So you might be surprised to learn that on January 30, 2018 a Russian liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) shipment finished getting unloaded just outside Boston at the Distrigas terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. The gas was produced from the South Tambey Field and processed at the Yamal gas plant, both in the far North of Russia. The majority owner of Yamal is a Russian company called Novatek, and that company was sanctioned by President Obama in 2014 because one of the company’s owners was a Putin ally deemed complicit in Russia’s interference with Ukraine.
There was a bit of a loophole in the sanctions, which mostly just prevented Americans from providing future financing to Yamal. Other investors included the French company Total, the Chinese companies CNPC and Silk Road Fund. The Yamal project just began shipments, and the French-owned Distrigas facility outside Boston needed more gas to deal with the cold snap in New England. There is no law against buying LNG from the Russian company, so Distrigas brought in their first-even shipment of Russian gas. New England has also been burning millions of barrels of oil to counter the gas shortage.
It is a shame to see Boston burning oil and Russian gas while production of natural gas is booming not too far away in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Luckily, new pipelines connecting Appalachia to the Northeast are being built at a rapid pace. If your company wants to help fill these pipelines, call Cimmaron Land at (412) 212-7517 to learn about opportunities for acquiring drilling rights in the area.