Spot Price for NatGas in New England Trades as High as $225/MMBtu
Here in the northeastern part of the country, we are supposed to be getting clobbered by two days of super-cold, Siberian air–beginning today. The “otherworldly” temps are forecast to be in the minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit region in some places. Wind chill temps even lower. The spot (physically delivered, next day) price for natural gas in some locations in New England traded as high as $225 per MMBtu during the day yesterday. Even so, the national benchmark Henry Hub price (in southern Louisiana) sank another 1.2 cents to settle at $2.46/MMBtu.
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New shale permits issued for Jan. 23-29 in the Marcellus/Utica soared! There were 59 new permits issued in total, including 34 (!) new permits for Pennsylvania, 24 (!) new permits for Ohio, and just one measly permit issued in West Virginia. Chesapeake Energy was the runaway winner by grabbing 13 permits, all of them for wells in Bradford County, PA. EOG Resources was the runner-up, receiving eight permits for drilling in Noble County, OH.
Yesterday two radicalized Big Green groups–the Environmental Integrity Project (based in D.C.) and the Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia)–filed a notice of intent to sue the Shell Polymers Monaca ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh. The notice, as well as the coming lawsuit, has all the hallmarks of being planned long ago, perhaps years ago, before the cracker plant even came online. The false claim in the notice and coming lawsuit is that the cracker plant is “repeatedly” violating air pollution limits.
The Ohio Oil and Gas Leasing Commission, established in 2011 by a law signed by RINO Gov. John Kasich, is a five-member group designed to oversee drilling and fracking on state-owned land. After Kasich created it, he refused to appoint members, for years, to punish the oil and gas industry for not endorsing his plan to raise the severance tax rate. In 2017, under threat by the Republican legislature, Kasich finally relented and appointed the five members (see 
U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, Republican Congressman from Ohio’s 6th congressional district (in the Utica Shale part of the state), has introduced his first bill of the new session of Congress. The bill is called the Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act. It will allow domestic suppliers of natural gas, including LNG, to export our gas to allies in Europe and Asia after completing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) review process only–cutting out a requirement to have the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also approve it. The DOE approval takes much longer (years) and has been a choke point. It’s time to end the delays. It’s time to get rid of the weakest link.
In a bid to prop up his in-the-toilet poll numbers, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (Democrat who voted to screw the country with the Inflation Reduction Act) has joined Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to introduce a new bill aimed at blocking the Bidenistas at the Consumer Product Safety Commission from using federal funding to ban new or existing gas stoves. Since it’s a Republican and a Democrat jointly sponsoring the bill, the bill is considered “bipartisan,” and we can jam that label down the left’s throat. However, even if all Republicans plus Manchin vote for it, we’re still one vote shy of passing it (plus Biden will veto it for sure).
Sometimes we (collectively) need to zoom out for a look at the bigger energy picture. Our little piece of the energy puzzle, production of natural gas, NGLs, and even oil here in the Marcellus/Utica, is part of a much larger picture of energy supply and demand. The left has convinced most of the human population that we MUST “transition” to so-called renewables to power the world or all is lost. Because of that false narrative now embedded in the brains of most people, governments are doing crazy things like banning natural gas in new construction (ala California and New York). Private companies–drillers and midstream companies–are reticent to invest big money in more drilling and infrastructure if, in the next 10-15 years, that investment will cease to provide a return. Companies are behaving rationally, given the irrational insanity around them, by NOT investing–even if energy prices are super high right now. Who can blame them?
Earlier this week, the Marcellus Drilling News website hit a true milestone–25,000 posts/articles. We don’t often (never, actually) stop to toot our own horn. But we thought this milestone deserved a mention. And a reminder that all MDN paying subscribers have access to ALL of our massive archive of articles. There are two ways to locate an article on a topic of interest quickly…
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Why whale deaths are dividing environmentalists; NATIONAL: ‘Electrofuels’ could play a role in decarbonizing transportation; Severe winter weather proves no one is “deceived” about oil and natural gas; INTERNATIONAL: Energy services sector will grow to $1 trillion in 2025; LNG prices may have plunged, but a rebound is on the horizon.