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What May Be Ahead for M-U in 2025 & 2026: More Pipes, More M&A

The end of the year and the beginning of a new year are times when many publications reflect on what was and what may be. A recent article by Hart Energy’s Oil and Gas Investor magazine tackled the topic of what may lie ahead for the Marcellus/Utica region over the next couple of years. The article looked at two primary issues—the potential for more pipelines getting built within (and out of) our region and the likelihood of more mergers and acquisitions for drillers in our region. Read More “What May Be Ahead for M-U in 2025 & 2026: More Pipes, More M&A”

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5 PUCO Commissioners to Decide the Future of Data Centers in Ohio

Last fall, MDN began tracking the issue of who, ultimately, should pay to build out new electricity sources for data centers (and AI) that increasingly use huge amounts of power (see Big Tech and Big Utility Tangle in Ohio re Data Center Electricity and Big Tech Not Happy with OH Utility Counterproposal re Data Centers). A large utility company in central Ohio, AEP Ohio, is tangling with Big Tech companies, including Amazon, Google, and others, about the commitments those companies should make before it (AEP) will risk investing billions in bringing new power facilities (natgas, solar, wind, nukes, whatever) online. The battle lines are drawn. Each side made a proposal to the state Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). Now, the five PUCO commissioners will sort through the proposals and pick a side. Read More “5 PUCO Commissioners to Decide the Future of Data Centers in Ohio”

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Pittsylvania (VA) County Planning Bd. Votes to Deny Data Center Plan

The Pittsylvania County Planning Commission voted on Jan. 7 to recommend against granting Virginia-based Balico permission to proceed with a $8.85 billion project to build a data center complex. Last October, Balico applied to rezone more than 2,200 acres for a proposed campus that would include its own massive on-site gas-fired power plant complex using Marcellus/Utica molecules from the Mountain Valley Pipeline (see Massive Data Center with 3,500 MW Gas-Fired Plant Proposed for Va.). The project hit major pushback from local residents and politicians, so Balico revised the plan. The new plan is to build a tiny 300 MW gas-fired plant, at least initially (see Plan for Massive 3,500-MW Va. Gas-Fired Plant Slashed 91% to 300-MW). On Jan. 7, the Planning Commission voted against the revised plan. Read More “Pittsylvania (VA) County Planning Bd. Votes to Deny Data Center Plan”

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FERC Approves Plan for Shell to Buy R.I. Gas-Fired Power Plant

Last October, Shell signed an agreement to buy 100% of RISEC Holdings’ 609-megawatt (MW) two-unit combined-cycle gas turbine power plant located near Providence, Rhode Island (see Shell Buys Gas-Fired Power Plant Near Providence, Rhode Island). Shell wants to buy the plant out of self-interest. The company supplies natural gas to the plant. Shell would be the owner and the customer, all wrapped up in one. Good news: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved the purchase, clearing the way to complete the transaction. Read More “FERC Approves Plan for Shell to Buy R.I. Gas-Fired Power Plant”

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Coterra Buys More Permian Acreage, Automates Fracking with AI

We have two stories about Coterra Energy to share. Coterra was formed in 2021 by the merger of the Marcellus-focused Cabot Oil & Gas and the Permian/Anadarko-focused Cimarex Energy. Unfortunately (for the M-U), the merged company has chosen to concentrate new drilling outside of the northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus until the price of natgas improves (see Coterra Expands Curtailments in Marcellus, Drilling & Fracking Stop). Last November, the company announced it would buy “certain assets of Franklin Mountain Energy and Avant Natural Resources” located in the Permian (see Siren Song: Coterra Energy Buys Permian Assets for $4 Billion). Now comes word via an SEC filing that Coterra is spending $43 million to buy another 1,670 net royalty acres from Franklin Mountain Energy in the Permian. Read More “Coterra Buys More Permian Acreage, Automates Fracking with AI”

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2024 NatGas Prices “Put Through the Wringer” – Lowest Spot Price EVER

We have a post-mortem for the price of natural gas in 2024, and it ain’t pretty. With respect to the “front month” NYMEX futures price average during 2024, BofA (Bank of America) Global Research said in a report that the Henry Hub natural gas price averaged just $2.41 per MMBtu last year. It was “the lowest level since 2020 and second lowest level in at least 25 years.” Ouch. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) did a review of the Henry Hub spot (physically traded) price for 2024 and found it averaged $2.21 per MMBtu. That’s the lowest average annual price in inflation-adjusted dollars EVER reported. Double ouch. Read More “2024 NatGas Prices “Put Through the Wringer” – Lowest Spot Price EVER”

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Largest Bank in U.S. Drops Out of UN’s Net Zero Banking Alliance

Last week, MDN brought you the great news that five of the six largest banks in the United States have now canceled their memberships in the awful Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a group of woke banks under the umbrella of the equally terrible United Nations (see U.S. Big Banks Drop Out of the UN’s Net Zero Banking Alliance). Our country’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, was still a member of the NZBA. We said, “We wonder when (not if) JPMorgan will resign its membership.” Prescient. Yesterday, JPMorgan announced it was leaving the NZBA, too. Read More “Largest Bank in U.S. Drops Out of UN’s Net Zero Banking Alliance”

Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Jan 9, 2025

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Texas oil, natural gas industry breaks record with $27.3B paid in taxes, royalties; Report from seven New England states outlines “staggering costs” of green energy policies; NATIONAL: Energy sector goes from S&P 500’s ‘worst to first’ in 2025 start; How Madoff’s Ponzi beneficiaries are funding climate lawfare; INTERNATIONAL: Oil slips below $74 amid resistance at key technical level; European imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia at ‘record levels’. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Jan 9, 2025”