SUPER DUG Event – Biden Intent on Destroying O&G; NatGas on Hold
First, there was DUG, the Developing Unconventional Gas industry conference founded and hosted by Hart Energy. Then there were regional editions of DUG, like DUG Permian, DUG Eagle Ford, DUG Bakken, and DUG East (which covered both the Marcellus and Utica). Now, there’s SUPER DUG! Which is the combination of events covering the Permian, Eagle Ford, Midcontinent (SCOOP/STACK), Bakken, and the Rockies (DJ Basin, etc.). SUPER DUG was held yesterday and today in Fort Worth, Texas. There was some interesting news coming from the first day–news about natural gas and about Joe Biden.
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Three far-left organizations, the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), Ceres, and ERM Group, published their third annual report, “Benchmarking Methane and other GHG Emissions of Oil and Natural Gas Production in the United States” (full copy below), which analyzes the production-based emissions of the largest oil and gas producers in the U.S. While the aim of the report is to name-and-shame big oil and gas companies (the worst offenders) with respect to methane and so-called greenhouse gas emissions, the report could not gloss over the elephant in the room: This year’s analysis found that reported methane and greenhouse gas intensity in the oil and gas sector have declined 28% and 30%, respectively, between 2019 and 2021, despite an increase in natural gas and total hydrocarbon production.
Yesterday, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), an independent, nonpartisan group, named New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Democrat) its May 2023 “Porker of the Month” for signing a budget that bans gas stoves and furnaces in new residential buildings. Hochul signed a $229 billion behemoth budget bill that bans new construction from connecting to natural gas pipelines (outlawing new gas stoves and furnaces), as well as forces the shutdown of seven gas-fired peaker power plants (see 
Although last week saw a nice increase in the futures price for natural gas (the NYMEX front month contract for June, for gas traded at the Henry Hub in Louisiana), the price decreased once again yesterday, dropping 7.7% (-$0.18) to $2.40/MMBtu, which erased more than half of the gains from last week. Why? Primarily because production remains at or near all-time highs of 100 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), and the weather is mild right now–no extreme heat to cause folks to turn on the air conditioner (causing the need for more gas-fired electricity). So here we sit, with the price of natgas still bumping around under $2.50/MMBtu. Bummer.
We’ve noticed over the past several weeks a coordinated effort among Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club, Analysis Group, the so-called Resources for the Future, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and others, engaged in a full-court press to try and convince Pennsylvanian’s that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a HUGE tax on carbon dioxide emissions aimed at closing down coal and natural gas-fired power plants in the state, won’t increase electric rates, will clean up the air, and in general, will make Pennsylvanian’s lives happier, live longer, and have better sex. (Well, they don’t mention the sex part, but it’s implied.) We can categorically say, THEY ARE LYING. The simple truth is that these groups are ALL anti-fossil energy and they seek to DESTROY the shale industry. And yes, RGGI will raise your electric rates if you live in PA.
Two weeks ago, the Bidenistas at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a hellscape of new regulations aimed at forcing coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to close (see 
Two weeks ago, the Bidenistas at the EPA issued, for a second time, new regulations aimed at controlling how much carbon dioxide (CO2, the stuff you breathe out with every breath you take) electric power plants can emit. West Virginia intends to overturn the new regulations with a lawsuit, the same as the state did last year (see 
The American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic policy organization that tilts to the conservative side. ACCF advocates for better (and less) regulation, innovation in energy policy, dynamic free trade, and better infrastructure policy. Yesterday the ACCF released a new study that shows the U.S. natural gas market remains “robust” and will have no problem meeting both growing domestic consumption and growing exports–all at relatively low prices. A key point made by the study is that natural gas prices can be even lower, 10% lower, for both ratepayers and for LNG customers–if the government would ease permitting delays for building new pipelines.
We have incontrovertible evidence that you have been played as a dunce, a rube, if you believe burning fossil fuels leads to too much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, and that too much CO2 heats up the planet. For decades the left has tried to convince (force brainwash) the theory that too much CO2 causes an invisible canopy, which causes heat to be trapped, leading to global warming. Now, the very same people are claiming that too much CO2 also causes “rapid cooling” in the atmosphere, and that this cooling is even worse for Mom Earth than the effects of global warming! So we have global warming AND global cooling at the same time, from CO2, according to the “experts.”
Last week MDN told you the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) had given final approval to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to install pipe through 3.5 miles of woodlands, and under the Appalachian Trail, in the Jefferson National Forest in Monroe County in West Virginia, in and Giles and Montgomery counties in Virginia for the THIRD time (see 
The Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA (near Pittsburgh) has experienced a number of problems over the past six months during startup, including flaring and foul odors (see 
Last December, 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 
Oilfield services company (OFS) Baker Hughes is the keeper of the venerable oil and gas industry rig count, which it has been tabulating since 1944. Last Monday, we reported on the previous Friday’s rig count as a gut punch to the natural gas sector, with some 16 gas-focused rigs being taken out of service (see