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EBR Staff Writer Published 09 December 2011

Cadeville Gas Storage, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cardinal Gas Storage Partners, has executed a ten-year precedent agreement with Shell Energy North America (US) to build a depleted reservoir storage facility in Louisiana, US.

The storage facility will be constructed in Ouachita Parish near the Perryville/Delhi Hub in northeast Louisiana.

The project will have a working gas capacity of approximately 17bcf and is expected to begin operation in 2013.

Cardinal is a JV between Redbird Gas Storage and funds controlled by Energy Capital Partners, and it focuses on development, construction, operation and management of natural gas storage facilities throughout North America.

Original Article

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By America’s Natural Gas Alliance

Published: Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011 – 2:15 pm

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2011 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Following is a statement by Regina Hopper, president and CEO of America’s Natural Gas Alliance, on the release of the IHS Global Insight study, “The Economic and Employment Contributions of Shale Gas in the United States.”

“The IHS Global Insight study confirms that shale gas, in addition to being an abundant, domestic resource, is also an economic and employment engine in the United States. Shale gas will account for 60 percent of U.S. natural gas production by 2035, up from 34 percent today, according to the study, boosting capital investment and industry-supported jobs.

“At a time when our nation’s economy is still suffering from a downturn and jobs are top-of-mind for many Americans, the impact of shale gas on employment is invaluable. Last year, shale plays supported 600,000 jobs, and by 2035, the study projects that shale gas will support more than 1.6 million jobs.

“Capital investment as a result of shale gas production is expected to total nearly $1.9 trillion between 2010 and 2035. As natural gas prices remain low with increased shale gas production, electricity costs are lower and the overall stronger economy will bring to every American household a savings of $926 per year between 2012 and 2015.

“Whether it is through job creation, economic stimulus, or government revenue, shale gas has provided and will continue to provide numerous benefits for Americans. And our commitment to safe and responsible development means communities don’t have to choose between their economic well being and the protection of the environment, they can have both.”

America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) represents 30 of North America’s leading independent natural gas exploration and production companies. ANGA members are dedicated to increasing the appreciation of the environmental, economic and national security benefits of clean, abundant, American natural gas. Learn more about ANGA at www.anga.us.

Original Article

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By Jim Hummel

The United States Senate is considering a bill, which involves offshore safety reforms proposed by Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia. In the wake of recent fatalities offshore, most will agree safety should be a priority in the Gulf, but not everyone is onboard with Landry’s ideas.

H.R. 2838, also known as the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act, was passed a few weeks ago by the U.S. House of Representatives and includes provisions drafted by Landry. Among Landry’s provisions, one calling for standby vessels to be placed between three and twelve nautical miles from most offshore facilities, just in case of an emergency.

“This is something that’s important to us,” said Landry. “This is something that ensures that men and women who risk their lives everyday have an opportunity to come back home.”

Landry’s provisions have come under criticism both in Washington D.C. and Louisiana.

“This is clearly about more government involvement and really does not do anything to add to safety,” said Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette. Boustany says Landry’s proposals are too costly and could drive businesses out of the Gulf.

“In fact it’s going to add millions of dollars per rig, per year in costs, it could hurt jobs and it doesn’t add anything to safety,” said Boustany.

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association (LOGA) agrees with Boustany, and fears the added costs of standby vessels could be a step back for an industry still on the rebound from the drilling moratorium.

“We adamantly oppose it,” Briggs said, adding that standby vessels were common place in the Gulf for a long time, but were phased out as technology decreased emergency response times. “It’s not going to add to the safety at all, we have many good policies already in place.”

Despite the criticism, Landry stands by his provisions.

“At the end of the day, I’m interested in making sure that my constituents, the most valuable resource out in the Gulf–the men and women, have an opportunity to safely come back home if there’s an accident that occurs,” he said.

Original Article

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(AP)

Play it again, LSU and Alabama.

The Crimson Tide edged out Oklahoma State in the final round of voting and will play the top-ranked Tigers in the BCS national championship game on Jan. 9 in New Orleans.

It’s not exactly a rematch the public was clamoring for — at least outside of Southeastern Conference territory. And it certainly will do nothing to quiet the critics of the Bowl Championship Series or the calls for a college football playoff.

But like it or not, the BCS has ensured that the SEC — home to both schools — will run its streak of national championships to six in a row.

The Cowboys made a late surge by beating Oklahoma 44-10 on Saturday night, and closed the gap between themselves and Alabama in the polls. But it was not enough to avoid the first title game rematch in the 14-year history of the BCS.

The complete BCS bowl picture

The Tigers (13-0) beat the Tide 9-6 in overtime on Nov. 5 in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama (11-1) finished second in both the Harris and coaches’ polls by a wide enough margin to make up for the fact that Oklahoma State was ahead in the computer ratings.

The Cowboys (11-1), champions of the Big 12, will play in the Fiesta Bowl.

As the power-brokers in college football begin to plot how top-tier bowls will be set up in the future, the 2011 season is once more exposing the flaws in the current system.

Oklahoma State and Alabama, two teams with perfectly good arguments to play for a national championship, wound up fighting over one spot, with subjective voters and mysterious computer ratings — the formulas of which are not even publicly known — doing the choosing.

Alabama, with the nation’s No. 1 defense, won out and will play for its second BCS crown in three years.

Oklahoma State, with one of the most potent offenses in the country, gets its first BCS appearance as a consolation prize.

A rematch between LSU and Alabama in the title game seemed almost a foregone conclusion heading into conference championship weekend.

But with Alabama idle, Oklahoma State made one last, dramatic statement against the Sooners on Saturday night in Stillwater. And the Cowboys had an impressive resume, beating three teams ranked in the final BCS top 15. Alabama had only one such victory.

So instead of Sunday being a coronation there was drama — and another BCS controversy.

Working in Alabama’s favor was its dominance throughout the season — all of the Tide’s victories have been by at least 16 points — and the fact that no other team has challenged LSU this season.

The Tide and Tigers played a hard-hitting defensive slog billed as the Game of the Century. And it was exciting in the way Notre Dame and Army’s scoreless tie was exciting in the 1946 version of the Game of the Century.

But many fans around the country were ready for something else.

Immediately the talk of rematch started, pro and con. But Oklahoma State was in position to keep it from happening. The Cowboys were undefeated and second in the BCS standings heading into a Friday night game at Iowa State, a day after Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and an assistant coach were killed in a plane crash.

The Cowboys lost 37-31 in double OT to the so-so Cyclones (6-6), missing a potential game-winning field goal at the end of regulation by inches.

With no other undefeated teams left from the major conferences, Alabama returned to No. 2 and the debate grew ever-more heated.

On one side, Alabama supporters said it was simple: The system is supposed to match the best two teams, regardless of conference, and the Tide have been one of the two most dominant teams in the country.

On the other side, the Oklahoma State supporters said the Cowboys accomplished more to get to 11-1 than the Tide, playing a tougher schedule and winning their conference.

Not enough voters were convinced — so it’s Tigers-Tide II.

Alabama claims 13 national championships overall and is one of the most decorated programs in the land. It’s won seven AP titles since the wire service started its poll in 1936.

LSU will be seeking its third BCS championship since 2003 at the Superdome — the site of its first two — and second under coach Les Miles.

Nick Saban, now the Tide’s coach, won that title for LSU in 2003. Miles matched his predecessor in 2007, winning a championship with a team that lost two games.

These talented Tigers, led by dynamic defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, have rarely even trailed, and have only been truly tested by the Tide and Heisman Trophy contender Trent Richardson.

Now Saban and Miles, who have been tussling for supremacy in the SEC West on the field and recruiting trail, will square off for the ultimate prize.

The last time a national title was decided by a rematch of a regular-season game was 1996, when Florida State beat Florida in its final regular-season game then drew the Gators again in the Sugar Bowl.

Steve Spurrier’s Gators beat Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles 52-20 to win the national championship.

Bowden wasn’t happy to face Florida again.

“If it’s somebody you beat, you don’t want to play them,” Bowden said Sunday in a phone interview.

“The team that won, it’s just hard to get your boys as inspired as the other team can get inspired.”

Yet as far as a rematch this year, Bowden said both teams can make a good case, and he’s not opposed to giving Alabama a second chance.

“If that’s the way it shapes up that’s OK,” he said. “You got to get the best two teams in the country playing for the national championship.”

Remember, of course, that Bowden was born in Birmingham, Ala.

Original Article

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By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — A decade ago, a global glut of clean, cheap natural gas bred big plans to import liquefied natural gas to the energy-hungry United States.

That’s all changed.

Nowadays, energy companies are is tapping into previously untouched North American gas reserves, prompting them to take a hard look at ways to sell their new-found gas to the rest of the world.

This sudden shift from gas importer to possible exporter is the result of innovative drilling technology that frees gas trapped in vast shale rock formations that until recently had been dismissed as non-commercial.

For the U.S. to become a serious natural gas exporter requires building a costly infrastructure, which will only happen if the right market conditions exist in coming years. Read about the booming U.S. shale gas sector.

Nevertheless, several companies already have plans to build liquefied natural gas, or LNG, export terminals while others are well into the evaluation process, raising the prospects of a billion-dollar construction boom for these highly specialized facilities.

Gas is typically shipped via pipeline, which is impractical for reaching markets outside North America. To overcome the transport obstacle, LNG terminals super-chill gas to its liquid form and load it under extreme pressure into specially designed tankers for shipment overseas.

Once at its destination, LNG must be re-gasified before it can be fed into pipelines for local distribution, another costly facility.

Dominion Resources Inc., and Cheniere Energy Inc. have plans to build LNG export terminals alongside their existing import terminals.

A third terminal, Freeport LNG in Freeport, Texas, which is partly owned by ConocoPhillips, is moving in the same direction, while Sempra Energy has filed for a permit to export LNG from its Cameron LNG facility in Louisiana.

In Canada, Apache Corp., Encana Corp.  and EOG Resources plan to join forces to build an LNG export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia.

Exxon Mobil Corp. /quotes/zigman/203975/quotes/nls/xom XOM -0.03% , which already runs a global LNG business, is weighing the market to see whether initiating LNG exports from North America now makes sense.

“We’re seeing a lot of industry thinking going on about that right now,” Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Andy Swiger said at a recent energy conference, when asked about LNG exports.

“In terms of exports from North America, whether it’s the Gulf coast, or whether it’s Western Canada, it’s something we’re actively looking at,” he said.

The United States currently has several LNG receiving and storage facilities but none of the liquefaction equipment required to prepare natural gas for export.

With natural gas selling in Europe at more than twice the $3.50 per million British thermal units it fetches in the United States, the payoff could be rich.

Of course, that assumes current prices hold over the time it would take to secure long-term delivery contracts and build export terminals, a process likely to take the better part of a decade.

Seeking outlets for an over-supplied market

Meanwhile, energy companies continue to pump billions of dollars into finding and producing more shale gas.

Rich Gordon of Gordon Energy Solutions, a research firm in Overland Park, Kan., estimated that since 2005, domestic and overseas operators have spent $135 billion securing shale gas acreage in the U.S.

This is quickly boosting output at home. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s short-term energy outlook sees a 6.1% increase in domestic natural gas production in 2011, rising another 2% in 2012. All of the gains are from onshore drilling operations in the lower 48 states.

“The projected U.S. demand is not sufficient to absorb the supply from these fields,” Gordon said in an interview.

That leaves producers two obvious outlets to absorb future production: transportation fuel and LNG exports, he said.

So far, the EIA has no estimates for U.S. LNG sales overseas.

“It’s something we recognize as a possibility but we’re currently not explicitly modeling the competitiveness of U.S. LNG exports,” said Angelina LaRose, an analyst with the EIA.

The United States currently imports LNG, but doesn’t consume much of it. Instead, it heads out again to other overseas markets, LaRose said, citing a recent Energy Department report.

These so-called LNG re-exports rose sharply to 42.4 billion cubic feet the nine months ended Sept. 30, up from 34.5 billion cubic feet for all of 2010, with Brazil and India most often the final destination.

Original Article