Ascent Resources 1Q21: Hops on Bandwagon of Certifying Shale Gas
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its first-quarter 2021 update earlier this week. The big announcement coming from CEO Jeff Fisher is that Ascent is pursuing (like three other M-U drillers) “certification” of its shale gas.
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Pieridae Energy’s Goldboro LNG project, located in Nova Scotia (with the potential to export Marcellus/Utica molecules) has been on our radar for years. Nine years to be exact. In August 2020 Pieridae hired a senior VP to run the project, an indicator the company is serious about building it (see 
MiQ is an independent, not-for-profit partnership between RMI and SYSTEMIQ aimed at reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The way they do it is with a certification. The MiQ Standard evaluates factors in methane intensity, company practices, and methane detection, giving the methane produced an A-F grade. Several M-U drillers, including EQT and Northeast Natural Energy, are adopting MiQ as part of their effort to prove they aren’t scumbags polluting Mom Earth. Now MiQ is expanding to certify entire cargoes of LNG that get exported.
The Jones Act prevents LNG from being transported from one U.S. port (like Cove Point, Maryland and Elba Island, Georgia) to other U.S. ports (like Boston and New York) because there are no built-in-the-USA LNG carriers, a requirement under the 1920 Jones Act. When New England runs low on natural gas, they must import the gas from Russia (see 
The Enverus rig count added another 10 rigs for the week ending May 13 to hit a new post-pandemic high of 555 active rigs. Both the Marcellus and the Utica lost one rig each, ending the week at 35 for the Marcellus and 12 for the Utica. Cumulatively the M-U has 47 active rigs. The main competitor to the M-U, the Haynesville in Louisiana and Texas, lost 2 rigs and now has 51 active rigs.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Peregrine acquires royalties in NE Pennsylvania; OOGEEP announces George Brown as new Executive Director; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Waha natgas market is going premium, but it may be short-lived.