Wednesday, May 1, 2013

LNG Reversal

Regardless of opinion one way or another the following link below is a bit mind bending when it comes to energy policy in the United States and Washington State.

exxonmobilperspectives/opponents-of-lng-exports-miss-the-paradigm-shift

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/297023-geopolitical-impact-of-natural-gas-exports-examined-in-upcoming-house-hearing-

A few years ago I did some slope stability assessment work associated with a proposed liquid natural gas (LNG) port and associated pipeline routes on the lower Columbia River. At that time there were lots of red signs near the lower Columbia River opposed to the project. Another proposed LNG site at Coos Bay, Oregon generated lots of debate for and against. And there were rumors of a LNG facility at Cherry Point in northwest Washington. These projects were for LNG import. Now, just a few years later the discussion has shifted to LNG export.

Given where the big increases in natural gas production have been taking place, it is not likely that US natural gas will be exported via new Washington State ports, but there could be some interest to access Washington for export of Canadian natural gas. Canada is starting to rethink energy supplies/export with the current surge in US production reducing demand for Canadian oil and gas. The big transmission line that brings natural gas from Canada into western Washington could readily be linked to a port facility for export purposes.  Lots of policy debate is currently taking place in British Columbia with various schemes for moving Alberta oil and gas to export facilities on the BC coast. Hard to image that somewhere in this mix there are not ideas of a port on the Washington coast.




1 comment:

Geoff said...

Plus, USGS just doubled their estimate of oil from the Bakken/Three Forks shales, and their estimates of gas are huge. And, what is this thing about a global economy? quit