-Construction has begun on Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG export facility on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Via LNG Industry Magazine, the project is expected to cost between $3.4 billion and $3.8 billion and create thousands of construction jobs. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved construction of the facility in September. It is expected to begin operating in 2017.
-Meanwhile, Freeport LNG secured financing for the construction of the first of its three liquefaction trains. Debt financing of $3.85 billion will be provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and six Japanese commercial banks. Osaka Gas and Chubu Electric Power Co. — both of which have purchase agreements with Freeport LNG — will lend an additional $1.2 billion in equity financing. Construction on the first train is expected to start in the first quarter of 2015. Freeport LNG said it would announce financing for the facility’s second train soon.
-Marathon Petroleum CEO Gary Heminger today spoke out against an effort by oil producers to end the U.S. ban on crude oil exports — a move he said would threaten refiners. Via FuelFix, Heminger said the amount of new processing capacity the refining industry is investing in would exceed what the shale boom will deliver. Oil producers have based their argument on the assertion that U.S. shale plays are generating more light, sweet crude oil than domestic refiners can process.
-The U.S. shale boom helped reduce fuel prices by as much as $0.94 in 2013, according to a new report by ICF International. Without fracking in the U.S., international oil prices could have averaged as much as $150 per barrel — a $40 increase. U.S. consumers saved as much as $248 billion. The study also found that fracking accounted for 48% of all U.S. oil production in 2013 — up from 11% in 2008.
-Royal Dutch Shell appointed former Bank of America and DuPont chairman Charles Holliday as its new chairman. He will replace Jorma Ollila, who is stepping down, next year. Holliday will be the Dutch company’s first American chairman.
