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Fire at Miss. Compressor Station Reduces M-U Flows to Gulf Coast
It’s interesting that a single point of failure, one compressor station, can impact an entire region. Last Friday morning around 1 am, storms moved through Alcorn County, Mississippi. Lightning struck a “vertical gas pipe” at the Columbia Gulf Transmission Corinth natural gas compressor station, releasing and igniting natural gas. One local news station characterized it as a “massive gas fire” that “prompted county-wide response.” The fire burned for over four hours until firefighters could put it out. Some 2.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica molecules flow through that compressor station on their way to the Gulf Coast.
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Southwestern Energy, with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica and Louisiana Haynesville, issued its first quarter 2023 update late last week. The company generated an impressive $1.9 billion in net income for the quarter versus losing $2.7 billion in 1Q22. That’s an incredible swing of $4.6 billion in one year! The company generated $99 million in free cash flow for the quarter. Southwestern reported total net production of 411 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent), or 4.6 Bcfe per day, including 3.9 Bcf per day of gas and 107 MBbls (thousand barrels) per day of liquids. Southwestern invested $665 million of capital and placed 36 wells online to sales, including 13 in the Marcellus/Utica and 23 in the Haynesville.
Last week CNX Resources issued its first quarter 2023 update. The company generated $710 million of net income versus losing $923 million in the same quarter last year. However, actual revenue for selling gas and NGLs was down from a year ago ($456 million vs. $745 million). The net income figure also includes gains and losses on derivatives (hedging). In 1Q22, CNX lost $1.7 billion on its derivatives, but in 1Q23, the company made $762 million on derivatives. Production fell in 1Q23, down to 135.9 Bcfe (or 1.51 Bcfe/d), versus 150.9 Bcfe (1.68 Bcfe/d) in 1Q22.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), which treats the 17 counties in Pennsylvania under its jurisdiction as a fiefdom, has colluded with the leftists of the Big Green group Damascus Citizens for Sustainability to “settle” a lawsuit brought by the group against DRBC “forcing” the DRBC to further restrict and ban wastewater from conventional wells from being spread on roadways (dirt roads) in the 17 PA counties located behind the Iron Curtain of the DRBC.
Last summer Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 2644 was passed into law, becoming Act 96 of 2022 (see 
During the second week of May, Marcellus driller Northeast Natural Energy will begin to drill a geothermal and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) data collection well–all the way down to 15,000 below the surface. The test well is being done in cooperation with (under the direction of) West Virginia University and the U.S. Dept. of Energy. The study and the data collected from the well aim to test the potential of geothermal energy in the region and gather information on the potential for underground CCS in the Appalachian basin.
To store carbon dioxide (CO2) underground, you need a Class VI CO2 injection well. Currently, the federal EPA is the primary regulator (has “primacy”) in regulating Class VI wells in all but two states (neither of which is a Marcellus/Utica state). PA and other oil and gas states are seeking to become the lead regulator for Class VI CO2 wells, which we explained in a post in March (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Impact of obstacles to gas production frustrating; NATIONAL: Former Williams CEO Joseph H. Williams dies at 89; Orbiting methane ‘speed cameras’ are catching polluters in the act; Green inflation and the end of capitalism; INTERNATIONAL: Japan’s JERA sees more LNG going to Asia as domestic demand shrinks.