-Cheniere Energy will proceed with the construction of its Corpus Christi Liquefaction project, the company announced Wednesday. Cheniere received approval to export LNG earlier this week. The first of two liquefaction trains being built is expected to start up in 2018, with the second going into service six to nine months later.
-Workers on strike at Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery will vote Monday on a new contract developed by a federal mediator. Via Reuters, the new proposal came about after the National Labor Relations Board found merit to charges brought by the union against Marathon related to the company’s actions during contract negotiations. The union workers rejected the company’s “last, best and final” offer last month.
-Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm pushed back against recent comments by a Saudi official that the kingdom has priced U.S. producers out of the global oil market. Via CNBC, Hamm said the Saudis’ bluster could encourage American lawmakers to end the ban on domestic crude oil exports. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) introduced a bill earlier this week that would end the ban.
-Meanwhile, IHS said in a new report fracking technology could unleash 141 billion barrels of crude from unproductive fields outside the U.S. Via FuelFix, nearly 70 billion barrels could be produced from the Middle East and 25 million from Latin America. Most of that would come from onshore fields.
-Shell is still in the market for bolt-on acquisitions despite its recent agreement to acquire BG Group for $70 billion. Via Reuters, Marvin Odum, director of Shell’s Americas exploration and production business, said his company would consider small deals in North American regions where it already operates, such as the Permian Basin, the Utica Shale and western Canada.
