Freeport LNG Gets Ready to Restart Exports, Tanker Docked Nearby
The second-largest LNG export terminal in the U.S., Freeport LNG, located near Galveston, Texas, experienced an explosion and fire in early June (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). Freeport, when it’s online and running, liquefies and exports roughly 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas–some of it from the Marcellus/Utica. In August, Freeport LNG Development, the operator, said the plant is expected to be back online in November (see Freeport LNG Restart Timeline Slips from October to November). It appears we are now very close to the restart of the facility.
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According to law firm Houston Harbaugh, P.C., deducting fuel costs from landowner royalties continues to be an ongoing and widespread practice. Some leases allow the use of a portion of the raw gas recovered at a well to “fuel” well-pad operations (processing of the gas). Not only are landowners denied a royalty on the fuel gas volume, they also have that same “cost” deducted from their production royalty! According to Houston Harbaugh, this practice of deducting fuel costs must be closely monitored by all landowners.
Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate have, since April 2021, refused to appoint new members to the five-member Public Utility Commission (PUC) in response to Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s unilateral push to force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme (see 
Excuse our rather blunt headline that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is about to get an anal exam, but that’s about the best way we can describe what is coming to this completely out-of-control federal agency. According to an article appearing on the left-leaning E&E News (owned by POLITICO), if Republicans regain control of the House and the Senate, what awaits the EPA is, “Senior political appointees facing multiple, hourslong hearings. Piles of letters demanding documents from every corner of the agency. And perhaps even subpoenas for text messages.” It’s not pleasant, but somebody needs to muck about in the sewer that is called Joe Biden’s EPA, and bring it to account for its shady actions.
Following his sellout of the country by voting for Joe Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act (a new name for the Build Back Better/New Green Deal), U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s popularity in his home of West Virginia state has sunk into the sewer. A majority of voters are not happy with the job Manchin is doing, and if the election for Manchin were held today, he would lose to any Republican running against him. Joe Manchin’s political career is over–deservedly so.
Permits issued for new shale wells last week got a bit better from their pathetically low numbers. From Oct. 10-16 there were eight new permits issued in Pennsylvania, and four each issued in Ohio and West Virginia. All of the PA permits were issued in northeastern PA, with four going to BKV Operating (i.e. Banpu) in Wyoming County, two to Chesapeake in Bradford County, and two to Beech Resources in Lycoming County. Encino Energy scored all four permits for Ohio, all of them in Harrison County. In WV, Tug Hill (soon to be EQT) received three permits, and Southwestern Energy received one permit, all four in Marshall County.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EQT blames government for higher natural gas prices; NATIONAL: USA oil groups react to Biden measures; U.S. FERC says winter natgas prices will be up from recent years; U.S. natgas languishes near 7-month low after big storage build; Did President Biden find religion on permitting reform? Not so fast.; Will 2023 bring $150-a-barrel oil?; INTERNATIONAL: Standard Chartered looks at IEA, EIA, OPEC reports; No, Politico Europe, Vladimir Putin is not making Europe “green”; U.N. Secretary’s remarks reveal fossil fuel contradictions.