US LNG Export Facilty Update -- EIA -- August 28, 2026

 Locator: 51570LNG.

Link here. Note: this is April 23, 2026, data.

Operation EPIC FURY -- This Is Starting To Get Serious -- For Saudi Arabia -- March 28, 2026

Locator: 50351SAUDI.

This could be incredibly serious for Saudi Arabia -- it's not as if Venezuela doesn't exist? 

For the US:

• The original objective: help Israel take out Iran's nuclear program. 
• The new objective: find an off-ramp.   

*******************************
Long Term

AI prompt: 

Are Exxon, Chevron, others seriously considering Venezuela now with threat of Strait of Hormuz being controlled by Iran as the new normal?

Reply: 

And this is heavy oil, highly coveted by US refiners. 

 

You know, this is very, very interesting. Trump said today that going into the "war," he expected markets to fall much more than they have, and he expected the price of oil to surge much more than it has. That still may happen.

 

But presidents are change agents and think strategically. If one starts connecting the dots, it sure seems like Trump, Rubio, etc., are spending a a lot of time thinking about the Monroe Doctrine and acting.

 

Cuba.

Maduro / Venezuela.

 

The Panama Canal / kicking China out.

Stopping renewal energy growth -- is determined to end windmills in America. 

 

In the big scheme of things, it doesn't take oil companies to turn things around pretty quickly if they want.

Look at the time line for the Bakken revolution. Less than a decade to go from zero to a million bopd. 

 

And that was pretty much all "unproven" going in.

Venezuela: "they" already know what Venezuela has. 

 

Ticker: CVX -- 30-year horizon -- 

 

Windfall profits tax? Not under this administration, but in 2029? Certainly likely. 

 

LNG:

• Cheniere: share price up 26% over six months;
• Venture Global: share price up23% over same six months;
• Reported yesterday: Cheniere's fifth train is now operational -- 

AI prompt:  

How does Cheneire's current LNG export capacity with 5th train now operational at Corpus Christi compare with VG's total export capacity?

Reply:  

Astounding! Is anyone paying attention? 

• Cheniere: by far and away, the largest at 50 mtpa;
• VG: seeks to be exporting twice that amount in less than four years (100+ mtpa) 

QatarEnergy Took A Huge Hit At Home -- How's QatarEnergy Doing With Golden Pass, Texas -- March 24, 2026

Locator: 50309QATAR. 

Tag: LNG 

AI prompt was in the subject line.

The answer: 

With This Project, Venture Global Should Be On Track To Become The Largest US LNG Exporter -- March 13, 2026

Locator: 50213LNG.

Tag: Venture Global  

Venture Global shares up 40% in one month. 

Link here. 

Cheniere To Significantly Increase Production At Its Corpus Christi, TX, Facility --

Locator: 49926TEXASLNGEXPORTTERMINAL.

I remember vividly the day I posted about the number of LNG export terminals planned along the US Gulf Coast -- many years ago. A reader reminded me that just because the terminals were planned did not mean they would built.

It's been comments like that, over the years, that have made my desire to keep posting the blog. The blog will continue -- the question is whether to keep posting. Whatever. Back to the subject at hand.

Cheniere Energy (LNG) announced in February, 2026, that it has filed an application with FERC to construct a new LNG plant in Texas. The project will expand LNG production capacity. Well, duh.

• location: Corpus Christi, Texas
• project: the "Stage 4" expansion of its existing terminal at that location
• will add four new liquefaction trains, two storage tanks, and a 26-mile pipeline
• capacity: will add a million tones per annum (MTPA) 

Update: the FID for Cheniere's "Stage 3" expansion announced in 2025; construction on that project was scheduled to last through 2030; budgeted at $8 billion. That project would only add two Midscale Trains 8 and 9. 

"We Own 70% Of That" -- Qatar -- Golden Pass -- Update -- May 14, 2025

Locator: 48582GP.

Updates

May 14, 2025: Golden Pass update. Link here.

Golden Pass #LNG timing update.

"We [Qatar] own 70% of that. But these projects take time to actually deliver and we expect first LNG to come by the end of this year (2025) and hopefully to inaugurate officially the project in the 1st qt of 26,"  Qatari Energy Minister.
.

This is for Train 1 of 0.68 bcf/d. No ETA for Train 2 and Train 3 start.

That $400 million Boeing? Probably paid for in several weeks. LOL.  Best part? Trump living rent-free in Schumer's brain.

Original Post 

From March 4, 2025:

March 5, 2025 -- link here. This was the extension that the project needed -- back in March, 2025 -- thank you, Mr Trump and Mr Biden. The FERC commissioners. If I have this correct, three of the four were appointed by President Biden in 2024, and the current chairman was appointed by President Trump during the latter's first term in 2021. Link here.

April 28, 2025 -- within Trump's first 100 days! Another win for Trump. 

Link here.

Saudi - Trump: A Trillion Dollars In Deals In Two Days? -- May 14, 2025

Locator: 48624SAUDI.

Updates

8:04 a.m. PT, May 14, 2025: I asked the same question for Oracle and Broadcom and got surprising answers. LOL. 

8:02 a.m. PT, May 14, 2025: how investors can use ChatGPT -- I simply used "option-space bar" to open. my ChatGPT on my laptop while lying in bed, and asked the question (see below) and ChatGPT gave me this answer:

8:00 a.m. PT, May 14, 2025: I came across this after I posted my notes below.

Original Post

Saudi photo-ops: must see. One of many examples.

US LNG handshake Louisiana LNG project; link here.

NVDA:

• CEO announces chip deal with Saudi-backed Humain
• to power 500MW AI data center,
• scaling to 1.9 GW by 2023

AMD: hits a three-month high; link here;

• AMD joins Saudi firm Humain
• $10-billion push to build AI infrastructure

Humain:

• website; front page pretty stale;
• Nvidia
• AMD
• QCOM;
• AWS;

From ChatGPT, Humain: Saudi Arabia's state-backed AI powerhouse.

Mohammed bin Salman under the Public Investment Fund (PIF). As part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative, HUMAIN aims to position the Kingdom as a global leader in AI by developing comprehensive AI infrastructure, including advanced data centers and Arabic-language AI models. The company has announced strategic partnerships with tech giants like NVIDIA, AMD, and AWS to build AI “factories of the future” and enhance the nation’s digital capabilities 

The stories continue to come.

• Trump’s trip to the Middle East
• deals worth a trillion dollars in two days
• Saudi Arabia surges in global influence;
• Trump removes sanctions on Syria
• huge deals with Qatar: Qatar to buy more Boeing jets. Says relationship with US reaches new highs.

US LNG Export Terminals -- Eleven -- Graphic Update -- May 4, 2025

Locator: 48582GP.

Updates

May 14, 2025: Golden Pass update. Link here.

Golden Pass #LNG timing update.

"We [Qatar] own 70% of that. But these projects take time to actually deliver and we expect first LNG to come by the end of this year (2025) and hopefully to inaugurate officially the project in the 1st qt of 26,"  Qatari Energy Minister.
.

This is for Train 1 of 0.68 bcf/d. No ETA for Train 2 and Train 3 start.

Original Post 

 ************************************
Easter 2025

Golden Pass -- Update -- May 4, 2025

Locator: 48581GP.

March 5, 2025 -- link here. This was the extension that the project needed -- back in March, 2025 -- thank you, Mr Trump and Mr Biden. The FERC commissioners. If I have this correct, three of the four were appointed by President Biden in 2024, and the current chairman was appointed by President Trump during the latter's first term in 2021. Link here.

April 28, 2025 -- within Trump's first 100 days! Another win for Trump. 

Link here.

 ****************************
Golden Pass

For "all"posts on "Golden Pass" on the blog, click here.

From June 21, 2022 -- link here.

Number 8?

• if Calcasieu Pass was the seventh US LNG export terminal to be built, is Golden Pass #8?
• Magnolia LNG, Louisiana, would be #9?
• I remember an "anonymous expert" wrote me in 2015 that just because all these projects were "on the board," there was no guarantee all of them would be built, implying that "we" were all getting way ahead of our headlights. 
  

US LNG export capacity: link here.

• record set in 2021, averaging 9.7 billion cubic feet per day = 3.54 trillion cubic feet annually
• forecast:
• an increase of 2.4 Bcf/d in 2022 --> a total of 5.94 trillion cubic feet annually
• an increase of an additional 0.5 Bcf/d in 2023 = 6.44 trillion cubic feet annually

Qatar:

• capacity to reach 126 million tonnes yearly by 2027
• current capacity: 77 million tonnes, 2022

Conversion:

• one million tonnes (LNG) = 48.7 Bcf
• 77 * 48.7 = 3.750 trillion cubic feet annually
• 126 million tonnes = 6.136 trillion cubic feet annually

Usual disclaimers apply:

• there will be typographical and content errors;
• I often make simple arithmetic errors

Golden Pass, XOM:

• 18 million tons of LNG per year = 877 Bcf
• Golden Pass + 2023 US forecast = 0.877 trillion +6.44 trillion = 7.3166 trillion cf/d
• Golden Pass as percent of current US export capacity: 0.877 trillion / 3.54 trillion = 35%

SPGlobal, June 21, 2022 (today):

• capacity: 18 million mt / year
• XOM / Qatar Energy
• project scheduled to open in 2024
• US in talks with XOM to accelerate the project
• one may want to look at this "press release" from just a couple of months ago:

A request by the Golden Pass LNG Terminal developer to bring in more workers to build the Texas natural gas export facility is still pending after a year at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission amid concerns of delay.

FERC staff issued an environmental assessment on March 22 that concluded a Golden Pass plan to boost the peak workforce from 2,900 to 7,700 people per day would not cause significant harm to the environment (CP14-517). But the request still requires approval at a time when FERC is facing pressure over a recent permitting policy overhaul, which commissioners are scheduled to revisit on March 24.

Critics of the policy changes, including gas industry groups and Republican lawmakers, have argued that FERC's new approach will hinder the development of gas infrastructure, even as the White House looks to boost LNG supplies to Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Golden Pass told FERC in its original February 2021 request, which also sought to increase traffic volumes and extend construction hours around the clock, that "construction progress would be severely hampered and successful execution of the project would not be feasible" without the regulator's approval for a larger workforce.

Golden Pass -- Update -- Delayed But Meeting Revised Milestones -- May 4, 2025

Locator: 48580GP.

Within the first 100 days of Trump's watch! FERC approval. Another win for Trump.

Link here.

Tech Investing; LNG Exports -- Plaquemines -- December 30, 2024

Locator: 44574TECH.

For those with traditional IRAs and turning 73 years of age or older in 2025, tomorrow is a most critical day.

On another note, link here: 

In a graphic like this, ticker symbols missing are as important than those on the list.

Intel, Oracle, Dell, QCOM, AVGO, Micron, META, AMZN are not on the list.

**********************************
Disclaimer
Brief Reminder 

• I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 
• Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
  
• If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 
• Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution.
  
• Longer version here.   
  

********************
LNG

Link here. 

Definitely Not A Manic Monday -- December 30, 2024

Locator: 44569B.

Some love for Linda Lavin, link here:

LNG update: with Cheniere's 1.4 Bcf/d Corpus Christi III (#8) now on line, what's next:

• QatarEnergy/ExxonMobil’s 2.4-Bcf/d Golden Pass LNG (#9) in Sabine Pass, TX, which will start coming online in the first half of 2025; 
• Sempra's 0.43 Bcf/d Energía Costa Azul (ECA) LNG Phase 1 in west Mexico, to start up in spring, 2026 (this is a delay, had been scheduled to go online summer of 2025); update, June 6, 2026: production has begun. Links everywhere.
• NextDecade Corp.’s 2.3-Bcf/d Rio Grande LNG (#10) in Brownsville, TX, starting up in 2027; and,
• Sempra and ConocoPhillips’s 2-Bcf/d Port Arthur LNG (#11), coming online in 2027-28.

*********************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $71.05.

New wells reporting:

• Tuesday, December 31, 2024: 51 for the month; 154 for the quarter, 682 for the year
• None.
• Monday, December 30, 2024: 51 for the month; 154 for the quarter, 682 for the year
• None.
• Sunday, December 29, 2024: 51 for the month; 154 for the quarter, 682 for the year
• None.
• Saturday, December 28, 2024: 51 for the month; 154 for the quarter, 682 for the year
• 40731, conf, Rockport Energy, Camden 10-3 3H,
• 39499, conf, Enerplus, Brown Bear 158-99-36-25-5H, 
• 37664, conf, BR, Kellogg Ranch 1A TFH, 

RBN Energy: Gray Oak stands out as the only Permian crude pipeline to greenlight an expansion. Archived.

As crude oil production in the Permian continues to grow and pipelines from West Texas to the Gulf Coast edge closer to full utilization, it’s becoming a challenge for producers and shippers alike. Amid this capacity crunch, one pipeline stands out as the only one with a detailed expansion plan: the 850-mile, 900-Mb/d Gray Oak Pipeline from West Texas to Corpus Christi and Sweeny, TX, which started up in late 2019 and became fully operational in early 2020. In today’s RBN blog — the latest in our series on Permian crude oil pipelines — we discuss Gray Oak Pipeline’s dynamic story, including its shifting ownership, strategic connectivity and expansion plans.

In Part 1 and Part 3 of this series, we looked at Longhorn Pipeline and BridgeTex Pipeline, respectively, and what ONEOK has accomplished with these systems since it acquired Magellan. In Part 2, we looked at EPIC’s Crude Pipeline to the Corpus Christi area, which has been operating at full capacity. Today, we’ll cover Gray Oak.

We’ll begin by noting that Gray Oak started up shortly before crude oil demand cratered as the pandemic hit. In response, Permian producers shut in a significant amount of production during the summer of 2020. Additionally, two other new Permian pipelines — also to Corpus Christi — started up during the second half of 2019: Plains All American’s Cactus II (585 Mb/d) and EPIC Crude (400 Mb/d, expanded in 2020 to 600 Mb/d), resulting in a glut of crude pipeline egress.

Despite these challenges, Gray Oak’s outflows quickly ramped up throughout 2020. As shown in Figure 1 below, Gray Oak has operated near its 900-Mb/d capacity (dotted horizontal black line) for some time now. Earlier this year, Gray Oak Pipeline LLC sanctioned a 120-Mb/d expansion following a successful open season. Contracted volume commitments of 80 Mb/d start in April 2025 and one year later another 40 Mb/d is committed to the pipe. Gray Oak could offer early service for new or existing shippers if capacity is desired sooner.

 

Figure 1. Gray Oak Outflows. Source: RBN Crude Oil Permian

The ownership journey of Gray Oak Pipeline is complicated, to say the least. When the project was in its planning stage, Phillips 66 (P66) held a 75% stake and refining company Andeavor owned the remaining 25%. In 2018, Marathon Petroleum acquired Andeavor for $23 billion, inheriting its 25% stake in Gray Oak (box #1 in Figure 2 below), along with a similar stake in the South Texas Gateway (STG) export terminal in Ingleside, across the bay from Corpus. (More on that later ­— spoiler alert: STG’s traded hands a couple of times since then.) We should note that Andeavor and its old Andeavor Logistics master limited partnership (MLP) had its own intricate corporate history with Marathon and its MPLX unit.

Much, much more at the link. 

*********************************
Cheniere

December 30, 2024: Cheniere produces first LNG at Corpus Christi, stage III, link here.

April 16, 2024, flashback:

From RBN Energy, today: new JV's focus is moving Permian natural gas to LNG export terminals. Archived here.

Projects already approved / permitted by the US government ...  expected to increase U.S. LNG export capacity to about 25 Bcf/d from the current 14 Bcf/d.

Of that 11 Bcf/d of incremental capacity, more than 8 Bcf/d will be sited along the Texas coast.

These projects include Cheniere Energy’s 1.4-Bcf/d Stage III at Corpus Christi LNG, which is scheduled to begin starting up late this year; QatarEnergy/ExxonMobil’s 2.4-Bcf/d Golden Pass LNG in Sabine Pass, TX, which will start coming online in the first half of 2025; NextDecade Corp.’s 2.3-Bcf/d Rio Grande LNG in Brownsville, starting up in 2027; and Sempra and ConocoPhillips’s 2-Bcf/d Port Arthur LNG, coming online in 2027-28.

All the way back to 2017:

LNG Export Terminal Buildout -- December 22, 2024

Locator: 44503LNG.

There is nothing new here as far as I can tell. Just a recap of the LNG export terminal buildout.

First the EIA, link here: North America's LNG export capacity is on track to more than double by 2028 -- that's only three years from now --

Of note:

• Energia Costa Azul, reported earlier this year, link here; update, production has started, June 6, 2026, links everywhere:

• Golden Pass, expansion at Sabine Pass; partnership: QatarEnergy and XOM;
• Rio Grande, NextDecade; Brownsville, TX, first of three liquefaction trains;
• Port Arthur: Jefferson County, TX; two liquefaction trains; joint venture, Sempra and COP, with long term commitments from COP, INEOS (British), PKN Orlen (Baltic Energy, Poland), and Engie, SA (French electric utility);
  
  

Greenpeace, June 23, 2023, link here -- a most interesting source, but very comprehensive. Archived here. Back in 2023, Greenpeace says there were seven active US LNG export terminals. That agrees with what was stated the other day, making Plaquemines, number eight.

Look at all the sites approved (yellow dots) but not yet under construction, as of June 23, 2023).

Of note, along with Cameron and Calcasieu Pass:

• Lake Charles LNG
• Driftwood
• Magnolia
• Commonwealth

This is wiki's list, as of December 22, 2024:

Two additional comments:

• best source for up-to-date information on this subject: RBN Energy
• these export terminals depend on adequate pipeline supply from the Permian

LNG: The Most Egregious Headline Today -- From Reuters -- December 20, 2024

Locator: 44490LNG. 

The headline over at Reuters. It may not even be accurate. The final numbers are not in. I assume, if a ship is scheduled to sale on December 31, 2024, and it's delayed by a few hours and pushes off on January 1, 2025, that will be reported as an export as of January 1, 2025, not December 31, 2024. If it doesn't work that way ....

The story is behind a paywall now but the article itself:

• contradicts itself;
• contradicts the headline; and,
• gives a false sense of what's happening in real time.

Very disappointing.

I was also disappointed the way Charles Kennedy chose to report it over at oilprice. He obviously phoned in the story. 

Here are additional headlines:

Re-Posting: Link To IEEFA Regarding The LNG Pause -- July 24, 2024

Locator: 48223NG.

Link here. NG-LNG is now tracked here, periodically.

This reads like an op-ed which I assume it is, but there's a lot of interesting data points for the archives.

**********************
Headlines 

The Big Story For The Day -- NGL -- The Permian -- The US -- May 13, 2024

Locator: 47141LNG. 

RBN Energy: Azul -- January 20, 2021. Link here. Now, four years later (2025), Sempra says Costa Azul may be ready for action. Update: June 6, 2026 -- production at Costa Azul has begun; links everywhere.

RBN Energy: new pipe will upend Permian NGL flows to non-Belvieu markets -- again. Archived.

For years, the South Texas NGL market was a world of its own — a self-contained liquids ecosystem centered around the refineries and petrochemical plants in the Corpus Christi area.

But that all changed about six years ago when EPIC Midstream built a new NGL pipeline from the Permian into Corpus and a new fractionator to process those liquids. Corpus morphed into a vibrant NGL market in its own right. But nothing with South Texas NGLs is easy.

Before the EPIC system was even up and running, a consortium calling itself BANGL — short for Belvieu Alternative NGL — announced another pipeline to compete for Permian NGLs that would parallel EPIC’s route out of the Permian, but then make a hard left toward Sweeny and Texas City, setting up a battle of the pipes for Permian NGLs.

The Panama Canal and US LNG.

• Link here. The Panama Canal is key to American LNG. 

Azul updates:

Azul: A number of RBN Energy blogs. Start here.

EIA:

***********************************
Biden's LNG Export Pause

RBN Energy: gauging the impact of the DOE's pause in LNG export licenses. Archived.

There’s no doubt about it: The Biden administration’s decision to pause approval of LNG export licenses poses a new threat to a number of projects thought to be nearing a final investment decision (FID).

The questions brought on by the move are profound: how big of a problem is this for U.S. developers, how does the timeout affect the projects now in limbo, and — over the longer term — what does the added uncertainty regarding incremental LNG exports mean for U.S. crude oil and natural gas production and what does it mean for the global energy landscape? In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the factors that led to the administration’s announcement — and the case to be made that expanded LNG exports are in the U.S.’s economic and strategic interest.

The U.S.’s mammoth reserves of natural gas, combined with strong global demand for LNG, have spurred a sharp rise in LNG export volumes over the past few years. As recently as December, an average of about 14 Bcf/d of LNG — or around 14% of the dry gas produced in the U.S. each day — is being liquefied and shipped overseas, almost all of it from export terminals along the Gulf Coast. And, with several new LNG export projects under construction, we expect those volumes to nearly double over the next four years.

History OF US LNG Export Industry -- January 27, 2024

Locator: 46664LNG.
Locator: 46664DEFLATION.

This is an incredible piece of work by Stephen Stapczynski over at twitter / X.

Two milestones:

• the Bakken revolution
• Aubrey McClendon

*****************************
Inflation Watch

Again, at the "most expensive" of the six+ grocery stores in our local area.

Great marketing and loyalty rewards but at the end of the dau it's all about the supply chain post-pandemic. 

 I would argue that the price of Tide detergent is fairly "price inelastic."

The government's market basket when pricing Tide: $7.49.

The consumer's market basket when pricing Tide: $3.99.

Tell me again US inflation is running at 9%. This is classic deflation. Not disinflation but deflation.

One of the few places we won't see much (if any) deflation in the US in 2024: restaurant meals; airline travel; shares of NVID.

******************************
A Second Language

The most commonly spoke language other than Spanish by state.

This is why I'm studying Spanish on Duolingo.