Biden panders to ESG with LNG export permit pause

what was my so called violation??? And no I don’t hate you, I appreciate what you and blitz bring to this forum, very informative and helpful to all offshore investors, yes your politics leaves a lot to be desired lol but I’m not a liberal as you think I am, I’m actually the one that decides elections today, I’m a moderate that is disgusted with what has become of my former political party, I guess you can call me a RINO but how I vote actually decides elections, I voted for Trump in 2016, I voted against him in 2020, as I vote so does the election lol, those just like me actually control elections, especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin etc etc etc, we are the most important voters in America and on that note I’ll switch back to offshore, it’s time for transocean to announce multiple multi year contracts

he said that’s right, so I assume he deleted my post

i conquer

House Passes Protecting American Energy Production Act

by Andreas Exarheas|Rigzone Staff | Tuesday, March 26, 2024 | 8:03 AM EST
www.rigzone.com/news/house_passes_protecting_american_energy_production_act-26-mar-2024-176205-article/

'This bill prohibits the president from declaring a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing unless Congress authorizes the moratorium'.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protecting American Energy Production Act, also known as H.R.1121, the Congress website showed.

According to the site, H.R.1121 passed on March 20 with 229 Yeas to 188 Nays after being introduced on February 21, 2023, by Republican Jeff Duncan. H.R.1121 was received in the Senate, read twice, and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 21, the Congress site revealed. It still needs to pass the Senate and go to the president to become law, the site points out.

“This bill prohibits the president from declaring a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing unless Congress authorizes the moratorium,” a summary of the bill on the Congress site states.

“The bill also expresses the sense of Congress that states should maintain primacy for the regulation of hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas production on state and private lands,” it adds.

The summary section notes that “hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process to extract underground resources such as oil or gas from a geologic formation by injecting water, a propping agent (e.g., sand), and chemical additives into a well under enough pressure to fracture the formation”.

In a statement posted on his X page on March 20, Duncan highlighted that his bill had passed the House.

“I’m proud to have protected America’s ability to harvest our vast natural resources and convert them to power from Joe Biden’s hopes of ‘no more drilling’,” Duncan said in the X post.

“H.R.1121 is a commonsense measure that ensures no president has the unilateral power to shut down fracking. This legislation also makes it clear that no president should have the power to stop any of our domestic energy production - that power should reside with Congress and the states,” he added.

“Since day one, Biden has waged war on energy and pushed America to the precipice of an energy crisis. I’m proud of my work in Congress on behalf of all Americans to stop Biden’s work to make us reliant on adversaries for energy and to close reliable energy generation,” he continued.

“I’m proud to lead House Republicans in unleashing an all the above energy policy that ensures America becomes energy independent,” Duncan went on to state.

In a previous post on his X page on March 19, Duncan said, “I introduced H.R.1121 to protect our ability to harvest America’s vast natural resources to convert them to power for everyday life”.

“America must unleash an all the above energy policy, not allow a president to unilaterally shut down domestic energy production or fracking,” he added in that post.

Referencing Duncan’s March 20 post in a separate post on its X page, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) said, “thank you @repjeffduncan for your leadership on this important legislation”.

In the comments section of Duncan’s March 20 post, the Energy Workforce and Technology Council (EWTC) said, “thank you for your leadership and supporting #AmericanEnergy”.

In an analysis published on the EWTC website last week, EWTC President Tim Tarpley noted that he testified in front of the House Natural Resources Committee in September 2023 in support of H.R.1121 on behalf of the EWTC.

“The bill is expected to pass, and while its future is uncertain in the Senate, it is important to get a strong bipartisan vote this week,” he said in the analysis.

“While there is currently no pending proposal from the administration to prohibit fracking, it is important to get a strong vote in opposition to the prospect to protect against any future efforts down the road, especially in a future Congress or administration,” he added.

Rigzone has asked the White House (WH) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for comment on the passing of H.R.1121 and Duncan and Tarpley’s statements. At the time of writing, the WH and DOE have not yet responded to Rigzone’s request.

The U.S. House of Representatives Press Gallery website shows that the House comprises 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats. The Senate website shows the Democrats as the majority party with 48 seats and Republicans as the minority party with 49 seats. There are three independents in the Senate, the site points out.

Joe's dithering leads to Canada gathering. Perhaps this is why you don't want to delay long term oil & gas projects... other countries get them and USA business lose while others win.

And now this...


Partners in $4 billion FLNG project order contractors to start work after offtake deals signed

Samsung and Black & Veatch will build the 3.3 million tpa Cedar liquefaction vessel destined for Canada

Crystal Smith, chief councillor for Haisla Nation. Photo: CEDAR LNG

Iain Esau, Africa Correspondent, London - Published 5 April 2024, 11:57
www.upstreamonline.com/lng/partners-in-4-billion-flng-project-order-contractors-to-start-work-after-offtake-deals-signed/2-1-1622201

Partners in the US$4 billion Cedar LNG project in western Canada have given the green light to its chosen engineering, procurement, and construction contractors to start work.

Under a US$2.3 billion contract, Samsung Heavy Industries and Black & Veatch (B&V) will build a 3.3 million tonnes per annum floating liquefaction vessel — bigger than the 3 million tpa vessel originally planned —for the an LNG project being developed by the Haisla Nation and Pembina Corporation.

Cedar LNG's proponents issued a notice to proceed after finalising long-term commercial offtake agreements which are critical for secure financing ahead of taking a final investment decision in mid-2024.



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Biden Rules on Fossil Fuel Plants Collide with Power Demand

by Bloomberg|Jennifer A. Dlouhy | Friday, April 26, 2024 | 8:00 AM EST
www.rigzone.com/news/wire/biden_rules_on_fossil_fuel_plants_collide_with_power_demand-26-apr-2024-176550-article/

A new regulation will force coal plants to capture nearly all of their CO2 emissions - or close - by 2039, with similar pollution cuts for many of the new gas-fired plants built to replace them.

The Biden administration is cracking down on planet-warming pollution from the nation’s electricity sector, with mandates likely to encourage the closure of coal plants that advocates argue are vital to meet surging power demand.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulation unveiled Thursday will force the nation’s current fleet of coal plants to capture nearly all of their carbon dioxide emissions — or close — by 2039. And it will compel similar pollution cuts for many of the new gas-fired plants built to replace them.

Overall, the measure could further drive the nation toward emission-free renewable power and hasten coal plant closures at a time when artificial intelligence, data centers and vehicle electrification are driving up demand. Consumption at US data centers alone is poised to triple from 2022 levels, to as much as 390 terawatt hours by the end of the decade, according to the Boston Consulting Group. The dynamic has prompted warnings that electric reliability is at stake.

The measure represents one of President Joe Biden’s biggest initiatives yet to counter climate change, building on earlier regulations that target greenhouse gas releases from passenger cars, heavy-duty trucks and oil infrastructure. Power plants account for about a third of US greenhouse gas emissions, and slashing them is essential to fulfill the country’s carbo-cutting pledge under the Paris Agreement.

“This is how we win the future,” White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi told reporters, adding that accelerating renewable power deployments show “why we can be ambitious moving forward.”

“The power sector today has more tools than ever before to reduce pollution and to modernize our grid,” he said.

Critics, however, cast the rule as a threat to power reliability.

“We’re already in a tough spot,” given warnings that 19 states are at risk for blackouts even under normal peak demand conditions, said Jim Matheson, chief executive officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “It creates uncertainty about how we’re going to keep the lights on.”

The EPA’s greenhouse gas regulation is actually one of four rules being finalized Thursday that single out coal plant pollution — with the others slapping requirements on hundreds of coal ash ponds across the country and compelling reductions in wastewater, mercury and other toxic air emissions.

‘Confidently Prepare’

EPA Administrator Michael Regan told environmentalists, students and activists gathered at Howard University Thursday that the approach gives the power sector information it needs to “confidently prepare for the future” without sacrificing “affordable, reliable electricity.”

Together, the rules make clear the scale of investments required to keep operating coal-fired power plants well into the next decade. Plans have already been announced for about half of the nation’s existing coal-fired generating capacity to shutter by 2039. The new suite of rules is likely to encourage more of those closures.

The policies “rightly force the hand of all coal plants that remain: Clean up or make an exit plan,” said Julie McNamara, a deputy policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The measure is almost certain to be challenged in federal court, following previous rulings that narrowed the agency’s legal latitude. And Republicans are preparing to push for repeal on Capitol Hill, with Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia on Thursday dubbing the plan an illegal bid “to shut down the backbone of America’s electric grid through unachievable regulatory mandates.”

The regulation includes new emergency protections meant to ensure the requirements don’t throttle electricity generation when demand suddenly surges. Gas plants will be allowed to operate under less-stringent emission rates under some emergency circumstances.

The foundation of Biden’s plan is a determination that for many power plants the “best system of emission reduction” is carbon capture systems that have been available for decades but are barely in commercial use at the sites today.

The agency cited “multimillion dollar engineering evaluations of CCS technology at multiple US coal and natural gas plants” in justifying the approach. Government subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act also are feeding wider interest in deploying carbon-capture technology.

But the regulation overestimates the possible pace of carbon capture deployment, said Dan Brouillette, chief executive of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents some of the nation’s largest utilities. “CCS is not yet ready for full-scale, economy-wide deployment, nor is there sufficient time to permit, finance and build the CCS infrastructure needed for compliance by 2032,” he said.

The EPA requirements are based around expectations that carbon capture systems arrest 90 percent of emissions at the sites. However, power plant owners have flexibility to use other technologies to meet the new limits.

Coal plants that intend to keep operating after Jan. 1, 2039 will have to start using carbon capture systems or otherwise pare their emissions 90 percent by 2032. The EPA’s initial proposal would have set a more lenient closure date — 2040 — but compelled emission cuts two years earlier, in 2030.

No new emissions control requirements are mandated for coal plants that intend to close before 2032.

Carbon capture systems — or equivalent pollution reductions — are required for gas power plants that operate at least 40 percent of the time as of Jan. 1, 2032. But there are effectively no new restrictions on gas plants operating less than 20 percent of the time, which are often called on to help meet demand spikes.

All told, the requirements will force “better decisions” by grid operators, utility managers and power companies, said Meredith Hankins, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It’s trying to shift away from that default explosion of new gas and instead think about ‘Hey, maybe we should be looking at other options to generate electricity.’”

(Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP — the parent company of Bloomberg News — committed $500 million to Beyond Carbon, a campaign aimed at closing the remaining coal-fired power plants in the U.S. by 2030 and halting the development of new natural gas-fired plants. He also started a campaign to close a quarter of the world’s remaining coal plants and cancel all proposed coal plants by 2025.)