Export Permit Delays, Cost Gas Companies Millions

Rex Tillerson, the chief at Exxon Mobil said that delays in getting permits for natural gas exports approved has cost and is costing companies in the U.S. millions of dollars each day.

He also said that rival foreign companies are reaping the benefits by increasing their exports.

Tillerson spoke about this only hours after the new Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz told lawmakers in Washington that he would expeditiously start to evaluate the more than dozen applications awaiting approval for the exportation of LNG or liquefied natural gas.

The Exxon chief said the marketplace globally for natural gas is becoming increasingly more competitive each day.

He added the still was not sure when the new Secretary of Energy would approve his application. Exxon Mobil entered into a $10 billion joint venture to export LNG with Qatar Petroleum.

U.S. companies are required to receive authorization from the Energy Department in order to export natural gas to the majority of countries. The exception is the countries that have a current free trade agreement established with the U.S.

Both the countries of Japan and India along with others have shown interest in receiving supplies of the gas from the U.S.

Tillerson said there was not a good reason to start up the process of a gas export process if it took up to five years to just have someone look at its application.

A two-year freeze on reviewing the export application pertaining to LNG was lifted by the Energy Department in May, when it gave approval for gas to be exported from a Texas terminal to all countries.