Sempra Energy has sold its U.S. natural gas storage facilities to ArcLight Capital Partners, a private equity firm, for $328 million in cash. Those facilities are now part of ArcLight’s Enstor natural gas storage platform. Included in the sale were the non-utility natural gas storage assets of the Mississippi Hub in Simpson County, Mississippi, and the Bay Gas storage facility in southwest Alabama, which tout working capacities of 22.3 billion cubic feet and 20.4 Bcf, respectively. A month prior to the announcement of the deal, the company sold its U.S. solar assets for $1.6 billion, and it is currently seeking a buyer for its U.S. wind assets.
Despite Alaska’s recession—and despite the state having the highest unemployment rate in the nation—the oil and gas industry is seeing positive job growth there. The end of 2018 saw an increase in industry employment from 2017, and energy companies are expecting a need for more workers through 2019. According to ConocoPhillips spokesperson Meredith Kenny, the energy corporation is anticipating hiring about 800 contractors during the 2019 construction and exploration season. This job growth aligns with Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s forecast of modest growth.
Leaders in the Dallas community, including those at Atmos Energy, took part in breaking ground for a new special needs playground called PlayGrand Adventures. Atmos Energy contributed $30,000 toward the construction of the 10-acre playground, which will be one of the largest in the country, according to an Atmos Energy news release. “This playground will offer ‘therapeutic recreation,’ which considers the physical, sensory and social needs of children, providing a great experience not only for the kids, but for the parents and grandparents who bring them to the park,” said Celina Cardenas, manager of communications at Atmos Energy.
Employees at Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company teamed up to provide a record-breaking amount of donations to 27 nonprofit agencies and organizations across their service territories in 2018. As part of the utilities’ joint employee-driven campaign, The Power of One, more than $2 million was granted to 27 nonprofits that serve nearly all 120 counties across Kentucky, more than 50 counties in Indiana and parts of Virginia. According to Lonnie Bellar, LG&E and KU chief operating officer and co-chair of the 2018 Power of One campaign, it is the largest amount of funds raised during the campaign’s 14-year history, and it’s the second straight year the campaign has surpassed $2 million in donations. Since 2005, the campaign has raised nearly $24 million.
Several natural gas utilities made Fortune’s most recent list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Exelon, Sempra Energy and Xcel Energy all were named to the coveted list. Out of the companies in the Electric and Gas Utilities category, Dominion came in first. None of these companies is a first-timer on the list, as they continue to lead the industry year after year. Fortune, which has published the list for more than 30 years, measures companies based on several factors, such as investment value, social responsibility and the ability to attract talent, among others.
Southern California Gas Company and Onboard Dynamics Inc. announced the demonstration of GoFlo® CNG80, a mobile compressor technology that provides on-site backup and supplemental compression at natural gas fueling stations. The new mobile compressors are being demonstrated in Lancaster, California, at the Antelope Valley School Transportation Agency, where 43 school buses that use natural gas refuel at AVSTA’s fleet yard. SoCalGas and ObDI are funding the demonstration to prove the mobile compressors’ performance. This is the second phase of the GoFlo field demonstration, following field testing at Mountain View School District in South El Monte, California, where the district saw improved on-site refueling of eight CNG-powered school buses, improved fuel costs and reduced vehicle fuel costs.
Operators are now looking beyond the southern U.S. border for greenfield opportunities for natural gas storage, according to industry experts who spoke at the recent S&P Global Platts’ Gas Storage Outlook Conference in Houston. Some operators are working to build gas storage in Mexico that would be tied to pipeline projects, but according to a Natural Gas Intelligence article from late 2018, that’s not a reality yet. However, EnerGnostics LLC Managing Director John M. Hopper, who has been working on storage projects in Mexico, believes the process will be accelerated in that country. Mexico’s energy ministry published a public policy for storage that calls for 45 billion cubic feet of inventory by 2026, and while the ministry has not given the order to proceed with the tender, the depleted Jaf dry gas field may be the construction site for the first 10 Bcf.
After a significant spike in U.S. liquefied natural gas sales to Europe, the continent is now the top buyer of U.S. LNG, according to analysis from Reuters. From October 2018 to January 2019, U.S. LNG shipments to Europe totaled 3.23 million tons, more than four times the 0.7 million tons shipped the previous year. Sellers have reportedly been looking more closely at Europe after prices fell in Asia because of lower-thanexpected demand. Meanwhile, prices in Europe have held steady. With this report, Europe overtakes South Korea and Mexico as the top buyer of U.S. LNG, and the United States is now second only to Qatar—the world’s largest LNG producer—in supplying LNG to the continent.
The Canadian province of Ontario is providing $27 million toward the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Nipigon, on the north shore of Lake Superior. The plant will liquefy natural gas and truck it to customers in the surrounding communities of Marathon, Terrace Bay, Schreiber, Manitouwadge and Wawa. This funding stems from the passage of the Access to Natural Gas Act, designed to expand natural gas distribution systems to more rural parts of Ontario. The province said there is an additional $3.4 million investment in the development of the plant’s engineering and design plans. This initiative is expected to create up to 2,800 jobs and save residents an estimated $181.3 million and businesses $65.3 million in energy costs over 40 years.