On July 31, 2019 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an order authorizing Gulf LNG Liquefaction Company, LLC to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Gulf LNG Project located in Jackson County, Mississippi, near the city of Pascagoula. The Gulf LNG Project is owned by Kinder Morgan’s Southern Gulf LNG Company, LLC. The proposed terminal would export up to 1.53 Bcf/d and be built at the same site as the existing Gulf LNG Terminal.
Initially in 2009, the 230 acre Gulf LNG site was developed as a liquefied natural gas import terminal. However, natural gas production has been ever increasing from shale plays within the United States. In July of 2015 Kinder Morgan responded to the surplus and began the federal application process to redevelop a portion of its plant into an export terminal.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said, “This announcement advances the Trump administration’s commitment to energy security here at home and for our friends abroad. Increased amounts of U.S. LNG on the world market benefit the American economy, American workers, and consumers and help make the air cleaner around the globe.”
According to the DOE, there are currently five existing LNG export terminals in North America. If the Gulf LNG export terminal is built it will be the sixth.
West Virginia University recently announced that it will be establishing the “Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory,” at a site in the Morgantown Industrial Park near the WVU campus. The laboratory is being funded as part of a five-year, $11 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and will be operated in conjunction with the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (that has long had a presence in Morgantown) and Charleston-based natural gas producer Northeast Natural Energy, LLC. Timothy Carr, WVU Professor of Geology, will be the Director of the new lab, which will also benefit from contributions by faculty with Ohio State University’s Subsurface Energy Resource Center. The primary goal of the new lab is to undertake a comprehensive, long-term study of the environmental and other aspects of the extraction of shale gas resources, focusing on the precise measurement of various parameters and developing best operating practices based on their research.
The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) recently published its recommendations for improving the effectiveness of FracFocus. The report entitled, “Task Force Report on FracFocus 2.0,” recommends improving the accuracy and completeness of registry submissions by fully disclosing all known constituents while claiming as few, if any, trade secret exemptions as possible. The report suggests using a “systems approach” that reports the chemicals added separately from the additive names and product names that contain them to protect trade secrets. The report also contains recommendation for improving FracFocus’s data storage and retention.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released its 2013 annual report to Congress entitled, “2013 Annual Plan: Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources Research and Development Program.” This seventh annual report issued pursuant to the 2005 Energy Policy Act lays out the DOE’s research focus and activities for the coming fiscal year. Acknowledging the national strategic interest in domestic oil and gas production, DOE proposes to continue its research regarding the extraction of onshore shale gas and other petroleum products from deep-water production. Regarding its research on unconventional shale gas resources, the focus will be on protecting groundwater and air quality, including water treatment technologies and water management. Regarding offshore production, the focus will be on improving understanding of systems risk and reducing risk through real-time information and development of advanced technologies. The research activities will be administered by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, which is a consortium comprising representatives from industry, academia, and research institutions.
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Ernest Moniz as the new Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Most recently, Moniz worked as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Moniz replaces Steven Chu, who stepped down in February 2013.
This week the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to research air quality and emissions at natural gas drilling sites. In its press release, NETL explained that, “The research will enable the development of modeling tools to predict and quantify potential risks associated with shale gas reserves that require hydraulic fracturing and assist researchers in analyzing greenhouse gas lifecycle emissions.” According to the NIOSH press release, the research will also be used address worker health and safety concerns in the oil and gas industry.
On January 30, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published a notice in the Federal Register of the availability of a report prepared by the Office of Energy Projects, “Recommended Parameters for Solid Flame Models for Land Based Liquefied Natural Gas Spills.” In the report, FERC evaluates the suitability of using LNGFIRE3 in siting onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, as is currently required under the minimum federal safety standards administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). After comparing with recommendations and parameters from a May 2012 report prepared by Sandia National Laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy, “Liquefied Natural Gas Safety Research Report to Congress,” FERC concludes that LNGFIRE3 is suitable for such use. In a prior report , FERC evaluated the suitability of using another model, DEGADIS, to determine the vapor-gas-dispersion exclusion zones for onshore LNG facilities under PHMSA’s siting requirements.