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What We Learned at Day 3 of the Top U.S. Energy Conference

What We Learned at Day 3 of the Top U.S. Energy Conference

(Bloomberg) -- It’s Day 3 of CERAWeek by IHS Markit, the annual week-long gathering in Houston of some of the energy industry’s biggest names. Today’s agenda includes Latin American natural gas, Mediterranean exploration, North American pipelines and LNG trading.

Time stamps are Houston.

Enterprise Seeks Partners for Oil Export Terminal (4:03 p.m.)

Enterprise Products Partners LP is looking for shale producers to team up on a proposed crude export terminal off the U.S. Gulf Coast, Chief Executive Officer Jim Teague said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

What We Learned at Day 3 of the Top U.S. Energy Conference

The Houston-based pipeline company is in the process of determining how much of the project it needs to have contracted before pulling the trigger, Teague said. Enterprise also wants to court a joint venture partner for the terminal, which Teague said is expected to cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

Sign-Wielding Climate Activists Kicked Out by Police (3:01 p.m.)

Protesters tried to interrupt the conference, holding signs and using a microphone to shout “Climate Change is Genocide.”

It’s the first time in recent memory that environmental activists made their presence felt at the event that has armed, uniformed police officers stationed on several floors of the Hilton Americas hotel, who ask anyone entering the venue to show their badges.

What We Learned at Day 3 of the Top U.S. Energy Conference

About half a dozen protesters managed to enter the downtown hotel before being quickly removed by police. They were carrying a sign that said, in part: “TELL THE TRUTH.. FRACKING DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTS COMMUNITIES OF COLOR.” The incident occurred as U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry finished a luncheon speech. The protesters didn’t interrupt his talk or make it to the room where the secretary was speaking.

Shell Executive Says Gender Targets Needed (12:53 p.m.)

Hard targets for women in oil and gas are necessary to accelerate diversity in a male-dominated industry, Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s U.S. President Gretchen Watkins said in an interview.

What We Learned at Day 3 of the Top U.S. Energy Conference

“Diversity can happen more quickly when you put targets in place,” Watkins said. “I’m a fan of that. I think our industry has gotten better in my 29 years here but we’re still far from where we need to be.”

Big Shale Deals Last Year Spooked C-Suite: Tudor (10:49 a.m.)

Big shale deals that were originally met with investor enthusiasm but have since fallen out of favor may have made industry executives nervous about buying up rivals, according to Bobby Tudor, founder of the energy-focused investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

A drop in oil prices has reinvigorated demands for consolidation in a sector that has a long list of small and medium-sized shale drillers. But whether those players team up or are taken out by bigger companies is still up in the air, because shareholders have failed to reward deals like Concho Resources Inc.’s $7.6 billion purchase last year of RSP Permian Inc., Tudor said in an interview.

EIG Global Seeking Brazilian Gas Pipelines (9:33 a.m.)

EIG Global Energy Partners LLC is among the final bidders for a package of natural gas pipelines in northern Brazil, Chief Executive Officer R. Blair Thomas said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.

What We Learned at Day 3 of the Top U.S. Energy Conference

EIG is teaming up with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala investment arm on a 50-50 partnership to submit a bid, Thomas said. Other bidding groups include one led by Macquarie Group, he added. Final bids are due on April 2.

Gas Supply in U.S. to Be Pressured by New Discipline (9:25 a.m.)

U.S. gas output growth will be constrained by the industry’s newfound focus on returning cash to investors, according to Donald “Blue” Jenkins, an executive vice president at EQT Corp., the biggest American producer of the fuel.

“The question is what that impact will be,” Jenkins said. Explorers need gas to reach a price at or above $3 per million British thermal units to justify persistent drilling, he said.

--With assistance from Sabrina Valle, Rachel Adams-Heard, Simon Casey and Kevin Crowley.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rachel Adams-Heard in Houston at radamsheard@bloomberg.net;Alix Steel in New York at asteel6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Joe Carroll, Jeffrey Taylor

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