Making American Great -- First-Ever Deployment Of Borstar Polyethylene Technology In North America -- February 28, 2019

From Rigzone:

Bayport Polymers LLC (Baystar) reported Thursday that it has officially broken ground on its new 625,000 metric ton-per-year polyethylene (PE) unit at its facility in Pasadena, Texas.

According to Baystar, the unit will mark the first-ever deployment of Borstar PE technology in North America and will produce enhanced PE products for demanding applications. The company, a 50/50 joint venture owned by Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA, Inc. and the Borealis AG-NOVA Chemicals Inc. JV , stated that it expects the PE unit to start-up in 2021.

Baystar is also building a 1 million ton-per-year steam cracker in Port Arthur, Texas, that will process ethane and supply feedstock for its existing and new PE units at Pasadena.
“This new Borstar unit will more than double the site’s capacity ..."

Borstar? Apparently a proprietary plastic. 

Meanwhile, in Alaska, too many pipeline? The state might give up North Slope natural gas pipeline, LNG export terminal. Link here. Why? Despite marketing efforts and about $1 billion in engineering and environmental work, the project has not attracted customers and faces increasing competition from other LNG projects. The project at risk was a proposed 800-mile, 42-inch-diameter gas pipeline from the North Slope to an LNG export terminal on the Kenai Peninsula in southcentral Alaska.

Natural gas reserves on the North Slope? Estimated to be 35 Tcf.

This Is Really Cool: New England Shuns Marcellus; Yankees' Loss Is Dixie's Gain -- RBN Energy -- August 24, 2018

Blinked: China's Unipec to resume US oil purchases after tariff policy changes. LOL. Did anyone think otherwise? From oilprice:

The international trading arm of China’s refining major Sinopec, Unipec, will resume U.S. crude oil purchases from October.

The company had suspended crude oil imports from the United States amid the trade spat between Washington and Beijing in anticipation of crude oil making it onto the tariff list. When this did not happen, Unipec started buying U.S. crude again despite the trade dispute escalation that saw China slap 25-percent tariffs on U.S. oil products and coal.

Peak oil, what peak oil: analyst suggests Alaska's North Slope is an "arrested, late-emerging-phase 'super basin' rather than a mature basin."

• analysis doe not provide "actionable" intel
• data points of interest, remaining reserves:
• 38 billion bbls boe
• that figure includes 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
• 28 billion bbls of oil
• EUR of the North Slope: 55 billion boe (specifically the analyst suggests 54.8 billion boe, not 54.7 or 54.9 but 54.8 -- that's when you know ...)
• 38 boe yet to be produced, combined with the 16.8 billion that has already been extracted
• let's see what the divisor was
• 38 billion boe - 28 billion = 10 billion NG boe 
• 50 trillion / 10 billion NG boe = 5,000 (I've always used 6,001
• compare the estimated natural gas reserves in the North Slope with other global reserves at this post: https://themilliondollarway.blogspot.com/2018/08/us-remains-natural-gas-king-oilprice.html. 
• the US: 341 trillion cubic feet
• although one source suggest the Marcellus-Utica could produce a quadrillion cubic feet (1,000 x trillion)

NG exports: will triple over the next 12 months (2019). Will account for 10% of US production.

WTI: trending toward $69. OPEC basket" $71.75.

Burnaby update: Canada's Supreme Court rules against Burnaby, for the pipeline. Time to start bringing in the sacred bulldozers.

Saudi Aramco IPO: in case folks have lost the bubble on the IPO -- bottom line, the Prince will shelve the Saudi Aramco IPO and take a stake in Sabic, becoming perhaps the world's largest petrochemical company?

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Back to the Bakken

Only one well coming off the confidential list today --

• 30524, 884, CLR, Burr Federal 23-26H2, Sanish, fracked 10/23/17 - 10/23/17 -- problem? only one day frack; 7.8 million gallons of water; 88% water; t5/18; cum 32K over 47 days; apparently no problem with the frack; Three Forks 2; 63 stages; 8.1 million lbs;

Active rigs:

$68.55↑↑	8/24/2018	08/24/2017	08/24/2016	08/24/2015	08/24/2014
Active Rigs	62	54	31	74	192

RBN Energy: northeast gas pulled south by Florida power plants and Sabal trail.

• Florida’s increasing demand for natural gas for power generation isn’t new, but like a young alligator in the Everglades, its appetite is voracious and growing. More and more gas-fired power plants have been coming online, increasing gas demand and spurring the development of new gas pipeline capacity into the state. And, because of big shifts in where gas is being produced and where it’s flowing, the Sunshine State will soon be receiving an increasing share of its gas needs from the Marcellus region. Today, we begin a two-part look at how rising generation-sector demand for gas and a new pipeline are changing gas-flow dynamics in the U.S. Southeast.

One doesn't have to read much more to see who the winners are, who the losers are. As to paraphrase, the NY governor, NY never was that great. Certainly not when it comes to strategic planning.

Alaska Finalizes Deal To Buyout TransCanada's Share In Proposed Alaska LNG Export Project -- November 25, 2015

From Seeking Alpha:

• Alaska finalizes its deal to buy out TransCanada's share in the proposed Alaska LNG export project for $64.6M, giving the state direct ownership in the project along with partners BP, ConocoPhillips,  and Exxon Mobil.
• The $45B-$65B project would transport natural gas from the North Slope fields, then liquefy the fuel at a facility on Cook Inlet for shipment to markets in Asia; it has not yet been approved for construction and would not start commercial shipments before 2023.

Finally, A Shovel-Ready Project....

... wow, this is quite a project. If I were younger, it might be worth moving to Alaska just to be part of it. A reader sent me the link to this very interesting Forbes article. Look at the scope of this project:

... the building of a new natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage.

 The proposed pipeline project – in which the state, thanks to Governor Parnell and state legislators working in partnership with major oil and gas producers – will require about $45 billion in new investment (about seven times the cost of the equally important mid-continent Keystone XL project) and include not just the pipeline itself but harbors, roads, and state-of-the-art facilities to liquefy the gas for shipping to points south.

 This project – in part spurred by the oil and gas tax reform measures recently passed by the state legislature – would finally allow the tapping of the more than 8 TRILLION cubic feet of gas (one of the world’s largest reserves) in the Point Thompson section of the North Slope.

 The economics of the project are obvious – $2-3 billion more per year in additional revenues for the state, thousands of permanent (and temporary construction – if you call a decade “temporary”) jobs, and a more independent, reliable, and cost-effective energy production system for the United States.

It still boggles the mind that the US government halted Keystone XL 2.0 North over a bit of real estate in Nebraska that is no longer an issue.  One thing Mr Obama is good at: delays.