Agricultural Sciences

Webinar to examine impacts of liquefied natural gas on U.S. exports

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A Web-based seminar presented by Penn State Extension's Marcellus Education Team will focus on how sharply higher volumes of liquefied natural gas -- generated by the shale gas boom in Pennsylvania and other places -- will boost United States' exports.

The one-hour presentation, which begins at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 8, will feature Sugandha Tuladhar, vice president of NERA Economic Consulting. He will discuss the results of a new study sponsored by Cheniere Energy Inc., titled "Updated Macroeconomic Impacts of LNG Exports from the United States."

That report is an update of the study of the macroeconomic impacts of liquefied natural gas exports that was issued by the U.S. Department of Energy in December 2012.

In 2013, the United States produced more than 24.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Tuladhar noted. With the continued increase in natural gas production, more talk has turned to exporting it in the form of liquefied natural gas -- or LNG. The LNG export potential from the United States is enormous and the economic impacts will be significant, he predicted.

"The new study responds to several issues raised since the first study, including use of current data, cumulative impacts of additional license approvals, impacts on the competitiveness of the U.S. chemicals industry and impacts of LNG exports on employment," Tuladhar said.

"The study addresses 63 scenarios for potential LNG exports, looking at a mix of assumptions relating to U.S. natural gas supply, the international supply and demand and the future capacity and rate of growth of U.S. LNG exports. LNG exports from the United States provide net economic benefits in all the scenarios we investigated, and the greater the level of exports, the greater the benefits"

Penn State Extension's Marcellus Education Team has been providing at least monthly webinars on a variety of topics. Upcoming webinars include:

-- May 15: "World Oil and Gas Resources, Consumption and New Trends According to U.S. EIA," Aloulou Fawzi, industry economist and project manager for the exploration and production team, Energy Information Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy;

-- June 19: "Utica/Pt. Pleasant -- Where are We at Now?" Manuj Nikhanj, managing director, head of Energy Research, ITG Investment Research;

-- July 17: "Industry Workforce and Training," Penn College of Technology and Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry;

-- Aug. 21: "Natural Gas Processing and Effects on Royalty Income Streams," Steven Karabin, PNGE, RL, president and CEO, the Rhino Group.

The webinars are free, but participants must register on the events page of the Penn State Extension Natural Gas website at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas/events. The site also offers information about upcoming webinars. It is important that all who register provide an email address to receive the link to the upcoming webinar.

Previous webinars, publications and information also are available on the Penn State Extension natural-gas website, covering a variety of topics, such as natural gas production and waste figures; oil and gas best practices; Act 13 (Pennsylvania's oil and gas law); the volume of gas in shale formations under Pennsylvania; seismic testing; air pollution from gas development; water use and quality; natural gas liquids regional development; royalties; gas-leasing considerations for landowners; gas pipelines and right-of-way issues; legal issues surrounding gas development; the impact of Marcellus gas development on forestland; gas pipelines and pipeline project trends; royalty calculations and decline curves; and the reclamation of cuttings from the drilling of shale gas wells.

For more information, contact Carol Loveland at 570-320-4429 or by email at cal24@psu.edu.

In 2013, the United States produced more than 24 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. With the continued increase in natural gas production, more talk has turned to exporting it in the form of liquefied natural gas -- or LNG. The LNG export potential from the United States is enormous and the economic impacts are predicted to be great. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated January 9, 2015

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