US To Start Supplying LNG To Lithuania -- Chenier Energy -- February 28, 2015

Regular readers have followed the story of Cheniere and the US export of LNG (see LNG_Export_US tag). RBN Energy has provided many updates regarding Cheniere over the last few years.

Things are starting to come together. AFP is reporting:

Lithuania said Saturday it had signed a trade agreement to buy liquified natural gas from the United States in a move aimed at reducing the EU Baltic state's heavy dependence on Russian gas deliveries.

Under the deal with Houston-based Chenier Energy company, the first LNG fuel is expected to arrive in Lithuania as early as next year, state-owned company Litgas said in a statement. Lithuania's first floating LNG terminal started commercial activity in January, becoming the first such facility to sever Moscow's grip on gas deliveries to the Baltic states.

The nation of three million will initially import 0.54 billion cubic metres of gas from Statoil in 2015, covering about one-fifth of its demand.

The first US LNG export terminal is expected to starts its operations later this year.

From what I've read, and it is somewhat supported by this article, the amount of LNG that the US can actually provide is a very, very small percent of all that would be needed in any of these countries. But it's a start.

It also naturally leads to the next question: export of US oil to countries threatened with embargo by some other producer....

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Idle Chatter

See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, or relationship decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here. This is for the archives. 

I don't know why I'm even posting this. I'm not even sure how I got to the story linked below. It's funny how the mind works. I was reading and posting the link to the Cheniere story above, and something led me to something else and then to something else, and I ended up reading an Investopedia article on EDP:

Enterprise Products Partners prides itself on being one of the more conservative energy infrastructure companies. That conservatism ensures it can make it through an inevitable downturn in commodity prices relatively unscathed. It also puts the company in a strong position to take advantage of rivals that aren't as well prepared -- Enterprise has historically gone on the offensive to acquire weaker rivals that find themselves in a tough spot when the commodity market turns down. Needless to say, the company would love for that history to repeat in the current market chaos.

On Enterprise's fourth-quarter conference call, COO Jim Teague took some time to discuss today's market environment:

Global energy market is somewhere between turmoil and chaos. We have no clue how low prices may go or how long they will stay depressed but then nor does anyone else. We do know that Enterprise typically thrives on change that we perform and grow in both the up and down cycles.

Teague's first comment is one of the most honest assessments any energy company has given on its view of commodity prices. In full, he offered a useful reminder that investors should not put too much stock in the bold calls we're seeing on what the price of oil will do next. Key to Enterprise investors, though, is Teague's declaration about the company's ability to thrive during times of change.

Later in the article:

In the conference call, Teague pointed out one legacy oil source in particular where the company would love to grow its footprint: the Permian Basin, where Enterprise is not as well positioned as it would like but where it also sees opportunity if the plunging price of oil dries up the capital that had been flowing into the region.

There are a number of story lines in that article. I still think 2017 is going to be a great year for oil and gas investors, if not as early as 2016.

I track "pipelines" here as well as other places on the blog.

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Global Warming Headlines Today

Coldest NYC month in 80 years....
Snow for all 50 states forecast in next week...
NOAA:  2,185 cold records broken or tied in last seven (7) days

And then this. Ice Age Now is reporting:

Lowest temperature ever recorded in Cuba during the entire month of February. Ties the record low temperature for ANY month of the year.

Cubans bundled up against a record low temperature in Havana on Friday, February 20.

The Cuban Institute of Meteorology reported that last Friday morning (Feb 20) the temperature fell to one degree Celsius (33.8^o F) in the town of Union Reyes in western Matanzas province.

It was the lowest temperature ever recorded in Cuba during the entire month of February.