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Hit Bottom? U.S. Rig Count Up 9 at 641, M-U Stays Even at 39
Have we finally turned a corner? Hit rock bottom and have begun a rebound? We are referring to the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count. Last Monday, we reported the weekly rig count had finally gained a rig–the first time since June (see U.S. Rig Count Adds One Rig, M-U Drops Another Rig). However, the Marcellus/Utica dropped another rig in that report from two weeks ago. Today’s report (from Friday) shows the national rig count added a whopping nine rigs last week–now up to 641 active rigs. Although the M-U did not add any rigs last week, neither did we lose any, which prompts the observation that maybe, just maybe, we are seeing a turnaround in the rig count.
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Dominion Energy, a huge utility company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, recently revived a plan to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, a Richmond suburb (see 
Last week, MDN tracked a story that developed all week long. The Freeport LNG export facility, located on Quintana Island along the Texas Gulf Coast (south of Houston), is the second largest LNG export facility currently in operation. When operating at full capacity, Freeport can export 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of liquefied natural gas–roughly 20% of the U.S.’ entire LNG export output. A little over a week ago, the facility experienced some sort of issue (Freeport has been silent and refuses to respond), reducing output, at one point, to zero (see 
Everyone is telling the Bidenistas at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the same thing: Dump the faulty regulations you composed at the last minute that will result in closing most (if not all) of America’s natural gas-fired power plants. The latest group to tell (off) the EPA is a coalition of 87 businesses and associations from multiple states–including Pennsylvania and Ohio. Among the groups in the coalition are the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA), the American Petroleum Institute — both the Pennsylvania and Ohio chapters, and the Ohio Oil & Gas Association. The coalition represents millions of people.
There’s some major corruption going on in the world of the left, and it got exposed last Wednesday at a Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held the hearing, chaired by Rep. James Comer (Republican from Kentucky). It was a hearing about a distortion of the justice system called third-party litigation funding (TPLF). It is the practice of a party with no direct stake in a lawsuit funding the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s lawyers as they pursue litigation. Example: billionaires like Michael Bloomberg and Big Green groups (funded in part by foreign countries like China and Russia) paying for lawyers for smaller green groups and mom-and-pop plaintiffs to repeatedly sue the oil and gas industry to block drilling and pipelines, or to force a change in regulations. There are, believe it or not, investment funds set up to invest in lawsuits! And the investors (the people with the money) can control whether or not the plaintiffs they are backing can or cannot settle the lawsuit. It is no longer about justice but about money. It is a GROTESQUE bastardization of the entire justice system. And it MUST STOP.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California sues big oil demanding damages, relief; Venture Global says court battles not slowing company’s LNG projects; NATIONAL: RFK Jr says he would ban fracking in plan to tackle plastics pollution; Sorry, but the losers in Washington can’t pick energy winners; Biden attacks again in his war on oil, but prices bite back; In a bad omen for inflation, US oil prices top $90 a barrel.