LNG

July 12 (LNGJ) - The Port of Corpus Christi in Texas, the third-largest port in the United States and a major energy export hub, has named Kyle Hogan as the incoming Chief Operating Officer to succeed Clark Robertson, who will retire on September 3, 2024.

   “Most recently, Hogan served as commander of the Corpus Christi Army Depot. His career spans three decades of Distinguished Military Service, including 15 years with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne),” said the Port statement. “In his new role at the Port of Corpus Christi, Hogan will oversee engineering services, port operations, police and security, emergency management and Channel Development,” the Port added.

A Federal judge in Louisiana has put the US Department of Energy’s pause on liquefied natural gas export permits on hold in a setback for the Biden Administration’s more radical measures to mitigate climate change by curbing gas industry emissions.

European liquefied natural gas and wholesale pipeline gas prices soared by over 16 percent on the week while stronger Asian spot cargo values and higher global gas futures prices signalled a return of volatility to a market harbouring doubts about the stability of supplies.

Enbridge, the North American pipelines and energy transportation company, reported a decline in earnings as it completed sales and acquisitions to swap around its assets and proceeded with natural gas ventures meeting LNG processing demand on the US Gulf Coast.

Air Products, the leader in supplying US liquefied natural gas technology and equipment to the world, has successfully passed the processing capacity test for the floating LNG plant offshore Mozambique that turned the southeast African nation into an energy exporter.

The US Department of Energy issued its April 2024 liquefied natural gas and pipelines export and import data report with France as the leading destination for LNG shipments while the leadership in highest prices remained with the Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana.

The American Gas Association said the state of Nebraska’s state legislature became the 26th state to pass fuel choice legislation in a unanimous and bipartisan vote, securing the protection of energy choice for consumers in a majority of states across the country.

The AGA explained that consumer energy choice preserves access to safe, clean and affordable energy resources including natural gas that offer a sustainable pathway to the shared goal of reducing emissions while maintaining affordability, reliability and quality of life for Americans.

“Thanks to the bipartisan action of now 26 state governments, more than 157 million Americans and 58 million households have a protected choice when it comes to how to fuel their homes and businesses,” said AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert.

Natural gas usage

“The average home using natural gas for space heating, water heating, cooking and clothes drying has about 18 percent lower carbon dioxide emissions than those attributable to an all-electric home, and the average family using natural gas for those purposes saves an average of $1,132 per year,” explained Harbert.

“Over the past 10 years, American families have saved a total of $125 billion thanks to natural gas,” she stated.

“Those are numbers we can be proud of. They also highlight how harmful natural gas bans would be for American families,” Harbert stated.

The AGA represents more than 200 local energy companies that deliver natural gas throughout the US.

There are more than 77 million residential, commercial and industrial natural gas customers in the US, of which 95 percent, or around 73M customers, receive their gas from AGA members.

Fuel choice legislation preserves access to natural gas in homes and businesses in states that have enacted them across America.

Nebraska became the 26th state to pass such a law, joining Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Bipartisan moves

“Every state to pass fuel choice legislation has done so in a bipartisan manner,” said the AGA.

“Since 1990, emissions from the natural gas distribution system have declined by 70 percent, even as demand for and usage of natural gas has increased with natural gas served to 23.4 million more consumers and the number of miles of distribution pipeline increasing by 59 percent,” the AGA noted.

US Natural gas is currently 3.3 times more affordable than electricity and expected to remain substantially more cost-efficient through at least to 2050.

“The affordability of natural gas is a critical reason why more than 500,000 families signed up for natural gas space heating, rather than electric heat pumps, over the past five years,” the AGA said.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), the leading US pipeline feed-gas company for liquefied natural gas plants and a key energy infrastructure operator and developer, reported an almost 10 percent rise in first-quarter net income with contributions from all business segments while forecasting soaring LNG and pipeline gas exports through 2030.

European natural gas prices and Asian spot LNG cargo values moved higher on April 15 in early market activity after the weekend drone and ballistic missile attacks on Israel by Iran further unsettled energy markets.

The floating LNG import terminal operating company in the South American nation of Colombia said LNG deliveries reached record levels to respond to the increase in demand for gas-fired power as drought conditions caused by the “El Niño” phenomenon reduced hydro-electric supplies.