spotlight Spotlight on Keith Meyer - LNG America NOV PBN LNG America.pdf · “an outstanding operating team at Lake Charles” and a little good fortune, proved their “prize”

14 | November 2014 www.txgulf.org

LNG America announced plans with Greater Houston Port Bureau member Buffalo Marine

on October 20, 2014, to cooperate on the design of an LNG bunker fuel network for the U.S. Gulf Coast re-gion. It’s exciting stuff for all involved, but a passion for what he is doing began early for Keith Meyer, president and CEO of LNG America. He credits his father with instilling an enthusiastic and solid work ethic while growing up in Royal Oak, a suburb of Detroit, Michi-gan.

“As a very young child,” said Meyer, “I remember him telling me that he worked for the greatest company in the world, and I thought ‘wow, how lucky he was to have gotten a job at the greatest company in the world.’ Later in life I realized that whatever company you work for is the greatest company in the world and you should regard it as such and be happy that you work there.”

It’s a value he now passes on to his own five chil-dren: “I tell my kids: be passionate about what you do; don’t just do what you are passionate about.”

Meyer’s interest in the energy industry sparked while obtaining his B.S. in Finance at Wayne State University through a co-op program with American Natural Resources in their pipeline subsidiary (Michi-gan Wisconsin Pipeline Company, which later be-came ANR Pipeline). Through the co-op program, he worked one quarter, returned to school, then worked another quarter.

“They were a large interstate pipeline company and that was my first introduction to the gas business; I worked at ANR for 10 years,” recalled Meyer. “A co-op or internship program is a great way for a student to be exposed to the ‘real world’ and a great way for compa-nies to ‘test drive’ potential future workers.”

Meyer began his career with a position in corporate planning at the ANR Pipeline Company. Executive level retirements soon brought changes in upper man-agement, with a new president heading ANR. P. Chris-man Iribe, a newcomer to ANR, became the Corporate Planning department’s new VP. Meyer greeted Iribe on his first day on the job by showing up at his door and offering his help. Iribe took him up on the offer and Meyer was soon drafted to work on every special project coming down the pipe. He was next assigned as manager to a new group: strategic planning.

Meyer defined the mission of the new strategic planning group as “to look on the horizon to see what might be coming up and then to develop a strategy to position the company to take advantage of it when it did come up.” It is a mission he is still practicing today.

Price decontrol and pipeline industry deregulation created tumultuous times in the early 1980s. Deregula-tion took the pipelines out of their traditional role of buying and selling gas and limited them to transport-ing. However, thousands of potential new customers emerged as industrial and commercial companies were

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Spotlight on Keith Meyer President & CEO, LNG America

Keith Meyer, President & CEO, LNG America

Christine Schlenker & Judith Schultz, GHPB

Greater Houston Port Bureau | 15

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BARGING AHEADever so politely.

B Buffalo Marine Service, Inc. www.BuffaloMarine.com

free to buy gas directly and have the pipelines haul the gas for them.

“Most of the large pipeline companies were fighting deregulation at the federal level but at ANR – largely by the urging of the Strategic Planning Department - we decided to embrace the change,” said Meyer. “I spent many nights and weekends developing an initia-tive I called ‘operation airdrop’ which was a multifac-eted marketing campaign targeting the new industrial community to let them know we were there for them.”

Meyer secured the 800 number, “1-800-Haul Gas” and designed a direct mail and advertising program. He then moved to head up another new group within the marketing department called market services, which would oversee the campaign.

ANR’s marketing strategies were very success-ful, winning an AGA award. ANR pipeline earnings were way up, catching the eye of Oscar Wyatt and the Coastal Corporation, and becoming an irresistible takeover target.

Those years in the 1980s were an experience Meyer believes taught him “the importance and the achiev-ability of strategy combined with execution competency can lead to superior results.” Meyer became vice presi-dent of marketing for yet another new project: the Em-pire State Pipeline, a new pipeline in western New York – an area new to ANR and Coastal. It was in that role that melded strategy, business development, and overall project execution for a major infrastructure project.

LNG caught Meyer’s attention in 1990 when he went to work for CMS Energy, a large utility holding company. It was a new subsidiary charged with devel-oping a gas pipeline and storage business. The utility company (Consumers Power) was served by a large interstate pipeline (Panhandle Eastern/Trunkline Gas) that owned one of the four original U.S. LNG import terminals located at Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The company considered buying the Trunkline LNG terminal in 1994, but decided it was still early days. CMS also made a decision to go international, so with the knowledge gained from the Trunkline study,


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Meyer considered using small scale LNG as a means to move gas out of the Amazon, down the Amazon River, to displace oil in the power stations.

“I still think it was the best idea,” stated Meyer, “but Petrobras -- the Brazilian state-owned company that owned the gas -- wanted to build their own pipeline.”

Meyer moved to Houston in 1998 to direct mar-keting, supply, and business development and LNG for CMS Panhandle when CMS bought the entire Panhandle Eastern/Trunkline system. The purchase included the LNG import terminal in Lake Charles. This became Meyer’s opportunity to pursue his ideas of LNG development.

“My boss, Bill Haener, sent me down with a mis-sion to ‘see what you can do with the LNG terminal,’” Meyer recalled. “We called it the prize in the box of Cracker Jacks.”

A few changes, combined with what Meyer named “an outstanding operating team at Lake Charles” and a little good fortune, proved their “prize” to be a big

winner. “We became the number one spot importer of LNG, and then did a long term deal with BG for the entire capacity of the facility.”

Meyer’s successes have come with their share of significant challenges over the years. “It is hard to take market share from an incumbent fuel, particularly when the incumbent fuel is such a large industry with so much installed infrastructure as the oil industry,” stated Meyer. Despite the environmental benefits of reduced emissions, particulate matter, and greenhouse gases, fi-nancing has not always been readily available for LNG investments. “If the clean fuel or technology does not have a direct positive impact on the bottom line,” said Meyer, “it has a hard time being adopted without a government mandate or incentive.”

Meyer often considered pursuing his MBA, but it didn’t happen for 20 years. After his relocation to Houston, he became acquainted with the executive MBA program at Rice University. The time was right, and he found the experience useful.



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“The program was very intense but the experience was very beneficial. The program is geared towards executives, so the lessons learned were immediately ap-plicable at work. “

In turn, Meyer has been a lecturer of management courses at several universities. He has used these op-portunities to share the value energy brings to soci-ety. “Energy is a fundamental building block in the health and quality of a civilization,” explained Meyer. “Through energy comes clean drinking water, comfort from the elements, medicines and diagnostics, transpor-tation and communication, and many other benefits.”

Meyer does offer his students a few caveats: “But energy wasted or exploited improperly or taken from a local community without giving back to the community gives energy a negative side,” cautioned Meyer. “No matter what the energy source is, there will be some people that oppose it for some reason. It is important that we in the energy industry communicate clearly and accurately, and operate in a manner using best practices

and to the best of our ability.”

Big plans are underway for LNG America to introduce LNG as a fuel for marine vessels and other high horsepower users at ports, such as locomotives and trucks. LNG fuel systems are pro-jected to prepare vessels to fulfill upcoming U.S. emis-sions control mandates. “Using LNG as a fuel allows the ships to meet the new 2015 emissions requirements associated with the U.S. becoming an Emission Control Area (ECA) and happens to be an economical choice as well,” said Meyer.

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Europe is the leader in utilizing LNG as a marine fuel, with Asia close behind. Meyer’s expectations are that North America will soon follow in their footsteps. “With the low North American gas prices, the U.S. may become the ‘fuel stop of choice’ for the new vessels which are proposed to be dual fuel or even 100 percent natural gas fueled.”

The European experience with LNG-powered ves-sels has had a significant influence on the path LNG America is pursuing. European ports and ship own-ers already have procedures and guidelines in place for LNG fuel usage and bunkering. These guidelines offer the U.S. Coast Guard a starting point for developing effective and efficient procedures.

“LNG America conducted an in-depth study of LNG bunkering early on and was able to draw on the work done and used consultants that were direct-ly involved in the early European work,” said Meyer. “LNG America is also a regular presenter at an an-nual European LNG bunkering conference where we provide an update on what’s happing in America on the LNG bunkering front.”

In addition, LNG America has developed rela-tionships with several major European ports as well as an LNG bunker provider. They recently entered

into an agreement to develop a North American LNG bunkering strategy for a major Asian shipping firm. “Shipping is a global business,” Meyer elaborated. “Europe and Asia are both making headway on install-ing LNG fueling infrastructure, so the U.S. ports have a great opportunity with our domestic gas position to become a much larger factor in global ship fueling.”

Meyer believes tugboats are also great candidates to run on natural gas. He points to two 100 percent LNG-gas fueled tugboats just christened by Norway’s Statoil as evidence of things to come. According to Rolls-Royce, manufacturer of the tugboat engines, they

Port of Houston AuthorityHouston: America’s Distribution Centerwww.portof houston.com/map


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are cleaner, quieter, and will require less maintenance than their oil-burning counterparts.

LNG America is planning a network of LNG fuel-ing depots and shuttle/bunker vessels which will allow LNG to be delivered to the ships at port. “Our initial focus is the major gulf coast ports,” explained Meyer,

“but we are also planning projects at other major U.S. ports.”

Houston’s port is sitting pretty to attract competition for LNG fuel dollars. Meyer sees the competition as a good thing for the indus-try: “At this early stage of the industry, competition is good as it provides greater confidence to the marine community that supply will be available at a competitive price.”

Meyer doesn’t believe CNG fuels will be a threat to the LNG America’s marine fuel market. “CNG is good for light duty trucks and even large trucks that have limited range,” explained Meyer. “But as the fuel needs increase, LNG is desired because of the greater fuel density compared to CNG. LNG is a 600 to 1 volume reduction compared to gas at atmospheric pressure, where-as CNG is only about 200 to 1. For large users like ships, CNG is impractical.”

Of all LNG America’s plans, the recent LNG America collaboration an-nouncement with Buffalo Marine for LNG bunkering infrastructure is probably the biggest attention-grabber for the port region. When asked about the decision,


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Meyer’s reply was eloquent: “We were particularly impressed with Buffalo Marine and their willingness to bring us in to their operation to give us a much better understanding of bunkering while at the same time we give them a much better understanding of LNG. Their input will be instrumental in helping us identify where the best locations for the LNG fuel depots should be and our input will be instrumental in getting them prepared to handle LNG as a bunker fuel.”

As the gas industry and the marine industry get acquainted, Meyer champions collaboration as well as cooperation on each side as the best assurance for the installation of an effective, efficient, and safe LNG fuel network. As a part of these efforts, LNG America recently hired Captain George (“Joe”) Paitl, freshly retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as Captain of the Port for the Port Arthur Marine Safety Unit. “Cap-tain Paitl’s role will be to help oversee the design of the LNG marine fuel network and ensure that LNG

America and our alliance partners, such as Buffalo Ma-rine, have procedures and policies in place that meet the emerging Coast Guard and relevant port requirements for LNG bunkering,” said Meyer.

LNG America’s initial supply for the Gulf will come from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG facility cur-rently under construction in Cameron Parish, Loui-siana. Scheduled to be in service by the end of 2015, it will be North America’s largest LNG production facility. Meyer said the first plan called for the bunker vessel to meet that 2015 in-service target, but it was soon realized that equipment design and siting deci-sions were being pushed faster than necessary. “We are now looking at a 2016 in-service, but could modify that timing to meet market demands. As for quantity, we expect to have supply adequate to meet the demands of the Gulf Coast marine community.”

Meyer cites the next big step for LNG America is to identify the logical places for LNG fuel depots.

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Considerations such as pinpointing a port that can be served by an optimal number of bunker vessels, with minimal transit time between ship and fuel terminal, take priority. “Our motto,” said Meyer, “which we take to heart, is to deliver LNG when needed, where needed, and in the quantity needed. “

At present, Meyer foresees few problems with regu-latory challenges. “There is no code or rulebook for LNG bunkering. There are rules for large LNG cargo ships, but they cannot practically apply to small LNG barges, rules for large LNG terminals which cannot apply to small marine depots, and few, if any, finalized rules for LNG fuel tanks on ships,” he explained. “But fortunately, the U.S. Coast Guard and the ports see the change coming and want to facilitate the introduction of this new clean domestic fuel into the U.S. port sys-tem, so the rules and regulations are being written.”

The U.S. Coast Guard statement on making fu-els available corroborates Meyer’s views on regulatory challenges: “The United States has agreed to become an

Emission Control Area, and therefore it is incumbent upon us to ensure the fuels are available which allow the marine community to meet these new require-ments.”

The marine and high horse power fuel markets are not likely to see supply constraints as the export market for LNG continues to grow. “The quantities needed for the fuel sector are still relatively small so are easily ac-commodated without a significant impact to the overall supply picture,” stated Meyer. “Further, the export facilities will help provide additional markets which will help encourage continued production and stability in the supply arena.”

As the LNG industry continues to grow, Meyer believes it’s important for all players to maintain the industry’s exemplary safety record: “It will be important for the LNG fuel industry to not only have proper pro-cedures in place, but also to police itself to ensure that all participants are engaging in best practices.” ò


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spotlight Spotlight on Keith Meyer - LNG America NOV PBN LNG America.pdf · “an outstanding operating team at Lake Charles” and a little good fortune, proved their “prize”