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Climate Protester Convicted of Blocking Fundraiser in Harrisburg

In January 2023, Pennsylvania State Senator Scott Martin (from Lancaster, PA) hosted a reelection fundraiser at an Italian restaurant in nearby Harrisburg. A pretty swanky fundraiser, too, at $1,000 a plate. Like it or not, this is how it works in the world of politics. Martin happens to be a Republican and a supporter of fossil energy. Those two things send leftists into orbit. A small group of far-left (professional) protesters showed up at the entrance of the restaurant to make a lot of noise and to make silly asses of themselves (which they excel at doing). One of them tilted over into criminality. He obstructed the doorway to the restaurant and would not let anyone enter or leave — a fire hazard at a minimum. Justice was finally rendered on Wednesday in a Dauphin County courtroom.
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How Much Lithium (for EVs) is Sitting in PA Marcellus Brine?

In October 2019, Eureka Resources, which operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale (and is building a fourth facility in Dimock, PA), began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see Marcellus Wastewater Plant in PA Extracts 1st Batch of Lithium). In 2020, the company said its plants could theoretically supply up to 25% of the country’s annual lithium demand–solely with lithium recovered from Marcellus wastewater (see Eureka Can Supply 25% of US Lithium Demand from Marc. Wastewater). Just how much lithium, theoretically, is there in Marcellus brine (wastewater)? A new study published this week on the Nature.com website helps answer that question.
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Duke Energy Advocates for More Gas-Fired Power in U.S. South

Lynn Good, the CEO of Duke Energy, spoke earlier this week at Columbia University’s 2024 Columbia Global Energy Summit in New York City. Duke is a giant electric and gas utility headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Duke services 7.2 million customers in North and South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. It even has a utility business in Puerto Rico. In the past, Duke owned and operated coal-fired power plants. Today, Duke makes extensive use of nuclear energy. The company also builds and uses natural gas-fired power. At the Columbia event, Good delivered news to the lefties they didn’t want to hear: In the near term, natural gas is the only practical solution to generating more electricity to meet increasing demand.
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BRG Study Proves U.S. LNG Has Lowest GHG Emissions for Powergen

Berkeley Research Group (BRG) published a very important new study yesterday that has Big Green tied up in knots. The study, “Comparative GHG Footprint Analysis for European and Asian Supplies of USLNG, Pipeline Gas, and Coal” (full copy below), analyzes methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions across leading fuel supply chains for power generation in 13 European and Asian end markets. The study has been under development since 2021. It uses a “bottom-up methodology” to arrive at a comprehensive comparison of the emissions intensity of the primary fuel sources, as well as continuously updated data from numerous sources. It’s far more rigorous and reliable than the typical Big Green propaganda that relies on aggregated emissions information to develop general theoretical conclusions. This is real science.
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EIA Predicts U.S. LNG Exports to Jump 18% in 2025 with New Plants

The EIA says the U.S. natural gas trade will continue to grow with the startup of new LNG export projects. In a Today in Energy post, the EIA says (based on its recent Short-Term Energy Outlook report) that it expects U.S. LNG exports will increase just 2% this year over last year. However, in 2025, LNG exports will soar by 18% due to three new LNG export facilities currently under construction that will come online next year.
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Dems Seek to Remove O&G Pipes from CWA Nationwide Permit 12

The devious left is at it again. In their hatred of fossil energy, the Democrat Party is targeting a little-known portion of the Clean Water Act (CWA), called a Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), that is often used to streamline the construction of new oil and gas pipelines. NWP12 was used, in part, to construct the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia. The Dems are leaning on the Bidenistas to “review” the NWP12 and to revise the regulation to exempt its use to build oil and gas pipelines. Yet another attack from the Democrats on oil and gas.
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Hydrogen Co. CEO Admits: “Oh Sh*t…Projects Aren’t Getting Built”

Hydrogen has been hyped as a carbon-free fuel that will magically fix the nonexistent climate crisis. It will supposedly clean up “dirty” industries like Big Chemical and Big Steel. It will power our cars and trucks, farting out water instead of CO2. And, it will help the U.S. hit mythical net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — the artificial date by which Mom Earth will toast if we do nothing. Billions of dollars have been and are being poured into hydrogen, and whoops! Nothing is happening because (a) the Bidenistas refuse to allow tax credits for hydrogen made from natural gas, and (b) hydrogen is too expensive to create apart from natural gas.
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Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Apr 18, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Galveston LNG files for construction permit in Texas; NATIONAL: Kinder Morgan sees strong natgas demand over next six years; An LNG export ban can have serious negative consequences; Biden could release more SPR oil to keep gas prices low; INTERNATIONAL: How likely is all-out war in Middle East involving USA?; European gas erases year-to-date losses as Israel vows response; Asia gas prices rise near highest in 2024 amid conflict risk; Europe powers ahead with new natgas plants for energy security; Forget about peak oil – we aren’t close to peak coal yet.
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PennEnergy Adopts Innovative Methane Emissions Reduction in M-U

PennEnergy Resources, LLC, the 11th largest shale driller in Pennsylvania, has introduced the use of liquid nitrogen systems (via a partnership with Kathairos Solutions) into its portfolio of emission reduction strategies, allowing for the rapid conversion of traditional pneumatic devices to zero-emission sources. The technology has been “a game-changer” for remote legacy facilities with limited access to infrastructure.
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Diversified Energy has Already Surpassed Its 2030 Emissions Goals

Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (with assets in other regions, too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with 67,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. Diversified set a goal of reducing methane emissions by 50% over levels from 2020 and to do it by 2030. At the recent Hart Energy DUG GAS+ Conference and Expo, Diversified senior VP of EHS&R, Paul Espenan, said the company is pleased to announce it has already met that goal! And the company is well on its way to zero methane emissions by 2040. How is Diversified doing it?
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GO-WV President Charlie Burd Talks M-U, Pipelines, Power Gen

West Virginia Public Broadcasting recently sat down with Charlie Burd, president of the West Virginia Gas and Oil Association (GO-WV), to ask him about the Mountain State’s role in supplying natural gas to the global market. The discussion covered a number of topics, including who are the biggest gas producers in WV, pipelines, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), and why WV still has not added any new natural gas-fired power plants to its electric generating fleet.
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Federal Reserve Survey of O&G Execs re NYMEX NatGas Price

It must be its “predict the future price of natgas” season, along with tax season. Yesterday, we told you that BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, hauled out its crystal ball to make predictions about the “front month” contract price for NYMEX natural gas (based on the Henry Hub) for the next five years, beginning with 2024 (see Latest Predictions for NYMEX Henry Hub Price 2024-2028 (5 Years)). Today, we have more opinions on the same topic. However, this time, the opinions come from oil and natural gas executives in the Midcontinent and Rocky Mountain regions, people whose opinions we trust more than those of analysts.
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Nearly Half of All U.S. NatGas in 2024 Gets “Responsible” Label

We’ve written plenty about “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG) and the certification authorities that put their stamp of approval on natural gas drillers and pipeline companies. In 2021, we brought you a primer (of sorts) on the three primary RSG certification authorities at that time. We later amended it to add a fourth method of certifying gas. Bloomberg is reporting RSG is taking the industry by storm. In a new report, Bloomberg says this year (2024) RSG is estimated to hit 45% of all gas produced.
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Biden White House Backs Away from Cornell Prof’s Sham LNG Study

From time to time, so-called experts will come out of the woodwork to proclaim that burning coal is better for the environment than burning natural gas. Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea (Ingraffea is now retired) attempted to make that case back in 2011 (see New Cornell University Study Says Shale Gas Extraction Worse for Global Warming Than Coal). Their research was roundly refuted (laughed at) by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Carnegie Mellon University, and by a study done by a different group of Cornell professors (see New Cornell Study Says Coal is Not Cleaner than Natural Gas). Howarth is back with a new study that says burning coal is better than extracting and exporting LNG (he’s kind of a Johnny One-Note with respect to coal and natgas). Except this time, Howarth released his “study” before it was vetted by peers, and the Bidenistas used it as justification to pause new LNG export approvals (see White House Makes it Official – Biden Declares War on LNG Exports).
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Freeport LNG Still Mostly Shut Down – 5 Days in Row at < 5% of Gas

The problem-plagued Freeport LNG export plant remains out of order. The plant had been mostly offline following an episode of cold temps in January (see Freeport LNG Repairs Won’t be Done Until May – 2 Trains Offline). Freeport announced that two of the three trains at its facility would remain out of service for testing and repairs through May. In late March, Train 3 at the plant came back online (see Freeport LNG Maintenance Work Continues – Gas Flows to One Train). However, a new problem at Train 3 took it offline last week (see NatGas Flows to Freeport LNG Export Plant Drop to Near Zero, Again). According to Reuters, as of Monday this week, the plant has remained offline for five days running.
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Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Apr 17, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheap natgas means lower electricity prices except in Texas; Illustrating the absurdity of New York’s energy transition; New BLM drilling rule could put Wyoming O&G on life support; NATIONAL: Biden admin pressured Snopes to change fact-check rating on gas stove ban; Mandating social changes to achieve net zero emissions is a fool’s game!; INTERNATIONAL: Oil shows little change awaiting Israel response; China imported record amounts of crude oil in 2023.
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