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Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Stopped Bleeding, Gained 1 Rig Last Week
Last week, the rig count bleeding stopped, at least temporarily, with the addition of one rig to the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count. We ended the week with 537 active rigs. The count has been down 16 of the last 19 weeks, beginning on May 2. Fortunately, the Marcellus/Utica count has remained constant for the past seven weeks, at a combined 36 active rigs. PA operated 18 active rigs. OH ran 11 rigs. And WV operated 7 rigs. Twenty-four rigs targeted the Marcellus and 12 rigs targeted the Utica last week. Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by two to 414 last week, while gas rigs fell by one to 118. Read More “Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Stopped Bleeding, Gained 1 Rig Last Week”
Two weeks ago, Marietta, OH, officials, including the city’s Republican mayor, law director, water superintendent, and a majority of city council members, asked the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Oil and Gas Chief Eric Vendel to deny a permit application from DeepRock Disposal Solutions for the Stephan #1 injection well, which would be the company’s fifth injection well in the area (see 
There is a disagreement brewing between those who operate the PJM Interconnection power grid and Big Tech, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others, regarding the issue of adding data centers to the PJM grid. PJM recently proposed a fast-track stakeholder process to develop rules by the end of the year for interconnecting data centers to its system while ensuring the region has enough power supplies. The proposal would treat new data centers over 50 megawatts (MW) as “non-capacity-backed load” (or NCBL). Under the proposal, PJM could curtail (reduce or cut off) power deliveries to data centers with NCBL status before the grid operator moves to pre-emergency load curtailments for other electricity users. Big Tech doesn’t like it one little bit. 
According to the doom and gloomers at Bloomberg, U.S. LNG developers are “racing” to cash in on the nation’s natural-gas export boom while they still can, as global LNG supply will exceed demand by 2027. They’ve got to grab the money now before it disappears, according to Bloomberg. Four U.S. LNG projects with the capacity to export 63 million tons of LNG a year are still awaiting final investment decisions, while $35 billion in U.S. plants already under construction “face headwinds.” To add tension to the article, it points out that by 2030, rival Qatar will have finished its own years-long LNG buildout. By 2031, a massive pipeline expansion by Gazprom PJSC could begin funneling more of Russia’s natural gas to China. Yes, these LNG exporters along the Gulf Coast may as well hang it up right now because, you know, it’s all doom and gloom. 
We’re still waiting for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to gain two new members, which would give the commission its full complement of five members (with three of them Republicans). In June, President Trump nominated Laura Swett of Vison & Elkins to replace Republican Mark Christie, who had been elevated to Chairman under Trump (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Natural gas-powered tractor to boost ag science research at Penn State; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Albany’s energy plan is a direct threat to rural New York; NATIONAL: Natural gas rally stalls below resistance as fundamentals weigh; Who are the top USA land drillers and customers?; INTERNATIONAL: Oil drops to lowest since May ahead of OPEC+ talks; OPEC+ agrees further oil output boost from October to regain market share; Panama launches canal gas pipeline project for interoceanic energy corridor; India will keep buying Russian oil, FinMin says; EU vows to cut off Russian gas within three years.