International

The Obama administration has issued a presidential permit for the 80-mile U.S. pipeline link in North Dakota that is slated to carry ethane as part of a 430-mile international pipeline through Saskatchewan and terminating in Alberta.

Sales competition is undermining international prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to ExxonMobil Corp.’s export terminal proposal for the northern Pacific Coast of British Columbia (BC). The supermajor and Canadian affiliate Imperial Oil Ltd. noted the competition in a filing with the National Energy Board (NEB) to build a terminal that could export as much as 30 million metric tons a year (mmty) to overseas markets.

Sales competition is undermining international prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to ExxonMobil Corp.’s export terminal proposal for the northern Pacific Coast of British Columbia (BC). The supermajor and Canadian affiliate Imperial Oil Ltd. noted the competition in a filing with the National Energy Board (NEB) to build terminal that could export as much as 30 million metric tons a year (mmty) to overseas markets.

The 2013 Atlantic Hurricane season is likely to be another active one, but conditions have Weather Services International trimming its forecast, just a bit, to 16 named storms, including nine hurricanes, four of them major (Category 3 or higher), from the previous forecast of 19 named storms, including nine hurricanes, five of them major (see Daily GPI, April 9).

By 2016, the world will get more of its electricity from renewables — hydro, wind, solar, etc. — than from natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) “Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report.” But in the Americas, particularly the United States, natural gas is still in the lead.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said U.S. gas production could reach 797 billion cubic meters (bcm) (28.14 Tcf) by 2018, 17% higher than last year’s total of 681 bcm (24.05 Tcf), which was a 5% increase over 2011. That’s thanks to shale gas. Other countries have it, but they won’t be getting at it for some time, and that fact will keep the United States among the leading natural gas producers.

Under a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU), Sandia National Laboratories and SRI International have partnered to explore, test and evaluate a range of hydrogen and natural gas fuel systems and components for transportation. The MOU is the first agreement in Sandia’s new Center for Infrastructure Research and Innovation (CIRI), an alternative fuel research facility whose goal is to accelerate hydrogen and natural gas infrastructure technologies. The collaboration also will capitalize on research at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility (CRF). CIRI will be located at Sandia’s Livermore Valley Open Campus, adjacent to the CRF.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and others are politicizing the almost 18-month shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in Southern California, Edison International CEO Ted Craver said Wednesday. The “favorable economics” for restarting the 2,200 MW plant are diminishing with the passage of time and no action by federal regulators, he told financial analysts in New York City.

James J. Kleckner has been promoted to executive vice president of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s international and deepwater operations and will join the executive committee, replacing Doug Lawler, who is to become CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (see Daily GPI, May 21). Kleckner has been running Anadarko’s Rockies division, and the promotion “is a reflection of his global operational skills,” as well as his “instrumental role in the phenomenal growth of the Wattenberg field in Colorado and the Greater Natural Buttes area in Utah,” said CEO Al Walker. Kleckner, a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines, began his career in 1981 with Sun Oil Co. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the American Petroleum Institute.