Industrywide Issues

Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania

West Deer Antis Try to Block 2nd Olympus Shale Well Pad
May 23, 2022August 29, 2022

Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) drills in the Greater Pittsburgh region, in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Last year Olympus filed an application to build a new well pad in a rural part of Allegheny County, in West Deer Township. So-called “concerned citizens” got amped up to oppose the project. They succeeded when the Dionysus well pad was rejected by town supervisors (see West Deer Township Denies Olympus Permit to Build Shale Pad). The “concerned citizens” are at it again, attempting to block a second well pad, the Leto pad, proposed by Olympus in another West Deer location.
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | ESG | Industrywide Issues

BlackRock Begs Texas Not to Divest from the Divestors
May 23, 2022May 23, 2022

Efforts by brave states like Texas and West Virginia in fighting back against companies like BlackRock who demand divestment from any activity involving the extraction of fossil fuels is having an effect. The divestors are beginning to squeal like little piglets. In June 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that bans state investments in banks, investors, and other companies that have cut ties with the oil and gas industry (see Texas Adopts Law Boycotting Banks & Investors that Boycott O&G). It has taken a while, but Texas is finally working on the list of companies that the state (with the second-highest population in the country) will end doing business with. BlackRock is on the list and the company is begging the state not to cut ties.
Read More “BlackRock Begs Texas Not to Divest from the Divestors”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Investment Firm Predicts U.S. NatGas Crisis Coming in 2022
May 23, 2022May 23, 2022

click for larger version

Leigh Goehring from natural resource investment firm Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates is predicting a “black swan” event in “the next six months” right here in the U.S. with respect to the supply and price of natural gas. Goehring maintains we could see an event where we swing from a surplus of natural gas to a deficit, and prices that triple or quadruple. It is an ominous prediction.
Read More “Investment Firm Predicts U.S. NatGas Crisis Coming in 2022”
Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Joe Biden Renominates Dick Glick for Another FERC Term
May 23, 2022May 23, 2022

Richard Glick

How unfortunate–and predictable. The Joe Biden White House, an agency in complete disarray and dysfunction, announced on Friday that it will put forward Richard “Dick” Glick’s name to serve yet another undistinguished term at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Glick, a former wind lobbyist who is an extreme anti-pipeline radical, was appointed first under Donald Trump (big mistake on Trump’s part). Glick is currently the chairman of the agency, a position that wields a lot of power. Biden wants him to continue his destructive ways at the agency for another four years.
Read More “Joe Biden Renominates Dick Glick for Another FERC Term”
Brooke County | Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Landowners Sue to Block West Virginia’s New Forced Pooling Law
May 20, 2022May 27, 2022

Back in March MDN told you about a bill passed by the West Virginia legislature, Senate Bill (SB) 694, which finally brings forced pooling for shale wells to the Mountain States after eight years of trying (see WV House Passes Forced Pooling Bill, Done Deal When Gov Signs). Shortly after passage Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill into law. SB 694 is set to become active on June 7, which is 90 days following passage. However, two farmers from Brooke County have just sued Gov. Justice to overturn the new law claiming it is unconstitutional.
Read More “Landowners Sue to Block West Virginia’s New Forced Pooling Law”
Crude Oil | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Utica Landowners Leased for Oil Benefit from High Crude Price
May 20, 2022May 27, 2022

While virtually all of the Marcellus/Utica drilled in Pennsylvania produces either dry natural gas or wet gas (NGLs), the Utica in certain places of Eastern Ohio produces crude oil. Landowners in Ohio who lease their property and have crude gushing out of the ground may feel like Jed Clampett with bubblin’ crude prices fetching north of $100 per barrel. However, Bidenflation is eating away at the higher royalties those landowners receive. The cost of everything has gone up–from gasoline and diesel fuel to livestock feed, fertilizer, and groceries.
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BKV/Banpu | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Banpu Expands Again – Buys Exxon’s Texas Barnett Assets
May 20, 2022May 27, 2022

Banpu is Thailand’s largest coal mining company. But Banpu is far more than just a coal company. It has multiple subsidiaries in various energy industries scattered around the globe. For example, here in the U.S. Banpu partners with Kalnin Ventures and operates BKV Corporation (Banpu Kalnin Ventures), the American shale drilling arm of Banpu (Banpu owns 96% of BKV). Banpu originally entered the American shale sector by investing over $500 million in 2016-2017 to buy existing Marcellus wells and acreage in northeast Pennsylvania. But then the company developed a wandering eye…
Read More “Banpu Expands Again – Buys Exxon’s Texas Barnett Assets”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Analyst Predicts NatGas Prices “Going a Lot Higher” from Here
May 20, 2022May 27, 2022

The price of natural gas, both NYMEX futures prices and physical spot prices are getting so high, that we’re beginning to get dizzy. We recently told you the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in issuing its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) predicts the Henry Hub (HH) spot price will average $7.83/MMBtu in 2Q22 and average $8.59/MMBtu for the second half of 2022 (see Latest Monthly STEO Predicts HH Spot Price to Avg $8.59 in 2H22). A stock trader and analyst writing on the Seeking Alpha investor website says the price of natgas is “probably going a lot higher than today.”
Read More “Analyst Predicts NatGas Prices “Going a Lot Higher” from Here”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | ESG | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

SEC Reg Requiring Disclosure of Climate Change Risk “Kneecaps” O&G
May 20, 2022May 27, 2022

In March the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corrupted by the Bidenistas, said it will begin to force all publicly traded companies to disclose their so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the imaginary climate risks their businesses face (see SEC Votes to Force Public Companies to Disclose Mythical GHG Risks). Companies will have to pretend they care about supposed man-caused global warming and cook up hokey methods for evaluating how much carbon dioxide not just their own company, but their customers “emit” into the air when using a company’s products (so-called Scope 3 emissions). A column in Forbes magazine says the SEC climate risk regulation is “the latest in a series of moves by President Joe Biden and his progressive coalition to kneecap America’s oil and gas industry.” It’s an apt description.
Read More “SEC Reg Requiring Disclosure of Climate Change Risk “Kneecaps” O&G”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

FERC Report: Summer Blackouts During “Extreme Conditions”
May 20, 2022May 27, 2022

Some interesting exchanges took place at yesterday’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) open meeting between the five commissioners. Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick released the agency’s Summer Energy Market and Reliability Assessment report along with a press release sugarcoating some of the strong language in the report. One of the statements in the Key Findings of the report is this little gem under Electric Markets: “Despite having planning reserve margins that exceed reference margin levels, all regions may face energy shortfalls [of electricity] during extreme operating conditions.” The two Republican FERC commissioners didn’t let Glick get away with sweeping it under the proverbial carpet.
Read More “FERC Report: Summer Blackouts During “Extreme Conditions””
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Changing, Resubmitting Onerous VOC/Methane Regulations
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

In March the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), a sub-agency of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), approved a final version of onerous new regulations that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale and conventional drilling operations (see PA EQB Approves Final Onerous Methane Regs Harming Conv Drillers). These regs have been developed and tweaked since 2016. In late April several oil and gas associations that represent conventional drillers sued to block the new regs. Subsequently, the DEP withdrew the proposed new regs saying it would rework them. The DEP is about to resubmit a tweaked version of the regs for consideration, hoping to diffuse opposition from conventional drillers. Will it work?
Read More “PA DEP Changing, Resubmitting Onerous VOC/Methane Regulations”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Antis Lie About Safety of LNG-by-Rail, Seek Permanent Ban for PA
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Irrational anti-fossil fuelers, including THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters, have set their sites on assassinating LNG-by-rail shipments in Pennsylvania and beyond. If even one shipment of LNG using rail cars should happen, it would expose the lie that LNG-by-rail is a “rolling bomb.” Antis, poisoned with hatred against fossil energy, are making fantastical and 100% false claims about LNG by rail. Substances FAR more flammable and combustible than liquified natural gas, including crude oil, roll down the rail tracks each and every day through major population centers across the country. That fact doesn’t seem to bother antis.
Read More “Antis Lie About Safety of LNG-by-Rail, Seek Permanent Ban for PA”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Supply Chain

Flaring Tech Co. with Ops in M-U Expands Manuf. Facility in Okla.
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Once upon a time when drillers sunk an oil or gas well and it began to flow, the initial rush of natural gas coming from the hole would either be vented or flared. Venting is just releasing methane molecules into the atmosphere, a practice that gives environuts the creepy crawlies. Flaring is not much better in their book–the practice of burning methane coming from the hole (converting it to carbon dioxide). But hey, we don’t want to vent or flare for a different reason–because those molecules are worth money! Better to capture and sell them. Enter technologies that do just that. One such company that manufactures tech to capture and sell fugitive methane at drilling sites is Flogistix (think of the word flow mashed with the word logistics…Flogistix). The company has field offices in many locations, including an office in Washington, PA.
Read More “Flaring Tech Co. with Ops in M-U Expands Manuf. Facility in Okla.”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

O&G Jobs Recovering in 2022, Won’t Reach Pre-Pandemic Until 2027
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Rystad Energy, a Norwegian-based energy research and business intelligence company, issued its latest research yesterday that predicts employment in the U.S. oil and gas industry is set to rebound in the coming years and eventually surpass pre-COVID levels. Rystad says the industry will add roughly 108,000 new jobs this year. However, we won’t hit pre-pandemic levels of employment, says Rystad, until 2027–five years from now.
Read More “O&G Jobs Recovering in 2022, Won’t Reach Pre-Pandemic Until 2027”
Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

Study Says Shale Wastewater a ‘Substantial Source of Lithium’
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Eureka Resources, which currently operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale (building a fourth facility in Dimock, PA), is doing really cool stuff. In October 2019 the company began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see Marcellus Wastewater Plant in PA Extracts 1st Batch of Lithium). In 2020 the company announced it had received its fourth patent for its lithium extraction process. The company also said its plants can theoretically supply up to 25% of the country’s annual lithium demand–solely with lithium recovered from Marcellus wastewater (see Eureka Can Supply 25% of US Lithium Demand from Marc. Wastewater). Now there’s independently published research confirming what Eureka has been saying for years–lithium from brine (wastewater) is the answer to a lithium supply shortage here in the U.S.
Read More “Study Says Shale Wastewater a ‘Substantial Source of Lithium’”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

U.S. Chamber Makes Suggestions for Revised Climate/Energy Bill
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

In a bit of swamp-related cheerleading, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a treatise with its 2 cents on what should be included in a revamped “bipartisan” Build Back Worse deal that is being hatched on Capitol Hill between U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (Democrat from West Virginia) and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (Republican from Alaska). We can tolerate Manchin, but we can’t tolerate Murkowski, who is a traitor to conservative values and the Republican Party. The U.S. Chamber senses a deal is getting close and wants to influence its shape as much as possible, floating “seven core elements” that should be part of such a deal.
Read More “U.S. Chamber Makes Suggestions for Revised Climate/Energy Bill”