ESG

Almost every major (and most minor) drillers in the Marcellus/Utica have, over the past couple of years, signed on to one or more of the responsible gas certification authorities. Just yesterday, we told you that PennEnergy Resources had its full operations certified by MiQ, the second such certification the company has sought and received (see PennEnergy Resources Gets Perfect “A” Methane Grade from MiQ). Given certification reviews cost big money, you would think (hope) there are actually customers on the other end who *want* to buy the certified natgas, and may be willing to pay a premium to get it.
Read More “The Slowly Growing Market of Buyers for Certified Natural Gas”

The 28th U.N. Conference of the Parties, or COP28, gets underway today in Dubai. Representatives from most of the world’s countries will be there to party, get drunk, and pretend to care about the Big Lie that mankind is somehow destroying the planet by burning fossil fuels. With hypocrites confabbing in Dubai, it’s the perfect time to discuss the DECREASE in fugitive methane emissions across every major shale basin in the United States, including the Marcellus/Utica. Yes, even though shale drilling and production have gone UP over the past five years, fugitive methane emissions have gone DOWN. No other country can make the same claim, yet the COP28 hypocrites (including John Kerry) will renew their shrill calls to shut down U.S. shale drilling and fossil energy.
Read More “Big Drop in Fugitive Methane Emissions in M-U, Other Shale Basins”

In August, MDN brought you the good news that the S&P (Standard & Poor’s) credit rating agency, called S&P Global Rating (the largest of the Big Three credit-rating agencies), had dumped its system of numerically ranking corporate borrowers on their ESG risk on a scale of 1 to 5 — just two years after implementing it (see S&P Global De-Wokeifies – Dumps ESG Scores from Credit Ratings). S&P said the company would rather include information about a company’s ESG (environment, social, governance) efforts in its analytical discussion section and not with a simple numerical value. Smart move. But what’s this? Is S&P “re-wokifying” once again? S&P Global Commodity Insights, another division at S&P, announced yesterday it is launching “carbon intensity measures and associated carbon-accounted price assessments” for eight key North American natural gas trading hubs. One of them is in the Marcellus/Utica.
Read More “S&P Global Re-Wokeifies? Offers Gas Carbon Intensity Measures”

Supposedly JPMorgan Chase remains the world’s #1 largest funder of fossil fuels since the so-called Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 of the world’s countries in December 2015. The Paris Agreement calls on governments to use force to ensure the global average temperature (that nobody seems to be able to pinpoint accurately) doesn’t rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. It’s a sham agreement aimed at getting average citizens to give up their freedom in the name of saving the planet. Total B.S. But…back to JPMorgan Chase, which has just published a report called “The Methane Emissions Opportunity” (full copy below). In the report, JPMorgan says any company they finance in the future must adhere to Scope 1 and 2 emissions to be so-called net zero. Or they won’t invest in or finance you.
Read More “JPMorgan Signals It Will Stop Funding Certain O&G Projects”

We’ve written plenty about so-called certified natural gas, which is “responsibly produced” (as opposed to irresponsibly produced?) gas. The way a driller proves the gas they are selling is certified as responsible is to use a third-party verification vendor — typically either Project Canary or MiQ (see Former “Responsible Gas” Becoming “Certified” or “Differentiated”). Many drillers in the Marcellus/Utica have enrolled in certification programs. The question is, which program (Project Canary or MiQ) is winning in the certification race? We have an answer of sorts.
Read More “Which Responsible Gas Cert Do a Majority of M-U Drillers Use?”

According to RBN Energy, the “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG) space is going through a transformation. It’s no longer OK to claim you have responsibly sourced gas; you now have to prove it is responsible via a certification. According to RBN, the two primary certifiers of natural gas are (so far) Project Canary and MiQ. We have covered both of these initiatives extensively over the past few years.
Read More “Former “Responsible Gas” Becoming “Certified” or “Differentiated””