Shale Drilling Safe and Successful on Ohio Public Lands for Years
In January of this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill (HB) 507 into law, a new law that expands the ability to drill for oil and gas in state parks and also legally redefines natural gas as a source of “green energy” (see OH Gov. Signs Bill Expanding Drilling in State Parks, NatGas “Green”). The new law has torqued off the radical left in the state. You would think from the comments by greenies that drilling on and under public land will be the end of days. Except we have a shining example of successfully and safely drilling shale wells on Ohio public lands for years: The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD).
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Will the third time be the charm? Probably not. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a 297-page biological opinion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) potential impact on threatened and endangered species if the 94% complete pipeline is allowed to finish. We have a full copy of the opinion below. It finds that completing the MVP project will NOT harm protected species. Two other times USFWS issued this same report, and two times the radical judges of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (three Democrats) have overturned the opinion and blocked a permit needed to allow MVP to finish. Will it happen again?
In 2022, 897 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of interstate natural gas pipeline capacity was added from five projects to the interstate gas pipeline system, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). That is the least amount of capacity added to the interstate natural gas pipeline system since the EIA began data collection in 1995. This ignominious achievement happened under the Bidenistas, while Richard “Dick” Glick was Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
We’ve criticized BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm with $10 trillion under assets, due to CEO Larry Fink’s insistence that public companies adopt ESG (environment, social, governance) policies that include reducing CO2 emissions. Fink’s demands are tantamount to divesting (or refusing to invest in) any company that produces or heavily uses oil and natural gas. A number of Republican-controlled states, including Texas, West Virginia, and Florida, have begun the process of dumping all BlackRock investment funds. Fink is worried–as he should be. He’s losing business. So he’s now doing what sleazy, corrupt leftists always do–resort to bribery.
Range Resources Corporation, the very first driller to sink a Marcellus shale well back in 2004 in western Pennsylvania, issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 update yesterday. During 2022, Range generated record cash flow from operations of $1.9 billion and produced an average of 2.1 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas. The company spent $492 million on drilling in 2022. Of keen interest to us was a response by Range’s CEO about the rumors that Pioneer Natural Resources is interested in buying or merging with Range.
Freeport LNG continues to rapidly ramp up its liquefaction and export capability. The facility experienced an explosion and fire in June 2022. It was just over a week ago that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted the facility permission to restart two of three liquefaction trains (see 
According to a recent Reuters article, “A 46% drop in natural gas prices this year is rippling across the U.S. shale patch, threatening to slow drilling and chill deal-making in a move unthinkable six months ago as global demand soared.” Although the Henry Hub price for natgas rose over the past few days with the changeover to the NYMEX April contract, the price is still well below $3/Mcf. At that price, natgas drillers (in the Marcellus/Utica and elsewhere) are dialing back their drilling programs–essentially maintaining the status quo with production volumes. And at current low prices, mergers and acquisitions activity has pretty much dried up.
Two Houston, Texas-based headhunting firms specializing in the oil and gas space are saying the same thing: Don’t look for a hiring boom in the oil and gas sector in 2023. That doesn’t mean there’s a total hiring freeze or that there aren’t good jobs to be had. It just means don’t look for bidding wars to attract new employees to the O&G sector. Not gonna happen this year, say the experts. Why?
That was fast. Yesterday we told you that newly-elected Maryland Gov. Wes Moore had nominated someone who actually knows something about the energy industry, from the American Gas Association, to be a member of the Maryland Public Service Commission (see 
Looks like the rumors were true. Last December, we told you that oil giant BP (formerly British Petroleum) was considering axing its annual Statistical Review of World Energy publication, which the company has published since 1952. Why stop publishing it? Because being honest about the data was exposing the so-called transition to green energy as the hoax that it is (see 
Consulting giant Deloitte’s new report “Oil and Gas M&A Outlook 2023: Pivoting for Change” examines the shift in the industry and the strategic pivots expected to shape the future. The report says so-called “clean energy” is now a “substantial driver” of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the oil and gas industry and signals big changes in the M&A playbook.
Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) currently operates a gas-fired power plant in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, NJ. The plant currently generates power for about 700,000 homes. In 2018, CPV proposed adding a second power plant at the same location (see