Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell
Green Activists Complain to Wrong Agency re Shell Cracker Violations
Last Thursday around 30-40 environmental activists (anti-fossil fuelers), along with a handful of local residents, rallied in Beaver, PA, before showing up for the Beaver County Commission regular meeting. The protesters, who want the Shell ethane cracker plant shut down, vented their concerns about the plant to county commissioners. The three county commissioners listened while antis vented for more than an hour (they should receive hazard pay). The problem is, the protesters were in the wrong venue.
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According to Baker Hughes, which has tracked rig counts since 1944, drillers cut the rig count once again last week (overall by a single rig), the sixth week in a row when the rig count has gone down. This is the first time the U.S. oil & gas rig count has gone down six weeks in a row since July 2020–nearly three years ago. Oil rigs rose by one last week to 556. Gas rigs fell two to 135, the lowest since March 2022. According to oil and gas expert David Blackmon (who writes for Forbes), a rig count slumping for six weeks in a row is a trend and cannot be ignored. What about the Marcellus/Utica?
Last June (one year ago), the story broke that Penn LNG, headed by Franc James, a native of Philadelphia, had “quietly lined up support to build a $6.4 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal near Philly.” Not wanting this golden opportunity to die from opposition by radicalized environmentalists, Pennsylvania State Rep. Marina White (Republican from Philadelphia, a true rarity) sponsored House Bill (HB) 2458, which passed and was subsequently signed into law by then-Gov. Tom Wolf (see 
Researchers with Ohio Northern University recently published a study that finds that fracking for Utica Shale sometimes (“episodically”) reduces small Eastern Ohio River basin stream levels. The fluctuations in those stream levels “could” (but not necessarily do) negatively impact aquatic life (ecosystems) in those areas. The situation should, according to the researchers, be confirmed by more studies and monitoring.
We spotted a press release from an energy company that works in New York State called 
Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shared some information that, strangely, has not been written about by mainstream media. Not a mention, not a peep. EIA found that U.S. electricity generation from natural gas was the highest it has ever been this past winter, 2022-23. U.S. electricity generation from natural gas reached a record-high 619 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) during the most recent winter heating season (November 1-March 31), averaging more than 120 BkWh per month and accounting for 38% of the country’s electricity generation mix.
Looks like Shell’s new CEO, Wael Sawan, is capable of rational thought, unlike his predecessor, Ben van Beurden. Previous CEO van Beurden had set the company on the suicidal path of reducing oil and gas drilling in favor of investing in renewable energy. It turns out that’s not making any money for the company. So at an investor meeting this week, Sawan is going to unveil a new strategy–back to more drilling for oil and gas and less dithering with renewables, according to Reuters. In addition, super-secret sources whispering to Bloomberg say that Sawan is trying to cut more deals with China and India to sell more LNG. Sawan “sees a long-term role for natural gas in the world’s energy mix” and Shell is going to help meet that need.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Senator Yaw comments on Virginia Air Board canceling of RGGI.