No sooner had we started producing weekly new shale permits issued reports than the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) website experienced some sort of catastrophic failure. While portions of the site have now returned, they still do not have the database reconnected that delivers weekly updates for new permits. We decided we could not wait any longer on ODNR to get their act together. Below are weekly reports detailing the names and locations for each new permit issued in both PA and WV for the weeks of May 11-15, and May 18-22.
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PA House Passes Bill Separating Conventional from Shale Regs
Yesterday the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 790, a bill that restores sanity to regulations for conventional oil and gas drillers in the Keystone State. For years PA’s small, independent conventional oil and gas drillers have objected to the one-size-fits-all regulations concocted by the Gov. Tom Wolf Administration that applies the same regulations to them as to big shale drillers. The two types of drilling are apples and oranges. To make small conventional drillers jump through the same hoops as big shale drillers will bankrupt many of the smaller companies. SB 790 helps correct the situation.
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IEA Predicts Biggest Collapse in Global Energy Investment in History
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the “lifeblood” of the global energy system is…investment. That is, money. Without investment, new sources of energy don’t appear. In 2016 IEA began to publish an annual report called World Energy Investment, in order to track spending on all forms of energy worldwide. Earlier this week IEA published its fifth annual version of the report. In the report, IEA says 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic, will mark the largest-ever collapse in global energy investment in history. IEA says the coming investment decline will impact oil the most.
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Is American Energy Dominance Over Already? Oil Veteran Says Yes
David Blackmon, a senior contributor to the Forbes magazine website and 39-year veteran working for various oil companies including Burlington Resources, Shell, and El Paso Corporation, is one of our favorite experts to read on matters relating to the oil patch. He is a strong O&G supporter. So when we spotted a recent Forbes article Blackmon wrote titled, “Why The Brief Era Of American Energy Dominance Is Over,” that sure got our attention.
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Cornell U Capitulates to the Crazies; Divesting from Fossil Fuels
How enormously sad. The Cornell University Board of Trustees has just voted to economically harm the university and its scholarship fund by divesting from all “fossil fuels.” The board has capitulated to the crazies–those who insist on divestment because they believe in the religion of man-made global warming. If you don’t believe, you’re apostate. An unbeliever. A climate infidel. Can’t have that.
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MDN Editor Jim Willis Interviewed on CompressorTech2 Podcast
Last week MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure and honor of being the inaugural interviewee for a brand new podcast launched by CompressorTech2 (CT2) magazine. In case you didn’t know, for nearly two years Jim has written (continues to write) a monthly column for CT2 called Shale Play-by-Play, covering news highlights from all of the major shale plays in the U.S. (not just the M-U).
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, May 28, 2020
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Governor Corruptocrat shows why he deserves the title; Montage Resources: swearing off debt addiction; Ohio natural gas and oil industry awards $54,000 in scholarships; Pipeline offers long-term benefits; NATIONAL: Oil CEO says US shale rebound is at least a year away; Occidental is sued by shareholders, bondholders over Anadarko merger; Joe Biden weighs new climate proposals in bid to woo Sanders supporters; Pro-gas states pass laws barring natural gas bans, limits.
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EQT Provides More Details on DGO Asset Sale, 1.4 Bcf/d Curtailment
EQT announced yesterday it has closed on a deal to sell “certain non-strategic assets” to Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) for $125 million, plus another potential $20 million later on. MDN first told you about this deal on May 13 (see Diversified Buys 900 EQT Wells (67 Shale Wells) for $125M). This is the first time EQT has commented publicly on the DGO deal. EQT’s statement differs from previous news accounts about the deal.
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PTT Further Delays Ohio Cracker Decision to 2021
In late April PTT Global Chemical, the huge Thailand-based petrochemical company looking to build a world-class ethane cracker plant in Belmont County, OH, announced it would not make a final investment decision (FID) about whether to build the Ohio cracker by mid-2020 (see PTT Postpones Ohio Cracker Final Investment Decision Indefinitely). The company would not give a new timeline, which led us to conclude this is an indefinite delay.
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PHMSA Finds TETCO Pipe Defects at Kentucky 2019 Explosion Site
The last nine months haven’t been the best for Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) pipeline in Kentucky. Last August one of the TETCO lines exploded in Lincoln County, Kentucky, killing one and sending six to the hospital (see TETCO Pipe Explodes in Kentucky Killing 1; Southbound M-U Gas Stops). Earlier this month TETCO exploded again, in Fleming County, Kentucky (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes in Kentucky…Again). Fortunately, the second Kentucky explosion didn’t injure anyone.
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Work Progresses on Country’s Biggest NatGas Power Plant in Ohio
Last September construction was set to begin on what we believe to be the country’s largest natural gas-fired electric plant, the Guernsey Power Station being built in Guernsey County, Ohio (see Country’s Biggest NatGas Power Plant Beginning Construction in OH). We have a progress report on the latest construction activity at the site.
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Slight Delay in PA Adopting Obscenely High New Shale Permit Fees
MDN previously told you that Pennsylvania would finally adopt insanely new high permit fees for Marcellus Shale drilling when the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) meets on June 3 (see Massive Hike in PA Shale Permit Fees Coming at June 3 Meeting). That meeting has been delayed again, for the fourth time.
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CNX CEO Says Pandemic Exposes ‘Church of Climate’ as a Fraud
We have a confession. We have a man crush on Nick DeIuliis, CEO of CNX Resources. Beginning last year DeIuliis began to publicly and openly fight back against global warming zealots who demand you bow before the altar of man-made global warming or risk being ostracized from polite society. The warmists are irrational fossil fuel haters–dedicated to eliminating the use of fossil fuels. DeIuliis has had enough and he now regularly says so in public forums. The latest example of DeIuliis pushing back is a column appearing today in The Hill, the Washington, DC uber-insider publication. DeIuliis says the pandemic has exposed the “church of climate” and the “dog’s breakfast of special interest groups” that compose it, for the fraud it is.
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, May 27, 2020
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Webinar: Think About Energy Briefing, PA legislative panel May 28, 2020; SRBC adopts new consumptive water use policy to expand options, reduce costs; NATIONAL: EIA forecasts lower U.S. natural gas consumption in 2020; U.S. oil output to begin rebounding in July, but 2021 not ‘year of salvation’; The sweet spot for natural gas trucks; U.S. liquefaction capacity growing, even as utilization declines; INTERNATIONAL: Japanese space startup developing LNG-powered rocket; US remains biggest producer of oil, natural gas.
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PA State Sen. Gene Yaw Blasts NY, NJ for Rejecting NESE Pipeline
Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw, a Republican whose district covers portions of central and northeast PA, has his praiseworthy moments. This is one of them. Last week New York’s uber-corrupt Governor, Andrew Cuomo, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, once again pandered to their radical Democrat base by rejecting a critically needed natural gas pipeline (see Cuomo Rejects NESE Pipe Again, Williams Walks Away). The Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline would have flowed PA Marcellus shale gas to New York City and Long Island. Yaw blasted NY and NJ for their rejection using strong language.
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OH Landowner Loses Post-Production Royalty Case to Chesapeake
Chesapeake Energy keeps winning Ohio royalty lawsuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In March the company beat a lawsuit by a group of Ohio landowners who claimed Chessy had cheated them out of a collective $30 million in royalties (see Chesapeake Energy & Total Beat Class Action Royalty Lawsuit in OH). In April Chesapeake won a second lawsuit that claimed the company had fraudulently concealed information on royalty statements dating back to 1993 (see Chesapeake Beats Another OH Royalty Lawsuit in Federal Court). And now, a third royalty lawsuit has gone Chessy’s way too. Strike three for landowners.
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