Summit Midstream Reports Significant Interest by Others in M&A
Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. Last week, Summit issued its third quarter 2023 update. We previously reported on an early release of Summit’s 3Q operational update, which revealed the company is considering selling part or all of the company (see Summit Midstream 3Q Update – Considers Selling Part or All of Co.). Summit CEO Heath Deneke provided an update last week on the process of finding a potential suitor.
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This past May, MDN told you about a coming real-life nightmare that the Everett LNG import terminal, which accepts and regasifies foreign-sourced natural gas, may shut down following the closure of New England’s biggest natural gas-fired power plant, the Mystic Generating Station in Everett, MA (see 
Just when we were beginning to feel comfortable that maybe, just maybe, the price of natural gas would stay higher for longer instead of lower for longer, yesterday happened. Did you notice? The price for the “front month contract” of the NYMEX Henry Hub got whacked, falling a full 25 cents in a single day, closing at $3.26/MMBtu. It was the biggest one-day plunge in price since March of this year. What happened? As is typical, it’s because of the weather.
Dominion Energy plans to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Person County, North Carolina, to enhance natural gas service reliability for residential and business customers in the growing region. Dominion studied several potential sites and collected a boatload of data during the site selection process, including but not limited to construction feasibility, minimizing landowner impacts, connection to Dominion’s existing natural gas system, and avoiding environmentally sensitive areas. Ultimately, Dominion selected a site in the southeast corner of Person County. Mainstream media is doing its best to scare local residents, hoping to block the project.
Long-time MDN readers will know what “associated gas” is — natural gas that comes out of the same hole that oil comes from. When shale oil drillers sink a hole with the intent to get oil (one hydrocarbon), natural gas (another hydrocarbon) comes out, too. Even more hydrocarbons may also come out, including ethane, propane, and butane (NGLs). It’s natural! It happens. The “problem” for oil drillers has been what to do with “associated” natgas, which is considered a waste product for an oil driller. With new regulations adopted in recent years in places like Texas, New Mexico, and North Dakota (big oil drilling states), drillers increasingly cannot flare (or burn off) the natural gas coming out of the borehole along with the oil. It creates too many CO2 molecules floating in the atmosphere, toasting Mom Earth (as the myth goes).
According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, the next “super-cycle” of multi-billion-dollar LNG export terminal construction in North America is now getting underway. In the US, LNG feedgas demand could reach nearly 28 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) by the early 2030s, up from about 13 Bcf/d in 2023. Where will all of the LNG plants come from to handle that kind of volume? S&P provides a really cool map with all current and announced/planned LNG export facilities in North America, detailing how much gas they can produce (in million metric tonnes per year) and the announced start date.
The U.S. rig count changed course again last week, dropping rigs after adding rigs (albeit anemically) for the prior three weeks in a row. The national rig count lost seven rigs last week — dropping to 618 active rigs — not only the lowest rig total this year but the lowest count since February 2022. The count in the Marcellus/Utica gained one rig and now stands at 40 active rigs. However, the mix changed. PA lost two rigs, going from 22 to 20 last week. Ohio picked them up, going from 10 to 12 active rigs. And WV picked up one rig after losing it the week before. WV now stands at 8 active rigs.
On Friday, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis had signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see 
Last week, on Halloween Day, officials from the PJM Interconnection presented a plan to make up for the retirement of fossil fuel generators and increasing demand on the way over the next five years. The plan includes 72 proposals from FirstEnergy, Dominion, and other companies designed to meet future power needs — for a total price tag of roughly $5 billion. Here is a startling admission from PJM made as part of its announcement: There will be a 7,500 megawatt (MW) increase in demand from now until 2028 due to data center additions to the system in Virginia and Maryland. At the same time, more than 11,000 MW of fossil fuel generation across the PJM footprint of 13 states and Washington, D.C., have or are being retired. Add the two together, and you get a delta of 18,500 MW that we need to cover somehow. Yikes!
A Maryland company called 
We have to confess this news came suddenly out of left field. And we’re still struggling with what to make of it. Yesterday, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis, author of 
The next few weeks will tell the story of whether or not the final nail has been driven into the coffin of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax in Pennsylvania. Yesterday, we brought you the really big news that PA’s Commonwealth Court voted 4-1 to block the state from joining RGGI (see 
Pipeline giant Williams issued its third quarter update yesterday. Among the news of interest for the Marcellus/Utica was a statement by Williams CEO Alan Armstrong that the company completed the first half of Transco’s Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project well ahead of schedule (on Oct. 21). The company is working with FERC to get the completed portion of the project online and flowing asap. REAE is a plan to beef up the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. The initial portion (now complete) will flow about half that amount (see