WV Sen. Manchin Asks Pres. Biden to Use Defense Act to Finish MVP
God bless Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia. Manchin has taken up the cause of finishing the 94% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. Manchin is pushing and he’s pushing hard. Yesterday Sen. Manchin said President Biden could, if he wanted to, invoke the Defense Production Act to force the completion of MVP, currently held up by liberal Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (see 4th Circuit Throws Out Plan for Safer MVP Drilling re Candy Darter). Manchin also hinted that he either will introduce a bill in Congress to clear away remaining permit hurdles for MVP so it can finish. One way or the other Manchin wants this pipeline done in the next 4-6 months.
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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 fourth quarter and full-year 2021 update yesterday. The company averaged production of 2.03 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 4Q and 1.94 Bcfe/d for the full year. Nearly all of Ascent’s production (93%) was natural gas, while the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated $54 million of free cash flow and $1.1 billion in profit during 4Q, but lost $806 million overall for the year based on bad hedging bets earlier in the year.
Earlier this week the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project. Which is relatively minor considering the project has already been fined by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) more than $20 million. This latest parting shot at the now-done NGL pipeline project levied for being too loud and not doing enough to communicate with residents in an apartment complex near where the pipeline was doing construction work in Delaware County.
In June 2017, MDN brought you the news that the very first application to drill a shale well in Illinois had been made (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you news of a bold new plan by EQT CEO Toby Rice to “unleash” American LNG exports to not only help our friends in Europe, but also to reduce the amount of coal use across the world, thereby lowering coal-related emissions including carbon dioxide (see 
All this week has been CERAWeek in Houston, Texas, the annual conference where heavyweights in the energy industry, particularly oil and natural gas, meet to hear the captains of industry (and key government officials) deliver speeches, and, more importantly, to chat on the sidelines. S&P is reporting that speaker after speaker at CERAWeek says that while customers want so-called net-zero carbon energy from oil and gas, when it comes to producing electricity with net-zero carbon sources, there is no “silver bullet.” The best option for the foreseeable future is to use natural gas to generate electricity–so says the experts.
NATIONAL: USA energy chief calls for more oil output; US weekly LNG exports down by one; Chief of U.S. energy regulator gives climate endorsement to natural gas; Why Biden’s killing of Keystone XL was an energy security blunder.