America’s Most Unlikely Energy Project Is Rising From a Louisiana Bayou - Bloomberg Business

America’s Most Unlikely Energy Project Is Rising From a Louisiana Bayou - Bloomberg Business:

"From a mile away, at the distant end of a flat, two-lane road, the Sabine Pass Liquefied Natural Gas terminal materializes like an alien city from the haze of the Louisiana bayou. Five white cylinders with domed tops, each 140 feet tall and 225 feet in diameter, rise from the empty horizon. Set on the Texas border 4 miles from the mouth of the Sabine River on the Gulf Coast, the terminal is one of the largest industrial energy facilities under construction in North America. The domes, made of nickel alloy and wrapped in a layer of carbon steel, are essentially giant freezers, each capable of holding 81,000 tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at -260F.

Cheniere Energy, based in Houston, has spent more than a decade, and upwards of $20 billion, turning 1,000 acres of swamp into the first LNG export terminal in the continental U.S. When the terminal goes live later this year, it will change the dynamics of the energy market in North America. The U.S. will be on its way to becoming a net exporter of natural gas. About 700 million cubic feet of the stuff will begin arriving each day from all over the country—from Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and as far away as North Dakota—to this spot at the end of America’s natural gas pipeline network.

At the terminal, the gas will circulate through roughly a mile of steel pipes and refrigeration systems organized into metal racks spread out across the plant. The racks aren’t unlike the one on the back of a household refrigerator, except they’re 500 feet wide and a quarter of a mile long. In the heart of each rack are two “cold boxes,” the biggest of which is a 1,400-ton, seven-story steel rectangle. Those boxes are the property of ConocoPhillips. What happens inside is so secret that a Cheniere employee can’t go in without being accompanied by someone from ConocoPhillips."



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MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt up after govt reshuffle; Gulf falls alongside oil | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt up after govt reshuffle; Gulf falls alongside oil | Reuters:

"Most Gulf stock markets fell on Sunday, tracking oil prices, while Egypt rose after the country's oil minister, a successful reformer, was asked to form
a new government.
The Cairo index climbed 0.6 percent with most stocks positive after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday asked Oil Minister Sherif Ismail to name a new cabinet.

The government had submitted its resignation shortly after authorities arrested Egypt's agriculture minister over corruption allegations."



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MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi rises on FTSE review; Egypt up after govt reshuffle | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi rises on FTSE review; Egypt up after govt reshuffle | Reuters:



"Saudi Arabia's stock market rose in early trade on Sunday after index compiler FTSE added the country to its watchlist for potential upgrade and Egypt edged up after the Cairo government resigned.

Saudi Arabia's main stock index rose 1.1 percent and most stocks were positive. Real estate companies did particularly well: Jabal Omar jumped 3.0 percent and Dar Al Arkan was up 2.8 percent.

FTSE on Friday added Saudi Arabia to its watch list for possible inclusion in the emerging markets category, following the opening of its stock market to qualified institutional investors in June."



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Saudis Are Winning the War on Shale - Bloomberg View

Saudis Are Winning the War on Shale - Bloomberg View:



"If you believe all the recent stories about how Saudi Arabia is losing the price war it started against U.S. tight oil producers last year, the new Oil Market Report from the International Energy Agency offers a reality check. The Saudis are winning, though they're paying a heavy price for it.

The narrative about U.S. shale's resilience in the face of the Saudi decision to drive up production, prices be damned, centers on the American industry's ability to cut costs and use innovative technology to repel the brute force onslaught. There is a kind of David versus Goliath charm to this story, but the data don't bear it out. The IEA, the world's most respected independent source of information about the oil market, has changed its methodology for measuring U.S. output: It now polls producers, instead of relying on data from states. And the switch has caused the agency to revise production data for the first half of 2015, showing a noticeable slowdown. 

The U.S. is still pumping more than it did last year, but the output is declining:"



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MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf mixed; Kuwait's Americana drops on stake sale comment | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf mixed; Kuwait's Americana drops on stake sale comment | Reuters:

"Gulf stock markets were little changed in thin early trade on Sunday, while Kuwait Food (Americana) fell after saying it had received no binding offers from suitors.

Americana shares were down 2.4 percent on a Kuwait stock index off by just 0.09 percent.

The company, backed by Kuwait's billionaire al-Kharafi family, said talks were under way with several parties interested in buying a stake in it."



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