2-6-15 LNG Oversupplied: Low Prices Threaten LNG Export Projects

Foreign Interests Help Enviros Fight US Energy Independence: Foreign Aggression + US Enviro Treason?

Asia spot LNG prices fall to $7.20!

Washington Times Op-Ed by Rep. Rob Bishop, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources.  The response should never be to falter when your enemy stares you down, but that’s just what President Obama has done with OPEC. He sent a signal: America will blink.

We voted on whether oil exploration in Alaska is merited or not.  On your right are the USA Today results of the poll.  Here is the editorial for your review and chance to vote.

 Foreign Fracking Opposition Money + Enviro Anti-US Energy Independence Treason?

Our friend, Steve Borell (NGP Photo), Retired Executive Director of the Alaska Miners Associations, linked us to the Free Beacon story below, which causes us to ask, "Are Americans Being Cheated Out Of Their Energy Wealth Birthright By Foreign Oil Interests?"

…which prompts a second question: "If competing oil jurisdictions pumped tens of millions of dollars into environmental groups that use every possible technique to stop fracking and even oil & gas activity in Alaska, wouldn't that restrict U.S. production and increase the value of theirs?

Beware the enemies without and within!

-dh     *     *     *     Read on…  Free Beacon story, BY: Lachlan Markay. A shadowy Bermudan company that has funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States is run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

One of those executives, Nicholas Hoskins, is a director at a hedge fund management firm that has invested heavily in Russian oil and gas. He is also senior counsel at the Bermudan law firm Wakefield Quin and the vice president of a London-based investment firm whose president until recently chaired the board of the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft.

…   The Environmental Policy Alliance, which provided the Washington Free Beacon with a copy of an upcoming report on Klein Ltd.’s Kremlin ties, said Wakefield Quin’s ties to environmental financiers and Russian oil barons merit closer scrutiny.

“The American public deserves to know whether environmentalists are attacking US energy companies at the behest of a Russian government that would like nothing more than to see their international competition weakened,” Will Coggin, a senior research analyst at the EPA, said in an emailed statement.

Current, relevant news links from the Alaska Gas Pipeline Office of the Federal Coordinator:

• Asia spot LNG prices fall to $7.20
• BG writes down value of new LNG project in Australia
• Analysts expect more write-downs on Australia LNG projects
• Chevron slows down spending on proposed Kitimat LNG
• Project delays could jeopardize LNG supplies after 2020
• Low LNG prices could help return to strong demand growth in China
• China imported LNG from 17 countries in 2014
• Gazprom predicts oil and coal to lose global energy share
• Another LNG hopeful announces U.S. Gulf Coast project
• B.C. communities prepare for temporary work camps
• More than 400 attend open houses for B.C. LNG project
• Small B.C. LNG project could reduce natural gas costs for locals
• New England pipeline opponents rely on boost in LNG imports
• Developer doesn’t know when it will start Colombia LNG project
• Hawaii Gas waiting for LNG supply bids
• Ohio governor proposes big tax increase on oil and gas production
• Former Shell executive predicts $4 gasoline next winter
• Unused drill rigs need temporary homes in North Dakota

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Washington Times Op-Ed by Rep. Rob Bishop, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources.

The response should never be to falter when your enemy stares you down, but that’s just what President Obama has done with OPEC. He sent a signal: America will blink.

Last week, the Obama administration issued two edicts that could leave much of our strategic energy resources untapped for decades. Mr. Obama announced a plan on Sunday to lock up 12 million acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and on Tuesday, his administration offered the most restrictive offshore oil and gas leasing plan in the history of the program. This is the latest move in a broader regulatory expansion that has drastically driven down production on federal lands.

By tightening his grasp on these resources, the president has revealed another lack of leadership on the global stage. This time, it’s America’s future leverage in world affairs and our nation’s path to energy security that’s at stake.

This is not a show of courage. It is a show of fear.

The United States is at a critical juncture. In less than a decade, our country has gone from energy dependence to energy abundance. Through homegrown innovation, we have fostered technologies like hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling that have driven a global energy revolution — fueling our nation’s surge forward in 2014 to overtake both Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s largest oil and natural gas liquids producer. The United States has added more than 3 million barrels per day into the global oil market. In 2005, the U.S. imported 60 percent of our oil. In less than a decade, we have reduced that to 40 percent.

The often-overlooked side of this amazing energy comeback story is that America’s energy boom has occurred mainly on private and state lands that are outside direct federal control. That’s because the federal government, under direction from the Obama administration, has imposed layer upon layer of burdensome regulations on permitting and production. Top-down decisions to lock up federal energy resources from potential development are the final death knell for areas such as the Arctic. While environmental alarmists would have the public believe that industry is seeking to drill in beloved landmarks like the Grand Canyon, the reality is that the areas in question are unusable for tourism and specifically set aside for resource exploration and potential development. Moreover, energy producers are proving that they can balance responsible energy exploration and development with protecting our environment at the same time.

Falling global oil prices over the past six months have exacerbated this tension and created a standoff. On one side stand the United States with our allies. On the other side are the petrol-dictators, whose economic power and oppression is completely dependent on oil. In November, OPEC refused to cut production targets — seeking to force American producers out of business and reassert control over global energy markets. OPEC’s signal? We are not afraid to wage economic war.

At this very critical moment, when the world turned to the United States to watch our response, what signal did we send? Mr. Obama announced plans to cut off future development of the resources that have given us this newfound leverage on the world stage. He blinked.

Now is not the time to blink. Instead, we must not only hold the line on production, but remain bold and exert our energy power. We finally have the potential to disarm and even break the bully OPEC cartel, while generating millions of jobs that have already driven our nation’s economy upward. Unlocking domestic energy and protecting environmentally sensitive areas are not mutually exclusive. The administration should open tracts of ANWR to responsible production and lease vast swaths of offshore acreage for exploration. The United States must open up energy exports to our allies in Europe — allies who are begging for our resources so they, too, can be weaned off hostile dictatorships. This would make for a stronger America and a safer world.

Let’s send a signal of strength that will leave those who are hostile to America trembling and our allies cheering.

• Rep. Rob Bishop is the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources.