Confusing Biden Tax Credit Scheme Threatens to Block Hydrogen Hubs
Earlier this week, MDN told you about proposed new IRS rules coming from the White House (the 45V tax credit) that will favor solar and wind use in generating so-called green hydrogen, and disfavor (make more expensive) hydrogen produced using natural gas (see Biden’s Proposed IRA 45V Tax Credit “Kneecaps” ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub). Yes, the new rules, as proposed, essentially kneecap the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project, winner of $950 million from Uncle Sam to help build a hydrogen hub in the Marcellus/Utica region. Of course, the proposed 45V tax credit is dense and difficult to understand. We have a better explanation of what it will do…
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Riddle us this: In 2023, the rig count for all oil and gas rigs was 20% fewer active rigs than in 2022 (see 
A new article by Gordon Tomb — a senior fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based, free-market think tank, and senior advisor with the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia — has the intriguing title: “Are ‘green’ agendas carrying governors to political cliffs?” While the article focuses on recent actions by PA Gov. Josh Shapiro and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon in pandering to the radical environmental movement, much of the article reviews the evidence that a majority of people across multiple countries are beginning to reject radical environmentalism by electing conservatives. The radicals swung the pendulum way too far and too fast, and now the pendulum is swinging back to sanity.
In October 2020, a law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of several Cabot Oil & Gas shareholders against Cabot (now Coterra Energy), claiming the company “had inadequate environmental controls and procedures and/or failed to properly mitigate known issues related to those controls and procedures,” and that the company “failed to fix faulty gas wells which polluted Pennsylvania’s water supplies through stray gas migration,” and that the company, in general, hid all of this from the public — namely from investors (see 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is out with official numbers for 2023 concerning the price of natural gas traded at the benchmark Henry Hub in southern Louisiana. The Henry Hub natural gas price averaged $2.57 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2023, about a 62% drop from the 2022 average annual price. Bear in mind Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, sending the natural gas market into a steep climb due to worries that Europe would run out of gas if Putin decided to cut them off.
Welcome to Paradise, where natural gas is the fuel of choice to generate electricity! In 2017, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) held a dedication ceremony for the Paradise Combined Cycle Gas Plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky (see 
In September 2022, MDN told you about a relatively modest-sized gas-fired power plant planned for Superior, Wisconsin, called the Nemadji Trail Energy Center (see 
Wow! That was fast! On Dec. 27, pipeline giant Williams issued a press release to announce a deal to buy six underground natural gas storage facilities located in Louisiana and Mississippi with a total capacity of 115 billion cubic feet (Bcf), as well as 230 miles of gas transmission pipeline and 30 pipeline interconnects, for $1.95 billion. Some of the interconnections connect to the Williams Transco pipeline system, a huge system that transports Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast area. One of the big reasons for the deal, according to Williams, is to connect more gas supplies to LNG export markets. Yesterday, Williams issued a second press release to say the deal is already done! Williams now owns the assets.
Shell, one of the contracted customers to receive LNG from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility, added its voice to BP’s request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to release documents from Venture Global related to an ongoing delay in making the plant commercial. The Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility recently received FERC authorization to place the final three liquefaction blocks (7-9) into service (see 
The two biggest enemies of the United States, Russia and China, are attacking our country and its fossil fuel infrastructure using proxies — nonprofit groups — funneling money to said groups that use the money to finance a blizzard of lawsuits and other activities aimed at destroying our fossil energy industry. We’re in a war, and we don’t even know it! Just the News, one of the best independent news sites on the web, has an expose focusing on China’s role in funding Big Green groups that, in turn, attack our fossil energy industry.
Big news broke yesterday about the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project. In 2018, Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the 303-mile MVP, proposed to extend the pipeline by an extra 75 miles from the current MVP terminus in Pittsylvania County, VA, to Alamance County, NC, to provide natural gas for heating and electric generation. The 75-mile extension is called MVP Southgate. Yesterday, various media outlets noticed and reported on a recent filing by Equitrans with the Securities and Exchange Commission. An Equitrans Form 8-K filing from Dec. 29 highlights a major change in the proposed MVP Southgate project.
The New Year brought with it four new members of the Philadelphia City Council. All four are radical leftists who want to destroy the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) by forcing it to dump sales of natural gas. The inmates are running the asylum! Three of the four new members are radical left Democrats. One is from the Working Families Party — essentially the same thing as the Communist Party (and no, we’re not exaggerating). The new council members say the city (the world) is “in an emergency place” and “we’ve got to take emergency, immediate actions” in order to save the planet. Is anyone listening to these nutters? How in the world did they get elected?
U.S. oil production increased by 21% over the past five years. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2023, U.S. oil producers set a new annual all-time high production record. The increase in U.S. oil production is driven by a surge of production in a handful of states. We have a list of the Top 11 oil-producing states over the past year. One of the states on the list is a Marcellus/Utica state. Can you guess which one? Hint: It’s NOT Pennsylvania…
Zacks is one of the top investment research firms focusing on stock research, analysis, and recommendations. A new alert issued by Zacks asks this question: Is Natural Gas Poised for a Turnaround After 2023 Slump? The article recaps what happened to the price of natural gas in 2023 and what may happen in 2024. Interestingly, the author says the natural gas space “is currently quite unpredictable and spooked by the sudden changes in weather and production patterns. As such, investors are clueless about what to do.” Boy, that about sums it up, right? Even without a clue about the future, Zacks makes a couple of stock pick recommendations (of M-U companies) that it feels are safe bets…
U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports hit monthly and annual record highs in December, according to tanker tracking data reviewed by Reuters. Analysts say the data shows the United States leapfrogged both Qatar and Australia to become the largest exporter of LNG in 2023. The two main factors for the U.S. achieving the #1 position are (a) Freeport LNG returned to full service after being down for 10 months following an explosion and fire, and (b) Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass facility adding more capacity to a facility that it still claims is not commercially ready.
Well, you knew it was just too good to be true, right? When Santa Biden promised *billions* of dollars of “government” (i.e., your) money to prime the pump on establishing regional hydrogen hubs, with at least one of those hubs using natural gas as the primary feedstock to produce the hydrogen (