Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK)

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New deeper Panama Canal Advantage!

After a series of construction setbacks, the Panama Canal expansion is finally expected to come online by mid-2016. The wider, deeper canal locks will enable any LPG ship (up through Very Large Gas Carriers, or VLGCs) on the planet to take the time- and money-saving short-cut, and also will accommodate all but a few of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels. That can only help U.S. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and LNG exporters, who for competitive reasons need the low transportation costs to Pacific Basin markets that shipping in super-bulk will provide. Today we discuss how the expansion project may boost exports of hydrocarbons from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Hawaii has announced plans to scrape the dirty oil fired electric power stations for new modern gas fired units.

Now, a long-delayed effort to build a third set of locks along the canal (to allow much larger ships to pass through) is finally nearing completion. A June 26, 2016, opening is planned. The primary products to be moving west through the waterway from the Caribbean to the Pacific would be U.S.-sourced LPG and LNG. U.S. producers like Chesapeake can count on LPG and LNG exports to keep the domestic market from being flooded with supply surpluses.

There is even a pipeline planned to send US NatGas across Mexico to an LPN terminal on the Pacific.