Shale gas giant EQT Corp. defended U.S. LNG as a clean substitute for coal, amid record high exports and prices as the global gas crunch persists.
Natural gas deliveries to U.S. LNG export terminals surged to record levels in the waning days of November, topping 12 Bcf/d as strong global gas demand continued to incentivize operators to run their facilities at full bore.
Total feedgas deliveries to the six major operating U.S. LNG export facilities hit about 12.1 Bcf/d on Nov. 26 and remained near that level for about two days before dropping to about 11.2 Bcf/d on Nov. 30, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence pipeline flow data. This last number compared to about 10.9 Bcf/d on Nov. 30, 2020, as sector activity rebounded from the impacts of the pandemic.
Part of the uptick in activity was because of commissioning work on a sixth liquefaction train at Cheniere Energy Inc.'s flagship Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana. The company said the train produced its first LNG on Nov. 23. But high global gas prices were a key driver.
EQT linked global environmental benefits to record U.S. LNG exports as it pushed back against a U.S. senator's criticism that major energy companies' "corporate greed and profiteering" has led to a surge in natural gas prices.
"What we definitely should not do is restrict U.S. LNG," EQT President and CEO Toby Rice wrote in a Dec. 7 letter responding to the public criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. "If we do so, and the result is a reversion to coal, we forfeit the significant environmental benefits already afforded to the world by U.S. LNG (not to mention pour fuel on the fires of potential humanitarian crises in Europe and parts of Asia should a cold winter arise)."
Rice said the U.S. should approve domestic pipelines that link to markets and LNG export terminals, authorize new LNG export facilities five times quicker, and urge international communities to replace coal with U.S. LNG.
"LNG and U.S. LNG exports is the biggest green initiative on the planet, and that's something that we should all start getting up and talking about," Rice also told an audience of industry executives at Hart Energy's DUG East conference in Pittsburgh. Rice said every 1 Bcf of shale gas that replaces coal results in a net cut of 30 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
The EQT CEO's sentiments were echoed by CNX Resources Corp. CEO Nick DeIuliis, who also offered harsh words for government, regulators and environmental activists who oppose natural gas.