Sempra

Additional North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects are high on Sempra Energy's list of growth projects, COO Mark Snell said Thursday at the company's annual analysts meeting in San Diego.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects from the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region could lead to a resurgence in gas storage, and Sempra Energy executives see some signs that it’s starting to happen.

With or without proposed federal energy reforms, Mexico holds increased prospects and challenges for San Diego-based Sempra Energy, which is eyeing more pipeline work, expansion into natural gas liquids (NGL) and the hurdle of increased taxes by the Mexican federal government.

Assuming the U.S. natural gas business continues its robust growth, Mexico is likely to shift from being an importer to an exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), Sempra Energy International CEO George Liparidis told participants Tuesday at the Wolfe Research Power and Gas Leaders Conference in New York City.

Energy trading house Freepoint Commodities LLC and two private equity (PE) partners on Monday agreed to provide $110 million to Whistler Energy II LLC to buy two producing blocks in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Upcoming successes, particularly with major natural gas infrastructure projects, should help San Diego-based Sempra Energy offset a one-time 2Q2013 charge and annual revenue losses due to its minority share in a closed nuclear power plant in Southern California, CEO Debra Reed said Tuesday during a second quarter conference call with financial analysts in which she reported increased profits for the quarter and first half of 2013.

With continued confidence that their proposed Gulf-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project will begin construction next year, Sempra Energy senior executives on Tuesday said they are looking for other market growth opportunities from the shale-driven U.S. natural gas supply boom.

Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E) was directed by state regulators Thursday to develop more locally based electricity generation, including some natural gas-fired plants and repowering. SDG&E now seeks to have nearly 300 MW of additional power under contract by 2018.

California regulators have approved a one-time contractual waiver to allow Chevron Corp. to lower its obligation for capacity on Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) backbone natural gas transmission system by 9,000 Dth/d. The waiver is effective through the end of Chevron’s three-year contract with SoCalGas on Sept. 30, 2014. Involved in the case is Chevron’s role as a California gas producer delivering up to 25,000 Dth/d into the SoCalGas system. Chevron’s total capacity on the SoCalGas system will drop to 16,000 Dth/d. The change was necessitated when the gas utility was forced to close one of the interconnecting pipelines used by Chevron in 2011 because of demands from the owner of the pipeline right-of-way. Since that time, SoCalGas decided it would not build a replacement line, forcing Chevron to lower the capacity volumes covered in its multi-year contract.