A brief note to let our valued subscribers know that MDN will not be published from Thursday, May 1, to Friday, May 9. We will return with full-strength MDN on Monday, May 12. MDN editor Jim Willis and his wife are traveling to South Carolina to watch their youngest son graduate with a PhD! We are enormously proud of his achievements. Following graduation, the family will travel to Myrtle Beach for some R&R.
Last Thursday, West Virginia Governor Pat Morrisey signed Senate Bill (SB) 627 into law. SB 627 removes the previous ban on leasing “pore spaces” under state-owned parks. However, the bill explicitly prohibits any surface disturbance on state park land for drilling or injection. All lease revenues generated must be used exclusively for improvements and maintenance at the location where the leased pore space is situated. Read More “WV Gov. Morrisey Signs Law to Store CO2 Under State-Owned Parks”
In January, MDN reported that the PJM Interconnection electrical grid operator, covering Pennsylvania (along with all or parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia), had caved to the political demands of PA Gov. Josh Shapiro to artificially cap the prices of the next capacity auction scheduled for July 2025 (see PJM Grid Caves to PA Gov. Shapiro Bullying, Blackout Risk Rises). The bad news is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently gave its stamp of approval on the deal (see FERC OKs PJM Deal with Devil (Shapiro) for Higher Rates, Blackouts). This post outlines the reasons why this deal will (a) lead to blackouts and (b) eventually result in higher, not lower, prices for ratepayers. Read More “PA Gov. Shapiro’s PJM ‘Price Cap’ Will Hike Electricity Bills”
Massive growth in data center construction, and the jaw-dropping amount of power each center requires, bodes well for the natural gas industry in general and the Marcellus/Utica in particular. In the past, electric power would have been provided via the nation’s power grid. But regional transmission organizations, which coordinate, control, and monitor a multi-state piece of the grid, are not in the best of shape. Thus, if the power can’t reach the data centers, bring the data centers to the basin, according to Brent Bobsein, Vice President of Sustainable Development at CNX Resources Corporation. Read More “CNX Talks About the Importance of NatGas to AI Data Centers in M-U”
Houston, we have a problem. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the data centers (banks of hundreds or thousands of computers) that support AI are being planned right now. All those data centers need reliable power supplies. Unreliable solar and wind are not up to the task, so the companies building those data centers (like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and others) are turning to natural gas. Which we love! But here’s the problem: the turbines needed to generate the electricity (turbines that burn natural gas) are now on backorder… until 2028 or later. Read More “Gas-Fired Turbine Builders Largely Sold Out Through 2028”
Speaking of gas turbines and our current inability to produce them quickly enough, we came across a somewhat related story from Reuters. The reporters from Reuters are sounding the alarm that U.S. LNG export facilities may soon have to compete for natural gas supplies with power plants needed to power AI data centers. The result is that the price of natural gas will increase, and in some cases, it may not be available for exports. Of course, the free market (capitalism) will sort this out on its own, but in the meantime, there may be some tension. Read More “Will U.S. LNG Exports Lose Out to Demand for Gas from Power Plants?”
The Trump administration recently issued rules that require at least 1% of the natural gas shipped overseas to be carried on U.S.-built tankers, beginning in 2029. The U.S. is the world’s number one global exporter of LNG (liquefied natural gas). However, the U.S. does not build *any* of the specialized LNG cargo carriers used to send that fuel abroad. In a letter to the Trump administration last week, the American Petroleum Institute (API) stated that the oil and gas industry could not comply with the rule and urged Trump officials to reconsider it. Read More “Minor Quibble Between Trump Admin and O&G Over LNG Ships”
What have we been telling you for YEARS? That natural gas is not a “bridge” to an unreliable renewable energy nirvana, but is, instead, the destination (see Baker Hughes CEO Says NatGas is the Destination, Not Just a Bridge). That truth is now so obvious that even the Commies at Bloomberg can no longer deny it. In fact, Bloomberg says the “script has flipped,” with unreliable renewables seen as a bridge to the long-term use of natural gas! Read More “Bloomberg Admits NatGas No Longer a “Bridge” – Now the Destination”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Woodside signs gas supply agreement for Louisiana LNG; Golden Pass LNG gets FERC commissioning permit; Commonwealth LNG requests FERC authorization by June; Plan to heat state buildings with natural gas system riles advocates; NATIONAL: Oxy taps A.I. to help inject old oilfields with carbon dioxide; First DC Climate Week underway; A mass exodus begins at the Energy Department; EPA official says agency plans to cancel nearly 800 environmental justice grants; INTERNATIONAL: Oil market is going through a critical phase; Oil slumps as consumer confidence sinks; China waives tariffs on US ethane imports, sources say; It takes a lot of jet fuel to throw a funeral for a climate alarmist Pope. Read More “MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Apr 30, 2025 [FREE ACCESS]”