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OOGA 73rd Annual Mtg: More Downsizing Ahead

Over 700 people gathered yesterday in Columbus, OH for OOGA’s (Ohio Oil & Gas Association) 73rd Annual Meeting. Industry leaders soberly assessed the state of current affairs. According to OOGA president Matt Hammond, the industry may have to downsize for a while. Jeff Fisher, CEO of Ascent Resources, agreed. Hammond said, “it’s just going to look a little bit different in the next few years” before the price of gas rebounds. The sentiment was clearly what we’ve been preaching: Expect lower for longer when it comes to gas prices.
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Cabot Ends Lawsuit Settlement Talks, Prefers Trial in Dimock Case

In April 2017 Dimock Township (Susquehanna County, PA) resident Ray Kemble and lawyers from two different law firms filed a new lawsuit against Cabot Oil & Gas over claims of contaminated water from local fracking. Thing is, those claims were settled by Cabot with Kemble years earlier. Cabot said this was a renewed attempt to sully its good name and reputation and countersued Kemble and his lawyers for $5 million (see Cabot O&G Countersues Dimock Anti, Lawyers).
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PA DEP Gets Federal EPA Grant to Sniff Out Methane Leaks

methane sniffing drone

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has received a $319,674 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a project to “characterize ambient concentrations of methane in 10 counties across the Commonwealth.” The DEP will also identify natural gas fugitive emissions near roads from various types of sources, and “use drone-based methane detectors to estimate emissions from specific equipment used in natural gas development.” In other words, the DEP is going to try and sniff out methane leaks, and perhaps try to quantify just how much methane is leaking–from various sources.
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Antis Use Jim Beam to Try and Block Pipeline Near Louisville, KY

Anti-fossil fuelers know no depths to which they won’t sink in efforts to block *any* new natural gas pipelines. Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) has state approval to build a new 12-inch, 12-mile pipeline near Louisville to supply gas to 62 homes and businesses that can’t connect to LG&E’s local natgas utility system. The local Bernheim Arboretum has resisted attempts to build across three-tenths of one percent (0.028%) of Arboretum land–along an existing cleared path where electric lines already go (see KY Utility Hints at Defunding Local Arboretum Blocking New Pipe). Now antis claim the only reason LG&E wants to build the pipeline is to feed the local Jim Beam production plant. Grab a shot glass and prepare yourself for the latest attack on this project…
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Bernie Sanders vs. Joe Biden on Fracking and Fossil Fuels

We make no apologies for being big Donald Trump supporters here at MDN. Trump is the only presidential candidate committed to fossil fuel energy. All of the Democrat candidates, including the last two left standing–crazy Bernie Sanders and sleepy/creepy Joe Biden–are committed to ending the use of fossil fuels. We spotted an article in the New York Times (fake news alert!) that compares the positions of Sanders and Biden with respect to global warming and the environment. There is a difference, but not much of one. Both Democrats want to end the use of fossil fuels. The only difference is in how quickly.
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Several States Float Laws to Ban Municipal NatGas Bans

We’ve commented from time to time on municipalities (cities) that stupidly ban new home and business construction from installing and connecting to natural gas supplies. Berkeley, California comes to mind since they were the first to do so. The trend is catching on in cities where leftist radicals infest city councils. In a bid to shut this madness down before it spreads (it’s the intellectual equivalent of the coronavirus), the state of Arizona, which shares a border with California wackos, last month passed a new law that puts a ban on municipal gas bans. Good for Arizona! Now five more states–Missouri, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Mississippi–are looking to ban gas bans too.
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NETL: U.S. Needs More NatGas Pipelines to Power Electric Plants

NETL (National Energy Technology Laboratory), one of our country’s treasured national lab facilities, recently released a report and case study that shows if we as a country want reliability in our electric grid (no blackouts), we need to build more natural gas pipelines to feed natgas-fired power plants. “As the electric power system relies more heavily on natural gas power generation, the reliability and resiliency of the Nation’s electrical system will become increasingly linked to the performance and capabilities of the natural gas delivery system.” How much more in the way of new pipelines are needed? “Conservatively, an investment of $470 million to $1.1 billion over that already entrained in the long-haul natural gas transmission system is identified to avoid even worse outcomes.” Start the backhoes!
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Fri, Mar 6, 2020

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: ODNR awards three drilling permits; NATIONAL: North American midstream energy companies face $123 billion of debt maturities in 2020-24; Exxon CEO dismisses rivals’ climate targets as ‘beauty competition’; INTERNATIONAL: Coronavirus leads OPEC to recommend sharper oil output reduction through June; OPEC+ proposes major cuts, but Russia may not come along; Germany sees no role for natural gas in draft plan for hydrogen.
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