CNX Resources has just laid off (i.e. fired) roughly 50 employees company-wide, most of them at company headquarters in Canonsburg. But not all. We heard from an MDN trust source who said at least nine workers got their walking papers in West Virginia. Given the company employs about 500 people, 50 fired represents 10% of the workforce. Question is, will there be more firings?
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1st Casualty of OH Save Nukes Law – $1.1B Lordstown NatGas Plant
The boneheaded new law passed by the Ohio legislature known as House Bill (HB) 6, meant to save a couple of failing nuclear plants along with a few coal-fired electric plants, has just claimed its first casualty. And it’s major. Clean Energy Future Inc. which has already built two natural gas-fired power plants in Lordstown (Trumbull County, OH) announced it is canceling a project to build a third Lordstown power plant–costing the state $1.1 billion of investment. What a disaster.
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MVP River/Stream Crossings in WV to Resume Thx to Fed EPA
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just given Equitrans’ Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project a huge thumbs up and assist by approving permit changes made by West Virginia that will allow MVP to restart work in crossing hundreds of streams and rivers in the state.
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New Ohio Chapter of NARO Launches for Rights & Landowners
The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO), with a mission “to encourage and promote exploration and production of minerals in the United States while preserving, protecting, advancing and representing the interests and rights of mineral and royalty owners” is getting a brand new state chapter–in Ohio. The Ohio chapter of NARO is an offshoot from the NARO Appalachia Chapter–in order to focus exclusively on issues in Ohio.
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PA DEP Revokes Beaver County Right to Issue Pipe, Drilling Permits
Here’s something we didn’t know: The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) does not do all of its own work to issue permits for things like erosion and sediment control. In some (many?) cases, the DEP delegates and farms out authority to issue and monitor/inspect permits for erosion and sediment control to county conservation districts. DEP is not happy with the way Beaver County has been performing those functions and has just snatched it back, revoking the county’s right to issue and monitor erosion and sediment control permits for projects like pipeline construction and building well pads and roads.
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North Carolina DEQ Goes Wackadoodle with New Anti-NatGas Plan
North Carolina is going bonkers. The state Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), under the direction of Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper, released a plan last week to tax carbon dioxide (get ready to hold your breath because you breathe out CO2!). The plan ultimately takes direct aim at limiting the use of natural gas by taxing it to death–Democrats’ favorite play to cater to the leftists in their base. The DEQ plan is certifiably nuts, but less nuts than that of NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo. If that’s any consolation.
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U.S. Makes History Again – Biggest 1-Yr Jump in O&G Production
On those occasions when we engage in conversation with friends and family about what we do, and drop the little factoid that the U.S. (because of shale) is now the #1 producer of both natural gas (surpassing Russia) and oil (producing more oil than Saudi Arabia)–our friends and family look at us like we have two heads. Why does the general population not know this? Because mainstream (biased) media doesn’t want them to. Yet it’s the truth. We flew by Russia back in 2011 to produce the most natgas of any country on the planet, and we flew by the Saudis last year to produce the most oil. We also set another world record last year–the biggest one-year increase in energy production of any country on Mom Earth. Thanks to shale.
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Aug 21, 2019
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Cheers for what natural gas, energy independence can mean for region; Residents at Rockingham County hearing on proposed natural gas pipeline have questions, concerns; Addressing workforce shortages during an industry boom; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Freeport LNG celebrates start of Train 1 production; Texas shale towns grapple with growth as oil-bust fears fade; Calcasieu Pass LNG to move ahead; BHGE to build LNG liquefaction trains; NATIONAL: Walmart claims faulty Tesla solar panels are starting fires; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC net oil export revenues; Equinor, Gazprom lose European gas market share as LNG imports triple; Is wind power, which has inflated electric prices, done in Germany?; German H1 natural gas imports rise 20%, bill rises 14.8%; Saudi Arabia buys U.S. cracker plant in Texas; Shale gas developer frustrated by uncertainty surrounding fracking.
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EQT CEO Toby Rice Explains Combo Drilling at WV Town Hall Mtg
Last week MDN told you that EQT CEO Toby Rice is conducting a series of four “town hall” style meetings with landowners in regions where the company drills (see EQT CEO Toby Rice Hits a Home Run with Landowner Meetings). The first meeting, held in Green County last Wednesday night, was a huge success. We also reported in a followup story that Toby mentioned EQT’s new drilling strategy to make money in a low gas price environment is called “combo development” (see EQT Plans to Make Money with $2/Mcf NatGas Price).
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TETCO Files FERC Request to Upgrade 2 SEPA Compressor Units
Just coming to light for us now, on April 18 Texas Eastern Transmission Company (TETCO), a massive 9,071-mile natural gas pipeline stretching from the Gulf Coast to New York City, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to replace and upgrade two compressor units at its Bernville Compressor Station located in Berks County, PA.
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Gulf Coast Cameron LNG Exporting Begins Service…with M-U Gas
Yesterday Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG project in Lake Charles, La. began to liquefy and export natural gas–some of it coming from the Marcellus/Utica region. Nearly a month ago the facility asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to begin full-blown operation (see Cameron LNG Export Plant Ready to Begin Operation This Week). FERC issued that permission shortly thereafter. We’re guessing there was some sort of technical issue that caused a delay until now. The good news is that the facility is now up and running…with our gas.
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KM’s Elba Island Train #1 Now Producing LNG for Export?
Kinder Morgan, the largest pipeline company in the U.S., has left a string of broken promises about the date for which the first Elba Island LNG export plant “mini-train” would begin producing and shipping LNG. We’ve chronicled the journey extensively. According to an official update from KM in July, Elba was “in advanced stages of the commissioning and start up process, including LNG production” (see KM Says Elba Island in “Advanced Stage” of Commissioning/Startup). Very quietly, on Friday, Aug. 9, KM sought permission from FERC to begin operations on the first mini-train, asking to start no later than Friday, Aug. 16. Did it happen?
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Overview of Gas Processing & Fractionation in M-U Wet Gas Region
Our friends at RBN Energy are beginning a new mini-series of blog posts delving into Marcellus/Utica gas processing and fractionation in the wet gas region–meaning southwest PA, eastern OH, and the northern panhandle of WV. Cryogenic gas processing plants separate methane (CH4) from the other carbon compounds in the stream, namely from NGLs (natural gas liquids). Fractionation further separates the NGLs into “purity products”–things like ethane, propane, normal butane, iso-butane and natural gasoline.
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Gas Flowing to U.S. LNG Export Plants Hits Record High – 6 Bcf/d
Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), published a post yesterday looking at natural gas deliveries to U.S. LNG export facilities. The post finds that in July gas flows to LNG export facilities hit a new record high of 6.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). That’s an incredible 7% of all the natural gas produced in the U.S.
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Top Energy CEOs Skate on Thin Ice by Turning Against Shareholders
If Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) and Tim Cook (Apple CEO) jump off a cliff, should you, as CEO of an energy company, jump off too? The CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum and several other big oil and gas companies have just answered that question in the affirmative. Splat. Perhaps they were caught up in the euphoria of the moment. Perhaps they were shamed. (A new disorder for the DSM V: “CEO shaming.”) For whatever reason, a group of CEOs from some of the largest U.S. companies now say the people who buy their company’s stock and fund them via infusions of investment capital are no longer the #1 priority for their companies. We wonder what investors in those companies think. Have they had a change of heart? “Here, take my money and pee it away with no returns. Please! I don’t need this money any more.” Hey Jeff and Tim, we have a bridge in Brooklyn we’d like to sell ya…
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Aug 20, 2019
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Officials call for safe, secure closure of bankrupt Philadelphia refinery; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere Energy extends contract for CEO Jack Fusco; NATIONAL: There is no credible way to transport oil and natural gas without pipelines; U.S. energy policy must support natural gas in Appalachia and West Texas; Natural gas production hits new all-time high, further worsening the medium-term outlook; Big Wind’s big headwinds; States push 1st Circ. to revive suit over EPA ‘expert purge’.
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