Business briefs

Company seeks chief
for proposed gas plant
MONKEY ISLAND— Southern California Telephone & Energy executives say they are seeking a president to operate the company’s proposed liquid natural gas facility at Monkey Island in Cameron Parish.
Company CEO Greg Michaels said SCT&E is seeking someone experienced in the permitting process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the federal Department of Energy to oversee the proposed $9 billion plant.
The company also wants someone who has experience in meeting compliance regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Michaels said the new president would split time between company offices Houston and the facility in southwest Louisiana.
He said the selection process should take 30 to 60 days.
SCT&E plans to build the liquid natural gas plant on a 230-acre site on Monkey Island. Company officials said the facility would be capable of producing up to 12 million metric tons of liquid natural gas a year for export.

Cool spring hurts
Louisiana sugar crop
THIBODAUX — The cold spring is coming back to haunt local sugarcane farmers who are expecting a stunted crop and later harvest season.
American Sugar Cane League executive director Jim Simon said he expects the harvest to begin later this year because of spring’s cold temperatures.
Usually, harvesting starts in mid- to late-September. It often ends in late December.
Louisiana farmers harvest about 13.5 tons of sugarcane on average. Last year, the crop topped 14.5 million tons. The largest Louisiana crop came in 1999 when farmers brought in almost 16 million tons.
Spring’s cooler temperatures have produced about 4- to 5-foot sugarcane stalks, about a foot shorter than normal, farmers say. The shorter stalk can affect how much farmers earn because they are paid by weight.
“It’s like the sixth inning of a baseball game. It’s too early to tell,” said Bourg sugarcane farmer Wallace Ellender III, who estimates mill processing is down 10- to 15 percent from last year.
Lafourche Parish farmer Bobby Gravois said it’s not a great year.
“We’re going to pay bills and go through plenty of ups and downs. We’re kind of on the low side right now,” he said.
Weather, pests and the economy play roles in crop size.
A cold spring and summer can delay the crop, while farmers are inclined to plant on fewer fields if the economy is poor. Then there is the influence of world market prices.
From 2009 to 2012, prices hovered near 30 cents per pound.
However, last year prices dropped considerably — to around 21 cents — tainting a bumper crop. Over the last two years an oversupply on the domestic market has depressed prices.
The North American Free Trade Agreement allows other countries to ship almost unlimited crops into the U.S. market. In 2012, Mexico had a large sugar crop and exported much of it to the United States.
The market will eventually favor the states again, Simon said, but farmers need to hold on while it corrects itself.
“It’s hard competing on that world market when you’re not competing on a level playing field,” Ellender said.
Prices have rebounded to 24 or 25 cents per pound, said LSU AgCenter sugar specialist Kenneth Gravois.
Ellender said prices must stay between 25 and 28 cents per pound for the industry to remain viable.
“The futures market shows about 25, 26 cents per pound. That’s more of a break-even point for me. We can’t make it with today’s costs,” he said.
The low prices have forced some farmers to seek alternative revenue. Gravois said he’s begun planting soybeans as a supplement.
The Sugar Cane League said sugarcane is produced on more than 400,000 acres in 22 Louisiana parishes, and the industry employs about 17,000 people.

Pike County sees first TMS oil well permits
MCCOMB, Miss. (AP) — A Texas oil company is seeking to drill the first oil wells in Pike County as part of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale formation.
Experts have said the formation, stretching across parts of southwest Mississippi and central and southeast Louisiana, could hold 7 billion barrels of oil. Drilling activity has stepped up this year.
Houston-based Sanchez Oil & Gas Corp. has filed permits to establish drilling three units in the southwestern part of the county for oil wells.
The Mississippi Oil and Gas Board will consider Sanchez’s permits at a Sept. 17 hearing. The oil and gas board has set a Sept. 9 deadline to contest the permit request.
Pike County will become the third county in Mississippi to see drilling in the formation.

U.S. manufacturing grows at fastest pace in 3½ years
WASHINGTON — U.S. manufacturing grew in August at the strongest pace in more than three years as factories cranked out more goods and new orders rose.
The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rose to 59 from 57.1 in July, the ISM said Tuesday. That was the highest reading since March 2011. Any measure above 50 signals that manufacturing is growing.
Tuesday’s ISM report coincides with other signs that manufacturing is helping drive the U.S. economy’s improvement. Factories are benefiting from strong demand for aircraft, furniture, and steel and other metals. The boost from manufacturing has helped offset slower homebuilding, a slowdown in consumer purchases and weaker spending on utilities and other services.
“The U.S. economy is on a notably firmer growth track this summer, even if consumers are riding in the caboose,” Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note.
The ISM’s gauge of production rose to the highest level in four years, and a measure of new orders reached its highest point in 10 years. That suggests that the sector should grow further in coming months. Factories also added jobs last month, though at a slightly slower pace than in July.

Switzerland, Singapore, U.S. top economic rankings
GENEVA — The United States’ competitiveness among global economies has risen to the No. 3 spot behind Switzerland and Singapore in rankings published annually by the World Economic Forum.
In its survey released today, the Forum said the U.S. — the world’s largest economy — moved up two spots from fifth position last year, thanks to improvements in its financial markets and public institutions.
Six European countries dominated the top 10: Switzerland, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Aside from the U.S., the remaining three slots were Asian: Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
The results are based on data from the United Nations and other international organizations as well as the Forum’s surveys of business executives.

Dominion, Duke propose $5B natural gas pipeline
NEW YORK — Dominion Resources, Duke Energy and other partners are proposing a $5 billion natural gas pipeline to connect the Southeast with the prodigious supplies of natural gas being produced in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Gas is being relied upon to generate more of the nation’s electricity in recent years because enormous new domestic supplies have drastically lowered its price and because natural gas burns cleaner than the nation’s other most important fuel for electric power, coal.
The 550-mile project, called the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, would begin in Harrison County, West Virginia, and stretch through Virginia and North Carolina to Robeson County, near the South Carolina border. It’s designed to tap the rapidly growing supplies of gas produced in two geologic formations, known as the Marcellus and Utica shales, that are now accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s natural gas. In the past, the Southeast has received nearly all of its gas from more traditional gas-producing states of Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.
Utilities prefer having diverse sources of fuel to reduce shortages and price spikes that can arise in terms of high demand, such as hot summers or cold winters. Also, demand for natural gas for electric power generation, heating and manufacturing is expected to continue to rise.
Clean air and clean water regulations — some already approved and some in the process of being finalized — are expected to make burning coal more difficult and expensive in the future. In response, utilities are preparing for increased use of natural gas.
“We’ve retired half of our coal fleet for the last 5 years, and certainly that will continue,” said Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good in an interview Tuesday. “We see natural gas as an important part of the electricity generation mix for many decades to come.”
Burning natural gas emits almost none of the toxic chemicals and particulate matter that burning coal produces, and about half of carbon dioxide, which scientists say is responsible for climate change.
Natural gas does have its own environmental drawbacks, however. When the gas leaks or is otherwise released directly into the atmosphere it heats the planet much faster than carbon dioxide. And the drilling technique that has led to increased U.S. supplies, called fracking, has raised concerns about water use, water contamination and other issues.
The pipeline is already sparking some protest along parts of its proposed route from landowners who worry that the pipeline could reduce property values, threaten water supplies and keep tourists away.
“It’s a dark day for the Shenandoah Valley and our part of the country,” said Nancy Sorrells, co-chair of the anti-pipeline group Augusta County Alliance of Tuesday’s announcement.
The pipeline is estimated to cost between $4.5 billion and $5 billion to build. Dominion Resources Inc. would own 45 percent of the project, Duke Energy Corp. would own 40 percent, Piedmont Natural Gas Co. would own 10 percent and AGL Resources Inc. would own 5 percent.
The pipeline would carry a huge volume of gas — up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. By comparison, the U.S. consumed 71 billion cubic feet of gas per day last year, according to the Energy Department. Yet Tom Farrell, Dominion’s CEO said Tuesday that most of the gas is already spoken for, and he expects the rest to be snapped up later this year after the companies open up the remaining capacity for bidding.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said the proposed pipeline would be a boon for the state’s economy for the construction jobs to build the pipeline itself and because the additional natural gas will allow the state to recruit more heavy manufacturers.
“This is a game changer for manufacturing for us,” he said.
The pipeline requires approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state regulatory commissions. The pipeline partners expect to receive approval by mid-2016 and to start operating the pipeline in 2018.