The following story highlights what should be, in our opinion, a crime: Foreign liquefied natural gas (LNG), in record amounts, is coming to Boston and being offloaded into the Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline in order to meet the high demand of New Englanders for gas. In fact, a new record has just been set for the amount of foreign LNG imports flowing for a single day. Maddening.

What’s maddening is that there’s more than enough cheap, locally-extracted natural gas from the Marcellus just a few hundred miles away that could feed New England–except new pipelines are being blocked by Andrew Cuomo (NY) and idiot politicians in New England. So they import LNG from foreigners instead.

The following press release from Excelerate Energy crows about a new record set for LNG flowing through their offshore “terminal”. The release does not mention where the LNG comes from. Based on our own research, it seems likely most of the LNG comes from Trinidad & Tobago. However, it’s also possible LNG has arrived from Russia, which happened last year too (see 2nd LNG Tanker with Russian Gas Coming to Boston?!).

This is madness–that we can’t ship LNG from the U.S. to Boston due to a law (the Jones Act) over 100 years old, and because pipelines are being illegally blocked by people like Cuomo. Enough!

Excelerate Energy L.P.’s (Excelerate’s) Northeast Gateway Deepwater Terminal (Northeast Gateway), located offshore Boston, reached a peak send-out flow rate of over 800,000 MMBTU per day of natural gas on February 1, 2019, a first for the terminal. The operation was completed by two of Excelerate’s floating storage regasification units (FSRUs), Exemplar and Express discharging in parallel through Excelerate’s proprietary offshore buoys.

During the coldest days of the year, demand for natural gas from residential customers rises in New England. Historically, during these times, as natural gas deliverability becomes constrained, power generators have been forced to burn dirtier fuels such as oil. This year, liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Excelerate’s Northeast Gateway facility have complimented the system by providing a stable, reliable supply of clean energy during this peak demand, allowing generators to continue burning natural gas.

The terminal is designed to respond to local market conditions in real-time and can ramp up service to ensure energy providers meet customer demand. At a flow rate of 800,000 MMBTU per day, this represents approximately the average gas demand of power generators during recent January – February periods.

“Excelerate’s Northeast Gateway has helped New England prepare for the winter months by supplying natural gas to meet the increased energy demand of the region,” stated Excelerate’s Managing Director Steven Kobos. “Deliveries of LNG directly into the Algonquin system helps to bring much-needed market stability and fuel security to the Northeast, an added benefit for consumers.”

Located 13 miles offshore Boston, Excelerate commissioned Northeast Gateway in 2008. The terminal consists of a dual submerged turret-loading buoy system which allows for the connection of FSRUs that have been specifically designed to meet the challenging conditions of the North Atlantic. FSRUs act, in all aspects, similar to a land-based terminal and have the onboard capability to vaporize LNG and deliver natural gas directly into the existing subsea HubLine pipeline operated by Enbridge’s Algonquin Gas Transmission.*

A few observations about the above. We hold no grudges against Excelerate Energy–they’re in business and doing business and justifiably proud of their accomplishment. They just flowed 800 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas from their offshore “terminal” to the Algonquin pipeline.

Speaking of which, the Excelerate “terminal” is two big ships parked 13 miles off the coast, with pipelines connected to them. When you read “terminal”–it means ship. Here’s a picture of it:

The offshore “terminal” which stores the LNG, regassifies it, and sends it through an underwater pipeline, was set up in 2008.

What the press release does not tell you is where the incoming LNG is from. They don’t want to inflame people’s just sense of outrage that the LNG is coming here from foreign countries, when we have plenty of our own domestic natgas that could flow to New England. That is the problem.

We suppose we would feel a little better if the LNG being offloaded at Excelerate’s Northeast Gateway was coming from the U.S.–but as we mentioned, it can’t because of an arcane law called the Jones Act that requires LNG tankers to be owned by U.S. companies and manned by U.S. personnel. Such LNG tankers simply don’t exist.

*Excelerate Energy (Feb 8, 2019) – LNG Imports Helping New England Meet Energy Demand During Extreme Cold Weather

Short video about Excelerate’s Northeast Gateway: