American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2018 - 14

IndustryDigest
German Government
Signals Support For
LNG Import Terminal

Senate-Approved Bill
Provides $10.5 Billion
To U.S. Water Projects

NEW YORK-German Chancellor
Angela Merkel has signaled her
government's support for a liquefied
natural gas import terminal that could
open the way for U.S. natural gas
exports to the European nation,
according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal says that during an
early-October breakfast meeting,
Merkel "told a small group of
lawmakers her government had decided
to co-finance construction of a $576
million LNG terminal in northern
Germany."
The article quotes "German and U.S.
officials" as saying Berlin hopes
embracing U.S. gas may help solve a
protracted trade dispute and possibly
defuse threats by U.S. President Donald
Trump to sanction the proposed Nord
Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas
pipeline. However, the article also cites
"a German government spokesman"
who says the decision to fund a terminal
"was made in accordance with
commercial interests and not U.S.
pressure."
Either way, The Journal continues,
"On Oct. 16, less than a week after the
meeting, an international consortium
filed its first official bid for state
support for a terminal in the northern
town of Stade, near Hamburg."
That consortium includes Australian
financial group Macquarie Ltd., China
Harbour Engineering Company Ltd.,
and U.S.-based DowDuPont Inc., which
owns a 1,400-acre industrial site on the
Elbe River, where the LNG terminal
would be sited.
A separate, Bloomberg, report says
the Stade facility eventually will be able
to handle as much as 15 percent of
Germany's gas imports. Russia accounts
for more than 50 percent of German gas
imports, according to British
Petroleum's 2018 Statistical Review of
World Energy.
The Wall Street Journal also
mentions that two other consortia are
expected to file competing applications
for government support for LNG
terminals in the town of Brunsbüttel, 30
miles north of Stade, and in
Wilhelmshaven, a nearby marine base
that has a deep-sea container ship
terminal. r

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Senate
passed a bipartisan water infrastructure
bill on Oct. 10 on a vote of 99 to 1.
Senator John Barrasso, R-Wy., one of S
2800's sponsors, says the legislation
will cut federal red tape, grow the
nation's economy, help keep
communities safe and give local
stakeholders more control over projects.
The House of Representatives already
has passed the $10.5 billion bill.
America's Water Infrastructure Act
of 2018 requires the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to submit a five-year
budget and work plan for projects of
national significance to Congress each
fiscal year. All Corps districts also must
submit their budgets and work plans
each fiscal year.
According to the bill, projects must
be carried out in a sustainable manner
that focuses on water resource
challenges and opportunities, promotes
collaboration and pursues integrated
water resource management.
The American Petroleum Institute
says the bill will ensure the nation's gas
and oil producers are able to continue to
provide affordable energy to consumers.
"Maintaining and enhancing our
ports and water infrastructure is vital to
keeping America's energy industry
competitive in a global marketplace,"
says API Vice President Group Director
Robin Rorick, who adds the bill
includes an API-supported Corps
transparency provision that will help the
pipeline permitting process. The
provision creates a database to track
Corps real estate assets, which will
assist companies constructing projects,
including pipelines and well sites, to
determine if their activities will impact
Corps-owned real estate.
Among its provisions, S 2800 also
· Amends the Water Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 to
authorize EPA to provide financial
assistance to state infrastructure
financing authorities for state loan funds
to support water and wastewater
infrastructure projects.
· Reauthorizes provisions of the
Water Resources Reform and
Development Act of 2014 pertaining to
expedited consideration of water
resources infrastructure through 2024;

14 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

· Requires the Environmental
Protection Agency to establish a voluntary
stormwater infrastructure funding task
force to develop recommendations to
improve funding and financing of
stormwater infrastructure; and
· Provides for establishing a Corps
board of appeals;
"This legislation invests in the
critical water infrastructure that we
don't see every day, but that American
families in every state rely on, such as
drinking water systems, dams,
reservoirs, levees and ports," says
Senator Tom Carper, D-De., ranking
member of the Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works. r

BSEE Releases Revised
Production Safety Rules
WASHINGTON-The Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement
has finalized its updates to offshore oil
and gas production safety systems
regulations.
The Oil and Gas Production Safety
Systems Rule, also known as Subpart
H, addresses safety and pollution
control equipment, subsea safety
devices, and safety device testing for oil
and gas production on the Outer
Continental Shelf, BSEE says.
Following issuance of executive and
secretarial orders in 2017, the agency
analyzed all 484 provisions in the
original 2016 Production Safety
Systems Rule and determined 84 were
appropriate for revision or deletion. The
new rule, which was proposed in
December, adds seven provisions.
According to the agency, it
compared all provisions in the final rule
with the 424 recommendations arising
from 26 reports from 14 organizations
developed in response to the 2010
Deepwater Horizon blowout and spill,
and determined that changes to Subpart
H would not contradict or ignore any of
those recommendations or any
provision of the 2016 rule. The rule
becomes effective Dec. 27.
In addition to measures that reduce
unneeded notifications and clarify when
operators must provide documentation,
BSEE says the final rule codifies 12
updated industry standards, which now
will be enforceable regulations.
Among its provisions, the revised rule:
· Adds gas line shutdown valves to
the list of safety and pollution
American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2018

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