Biden suspends gas exports: Will this impact producers?

In this article:

The Biden administration will be freezing liquified natural gas exports (NG=F) and suspending licenses to export LNG from the US.

Lipow Oil Associates President Andy Lipow details natural gas producers' options to abide by President Biden's carbon emission standards.

Lipow also weighs in on oil (CL=F, BZ=F) following escalations in the Red Sea as Yemen Houthi rebels claim responsibility for a missile attack on an oil tanker.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

JOSH LIPTON: I'll actually start and draw on that headline, this decision of the Biden administration to pause approval, Andy, of LNG Exports. And Biden is talking tough here. He says this pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is, the existential threat of our time.

So listen, big headline here, Andy. But really kind of bottom line this for us. What does this actually mean, Andy? What kind of impact does this actually have?

ANDY LIPOW: Well, thanks very much for having me. In the near term, the impact is very limited. We actually have three large LNG export facilities that are coming on stream in the next 12 to 18 months on the Gulf Coast, which will make the US an even bigger LNG exporter. What these new rules do is delay these several projects that were underway looking for their final permits, so they could go ahead with the construction. But those plants wouldn't be coming on stream until 2027 or beyond.

I think in the context of world energy supply, we have Russia's invasion of the Ukraine resulted in Europe, really eliminating the majority of its natural gas imports from Russia. They've been turning to the United States and other suppliers to fill in that gap. And that's where I see the biggest issue going forward.

JULIE HYMAN: Hey, Andy. It's Julie here. Are we going to see some of the LNG producers and exporters in the US? Are there any kind of measures they can take to, say, offset emissions that then would satisfy the administration?

ANDY LIPOW: Well, I think one of the biggest things that producers look at here in the United States is this carbon capture and sequestration, meaning that, as they produce the oil, especially if the natural gas is being burnt off into the atmosphere, to put that back and re-inject it into the ground or any of their carbon dioxide emissions need to be re-injected into the ground to lower what we call their carbon intensity.

JOSH LIPTON: And, Andy, I want to switch gears here a bit. Let's talk about oil. I'm looking at Brent here at 78. Where do you see that price headed, Andy, in the near to intermediate term here?

ANDY LIPOW: Well, today, we had an event in the Red Sea where a missile struck an oil tanker that was on its way from the Mediterranean to Singapore. And that caused the oil market to completely turn around. We were down $1 this morning. We're up about $0.70 this afternoon. And these geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are causing the oil market to price in a higher probability of a supply disruption. So as a result, I'm expecting that we could see $80 WTI here in the next couple of weeks. And that, of course, translates into higher gasoline and diesel prices for the consumer.

Advertisement