News Alert

Department of Energy Publishes Natural Gas Liquids Primer

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published the 2018 Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) primer that highlights the resource potential of NGLs, with a focus on the Appalachian region.  This publication provides an important update of a previous version from 2017, reporting even larger projections for ethane production from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays than previously estimated.

The 2018 primer includes new data from the reference case for the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2018 Annual Energy Outlook as well as forecasts from a recent EIA Short-term Energy Outlook. The new data includes updated information regarding infrastructure developments in the Appalachian region, and a new section identifying research and development opportunities related to natural gas and NGLs production, conversion, and storage.

This primer shows that the Appalachian region has experienced near-exponential growth in natural gas production, and that production is expected to increase for decades to come.  EIA now projects that natural gas production in the East region, where the Appalachian Basin is the principal contributor, will quadruple from 2013 to 2050.

Natural gas produced in Appalachia contains valuable resources in the form of NGLs, including ethane and propane.  The region is endowed with significant NGL resources projected to be economically recoverable over the next three decades.  Specifically, Appalachian NGLs production is projected to increase over 700 percent from 2013 to 2023.

Significant industry investments in natural gas and NGLs infrastructure, as showcased in the 2018 primer, will support the boom in Appalachian production in the coming decades. NGLs storage and midstream infrastructure are of particular importance to the region because produced volumes do not align with the high seasonal variability in demand and often exceed pipeline takeaway capacity, which presents further investment opportunities using ethane as a feedstock.

To access the primer in full click here.

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Senate Unanimously Passes 11 More of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee’s Bills

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, this week worked with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wa., to secure passage of 11 more bills jurisdictional to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Ten of the bills will help increase the use of clean, abundant hydropower throughout the United States, while the other addresses workforce issues in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

“These bills will promote economic growth in the CNMI and enable more Americans to benefit from their local hydropower resources,” Murkowski said. “I thank my colleagues for coming together to ensure the Senate could pass them last night, and look forward to continued progress on many of the remaining bills that we have reported from our committee.”

Complete story here….

News Musing

What a historic week it’s been with SCOTUS Justice Anthony Kennedy giving a month’s notice of his retirement!

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski. Northern Gas Pipelines photo by Dave Harbour

Should Alaska be proud or embarrassed that President Trump, last night, invited their senior Senator Lisa Murkowski to the White House along with several other senators thought to be possible but unreliable votes to confirm his nominee to SCOTUS, replacing Justice Kennedy?

Today, at his White House venue celebrating the six month anniversary of the”Tax Cuts & Jobs Bill”, Trump highlighted his inclusion of ANWR development.  Then he added that he nearly did not include ANWR because he was very unhappy with someone.  (We suspect that person could be Murkowski who opposed his election.)  Should Alaskans be proud or embarrassed that their Senator was one of several potential but unreliable SCOTUS replacement votes?  It may boil down to whether the reader places most importance on having the lifetime SCOTUS appointment go to a dedicated constitutionalist or to an activist jurist willing to bend the Constitution in deference to contemporary special interests.

We believe Alaska’s and America’s best interest could be served were Senator Murkowski to simply tell the President, “Absent a serious character flaw, I will vote to support your SCOTUS nominee, whomever that may be, for I trust you to appoint an objective person truly dedicated to defending our predecessors’ intents as they labored and sacrificed to create the Constitution and subsequent Bill of Rights.”

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Contributing to the historical nature of this week were:

SCOTUS’ decision to free government employees from the involuntary mandate to pay for union representation; the Trump initiative to meet with Russia’s Putin in July; and, EPA’s decision to give up authority to veto projects before applicants apply for permits or after the Corps or a state government approves permits.