On July 1, U.S. Federal Judge James Cain Jr. (Western District of Louisiana) issued a preliminary injunction suspending DOE’s LNG exports “pause.” The judge’s full ruling is attached.
Judge Cain: “It appears that the DOE’s decision to halt the permit approval process for entities to export LNG to non-FTA countries is completely without reason or logic and is perhaps the epiphany of ideocracy.”
Nothing subtle about that comment 😉
Despite the court order, the Administration seems intent on keeping the “pause” in place. Per White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández, “We remain committed to informing our decisions with the best available economic and environmental analysis, underpinned by sound science.” ????
Nearly 80% of current OCS gas production is from deepwater leases. This production is primarily associated (oil-well) gas that operators are rightfully required to market for resource conservation and environmental reasons. Expanding LNG marketing opportunities could thus improve the economics of deepwater development.
The other 20% of OCS gas production is largely from gas-well (non-associated) gas produced by independent companies that continue to operate in the shallower waters on the shelf. LNG sales could improve the challenging economics for these producers and increase the ultimate recovery of shelf resources.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 