General
News
Methane In The Atmosphere Is Surging, And That’s Got Scientists Worried.
According to the LA Times, ‘Scientists love a good mystery. But it’s more fun when the future of humanity isn’t at stake. This enigma
involves methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Twenty years ago the level of methane in the atmosphere stopped increasing, giving humanity a bit of a break when it came to slowing climate change. But the concentration started rising again in 2007 — and it’s been
picking up the pace over the last four years, according to new research. Scientists haven’t figured out the cause, but they say one thing is clear: This surge could imperil the Paris climate accord. That’s because many scenarios for meeting its goal of keeping
global warming ‘well below 2 degrees Celsius’ assumed that methane would be falling by now, buying time to tackle the long-term challenge of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. ‘I don’t want to run around and cry wolf all the time, but it is something that
is very, very worrying,’ said Euan Nisbet, an Earth scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London, and lead author of a recent study reporting that the growth of atmospheric methane is accelerating. Methane is produced when dead stuff breaks down without
much oxygen around. In nature, it seeps out of waterlogged wetlands, peat bogs and sediments. Forest fires produce some too. These days, however, human activities churn out about half of all methane emissions.” [LA Times,
3/2/19
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Australia Planning To Import LNG: What's Next? Coals To Newcastle?
According to Reuters, “Australia is on the verge of becoming the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, with dozens of tankers a
week carrying fuel to North Asia. It could also soon be importing LNG as supply sources in its southern states run out. Five LNG import projects are vying to start up between 2021 and 2022, possibly forcing gas users in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania
and Victoria into more direct competition with Asian buyers for gas from northern Australia. Those states represent a yearly market of 420 petajoules (PJ), equivalent to 7.8 million tonnes of LNG worth about $3 billion. That represents just 2 percent of global
LNG trade, but import proponents say the terminals would be another key outlet for spot cargoes of the fuel, especially during periods of low demand in the northern hemisphere. Piping gas from Queensland in northern Australia to southern markets is expensive,
making LNG imports potentially viable. Credit Suisse analyst Saul Kavonic says, though, if final investment decisions are delayed into 2020, the case for imports will weaken as pipeline tariff reforms are likely by then.” [Reuters,
3/3/19
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Deadly Pipelines, No Rules.
According to E&E News, “Delaney Tercero, 3, was sitting on her family’s couch with her father and sister that summer day. Her mother was doing laundry. They didn’t know a pipeline
with a dime-sized hole a few yards from their front door was filling their mobile home with raw natural gas. Delaney’s mother opened the dryer. The house blew up. Men pulled Delaney from the rubble. A neighbor wrapped her in a scarf, trying to comfort her.
Others rubbed burn cream on her sister’s burns. Witnesses told responders her mother was burned ‘head to toe.’ A helicopter whirled Delaney to a burn unit in Lubbock, but she died two days later, 100 miles from home. Her mother, father and sister were badly
burned in the Aug. 9, 2018, explosion, but they lived (Energywire, Sept. 10, 2018). That still amazes their next-door neighbor, Ronnie Littlefield. ‘Those poor people there,’ Littlefield said on a recent Sunday afternoon, looking over their fence at the debris
field where the family’s home once sat. ‘I don’t know how anybody survived.’ The state dispatched inspectors, and they found the pipe’s anti-corrosion coating had been ‘compromised.’ They also found it had been leaking for ‘an undetermined length of time.’”
[E&E News,
3/4/19 (=)]
Hunger For U.S. Exports Grows In Surprising Ways Abroad.
According to E&E News, “The customer base for exports of natural gas from the United States is poised to rapidly diversify abroad. Market observers are increasingly confident that
demand overseas for LNG will boom as new supply does, favoring U.S. LNG exporters. Such developments could move in line with the Trump administration’s desire to fast-track the approval of export terminals and shipments abroad of domestic gas. To date, East
Asia — mainly China — has soaked up the most incremental LNG volume increases, but experts see Southeast Asia and Europe next in line to absorb rising volumes of shipments this year and beyond. And another interesting customer may now be emerging: Australia.
Australia is overtaking Qatar as the world’s largest LNG producer and has risen to become a primary source of global supply as megaprojects greatly increased LNG exports. And yet a new alarming report from Adelaide warns that Australia’s own domestic gas supplies
for its southeastern population centers are poised to diminish significantly, even as production and exports from the less populous north and west booms. Shortages in the southeast threaten steep price hikes for cities and industry.” [E&E News,
3/4/19 (=)]
Wild Natural Gas Market Spawned An $815M Snafu.
According to E&E News, “One corner of America’s natural gas market has gotten so volatile, it’s already led to a nearly $1 billion mistake by the region’s biggest utility. Southern
California Edison will have to charge customers an extra $815 million after failing to predict a West Coast heat wave that sent prices soaring to a record in July. The market turmoil hasn’t let up: Gas for delivery to Los Angeles traded at almost 10 times
the U.S. benchmark in early February as a winter chill dusted Pasadena with snow. It’s not the first time southern California has faced extreme weather. But this year, the temperature swings are straining a gas system already hobbled by pipeline disruptions
and the partial shutdown of a major storage field. With so many pinch points in the network, cold snaps and heat waves alike can send prices flying in a state that relies heavily on gas to fuel power plants. ‘If you looked at the map of southern California
as a human body and those pipelines as arteries, there are certain days when that body wouldn’t be able to get out of bed,’ said Jan Smutny-Jones, chief executive officer of the Independent Energy Producers Association, speaking in January at a state government
workshop on the gas market’s problems.” [E&E News,
3/4/19 (=)]
Colorado Dems Unveil Plan For Big Change In Oil-Gas Drilling.
According to the Associated Press, “Colorado Democratic lawmakers released a plan late Friday afternoon for a major overhaul of oil and gas regulations that would make human health
and environmental protection the state’s highest priority, not energy production. The bill also includes provisions giving local governments the authority to regulate the location of new wells and to impose fines for spills and pollution. Currently, only the
state has those powers. The bill would also put a hold on some new state drilling permits until the revised rules are in place. The legislation would bring a fundamental change to the way the state oversees one of its biggest and most contentious industries.
State law currently requires regulators to encourage oil and gas production and says health and environmental protections are limited by what is feasible and cost-effective. Industry and environmental groups said they were still reviewing the 27-page bill
late Friday, but it is certain to provoke fierce debate. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association called it ‘extreme’ and accused Democrats of shutting the industry out of the process. ‘Let’s do this the Colorado way — stop playing this out through the media and
get people of good faith in the room and work toward a balanced approach,’ association President Dan Haley said in a written statement.” [AP,
3/1/19 (=)]
Chad Ellwood
Research Associate
202.448.2877 ext. 119