U.S. Natural Gas Drilling Rig Count Craters, Down 10% in One Week
The news lit up Friday afternoon with the latest rig count by Baker Hughes Co. (BKR). We always caution that weekly rig counts are not a reliable way to gauge drilling activity as the count floats up and down each week. However, on Friday, the bottom kind of dropped out of the natural gas rig count. BKR said the gas-focused rig count dropped by 16 to 141 for the week, which amounts to a 10% drop in a single week. That *does* get your attention. The general consensus seems to be that low, low prices (bumping around near $2/MMBtu) have finally taken their toll, and drillers are pulling back on drilling new wells. How many rigs were lost in the Marcellus and Utica last week?
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John Love, who used to manage the United States Natural Gas Fund (the country’s biggest natural gas ETF), said in an interview with CNBC last week he believes the commodity price of natural gas has already hit bottom and will rise from here. Love says drillers are focused on the future–and the future is LNG exports. Love’s sentiments about the price bottoming out were echoed by a second expert, Teucrium Trading CEO Sal Gilbertie.
Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (liberal Democrat from West Virginia) introduced a permitting reform bill (for the third time) to save the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from the clutches of colluding leftists who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (see 
The PA Environment Digest Blog has been reviewing the reports filed by Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) workers again and noticed a situation at a well pad in Delmar Township, Tioga County. According to DEP reports filed, a Notice of Violation (NOV) was issued to Seneca Resources for a well pad located on DCNR State Forest land last September. Surface water samples from puddles indicate wastewater (brine) from one or more wells spilled onto the ground.
The haughty John Kerry recently granted the official media house organ for the Democrat Party, the Associated Press, an interview. During the interview, Lord Kerry said oil and gas producers keep saying there are technological breakthroughs that will allow the world to continue extracting and burning fossil fuels without toasting Mom Earth. He said, in so many words, it’s either time to put up or shut up. Kerry “doubts” that existing technology is up to the task of abating greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Kerry travels around the globe on a private jet that belches out more greenhouse gases than any random 100 citizens of planet earth. It must be nice to be married to a billionaire (Teresa Heinz Kerry).
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