Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Bleeding has Stopped, For Now
Last week, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count halted its downward trend, maintaining the same overall number of rigs as the week before: 539 active rigs nationwide. The count has been down (bleeding) 14 of the last 16 weeks. Has the bleeding now stopped? We hope so. The Marcellus/Utica count remained the same for the past four weeks at a combined 36 active rigs. PA operates 18 active rigs. OH is running 11 rigs. And WV is operating 7 rigs. Twenty-four rigs targeted the Marcellus and 12 rigs targeted the Utica last week. Read More “Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Bleeding has Stopped, For Now”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) last week. The STEO is the agency’s monthly best guess about where energy prices and production will head in the next 12 months. We joke about the predictions coming from a dartboard, given their seemingly random ups and downs. In this latest assessment, EIA dropped its estimates for the Henry Hub spot price for 2025, again. The agency expects the HH price to average $3.60 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2025, $0.10 lower than last month’s forecast. EIA also dropped its 2026 forecast, now believing the gas price will average $4.30/MMBtu, down $0.10 from last month’s $4.40 (and WAY down from the estimate two months ago of $4.90 next year). 
We’ve extensively covered the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project over the years, including its death in May 2024 (see 
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced on Friday that it will issue a 2-cent dividend to unitholders for the second quarter of 2025. The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 2Q25) to build a cash reserve for “future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities.” 
The nation’s largest LNG exporter, Cheniere Energy, is sounding the alarm that massive investments in and quick construction of natural gas infrastructure (namely, new pipelines) are needed to feed the LNG beast. LNG exports are due to double, to roughly 30 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) by 2030—just five years away. The pipelines we have now are pretty much maxed out. We need new pipelines, and we need to start building them NOW. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: New Yorkers fighting against massive battery storage plants find new ally in EPA chief; Insane energy policies are set to burn Democrats in New Jersey, New York; NATIONAL: The climate industrial complex shifts to Plan B with climate lawfare; Celebrating a big beautiful victory with America First energy policies; AI means farewell to ‘net-zero’ fantasy; Treasury tightens tax credit eligibility for wind, solar projects; Summers are hot, obviously, but winters are the killers; INTERNATIONAL: Oil market awaits Trump-Putin summit as prices drift lower; BlackRock’s GIP leads $11B deal for Saudi gas assets; EU GHG emissions up 3.4 percent YoY in 1Q.