American Enviro. Partners Shuts Doors, Lays Off “Dozens” of Workers
We now have more insight (possibly) into why radioactive frack wastewater handler and processor Austin Master Services (AMS) is in trouble with the Ohio Attorney General. Three weeks ago, Ohio AG Dave Yost took legal action seeking to force AMS to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding the storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (see Ohio AG Sues Austin Master Services for Unsafe Storage of Wastewater). AMS is a subsidiary of (owned and controlled by) American Environmental Partners (AEP). The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that AEP recently closed its doors and laid off most (if not all) of its employees. AEP owns AMS and several other subsidiaries affected by AEP’s closure.
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We tried to cram the gist of the news into the headline but found we could not. This is a big story, for multiple reasons. Most news outlets are reporting (and this is not incorrect) that EQT pulled off a big deal to divest a good chunk of its nonoperated assets (acreage and functioning wells in which EQT owns a minority stake) in northeastern Pennsylvania, trading those assets for 10,000 operated acres in Lycoming County, PA (in northeastern PA), plus 26,000 operated acres in Monroe County, OH, plus receiving $500 million cash, in a deal with Norway’s Equinor (formerly Statoil). EQT divesting from its nonop assets is a big deal. However, the bigger news, in our humble opinion, is that Equinor has (with this deal) completely exited all operated assets in U.S. shale. The company wants to keep its fingers in the U.S. shale pie, but only as a nonop operator — that is, investing in wells that other companies drill and maintain.
An injection well in Southington (Trumbull County), Ohio, is generating complaints. According to a news report from Youngstown TV station WFMJ, some of the neighbors claim when it’s warm outside, or when it rains, a strong odor emanates from the injection well. The well is located near a school and near homes. The local NAACP is making noise about it, claiming this is an “environmental justice” issue, meaning the well is racist. The left often trots out the racism argument when it’s losing in a bid to bully the other side to cave on a given issue. So we are immediately suspicious when we read about an injection well (a) causing odors, and (b) being an environmental justice issue.
The United States exported 10% more natural gas in 2023 than it did in 2022 — a record of 20.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Natural Gas Monthly report. U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports accounted for more than half of all U.S. natural gas exports, and natural gas exports by pipeline to Canada and Mexico accounted for the remainder. You don’t often think about the fact that we export a huge amount of natural gas to our two neighbors via pipeline — Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. We exported 8.9 Bcf/d to Canada and Mexico combined (43% of all exported gas) and 12.0 Bcf/d via LNG (57%).
BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, hauled out its hefty crystal ball to make predictions about the “front month” contract price for NYMEX natural gas (based on the Henry Hub) for the next five years, beginning with 2024. BMI’s report also includes an aggregation of predictions by Bloomberg called the Bloomberg Consensus. What does it show? If the predicted average price in 2024 comes to be, we’ll need to see a pretty stiff rise in the price soon!
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Waha natural gas cash passes the other $2 mark; NATIONAL: The history of carbon dioxide in the climate change debate; Baltimore bridge funding snared in battle over LNG ban; Halliburton, Baker Hughes may see pressure to combine; IPAA announces new appointments to board of directors; INTERNATIONAL: An already bad situation in the Red Sea just got worse; BMI says Australia’s LNG exports will drop this year; Mexico presidential frontrunner an anti.