Cheniere Energy Inc. has cleared a major regulatory hurdle to building a $5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday granted approval for Cheniere to build the first LNG export terminal in the lower 48 states, a project met with criticism from environmental groups concerned about pollution tied to the U.S. gas boom. It also faces concern in corners of the industrial sector that shipping gas overseas will increase domestic prices and make U.S. manufacturers less competitive.

In the next couple of months, the Spanish oil company Repsol will finish drilling Jaguey, a reservoir deep in Cuba's untapped northwestern waters, and learn whether it contains commercial volumes of oil. If the answer is positive, it could be both good news and bad news for the company. The good news would be the validation of an extended hydrocarbon belt near Havana that U.S. government geologists say may contain 3.2 billion barrels of oil. The bad news would be identical.