Pivotal LNG has signed a multi-year contract to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Carib Energy (USA), a unit of Crowley Maritime Corp. LNG would be transported by Crowley and delivered to Molinos de Puerto Rico, the Caribbean arm of Ardent Mills LLC, which plans to use the gas as a fuel source in its Puerto Rico operations. Pivotal plans to load LNG onto Crowley’s containers, which would be transported via truck to Crowley-owned vessels in Jacksonville, FL, and Crowley’s Puerto Rico-based logistics team then would deliver the LNG to Molinos in Puerto Rico (see Daily GPI, May 9; Aug. 19, 2014). Pivotal and Southern Company Gas (formerly AGL Resources Inc.) operate a network of LNG production facilities with the capacity to produce 540,000 gallons/day and the ability to store more than 94 million gallons. Pivotal, through its JAX LNG partnership, also is developing an LNG production facility in Jacksonville, with facility construction expected to begin soon (see Daily GPI, Jan. 6, 2015).

The Energy Information Administration said it now is using “near real-time” export data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to improve weekly petroleum consumption estimates. The EIA has collected weekly data on inventories, imports, refinery and blender net production, but it did not collect weekly export data. It had previously relied on weekly export estimates based on monthly export data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The new data is to be included in the Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The real-time data allows the agency to provide more accurate market balances and a clearer picture of the weekly consumption of key petroleum products in the United States, EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski said. U.S. exports of crude oil, petroleum products and biofuels increased from 1 million b/d in 2004 to nearly 5 million b/d last year. Those exports have become a “more critical” component of assessing and calculating U.S. consumption of key petroleum products like gasoline.