Infrastructure

A unit of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal developer NextDecade LLC and floating LNG developer FLEX LNG are partnering to create solutions for customers wishing to buy LNG from NextDecade’s proposed Rio Grande LNG exportproject in Brownsville, TX. The partners plan to develop floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and dockside solutions for international customers of NextDecade. LNG supply is to be provided by NextDecade. “Global interest for NextDecade’s U.S.-produced LNG has demonstrated a need for additional and flexible import solutions worldwide,” said NextDecade CEO Kathleen Eisbrenner. A heads of agreement stipulates terms for the long-term charter of FLEX LNG FSRUs, connecting customers with a need for regasification import solutions to NextDecade’s Rio Grande project. FLEX LNG is developing FSRU solutions that include newbuild vessels as well as conversions of existing LNG carriers.

The Breakthrough Energy Coalition, an influential group of investors and institutions led by Bill Gates that is committed to investing in technology to solve energy and climate challenges, on Monday committed more than $1 billion to back emerging technologies.

Natural gas and wind are tops as the lowest cost technology options for new electricity generation in the United States when costs, public health and environmental benefits are considered, according to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT).

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) this month are claiming to have marked a first nationally in a competition to advance methane detection technology.

Natural gas utilities, private industry and municipalities are stepping up their game in the natural gas vehicle (NGV) sector, with a variety of projects, both new and for upgrades, launched nationwide.

Cheniere Energy Inc. has terminated negotiations with the conflicts committee of the board of directors of Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings LLC regarding Cheniere’s previously announced proposal to acquire all of the publicly held shares of Cheniere Partners Holdings not already owned by Cheniere in a stock-for-stock merger transaction. “After more than six weeks of negotiations, and despite raising the offer to an exchange ratio of 0.54 (representing a premium of approximately 10% over the closing price of Cheniere Partners Holdings’ shares based on the closing prices of Cheniere Partners Holdings’ shares and of Cheniere’s shares as of Sept. 29, 2016…Cheniere has determined that no acceptable definitive agreement can be reached with the conflicts committee at this time,” the company said. Cheniere currently owns 80.1% of the issued and outstanding shares of Cheniere Partners Holdings.

One of California’s first major merchant natural gas-fired electric generation plants — the La Paloma Generating Co. LLC near Bakersfield — on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a federal court in Delaware, citing a combination of unfriendly regulations and the state’s major shift toward renewable energy sources of power.

FirstEnergy Corp. wrapped-up its clearing and demolition work last week in Belmont County, OH, at the 150-acre site of a former coal-fired power plant, finishing another step to ready part of the land that could one day be home to PTT Global Chemical pcl’s (PTTGC) proposed ethane cracker.

Increasing northern shale production has prompted TransCanada Corp. to announce a C$655 million ($490 million) addition to its supply collection network in Alberta and British Columbia (BC), Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL).