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Ugly Gas Prices Coming to M-U – Demand Falls More than Production

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Last week the spot price for natural gas being sold at the Dominion South trading hub in Allegheny County, PA crashed to its lowest point in more than a year, selling for $0.735 per Mcf (thousand cubic feet). According to the experts at RBN Energy, the Marcellus/Utica is heading into a rocky fall season with respect to natural gas prices.
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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Sep 14-18

Last week Ohio finally broke the drought of not issuing permits for new shale wells in the Buckeye State. Finally! Last week Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits for wells on three well pads. Ohio issued 4 new permits for wells on two well pads. And West Virginia issued 1 new permit.
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WV Brooke County Power Plant Gets $5.5M Direct Loan from State

On Sept. 10, a day after a meeting of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority meeting, we reported (based on media reports) that the Authority had voted to approve a $5.5 million loan guarantee for a proposed new shale gas-fired power plant planned for Brooke County, WV (see WV Approves Loan Guarantee for Brooke County Power Plant). We were wrong. In fact, the Authority did something better than a simple loan guarantee…
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PA Fines Atlantic Sunrise Pipe $836K for Years-Old Violations

Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, a 200-mile greenfield pipeline from northeastern to southeastern PA where it joins the Transco Pipeline, went online in October 2018 (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise for Startup! Pipe Opens Sat. Oct. 6). Shippers on Atlantic Sunrise include Cabot Oil & Gas, Seneca Resources, and Range Resources. Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced it is (two years after it went online) assessing fines for violations that happened during construction of the pipeline 2-3 years ago.
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PA DEP Approves Mariner East 2 Pipe Changes in 3 SEPA Locations

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued modified permits for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project in three southeast PA locations (Delaware and Chester counties). Each location has faced problems with underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The modifications allow a different type of installation method to be used–open trench.
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Big Green Lawsuit Targets Cracker Plants, Incl. Shell PA Cracker

Shell cracker as of March 2020

Once again big money is being funneled to Big Green groups by secretive sources to finance a lawsuit attacking American infrastructure. The latest attack by Big Green, including a PA-based “environmental” group, seeks to overturn a recently-updated rule by the U.S. EPA governing air emissions from ethane cracker facilities.
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Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Sep 23, 2020

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Rep. Danielle “Karen” Otten caught trespassing in Mariner East fight; CNX Resources announces closing of $200 million senior notes offering; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: City bans natural gas in most new construction; NATIONAL: Video – Baseload Electricity; U.S. crude oil exports have fallen in each month since their record high in February; Lower natural gas production seen driving $2 price jump this winter; US shale production can reach new highs beyond 13 million b/d, but needs $60/b; Everything points to more natural gas, even for jurisdictions that try to avoid it; LDCs adopting high-tech solutions to get methane emissions under control; INTERNATIONAL: Energy transition could force majors to sell or swap $100B in oil and gas assets; UK set to accelerate ban on fossil-fuel vehicles to 2030.
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