Revolution

The shale gale has been the driving force enabling the United States to shift from being dependent on foreign energy to becoming a net natural gas exporter, but don’t expect similar transformations in most other shale-rich countries any time soon, a group of officials from international companies said Wednesday.

The advance guard of the natural gas revolution in Central America is in place, led by AES Panama SRL and Engie SA in Panama with El Salvador’s Energia del Pacifico Ltda de CV (EDP) waiting in the wings.

While the United States has undergone a “tectonic shift” underground with the shale revolution, that shift has failed to translate to attitudes above-ground, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) she told a crowd of more than 900 from around the world attending the Energy Information Administration Energy Conference in Washington, DC.

Despite the North American shale revolution’s transformation of global energy dynamics, the United States is unlikely to disengage completely from the Persian Gulf because other nations still depend on the region and it will still affect the world’s oil prices, according to a draft report presented to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The costly and complex decision to shift from being one of the biggest natural gas producers to becoming one of the largest liquids operators showed some positives for Chesapeake Energy Corp. in the first three months of this year, which also gained on improving natural gas prices.

The North American “shale revolution” is providing infrastructure companies and U.S. master limited partnerships with solid growth opportunities over the next two decades, according to an analysis by Credit Suisse.

The North American “shale revolution” is providing infrastructure companies and U.S. master limited partnerships with solid growth opportunities over the next two decades, according to an analysis by Credit Suisse.

Dow Chemical Co. late Monday made good on some of the “opportunities” that have come its way with the U.S. natural gas revolution by applying for a federal air emissions permit to build a $1.7 billion ethylene facility in Freeport, TX, which would be the chemical manufacturer’s biggest in the world.

Another sign of the shifting world energy market caused by the shale gas revolution is a $7 billion contract announced this week that directs the export of coal — no longer needed in the United States — to India from Kentucky and West Virginia. The 25-year agreement was lauded by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who called it “an example of a great new market for Kentucky resources.” Kentucky coal companies will export about 9 million tons of coal per year to India’s Abhijeet Group. The coal is being purchased from Kentucky-based affiliates of FJS Energy LLC. A supply glut of natural gas, much of it from shale, has driven gas prices lower than coal this year and intensified the environmental push toward coal-to-gas fuel switching for power generation (see Daily GPI, Aug. 16; Aug. 6). The 25-year contract is an indication that coal producers see stiff competition from natural gas continuing for their product in the United States.