American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2019 - 31

thanks to market forces and the genius of
the private sector, not the heavy hand of
government regulation."

Numerous U.S. allies want to import
U.S. liquefied natural gas because they
are confident in the country's regulatory
systems and government, relates Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Chairman Neil Chatterjee. He added
that those countries also liked how
U.S. imports could reduce their dependence on Russian gas.

implementation plans; some of them a
couple decades old. We have gotten rid
of 400 of them," Wheeler reported. "During
the last year, alone, we have reduced our
permitting backlog 52%. While we are
reducing the backlog, we also are keeping
up with current applications. I don't see
any future administration coming in and
saying it will slow permits and SIPs.
"When we (started work at) the agency,
we were shocked that it didn't even track
how long it took to process a permit," he
added. "You cannot improve a process
when you don't know how long it takes."
Discussing an emphasis on substance
over symbolism, Wheeler mentioned
his experience at G7 and G20 environmental ministers' meetings, where he
told his counterparts that the United
States extracted and refined its petroleum
in a cleaner, more reliable and predictable manner than other exporting
countries. "Those that oppose U.S. energy production actually are taking the
most environmentally preferable fossil
fuel off the table for the rest of the
world," he considered.
Wheeler said he was sure to remind
his G7 colleagues that the United States
had reduced carbon dioxide emissions
more than any of their countries. "From
2005 to 2017, the United States reduced
its energy-related CO2 emissions 14%,"
he reported. "While these reductions occurred, we became the world's number
one energy producer. In contrast, global
energy-related CO2 emissions have increased roughly 15% during the same
time. While other nations talk about reducing emissions, we actually are doing
it, including CO2. And we are doing it

LNG Division
During a forum moderated by Steptoe
& Johnson PLLC attorney Kurt Krieger,
FERC Chairman Chatterjee noted that
before February 2019, FERC had gone
almost two years without approving an
LNG export facility. As recently as summer
2018, he said, it seemed possible the
United States would fumble away an opportunity that presented significant economic, environmental and geopolitical
implications.
"Numerous allies, from Western Europe
to Asia, say they want to do business
with the United States because they have
confidence in our regulatory systems and
government," Chatterjee detailed. "They
also want a counterweight to their dependence on Russian gas."
FERC's staff is brilliant and hardworking, he assured, but the commission's
responsibilities are significant, and some
LNG facility applications can be as long
as 50,000 pages. He noted that the commission cut through some of that red
tape by signing a historic memorandum
of understanding with the Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
to eliminate duplicative regulations.
"We have been able to approve seven
LNG export facilities or expansions, with
more in the queue," he reported. "I am
very proud what we have been able to
pull together in that amount of time, but
I want to ensure that the commission
does not find itself in this position again.
When the next wave comes along, we
must be better prepared, so we created
an LNG division within our Office of
Energy Projects."
In an effort to attract and retain the

engineers, lawyers and professionals needed at the agency, Chatterjee noted, FERC
is opening a Houston office. "Houston is
the epicenter of the energy universe," he
compared. "Some folks in that area may
not be willing to move to Washington,
but if given the opportunity to work for
their country and the government while
staying home in Houston, we may be
able to attract some top-notch talent to
support our staff in Washington."
While FERC should not erect unnecessary barriers to U.S. LNG exports, it
also should avoid a misguided paternalism
that assumes it knows the right size for
U.S. export capacity, Chatterjee warned.
"I don't think regulatory bureaucrats
in Washington should make determinations
about the need for a particular project,
whether it be pipelines or LNG export
facilities," he advised. "While we consider
whether there are contracts in place when
evaluating applications, the commission
has approved some projects that were
never built because marketplace participants determined there was no market
for that particular project. That is the
way it ought to be. We need to do our
jobs within the parameters and statutes
that govern us to determine whether a
project application is legally viable. If it
is legally viable, we approve it, and then
you make the calculation on whether it is
worth it to get financing."
Nevertheless, he reiterated, U.S. allies
were expressing keen interest in U.S.
LNG. "I was in western Europe, speaking
with a European Union regulator, and I
noted the delta of cost between piped-in
Russian gas and shipped-in U.S. LNG,"
Chatterjee recounted. "The regulator very
candidly responded that freedom has a
price and his country was willing to pay
that price for diversification of fuel supply."
❒

Douglas Matthews of
United States Steel
Corporation (right)
presents the 64th Annual Chief Roughneck
Award to Occidental
President and Chief
Executive Officer Vicki
Hollub. The induction
ceremony included a
short film that focused on her love of
and experience as a
student at the University of Alabama.

DECEMBER 2019 31

American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2019

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