Publishing date: Feb 21, 2021 • February 21, 2021 • 7 minute read •
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(Bloomberg) The urgent phone calls came over the holiday weekend: traders of natural gas needed more money, and fast.
Temperatures were starting to plummet across the central U.S. Prices for the heating fuel had skyrocketed 300-fold to levels nobody had thought possible. This would later prove to be the precursor of one of the worst energy crises the nation had seen, plunging millions into darkness for days amid a deadly deep freeze.
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Record U.S. winter storm deeply impacts global LNG markets By Sergio Chapa and Gerson Freitas Jr. on 2/17/2021
Sempra LNG plant, Texas
(Bloomberg) The Arctic blast that has wreaked havoc on U.S. energy markets is now poised to reverberate internationally as it slows shipments of liquefied natural gas from the Gulf Coast.
Power disruptions at export facilities, closed ship channels and a reduction in the flow of natural gas have held back LNG tankers off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.
Thatâs just the latest setback for LNG facilities that have endured pandemic-driven demand destruction, canceled cargoes, a hyperactive hurricane season, Panama Canal delays, record shipping costs and dense fog that halted tanker traffic.
Biden Blocking Keystone Threatens to End Mega Pipelines Era By Gerson Freitas Jr., Rachel Adams-Heard and Ellen Gilmer | January 22, 2021
Joe Biden’s move to block the $9 billion Keystone XL project is the clearest sign yet that constructing a major new pipeline in the U.S. has become an impossible task.
The incoming president has pledged to reshape the U.S. energy sector and accelerate the transition from fossil fuels, and the cancellation of the proposed link to Canada’s oil sands will be one of his first big environmental actions.
Even before Biden’s inauguration Wednesday, the oil and gas industry was on its back foot when it came to building major new infrastructure. Despite Donald Trump’s pro-fossil-fuel policies, energy companies such as Williams Cos. and Dominion Energy Inc. have been forced to scrap new projects in the face of stiff opposition.
U.S. Energy Transition to Fuel Utility Dealmaking in 2021
Bloomberg 1/15/2021 Kiel Porter, Brian Eckhouse, Mark Chediak and Will Wade
(Bloomberg) Utility dealmaking is poised to pick up in 2021 as companies shake off a dour year that saw the least activity in more than a decade.
While energy powerhouses including NextEra Energy Inc. are on the hunt for their next big acquisition, others may look to shed their natural gas arms or other assets to simplify their businesses and meet climate goals.
“We believe 2021 will be a volatile and intense year, with incredible pace,” said George Bilicic, vice chairman of investment banking and the global head of Power, Energy & Infrastructure at Lazard Ltd. “It is completely possible to see a couple or more very large transactions, whether of a merger-of-equals type or otherwise.”