accused the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency of attempting to delay the project’s completion.
Williams Partners, the US pipeline company, said regulators have authorized the Atlantic Sunrise expansion project, an expansion of the existing Transco gas pipeline to connect abundant Marcellus shale-gas supplies with markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast US where LNG export plants are being developed.
Dresser-Rand, part of the German Siemens Group, said production was successfully ramped up at a small-scale natural gas liquefaction facility supplied to a US operator making LNG for fuel in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania.
The US government says the nation’s increased natural gas trade will be dominated by LNG as early as 2020 as four more liquefaction facilities are scheduled to be completed, adding to current shipments from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana.
Williams Partners, the US pipeline company, has crossed a key regulatory hurdle with its Atlantic Sunrise project to link the abundant Marcellus shale-gas supplies with markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern US, including the future network of LNG export plants.
TransCanada Corp., the expanding Canadian pipeline company building feed-gas links for LNG export plants, is advancing with its expansion into the US after shareholders approved its takeover of Columbia Pipeline Group.
Six US pipeline companies and utilities are making progress on building a 105-mile Marcellus Shale natural gas pipeline to bring 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day to customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York at a time of unprecedented applications with the US regulator for LNG projects and pipelines to monetize the shale boom.