How O&G Royalties/Mineral Rights Co. Committed $40M Fraud
We don’t normally recommend books to read–especially those we haven’t read yet ourselves. Today we’re making an exception. Last week we received an email about a new book published on Amazon by Chris Bentley, the former President and CEO of Bellatorum Resources, an investment management firm that formerly specialized in Texas oil and gas royalties and mineral rights. Bentley recently published a book called Burning Bellatorum: The Story of a Forty Million Dollar Fraud and its Priceless Lessons for Investors and Entrepreneurs, detailing the $40 million fraud he committed while running his company. Since there are a number of companies that buy royalties and mineral rights in our region, we thought this information might be of interest to MDN readers.
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Every “game” comes to an end when play must stop and a winner, and a loser, are declared. If you watch basketball you know that the final couple of minutes can last what seems like a lifetime. One team, up by 2 or 3 points, gains possession of the ball and they are in the lead. What do they do? Play keep-away. Run the clock down so the opponent can’t score to tie or pull ahead. What does the opponent do? Try to foul the person with the ball, or call for a time-out, in order to stop the clock and (hopefully) when the ball is thrown in and play resumes, regain possession and score. In a sense, that’s what is happening with the 94% complete Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia. Right now anti-American Big Green groups have possession of the ball (having co-opted leftist judges) and they are ahead by one point, hoping to end the game by running out the clock. Will they succeed?
Despite screaming and howling at the moon by leftist Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club and Public Citizen, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week issued orders allowing two huge new LNG export facilities extra time to complete building those projects. On May 6, FERC issued a 31-month time extension to Cheniere Energy to build its third train (“Stage 3”) project at the existing Corpus Christi Liquefaction facility. FERC issued a three-year time extension to Energy Transfer’s Lake Charles LNG project. Both facilities have the potential to be fed, in part, by Marcellus/Utica molecules.
For how many years now have we had to suffer through insufferable “reporting” that tells us the day of Big Oil is over. That woke investors have turned their backs on oil and gas companies and that no new investment in O&G will happen ever again. Now that oil and natgas prices are through the roof and oil and gas companies are turning in record profits with gobs of free cash flow, buying back shares and issuing dividends–guess what has happened? Wall Street investors have turned their backs on high-flying, woke Big Tech companies and instead are investing where the money is–in oil and gas. We love it!
The Enverus rig count, as of Wednesday, stood at 806, up by three from the week before. We are only 32 rigs away from the pre-pandemic high of 838 rigs. Last week the Marcellus operated 45 rigs (up by one), while the Utica operated 11 rigs (same as the week before), for a total of 56 active rigs in the M-U. Our chief rival, the Louisiana and Texas Haynesville, operated 71 rigs last week, picking up two rigs from the week before.
The Natural Gas Supply Association’s (NGSA) 2022 Summer Outlook projects “upward pressure” on the natural gas market compared to last summer because of robust industrial demand, lower storage inventories, and the ripple effect on energy commodities caused by Europe’s energy crisis as it struggles for independence from Russian oil and gas. The NGSA Summer Outlook predicts a summer-over-summer increase of 3.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in average daily production (supply). NGSA says the supply increase (4% higher than last summer) is actually 1 Bcf/d more than demand for natgas will grow this summer. Oops.
Last year the Bidenistas initiated a massive power grab of transferring the right of individual states to regulate local natural gas gathering pipelines to the federal government, which is set to happen on May 16 of this year (see 
From the beginning of Richard “Dick” Glick’s tenure at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), we’ve pointed out that he votes against every single new pipeline project that comes before him based on cockamamie global warming excuses. Glick, a former wind lobbyist, took over as Chairman of FERC under Joe Biden. However, Glick’s tenure may be coming to an end. His five-year term on FERC will expire on June 30 and the Bidenistas have not yet renominated him for another term. Even if he leaves, which would leave an evenly divided 2-2 Democrat/Republican FERC, he still has until the end of this year to exit stage left.
An interesting development for an LNG export project in Canada we’ve tracked for years. Bear Head Energy, Inc., the current owner of Bear Head LNG in Nova Scotia, is being sold to Houston-based Buckeye Partners for an undisclosed sum. Buckeye is a portfolio company of, wholly owned by, IFM Global Infrastructure Fund (based in Australia). The former owner of the Bear Head LNG project, LNG Limited, was also based in Australia before it went belly up. Buckeye is a serious company with serious assets in the U.S. and has declared its intent to develop the fully-permitted Bear Head project forthwith. Maybe Canada’s East Coast will get an LNG export facility after all!
From time to time we bring you columns written by Ronald Stein, author, engineer, and energy expert. He writes for several organizations, including his latest column appearing on The Heartland Institute website (he is an advisor for Heartland). Stein’s column points out the blazingly obvious that nobody else seems to grasp: Without fossil fuels and the products that are made from fossil fuels, there’s no reason to have so-called renewable electric energy because there won’t be any products to power with that energy! But maybe that’s exactly what the left wants?
National Grid is desperately trying not to run out of natural gas for its customers in Brooklyn and Queens (on Long Island). For several years the company has fought a battle to run a tiny pipeline to its Greenpoint, Brooklyn facility, to provide extra natural gas. That project is being investigated by the Biden administration on charges of racism (see 
We’re holding on by a thread folks, with respect to PA’s onerous new carbon tax. Back in April, we told you about a lawsuit filed by Big Coal against the Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf administration to block Wolf’s attempt to force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants (see 
Yesterday Joe Biden delivered an address from the White House to talk about inflation. He blamed the high price of gasoline (and diesel fuel) on: (1) Vladimir Putin, (2) oil companies price gouging, and (3) Republicans who refuse to sign on to so-called renewables. He’s wrong on all three counts, but that’s another post for another time. Our point is that Biden continues to say he wants more oil production here at home to address the problem of high gasoline prices. Yet his actions disprove the words coming from his mouth (i.e. he’s lying). Biden and his administration continue to aggressively try to cut, reduce, and even block new permits and drilling on publicly-owned land. Some 25% of the oil production in the U.S. comes from wells on publicly-owned land. And yes, there is a tie-in with the Marcellus/Utica on this issue.
A historic runup in the NYMEX futures price for natural gas is turning into a historic drop in price. Over the past two trading days, last Friday and yesterday (Monday), the NYMEX price dropped $0.74 and $1.02 respectively for a total drop of $1.74. The reason for the drop appears to be an increase in production, up one full Bcf (billion cubic feet) last week from the prior week. The bears are on the prowl, looking to “maul” natgas futures. Strap in–it’s going to continue to be a bumpy ride on this roller coaster.