Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia
Manchin’s “Save MVP” Permitting Reform Bill Flames Out Again
Once again, a permitting reform bill floated by U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (from West Virginia) with a provision to complete the 94% completed 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has flamed out. Manchin made a deal with the devil–his own Democrat Party–to vote for the misnamed and terrible Inflation Reduction Act (a warmed-over version of the Green New Deal) in return for HIS party’s support to pass a so-called permitting reform bill that would, among other things, allow MVP to finish up without court interference (see Joe Manchin Cuts MVP “Deal” in Return for Selling Out Country).
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How new laws get proposed and passed is fascinating, isn’t it? Especially when the forces of good (conservatives) use the same tactics as the forces of evil (leftists) against them. The Ohio Senate may vote as soon as today on House Bill (HB) 507, which would expand natural gas drilling in state parks. HB 507 began life as a bill to “revise the number of poultry chicks that may be sold in lots.” The bill ostensibly addresses poultry sales and food safety. Yet somewhere along the way (in the dark of night), the bill was amended with another bill that “forces” state agencies to lease public lands for oil and gas drilling.
A lawsuit brought by two West Virginia landowners seeking to overturn the state’s newly enacted forced pooling (i.e. unitization) law was put on pause by a federal judge on Dec. 1. The same two landowners had a previous version of the same lawsuit tossed by the judge back in September (see 
There are advantages and disadvantages to being publicly or privately owned. In the oil and gas sector, most large companies are publicly owned–meaning they have a board of directors, and the “owners” hold shares of stock in the company, shares traded on public exchanges. In the Marcellus/Utica, most of the top drillers are publicly owned: Range Resources, Coterra Energy, CNX Resources, EQT Corporation, Antero Resources, Southwestern Energy, Repsol, National Fuel Gas Company (i.e. Seneca Resources), and Gulfport Energy. Several others are privately owned, including Ascent Resources (Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S.), Greylock Energy (based in West Virginia), and Olympus Energy (which drills in the Pittsburgh suburbs).
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that employment in the U.S. oilfield services (OFS) and equipment sector rose by an estimated 2,346 jobs to 645,486 in November. The November increases make OFS employment the highest since numbers started to drop in March 2020. We still haven’t fully recovered to the all-time pre-covid high of 706,528 reached in February 2020–but we’re working in the right direction. This is very good news.
Is Vanguard the next BlackRock–i.e, a pariah due to its extreme anti-fossil energy positions? YES. The Attorneys General from 13 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, have filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking to block Vanguard, a MAJOR investor (with $7.2 trillion of assets under management, second largest after BlackRock with $10 trillion) from buying stocks in electric utility companies. Why? Because Vanguard, like BlackRock, is trying to force the companies it invests in to abandon the use of fossil energy. If you own Vanguard investments–it’s time to dump them. Let’s hit them where it counts–in the pocketbook.
We’re encouraged to see the American Petroleum Institute (API) finally find its voice and begin to push back against the lunatics in the Biden administration. Recently, the API refused to support the reappointment of FERC Chairman Richard Glick (see 
We spotted a story about comments from the New England electric grid manager, ISO New England (ISO-NE), that made us do a double-take. Bloomberg reports the grid manager’s comments under this headline: “New England May Ask Residents to Curb Energy in Extreme Cold.” The article keys on comments made by ISO-NE that say if there is a bad cold snap, or an extended cold spell, residents in New England will be asked to reduce their energy use so as to keep natural gas flowing to electric generating power plants. Otherwise, the grid will crash, and there will be blackouts. Is anyone else scratching their head at this one?
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Sempra announces deal with ENGIE for LNG from Port Arthur; NATIONAL: Weather data sends Nymex natgas futures tumbling below $5.50; Why did the frac spread collapse, and what’s next?; Energy groups sue Biden admin for failing to hold oil, gas lease sales again; INTERNATIONAL: US will double amount of natural gas it sends to UK; World will face shortage of LNG through 2026, says Exxon CEO.