Corporate Raider Kimmeridge Likes a Chesapeake/Southwestern Merger
A month ago, MDN shared the rumor that Chesapeake Energy Corporation is sniffing around Southwestern Energy, looking to buy out and merge in its closest O&G peer (see Chesapeake Energy Exploring a Merger with Southwestern Energy). One of Chesapeake’s largest investors, Kimmeridge Energy Management Co. — what the financial industry calls an “activist investor” (which we call by the old term “corporate raider”) — says a merger between the two would create one of the industry’s most sought-after stocks. Kimmeridge is pushing to make it happen.
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Three weeks ago, MDN warned you about delays with LPG (propane) and LNG ships transiting the Panama Canal (see 
Have you ever noticed how the wacko leftists of the so-called environmental movement behave (and talk) as if they are members of a religion? They use religious language all the time to describe their holy mission of cleansing the earth of evil and sinful fossil energy. Check this out. Environuts say an Indiana utility company is “backsliding” on its clean energy goals with its plan to build a gas-fired peaker plant — a plant that makes unreliable renewables (like solar and wind) possible.
Nearly 14 years after the Gasland fake documentary was released, dozens of studies have contradicted its claims about fracking. Gasland’s dire predictions didn’t come to pass. The 2010 documentary, which was written and directed by Josh Fox, portrayed fracking operations as poisoning groundwater, killing wildlife, and making people sick while corrupt oil companies profited. Remember the famous scene where a Colorado man lights his tap water on fire? It turns out it was natural methane in his water, not methane from fracking. Just one of the lies exposed about the film.
Stupified and dumbfounded. Those are the words that come to mind when reading of a so-called climate pact agreed to by Joe Biden with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping in California last week. And then we got really, really angry. Biden is consciously (or perhaps unconsciously?) choosing to sentence our country to energy dependence on our #1 enemy in the world by forcing our country away from using fossil energy in favor of unreliable, so-called renewable energy. China is also pledging to scale down fossil energy. Of course, China is lying. We have proof.
A lawsuit of interest for all landowners is playing out in West Virginia between a class of landowners and EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country. We searched our extensive archives high and low and found no mention of this lawsuit! Somehow, it has escaped our attention — until now. As these cases often are, this one is long and complicated. However, the nub of the case, the essence of the dispute, is whether or not EQT can pay royalties to landowners based on the “raw” gas that comes out of the borehole (methane plus NGLs) or whether, as the plaintiffs argue, EQT should pay royalties based on the post-processed gas and NGLs (presumably at a much higher rate).
In August 2022, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of existing pipeline (see 
Dominion Energy, a huge utility company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, recently revived a plan to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, a Richmond suburb (see 
Another dead cat bounce in the rig count (i.e., the slight bounce a dead cat makes when it hits the ground). The “dead” rig count hit a new low two weeks ago (see 
An undetermined amount of fracking wastewater spilled at the Eureka Resources wastewater recycling facility in Williamsport (Lycoming County), PA, at about 9:10 a.m. yesterday. The incident prompted a response by city firefighters and police. The water came from a valve on a tank inside the facility, where oil, chemicals and other substances are removed from fracking wastewater. Contrary to initial reports, nobody (no employees nor first responders) was injured or became ill from the spill.
In December 2017, MDN told you about a second proposed natural gas-fired power plant planned by CME Energy for Oregon (Lucas County), Ohio (see 
Grab the popcorn! It’s fun to sit back and watch the other side eat its own for a change. We’re talking about the civil war that has erupted on the Democrat Left over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s “bold” agreement signed with CNX Resources to “move the ball forward” on “environmental progress” in PA (see 
In July, MDN compared the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection to an organized crime mob with its ongoing shakedowns in assessing “fines” on the Mariner East pipeline project (see 
Yesterday, the Intermediate Court of Appeals for West Virginia issued an opinion in a case that had (until now) escaped our radar. Equinor, Norway’s state-owned oil and gas company (previously known as Statoil), said it had overpaid its severance tax bill in West Virginia for the years 2014 and 2016. Equinor said WV miscalculated the value of propane, butane, ethane, and methane produced by the company. A WV judge agreed, also granting Equinor a further 15% safe harbor deduction for transportation and transmission costs.