Environmental

Recent weaker market conditions have not changed the underlying tight gas supply/demand balance, energy consultant Kevin Petak of Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA) said in a presentation to the Natural Gas Council (NGC) on Tuesday. Petak predicts that Henry Hub gas prices will average between $5 and $8/MMBtu for the next few years with longer-term prices in parity with crude oil prices.

Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC said it has initiated the environmental pre-filing process at FERC for its proposed $500 million LNG import terminal, which would be located at Split Rock, ME, on the Sipayik reservation of the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Washington County.

An opening hearing Monday at city hall in Long Beach, CA on a joint draft environmental impact report (EIR) on Sound Energy Solutions proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in the Port of Long Beach drew a crowd of about 150 people, 35 of whom spoke, and the split was about even between those favoring and opposing the plans for the terminal.

The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a total of $2 million in funding to five research projects that will assess the energy potential, safety, and environmental aspects of methane hydrate exploration and development.

With applicants and opponents both primed for a long debate, the draft environmental impact report on a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in the Port of Long Beach, CA, will be released on Monday when the port oversight board is scheduled to meet, according to Tom Giles, the COO for Sound Energy Solutions (SES), a joint venture of Mitsubishi Corp. and ConocoPhillips that has proposed the terminal.

The Port of Long Beach, CA, has delayed the release of a joint draft environmental impact report (EIR) to FERC on the Long Beach liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal proposed by Sound Energy Solutions, a joint venture of Mitsubishi Corp. and ConocoPhillips. The agency was expected to file the report this month with FERC but now is expecting to a delay of at least several weeks.

Supply needs and confidence in engineering trumped public fear and environmental loathing in a landmark regulatory decision to let Alberta producers keep a major drilling target, “sour” gas laced with lethal hydrogen-sulphide.

The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued a Federal Register notice on Friday announcing the availability of a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on Freeport-McMoRan Energy LLC’s proposed Main Pass Energy Hub liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater port license application. The port would be located in the Gulf of Mexico in Main Pass Lease Block 299 at a former sulphur mining facility about 16 miles southeast of Venice, LA, in a water depth of 210 feet. It would utilize four existing platforms, bridges and other structures and would include construction of two additional platforms to support LNG storage tanks (totaling 145,000 cubic meters) and a ship berthing area. The project also would include construction of 192 miles of 12-36 inch diameter pipelines. Main Pass Energy Hub would be developed over an existing salt formation in which storage caverns will be developed with a capacity to store 28 Bcf of natural gas. The terminal is expected to vaporize and deliver 1 Bcf/d of natural gas. Three public meetings will be held on the project on July 18, 19 and 20 in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. A copy of the DEIS is available at http://dms.dot.gov under docket number 17696.

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board plans to release a draft strategic environmental assessment (SEA) later this month on the offshore Misaine Bank area, a region off Cape Breton’s East Coast that up to now remains mostly unexplored for oil and gas.