Kimmeridge (Again) Makes the Case for Fewer & Bigger Shale Drillers
In July 2023, Kimmeridge Energy, a private investment firm focused on the energy sector, published a white paper entitled, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (see Kimmeridge Report Makes Case for Fewer & Bigger Shale Drillers). The thesis of the Kimmeridge report was that there are still too many (and too small) drillers in the shale sector. Kimmeridge believes we need consolidation into fewer and bigger companies. Here we are 15 months later, and Kimmeridge has just released a new white paper titled “Shale’s Golden Years: Can Consolidation Keep the Industry Young?” Are you seeing a pattern here? Read More “Kimmeridge (Again) Makes the Case for Fewer & Bigger Shale Drillers”
California law firm Sher Edling received more than $3 million in unreported dark money to push high-profile climate litigation on behalf of dozens of Democratic-led cities and states, according to a congressional report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Sher Edling, the Senate Commerce Committee and House Oversight Committee report found, received $2.9 million last year from the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, a shadowy group managed by the New Venture Fund. Because the contributions were made in 2023, the New Venture Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based dark money organization, isn’t required to disclose its contributions until it files its next annual 990 form with the IRS in mid-November. 
Four weeks ago, MDN told you about a developing story of rig realignment in the Marcellus/Utica (see 
EPA Administrator Michael Regan used a considerable amount of fossil energy and emitted tons of carbon dioxide to jet over to Dubai last December to participate in the COP28 confab, where he released a final rule that was “two years in the making” to force the U.S. oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions by using budget-busting new technologies and onerous (frequent) inspections (see 
Colder weather and increased demand will place slight upward pressure on natural gas prices compared to last winter, the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said last Thursday in its 24th annual Winter Outlook forecast of the wholesale winter natural gas market. NGSA also projected higher-than-average storage, record production and supply, and modest GDP growth this winter. The NGSA Outlook shows we’re heading into a cooler winter well-prepared with record production and storage. Bottom line: A slight uptick in the price of natgas this winter because it will be colder, but we have plenty of gas on hand. 
In January, the Biden-Harris Department of Energy (DOE) announced it would “pause” any approvals for new LNG export plants (currently 17 requests in the pipeline) for at least one year while D.C. swampies fart around pretending to figure out how to measure global warming as a new consideration for whether or not to approve such projects (see 
Big Oil sometimes works against the interests of smaller shale drillers and (we would argue) against the best interests of the U.S.A. Here’s a case in point. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that senior leaders with Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, and Phillips 66 have been whispering in President Trump’s ear that should he win, they want him to keep Biden’s Green New Deal legislation, otherwise called the Inflation Reduction Act. Why? To protect their investments in carbon capture, carbon credits, and other carbon scams. They don’t want to lose their big tax credits/money. 
Yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a “slip opinion” dismissing a challenge to a tiny 3.7-mile, 30-inch pipeline Columbia Gas wants to build in Maumee, a city in Lucas County, Ohio, a suburb about 10 miles southwest of Toledo. The owners of a commercial office building claimed they would suffer “irreparable financial harm” if the pipeline were built near their office building. The pipeline does not cross any land owned by the company but does cross land adjacent to the building. We searched our considerable archives (over 28,000 posts!) and found no references to this project. 
A new Morning Consult/American Petroleum Institute (API) poll recently surveyed registered voters in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Inflation is a huge issue for voters in those states, with 81% to 86% saying the price of daily necessities has become “financially painful” and anywhere from 88% to 94% saying they are “concerned” about inflation. Of particular relevance for us, the vast majority of voters in those swing states said *more* domestic oil and natural gas production would lower costs. Anywhere from 80% to 87% of those surveyed support more domestic energy production over more foreign production. The poll also found that 9 in 10 voters in those states want details from presidential candidates on energy issues. 
The province of Québec, Canada, with a huge supply of Utica Shale gas sitting beneath it, passed a new law in 2022 outlawing all oil and natural gas production throughout the province (see 
Two days ago, MDN told you about a Congressional investigation looking into the Department of Energy’s use of a prematurely released “study” as an excuse to “pause” (i.e., ban) new LNG export approvals (see 
There are so many colors for hydrogen (denoting how it is produced) that we’ve lost track of the number. Some 95% of all hydrogen today is made by using steam with natural gas to separate hydrogen from carbon, referred to as “gray” hydrogen. If the hydrogen producer captures the carbon dioxide generated during the process, it’s called “blue” hydrogen. “Green” hydrogen uses electricity from solar or wind to pass an electrical current through water to split the molecules into hydrogen and oxygen (by far the most expensive way to produce hydrogen). “Pink” hydrogen is produced from water using nuclear power. There are other colors too, like white and brown. However, we’re interested in “turquoise” hydrogen today, which is also made from natural gas. Instead of steam, methane is heated to 900 degrees Celcius, which frees the hydrogen atoms and turns the carbon into a solid. 
Today, we bring you news about a lawsuit filed just over three years ago, in September 2021, by four landowners in southwestern Pennsylvania who leased their land to Range Resources for drilling. The lawsuit is just now coming on our radar screen. Range did drill and, claims the landowners, deducted expenses from royalty checks for both methane and NGL production that were not allowed. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of PA and continues to advance. On September 30, a judge certified the case as a class action with the potential to affect 204 landowners with leases containing specific language. 
In August, the Biden-Harris administration promised (but hasn’t yet delivered a dime of) up to $152 million in “Phase 2” federal money, i.e., your taxpayer dollars, to help plug old conventional oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania (see 
Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw believes he has a solution to help fund plugging many of the state’s ~350,000 orphaned and abandoned conventional oil and gas wells. Yaw recently introduced a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 1330, that directs the PA Department of General Services to sell any alternative energy credits it owns from buying unreliable solar energy and use the funds to plug old wells. The proposal, which could generate upward of $227 million, drives the enviro-left nuts. 
In January, MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township in McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see