Exxon Working on Second Shale Revolution Using New Innovations
Earlier this month, we noticed a short Bloomberg article about a stray comment made by Exxon Mobile CEO Darren Woods. He was speaking at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference held on June 1 in New York City. Woods said he has tasked the brainiacs who work for Exxon to figure out a way to improve fracking, which (Woods said), is still “not well understood.” Woods wants to double oil recovery from fracked wells. Folks, doubling oil (and gas!) recovery via fracking would launch the second shale revolution!
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Hydrogen energy is the new savior that will keep the world from toasting itself out of existence. So goes the current faddish meme. But not just any old hydrogen (or H2) can be used. No, no, no! Hydrogen has to be “low carbon” hydrogen (i.e. produced by means that is low or no-carbon), or it is persona non grata. It reminds us of when “low fat” was all the rage in diets–until it wasn’t. But we digress… The Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI) was convened earlier this year to measure and map the emissions footprint of “clean” (low or no-CO2) hydrogen. Earlier this week, a number of prominent energy companies joined OHI, including EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. (focused 100% on the Marcellus/Utica).
What can we say? Once again, the Democrat Party is trying to demonize fossil fuels and is going after “Big Oil,” proposing insanely high new taxes on a handful of oil companies because, for a single year (2022), they have actually made some money. All money and profits belong to the government in the left’s twisted worldview. A cabal of seven Senators led by Sen. Robert Menendez from New Jersey has launched this latest attack against our industry.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” New Jersey is attempting to abridge the freedom of speech for Exxon Mobil, Shell Oil, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, and the American Petroleum Institute (API). NJ has sued those entities claiming they knew that the products they manufacture and promote (oil and gas) have caused global warming and that these entities have lied, and continue to lie, about knowing. NJ wants to muzzle the right of the API and Exxon, et al., to freely defend themselves and stick up for fossil energy, claiming to do so endangers the public and harms the residents of NJ. It’s the most outlandish thing you’ve ever heard.
In August, Jennifer Granholm, hands down the most incompetent Secretary of Energy ever to hold the office, sent a letter to seven major refinery companies threatening them that if they don’t scale back exports of gasoline, diesel, and other liquid petroleum products, Granholm will have old dementia Joe whip up an executive order slapping a ban on such exports (see 
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President Joe Biden is getting grumpy and thin-skinned in his old age. He thinks oil drillers and refineries should get up and tap dance on cue when he says so, even though he wants to bankrupt them and put them out of business a few years down the road. Leftwing media is catching on that the Bidenistas can’t demand more output now, requiring investments in the billions, while sending the loud message the same companies will be out of business in a few years as renewable nirvana takes hold (see 
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In late 2020, ExxonMobil released the outlines of its development plan for the next five years (see 
ExxonMobil, which has a sizable presence in the Marcellus/Utica via subsidiary XTO Energy, has a rapidly growing cancer from within–it’s called the Exxon board of directors. Yes, the board of directors can and does change an entire company’s culture and future. In May, Big Green pushed and pressured and pouted and demanded–and finally won the right to appoint three of Exxon’s board members. A real tragedy. Those three members along with two other new board members are forcing the company to push for a carbon tax and abandon huge international projects that would make the company money for years to come. This is how the left defeats their opponents–eating them alive from within.
ExxonMobil is the latest big driller to sign on to a certification program called MiQ which aims to prove the natural gas it produces is “responsible.” We guess all the gas it’s produced for decades until now has been irresponsible, right? Anyway, Exxon plans to initially use the MiQ standard to certify some of the gas coming from its Permian Basin facilities at Poker Lake, New Mexico. Depending on how that goes, Exxon plans to expand the MiQ certification to other plays, including the Marcellus/Utica.