Energy Briefs for Feb. 26

SPWLA to host Core Lab manager

Members of the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysist will meet February 28 in Midland College’s Carrasco Room beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Robert Lee, General Lab Manager over the US for Core Laboratories, will speak on “High Frequency NMR in Unconventional Core Analysis.”

Cost is $25 in advance, $35 at the door, including lunch. Reservations are available by calling 254-7059 or by email at PermianBasin@spwla.org. Online registration is also available at www.spwla.org and clicking on the Chapters tab and clicking North America to find the Permian Basin link.

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Energen engineer addresses SPE Completions and Operations group

The Completions and Operations Study Group of the Permian Basin section, Society of Petroleum Engineers, will meet March 2 at the Petroleum Club beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Travis Marvel, Staff Completions Engineer for Energen Resources, will address “Improving Results in the Permian Basin using Tailored Frac Placement Strategies.”

Cost is $25 in advance and $30 at the door, including lunch. Reservations may be made online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2883836.

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WTGS to host core workshop

The West Texas Geological Society will host a core workshop at the Midland County Horseshoe Complex from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 2.

Steve Melzer and Robert Trentham will present “San Andres: The New Frontier — Horizontals, Residual Oil and Core Workshop.”

Cost is $150 or $75 for full-time students, including lunch. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. or reservations may be made by calling 683-1573 or by email at wtgs@wtgs.org. Online registration is also available at www.wtgs.org and clicking on the Events tab.

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IAG Installs New COO

AMARILLO — Integrated Advantage Grouphas named Geoff Hicks chief operating officer. Hicks will have accountability for all of IAG’s business units, including Smart Chemical Services, Energy Precision Testing & Laboratory, Verde Solutions and Innova Zones.

Hicks is the president and co-founder of Panhandle Express Energy Services, LLC.

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US transitioning into a natural gas exporter

By Jordan Blum

The United States is on track to become a net exporter of gas next year, driven largely by the growth of liquefied natural gas exports, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

The U.S. started exporting LNG last year, courtesy of Houston-based Cheniere Energy, and the country is increasingly piping more natural gas to Mexico while, simultaneously, importing less gas via pipeline from Canada. The U.S. was still an overall net importer last year.

The nation is projected to become a net exporter of total energy products shortly after 2020, the Energy Department said, which was a virtually unheard of proposition just a decade ago.

Cheniere’s first LNG export facility at Louisiana’s Sabine Pass near the Texas border came online a year ago. Houston-based Freeport LNG Development’s export terminal is slated to start shipping LNG in 2018. Three other LNG export projects will be completed or under construction by 2021, including Cheniere’s other facility near Corpus Christi.

Because of the U.S. projects and a glut of new LNG exports from Australia, the world is projected to remain oversupplied with LNG beyond 2020, according to a new Moody’s Investors Service report. Likewise, the two largest LNG customers, Japan and South Korea, are expected to either have their demand decrease or remain flat.

China, India and other emerging markets will require more LNG in the future, but global demand won’t catch up with production until after 2020, Moody’s projects. After all, total new LNG global supplies will surge 44 percent from 2015 to 2020.

However, the U.S. will keep exporting more natural gas by pipeline to Mexico to feed power plants for electricity generation. U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico have doubled since 2009 and will continue growing through 2020. Several pipeline projects are currently under construction.