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Diversified Gas & Oil Buys 5 Utica Shale Wells in Monroe County, OH

Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) owns close to 8 million acres of leases with some 60,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. Their focus has been to acquire quality production and cash flow–regardless of the well or commodity type (gas or oil)–in the Appalachian Basin. DGO currently owns over 400 Marcellus/Utica shale wells in their portfolio too. The company just added to their inventory of shale wells, closing on the purchase of five Utica Shale wells in Monroe County, OH. The purchase price for all five? $8.4 million.
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NextEra Energy Writes Down $1.2B for Mountain Valley Pipeline

The world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy, NextEra Energy, also happens to be a major investor in the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. On Tuesday NextEra announced it recorded a loss in fourth-quarter 2020, mainly because of a $1.2 billion write down on its investment in MVP. But have no fear, “write down” does not mean “write off.”
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Maryland Bd of Public Works Approves Wetlands Permit for Gas Pipe

In December, the Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW), which has three members (two leftwing Democrats and RINO Gov. Larry Hogan), surprisingly approved a 10-inch, 6.83-mile pipeline for the Maryland portion of a 19+ mile project called the Del-Mar Energy Pathway Project, crossing both Delaware and Maryland (see Maryland Board of Public Works Approves Tiny Pipe in Eastern Shore). There is one final bit of that project, several miles that needs a wetlands permit in Maryland in order to build. BPW voted unanimously yesterday to approve the permit.
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NatGas Prices in Boston, NYC Double in One Day, Electric Up 55%

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Although a true polar vortex has not yet visited the northeastern U.S. as previously predicted, temperatures in the northeast have fallen and are forecast to be the lowest so far this winter in the next few days. Due to lack of natural gas pipelines to New York and New England, the price for natural gas in both New York City and Boston almost doubled, literally overnight. The spot price for natural gas at the Iroquois Zone 2 trading hub (NYC) rose $5.79 (246% or 2.5x) from $3.96 to $9.75/MMBtu on Jan. 27–in just one day! Algonquin Citygate (Boston) jumped $4.92 (203% or 2x) from $4.77 to $9.69/MMBtu yesterday–in just one day!
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New Strategy for Pipe Cos. – Buy Existing Pipes Rather than Build

U.S. pipeline companies are under no illusion of just how bad the next four years will be for their business, at least for building new pipelines. We told you last week that Williams CEO Alan Armstrong predicted there will be no new greenfield pipelines built during the Biden administration (see Williams CEO Alan Armstrong Says Biden Era Means No New Pipelines). Kinder Morgan (KM) is now chiming in with the same sentiment. So what IS the way forward for these big companies, if they want to continue growing? Answer…
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Biden Admin Issues New Federal Drilling Permits Despite “Ban”

Psst. Don’t tell anti-fossil fuel nutjobs this, but Joe Biden’s “ban” on issuing new permits for drilling on federal and offshore land has loopholes. Since Biden seized power and began occupying the White House, HIS administration (not Trump’s) has issued “at least” 31 new drilling permits for federal and/or offshore drilling. It seems there are big loopholes in Biden’s federal permit moratorium that most news organizations are not reporting.
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Clean Energy’s Next Big Thing – Hydrogen – Requires LOTS of NatGas

Anti-fossil fuel nutters increasingly realize that solar and wind will never, EVER, be able to provide all the energy needs of the world. There will always be a need for some sort of liquid fuel for airplanes, heavy equipment, ships, etc. So antis are now embracing hydrogen as the next Big Thing to save Mom Earth. Just one tiny thing they overlook: Some 75% of hydrogen produced comes from natural gas! Doh…
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Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Jan 28, 2021

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Energy industry terms Biden lease moratorium a blow to Pennsylvania; NATIONAL: Like fracking under Obama, mining poised to grow during Biden years; Laid-off Keystone XL worker says decision to cancel pipeline ‘is going to hurt a lot of people’; Top technologies transforming energy in 2021; Biden’s “climate day” will live in infamy.
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