Natural Gas News – August 17, 2018
N.D. Oil Production Drops as Operators Struggle to Capture Natural Gas
Bismarck Tribune reported: North Dakota oil production dropped nearly 2 percent in June as producers scaled back activity, primarily to keep natural gas flaring from exceeding state limits, the state’s top oil regulator said Thursday. The state produced an average of nearly 1.23 million barrels of oil per day, a drop of more than 20,000 barrels per day from the May record of nearly 1.25 million barrels. “Industry’s tapping the brakes a little bit,” said Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources. Operators flared 388 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in June, falling short of the gas capture target set by the North Dakota Industrial Commission for the second month in a row. Helms said operators voluntarily restricted oil production in June in order to stay in compliance with the gas capture policy, which calls for companies to capture 85 percent of Bakken natural gas. For visit bismarcktribune.com or click https://bit.ly/2nK1aCb
U.S. Approves Cheniere Bid to Feed First Gas to Texas LNG Plant
Reuters reports: The U.S. energy regulator has approved a request by Cheniere Energy to feed the first gas into its new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, marking the beginning of a commissioning phase for the export terminal. The approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), issued late on Thursday, means Cheniere will be able to produce the first commissioning cargo by the fourth quarter of this year, if not earlier. Train 1 at the Corpus Christi facility will become the first LNG export terminal in Texas and the third functioning one in the United States as the country ramps up the sale of the super-chilled gas to unprecedented levels in the coming years. Cheniere’s Chief Executive, Jack Fusco, told analysts earlier this month the facility would produce its first LNG in the fourth quarter, implying a commercial startup of the facility earlier than the slated first half of 2019. For more on this story visit reuters.com or click https://reut.rs/2MjqQnG
