Natural Gas News – May 23, 2018
Natural Gas News – May 23, 2018
Pacific Islanders Want a Bigger Slice of Exxon’s Gas Profits
Bloomberg reported: The tiny, impoverished nation of Papua New Guinea came out on the short end of a $19 billion development with Exxon Mobil Corp. to build one of Asia-Pacific’s biggest energy projects. But as the company pushes to expand the venture, the government is vowing that round two may require a much bigger payday for the locals. By most accounts, the liquefied natural gas business that Exxon and partners built from scratch is an engineering and commercial success. The PNG LNG venture, which started operating in 2014, is delivering more fuel than expected to Asian economic giants Japan and China. It’s so promising that the U.S. company — with annual revenue 10 times larger than Papua New Guinea’s economy — declared the Pacific island a key building block for its future growth and plans to double output. Trouble is, the original deal reached a decade ago has failed to deliver the windfall to Papua New Guinea that the government and an Exxon commissioned study predicted. For more on this story visit bloomberg.com or click https://bloom.bg/2GHqqQF
Private Equity’s Big Bet on Cheap Gas-Fired Plants Has Gone Awry
Bloomberg reported: Private equity shops thought they saw a sure-fire way to make a buck: build dozens of new power plants fueled by cheap Appalachian natural gas to replace old coalfired units. It hasn’t quite turned out that way, at least not yet. Many of the new plants built in the last few years aren’t kicking off as much cash as the buyout firms had expected, according to bankers. There’s not enough demand to support the huge amount of additional new capacity, driving down electricity prices. And with President Donald Trump as a booster, shutdowns of coal haven’t come as quickly as anticipated while states are acting to keep nuclear plants open. None of the new plants appear in danger of default, analysts said. For more on this story visit bloomberg.com or click https://bloom.bg/2khyIWk
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