LNG

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued the 2024 Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment, providing outlooks for energy markets and power reliability through September 2024.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has announced a special meeting on May 13 to consider its long-awaited electricity transmission reform proposals that will affect energy markets across America.

The reforms have been considered since severe storms in states from North Dakota to Georgia struck in the Christmas of 2022. This followed an earlier major winter storm in Texas that caused power outages in the Southeast.

The Transmission Reform meeting begins at 11am on May 13 in the Commission Meeting Room at the FERC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.

FERC has proposed a set of regulatory reforms to speed a much-needed expansion of the nation’s network of long-distance electric transmission lines.

FERC’s final rules, which are now set to be debated, are expected to substantially update the framework under which transmission lines are planned and paid for, and pave the way for the growth of clean energy.

Analysts noted that the FERC’s reforms come at a time when the future of the electric grid has become the focus of partisan debate and legal challenges to FERC’s proposed rules are expected.

Power demand surge

Electricity demand in the United States is expected to grow dramatically over coming decades, by some estimates tripling before 2050.

This is because under current US plans, from cars to home heating, there will be a move to the use of more electric power.

Accompanying this demand will be a fundamental shift in how electricity is produced, with renewable energy becoming an ever-larger portion of the generation mix.

Both of these trends to more and cleaner power will require simultaneous expansion of the network of long-distance transmission lines to reliably deliver power to consumers.

Yet despite clear need, relatively few miles of new transmission have been built in recent years.

At the core of the challenge are outdated frameworks for how the grid is planned and paid for.

In addition, the future of the electric grid has become the focus of political debate, turning what was once primarily an engineering challenge into a political one.

“One factor at play here is that the utility industry wants to make sure that the system is developed for its own needs, which don’t necessarily align with broader decarbonization goals or the interests of consumers in having low-cost power,” said one study filed with FERC.

TC Energy, the natural gas pipeline company based in the Canadian province of Alberta and a supplier of feed gas to North American LNG projects, is the subject of attention in the US as Texas and 17 other states are suing the administration of President Joe Biden over his cancellation of a permit for TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline.

US Rio Grande LNG project developer NextDecade has issued a corporate update saying it has resources to maintain operations through 2021 and has delayed its final investment decision until next year on the venture proposed for the Port of Brownsville in Texas.

Feb 28 (LNGJ) - Pembina Pipeline Corp., the Canadian energy infrastructure company developing the US Jordan Cove LNG export plant in the northwest state of Oregon, said the regulatory processes were ongoing. “The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission delayed a decision originally expected on February 13, 2020,” said the Calgary-based company in its latest earnings. “Pembina looks forward to obtaining a final decision. Pembina is focused on getting all the remaining permits required to proceed with this project,” stated the company. 

   The liquefaction plant and other facilities are planned for a 200-acre site at Coos Bay and comprise five small-scale Trains each with 1.5 million tonnes per annum of output for a total of 7.8 MTPA. The Jordan Cove venture's other facilities would include two full-containment LNG storage tanks with total capacity of 320,000 cubic metres, gas treating facilities, an export jetty and access to more than 25 billion cubic feet per day of gas supply from Western Canada and the US Rockies.

The American Gas Association has welcomed the new natural gas transmission pipeline safety rules from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)  as representing a consensus approach to enhancing the safe transportation of America’s abundance of natural gas to domestic customers and LNG plants.

The PHMSA released three rules intended to continue to improve the safety and resilience of the vast US energy delivery infrastructure to keep pace with increased supply and demand.

“This significant update to pipeline safety regulations is the culmination of years of work by government, industry and pipeline safety advocates,” said AGA President and Chief Executive Karen Harbert.

“We applaud PHMSA and everyone who participated in the process for a final rule that brings certainty to our industry and everyone that works to deliver natural gas to customers throughout the country that want it,” stated Harbert.

The AGA pointed out that the Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee provided PHMSA with recommendations on the technical feasibility, reasonableness, cost-effectiveness and practicability of the proposed rule and recommendations to support finalizing the rule.

The PHMSA said the three significant final rules published in the Federal Register will strengthen the safety of more than 500,000 miles of onshore gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines throughout the US.

The rules will also enhance the PHMSA’s authority to issue an emergency order to address unsafe safety conditions or hazards that pose an imminent threat to pipeline safety.

“These are significant revisions to federal pipeline safety laws and will improve the safety of our nation’s energy infrastructure,” said US Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

The US pipelines deliver trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of ton-miles of liquid petroleum products each year.

The pipeline regulator said the gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipeline safety rules would modernize federal pipeline safety standards by expanding risk-based integrity management requirements, enhancing procedures to protect infrastructure from extreme weather events, and requiring greater oversight of pipelines beyond current safety requirements.

The regulator said that final rules address significant Congressional mandates from the Pipeline Safety Act of 2011 and recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board.

“The tremendous growth in US energy production will require greater anticipation and preparation for emerging risks to public safety,” said PHMSA Administrator Skip Elliott.

“These forward-looking rules will help ensure pipeline operators invest in continuous improvements to pipeline safety and integrity management,” Elliot added.

The gas transmission rule requires operators of gas transmission pipelines constructed before 1970 to determine the material strength of their lines by reconfirming the Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP).

In addition, the rule updates reporting and records retention standards for gas transmission pipelines.

The hazardous liquid rule encourages operators to make better use of all available data to understand pipeline safety threats and extends leak detection requirements to all non-gathering hazardous liquid pipelines.

In addition, the rule requires operators to inspect affected pipelines following an extreme weather event or natural disaster so they may address any resulting damage.

All three final rules were transmitted to the Federal Register for publication.

The mission of the PHMSA is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials that are essential to the daily lives of citizens.

The PHMSA develops and enforces regulations for the safe operation of the nation’s 2.8 million-mile pipeline transportation system and the nearly one million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air.

US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee said at the plenary session of the Gastech 2019 conference in Houston that there were important potential climate benefits from US liquefied natural gas exports, especially for Asian countries.