Last week MDN reported about a compressor fire at the Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island LNG export facility in Georgia (see Compressor Fire Shuts Down Three Elba Island LNG Export Units). The fire was in the compressor train #2. Just to be safe, Kinder Morgan shut down trains 1-3. The good news is that Kinder is restarting #1 and #3 this week.
Read More “Kinder Morgan Restarting 2 of 3 Shut Down Elba Island LNG Units”
The Marcellus/Utica region is a tale of two shales. One is dry gas, or methane only, and the other is methane plus NGLs–other hydrocarbons that come out of the hole along with methane, including ethane, propane, butane, and few others. NGL production can turn a breakeven or possibly money-losing venture into a profitable venture. The wet gas area is located in portions of southwestern PA, eastern OH, and the northern panhandle of WV (see the map). Given the pandemic, fluctuating natgas prices, curtailments, and the general craziness in the markets, what do the next 12 months look like for NGL production in the M-U?
Read More “Marcellus/Utica NGL Production & Exports – Shortage Coming?”
Baker Hughes, one of the largest oilfield services (drilling) companies in the U.S. and the world, began keeping records on rig counts starting in 1987. As of May 12, 2020, producers operated 339 rigs in the U.S. That’s the lowest number of operating rigs since Baker Hughes began publishing its venerated rig count. It’s not the kind of record we like to see broken.
Read More “U.S. Rig Count Falls to Lowest Level EVER – Since Records Began”
We spotted an interesting story by S&P Global Platts about the dramatic increase in the stock price for gas-focused drillers, particularly in the Marcellus/Utica. Did you know that EQT’s stock has shot up 127% in value over the past three months? Range Resources and Southwestern Energy are both up 81% in value. Antero Resources is up 76%. It’s impressive! Then again, the stock price for most of those companies decreased by 90% over the past five years, so we have a lot of ground to make up.
Read More “$4 Natural Gas This Winter? Maybe, IF Things “Fall into Place””
One of the worst overreaches and offenses of the Obamadroids was to redefine what “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) actually means. As they were getting ready to leave power, the Obama EPA redefined WOTUS as everything down to large mud puddles–no lie (see EPA Power Grab: Redefines Waters of the U.S. to Include Everything). When Donald Trump took over, he set out to correct Obama’s conceit by bringing the WOTUS definition back into the realm of reality. It took years and fending off multiple lawsuits funded by Big Green organizations, but we finally we have a new, permanent redefinition of WOTUS–taking it back to what it was meant to be (see EPA & Army Corps Publish Final WOTUS Regs – Obama Overreach Fixed). The new WOTUS revisions are set to go into effect in late June. A group of radical Attorneys General with Trump Derangement Syndrome are trying to block it.
Read More “CA & NY Attempt to Block WOTUS Redo from Taking Effect in June”
Yesterday a coalition of twenty-three free market, small business, and consumer groups joined the American Energy Alliance (AEA) in warning President Trump not to slap tariffs on imported crude oil from our enemies (Saudi Arabia and Russia) as a means to help the decimated oil and gas industry. We disagree.
Read More ““Free Market” Groups Urge Trump to Avoid Oil Tariffs on Enemies”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Dominion to continue Cove Point LNG exports during maintenance; NATIONAL: Why U.S. shale is too important to fail; Google says it won’t build AI tools for oil and gas drillers; INTERNATIONAL: Coronavirus creates repair headache for oil and gas industry.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, May 21, 2020”