LNG

Chart Industries, the US equipment-maker for liquefied natural gas and other clean energy and industrial gases markets, said its technology enabled the delivery of first LNG to the New Fortress Energy production project offshore Altamira in the Gulf of Mexico.

TC Energy Corp., the North American natural gas and energy pipelines company, has received permission from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to bring a pipeline expansion into service for deliveries to Mexico, including feed gas for liquefied natural gas exports.

Intercontinental Exchange, the leading global provider of energy trading platforms for futures and options, reported record Open Interest across its global commodity and energy futures and options markets, including European natural gas and with record volumes also seen in oil options.

Intercontinental Exchange, a leading global provider of markets data and trading platforms for energy derivatives, said that in a move made along with Magellan Midstream Partners and Enterprise Products Partners a “no-charge” arrangement had been set up for the US Gulf Coast crude oil market amid a surge also in US natural gas derivatives volumes.

ICE said that the delivery process between the Magellan East Houston (MEH) and the Enterprise Crude Houston (ECHO) terminals to transfer crude oil through the Midland WTI AGC futures contract has been expanded to include deliveries conducted via ICE’s Exchange for Physical (EFP) and Alternative Delivery Procedure (ADP) mechanisms.

“If customers take an HOU futures position to delivery and they are not matched by the exchange at the buyer’s preferred terminal, the barrels are transferred between the MEH and ECHO terminals at no cost,” explained a statement from ICE, Magellan and Enterprise.

Magellan and Enterprise are expanding this arrangement to now include HOU futures customers who take delivery via ICE’s EFP or ADP mechanisms at one terminal and desire to transfer the barrels to the other terminal.

Free pump-over

“Expanding the free pump-over to include EFP and ADPs provides customers added flexibility to optimize their use of capital while still realizing the savings on the transfer costs they would otherwise incur,” said Jeff Barbuto, Global Head of Oil Markets at ICE.

The waived transfer costs apply to EFP and ADP deliveries in addition to all volume that goes to delivery through the HOU futures contract and is executed in accordance with ICE’s rules, and will remain in effect through March 31, 2023.

A 10-cent per barrel charge will continue to apply for all other general transfers meeting HOU quality specifications.

“The EFP mechanism allows participants to exchange HOU futures positions for the equivalent quantity of underlying physical Midland WTI barrels in the same delivery month,” they added.

Since the contract began trading earlier in 2022, approximately 67,800 HOU futures have traded, representing 67.8 million barrels, including a record volume day on March 10 of 3,065 contracts.

Open interest is at 2,647 contracts and goes out to January 2023.

ICE additionally reported that in May 2022 total average daily volume (ADV) up rose 6 percent year-on-year and total open interest was up 5 percent.

The leader was natural gas with ADV up 25 percent and open interest up 14 percent.

For North American natural gas ADV in May rose 37 percent and open interest 23 percent, including record futures open interest of 17.1 million lots on May 25, 2022. 

Enbridge Inc., the Canada-based North American natural gas and oil pipeline company, said it was securing more US LNG feed-gas supply contracts but also expects Western Canada to help fill the Asian supply and for a smoother pathway to the Gulf Coast for the huge Canadian oil resources.

TC Energy Corp., the leading North American pipeline company supplying natural gas to the US and Mexico and feed-gas for projects such as LNG Canada, has announced the retirement of President and Chief Executive Russ Girling.

The CEO will step down from his posts and the board of the Calgary, Alberta-based company at the end of December.

His replacement has been named as François Poirier, currently Chief Operating Officer and President of TC Energy’s Power & Storage and Mexican divisions.

Girling will assist Poirier with the transition through February 28, 2021.

One of TC Energy’s main current projects is building the Coastal GasLink Pipeline from Dawson Creek to the Royal Dutch Shell-led LNG Canada project at Kitimat in British Columbia.

Among its many other ventures in North America, the Canadian company is a shareholder in the South Texas-Tuxpan pipeline with Sempra Energy’s IEnova. The pipeline crosses part of the Gulf of Mexico from Texas and was built at a cost of $2.5 billion for US exports to Mexico.

“On behalf of all Board members, I would like to thank Russ for his invaluable contributions to the company,” said Siim Vanaselja, TC Energy's Board Chairman.

“Over the last decade, he has led TC Energy through a period of unprecedented growth and transformation, including the development of its Liquids pipelines footprint, expansion of its Mexican natural gas pipelines business, the successful US$13 billion acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group and advancement of North American LNG,” stated the Board Chairman.

Vanaselja praised Girling for creating “a culture of excellence” focused first on the safety of employees and those in the communities where the company operates.

“It has been a privilege and honour to lead TC Energy over the past 10 years and to be part of the extraordinary TC team,” said Girling.

“With the wisdom and guidance of the Board and the skills and tenacity of our dedicated employees, we have accomplished many things, delivered the energy critical to millions of people safely and reliably every day, and created significant shareholder value,” stated Girling.

“I am grateful for the opportunity and confident in how the Company is positioned to prosper as global demand for energy continues to grow and transition in the years ahead,” Girling concluded.

Vanaselja said he was confident in the choice of François Poirier as Girling’s successor having seen his leadership over six years at TC Energy.

“He has had exposure to all aspects of our business and consistently shown unwavering commitment to the company’s long-term success. His integrity, strategic thinking, commercial acumen and bottom-line focus will serve the Company well in the years ahead,” stated the Chairman.