Officials Seek Public Alerts from Connecticut Compressor Station
The 1,100-mile-long Algonquin Gas Transmission Pipeline delivers natural gas, including Marcellus/Utica gas, to New England. Algonquin is connected to the Texas Eastern Pipeline and the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. Algonquin crosses through (delivers gas to) Connecticut and several other states. Three compressor stations are located along the portion of Algonquin that traverses Connecticut. One of the three compressor stations, located in Cromwell, was dinged by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) for releasing “excessive amounts” of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 2014 and 2016. The company signed a consent order requiring new emission controls at the plant, along with paying a $190,000 fine. According to State Sen. Matt Lesser and Cromwell Mayor James Demetriades (both Democrats), that’s not good enough.
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Anti-fossil fuel zealots from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and from an Indian tribe as far away as Nova Scotia (Canada) are opposing a $12 billion plan by Washington Gas to fix leaky (very old) natural gas pipelines that cross under the streets of our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. An article from the Big Green propaganda outfit Public News Service (PNS) opens with this line: “Washington D.C. residents are pushing back on a plan to build out existing fossil fuel infrastructure.” There’s no mention of how many D.C. residents object. And as if there aren’t enough residents who object, the article quotes an anti from Nova Scotia! What do antis from N.S. have to do with this?
Natural gas traders are predicting (more like warning) that Europe’s natural gas storage tanks will be filled to the tippy top during the third quarter (which ends in September), ahead of the normal schedule. At the start of the second quarter, Europe’s tanks were 59% full. As of July 12, they were 80% full. If European storage closes early, that will put downward pressure on prices here in the U.S. Less demand with the same supply equals lower prices.
Over the past seven-plus years, BKV Corporation (Banpu Kalnin Ventures), the American arm of Banpu (96% owned by Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company), has become one of the top 20 gas-weighted natural gas producers in the U.S. BKV originally entered the American shale sector by investing $500 million in 2016-2017 to buy existing Marcellus wells and acreage in northeast Pennsylvania. Then the company went wandering into other shale plays (see 
In December 2022, Rice Acquisition Corp II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) started by the Rice brothers (Danny, Toby, and Derek), announced a deal to acquire NET Power — an electric power developer with revolutionary new technology to capture every last molecule of carbon dioxide from natural gas-fired power plants (see 
Refracs, also called re-entries and re-completions, re-enter an existing and declining well to access more rock and pump new life out of it. Refracs are becoming a much more common practice for operators. There are two main types of refracs. While refracs are mainly used in oil wells, there are times when they are used in gas wells. Is a refrac coming to a well near you?
CleanTechnica, a leftist pseudo-science website that caters to mind-numbed robots, is warning its readers that Donald Trump “intends to assemble an army to deconstruct the administrative state & the environment.” Cue screaming. The article details the horrors of a second Trump administration and what it will mean to the environment. Actually, the concern is what it will mean to the parasites who suck public money for scam renewable energy projects. The article is equal parts funny and accurate. It accurately outlines the approach Trump will take to dismantle the administrative state that currently exists and is completely controlled by leftist Democrats. What’s funny is that we agree! The article, while horrifying for leftists, brings us great hope and comfort that we can rescue this country from the disaster it has become under the left.
The U.S. national oil and gas rig count lost ground again last week for the fifth time in six weeks, albeit by a small amount. The national combined Baker Hughes oil and gas rig count lost one rig and now stands at 584 active rigs. The Marcellus/Utica stayed the same last week, for the sixth week in a row, with a combined 36 active rigs. Pennsylvania continued to operate 21 rigs. Ohio remained steady with ten active rigs. And West Virginia kept five active rigs. The M-U’s primary competitor, the Haynesville, held stead with 37 active rigs.
Operators and investors are more concerned than ever about the remaining inventory of drillable locations. Who has it? Where is it? Will it be economic? The North American inventory rankings by shale play are always of interest. Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus, recently issued a report that ranks the plays by the number of economic-to-drill locations each play has left. Unfortunately, Marcellus Shale play is on the list of “losers” in this latest report. Why? A huge jump in Bidenflation — rig day rates were up 25% year-over-year in September in the Marcellus, compared to about 15% across the other plays. Also a factor is dropping productivity in the Marcellus (“productivity degradation”), particularly in northeast PA.
A civil war in the Pennsylvania environmental movement is not getting any attention from mainstream media. Why are we not surprised? We told you about the civil war earlier this week (see 
Permitting in Pennsylvania overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six to eight months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits to speed up approvals (see 
On Tuesday, we told you that Freeport LNG closed its export plant on Sunday in anticipation of Hurricane Beryl hitting the Texas Gulf Coast (see 
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade increased 3.1% globally in 2023 to an average of 52.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), an increase of 1.6 Bcf/d from 2022, according to a recently released report from the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL). Expanded export and import capacity and increasing natural gas demand drove the growth in the global LNG trade last year.
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