Empire Pipeline | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY
NY’s Corrupt DEC Still Trying to Block NFG’s Northern Access Pipe
What in the world is going on inside the bowels of the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC)? The DEC is once again trying to reopen a long-settled case that allows National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) to build the Northern Access Pipeline, a 97-mile project from McKean County in Pennsylvania into and through Allegany, Cattaraugus and Erie counties in New York, that will flow Marcellus gas into the Empire State.
Read More “NY’s Corrupt DEC Still Trying to Block NFG’s Northern Access Pipe”
Even though construction is completed for the Mariner East pipeline system, anti-fossil fuelers are still lying about the project and its status. Energy Transfer said during its recent quarterly update that Mariner East is in the process of being commissioned, i.e. tested (see 
In June 2020, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (Democrat) announced an indictment of Cabot Oil & Gas for allegations of methane migration going back more than a decade, long before he was elected as AG (see 
Last week saw a flurry of sniping back and forth between Pennsylvania House Republicans and Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf over the issue of whether Wolf should be doing more to promote PA natural gas production as a solution to help Europe out of its current pickle with Vlad Putin. Russia keeps jerking Europe’s chain by slowing and even stopping natural gas flows to the Continent in retaliation for Europe engaging in sanctions against Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Apparently, the House Republicans got under Wolf’s skin, as he retorted with some rather testy language of his own.
Sort of a mixed bag with respect to recent prices for natural gas. While the spot cash price as a national average has slipped a bit, down 83 cents over the past week to $4.84, the NYMEX futures contract price for the “front month” of April soared past $5. In fact, if you look at the NYMEX contracts for each month over the next one year, they are ALL closing above $5/MMBtu.
Each week MDN brings you a report of new permits to drill shale wells issued during the previous week for Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Last Wednesday MDN noticed a problem with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection’s reporting website that prevented us from harvesting data and delivering our weekly report. We alerted the DEP to the issue. Their problem is much larger than just oil and gas reporting. It extends to several other systems as well, including the ability for drillers to upload required reports. When will it be fixed?
NATIONAL: What do U.S. refineries import from Russia…and what if they stop?; Biden admin. gave Putin ‘leverage’ by blocking American pipelines and drilling; Investigate Russia’s covert funding of US anti-fossil fuel groups; INTERNATIONAL: USA and EU look at Russian oil ban; Hitting Putin where it hurts by sanctioning Russia’s oil exports; Oil traders bet prices will pass $200 in March.