BP Energy Outlook 2022 – Oil Hasn’t Peaked, LNG Grows
The mighty BP (formerly British Petroleum) admits they were wrong in the company’s latest Annual Energy Outlook for 2022 (full copy below). In BP’s Energy Outlook for 2020, BP (wrongly) predicted the world had hit so-called “peak oil” demand for crude oil and other liquid fuels, topping out at around 100 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019. Whoops. That was wrong. BP now says oil/liquids demand will rise to 101 million bpd by 2025 and stay there for another five years, to around 2030. As for natural gas, the LNG trade “grows strongly over the first 10 years of the outlook” and then tapers off. By 2050 LNG production, claims BP, will only be 10% higher than it was in 2019.
Read More “BP Energy Outlook 2022 – Oil Hasn’t Peaked, LNG Grows”
Two weeks ago U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, unloaded on the five commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) during a hearing before the committee he chairs, the Senate Energy Committee (see 
How many times must we say this before it sinks in: FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is an economic agency, NOT an environmental agency. FERC’s role is to ensure pipelines, electric transmission lines, etc. are able to get built and are economic and not an undue burden for ratepayers. FERC’s role is NOT to worry about so-called global warming. Yet the liberal Democrats inside FERC, and now the liberal Democrats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, insist FERC reopen already-approved projects, like a tiny pipeline expansion in Massachusetts, and re-do long-completed evaluations in light of global warming considerations. It’s INSANE.
Plum Boro (Allegheny County, PA) officials and environmental leftist groups (backed by Big Green foreign money) are gearing up to oppose Plum’s second wastewater injection well with smears and lies. A long-fought-over wastewater injection well in Plum finally opened for business in mid-2021, having overcome all sorts of smears and slanders and lawsuits by the enviro-left (see 
There’s a reason a single shale play near the Gulf Coast, the Louisiana and East Texas Haynesville, has more active rigs and drills more wells than both the Marcellus and Utica shales combined. That reason? Lower taxes and less regulation. Particularly compared with Pennsylvania, where the taxes and “fees” are high and regulations are far too restrictive. Two Pennsylvania State Senators, one of whom is in a primary for governor, propose to correct the situation with a new bill that would suspend the state income tax on shale drillers, among other positive moves.
We’ve written about Doug McLinko, Commissioner for Bradford County, PA, a number of times. McLinko has been a strong supporter of the shale industry for years. In a recent interview with a local newspaper, McLinko and fellow Commissioner Daryl Miller took national leaders to task, including President Biden, for their pursuit of foreign energy sources over domestic sources. In particular, McLinko believes rail and pipelines could be an effective countermeasure to move our energy around, guarding against wild price gyrations.
For years MDN and others have warned of coming shortages for natural gas in New England, including the State of Maine. We told you that natgas and electricity prices will go through the roof due to lack of new pipelines (almost all electricity produced in New England is from gas-fired power plants). Yet New England and Maine have steadfastly refused to allow new gas pipelines to get built. So we don’t feel all that bad for Maine residents who have seen their electricity prices double and even triple since January of this year.
Earlier this week the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project. Which is relatively minor considering the project has already been fined by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) more than $20 million. This latest parting shot at the now-done NGL pipeline project levied for being too loud and not doing enough to communicate with residents in an apartment complex near where the pipeline was doing construction work in Delaware County.
In June 2017, MDN brought you the news that the very first application to drill a shale well in Illinois had been made (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you news of a bold new plan by EQT CEO Toby Rice to “unleash” American LNG exports to not only help our friends in Europe, but also to reduce the amount of coal use across the world, thereby lowering coal-related emissions including carbon dioxide (see 
All this week has been CERAWeek in Houston, Texas, the annual conference where heavyweights in the energy industry, particularly oil and natural gas, meet to hear the captains of industry (and key government officials) deliver speeches, and, more importantly, to chat on the sidelines. S&P is reporting that speaker after speaker at CERAWeek says that while customers want so-called net-zero carbon energy from oil and gas, when it comes to producing electricity with net-zero carbon sources, there is no “silver bullet.” The best option for the foreseeable future is to use natural gas to generate electricity–so says the experts.
We’ve been tracking a bill in West Virginia that will finally, after more than eight years of trying, bring forced pooling to the Mountain State for Marcellus/Utica shale wells. Senate Bill (SB) 694 sailed through the WV Senate in record time and earlier this week hit the WV House. Yesterday the full House voted to approve SB 694 with some tweaks, sending it back to the Senate. Last night the Senate approved the House changes and the bill is now officially passed and on its way to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice for his signature. Will he sign it?
You have to hand it to the Rice boys, they sure know how to make an entrance and grab the spotlight. While attending the annual CERAWeek event in Houston yesterday, EQT CEO Toby Rice unveiled a plan to “unleash” American LNG, supplying Europe and the world with our LNG, which would displace coal, lower carbon dioxide emissions planetwide, and wean the world off the energy produced by despots like Russia and Iran. It is a bold plan with specifics.
On the same day that EQT CEO Toby Rice released his plan to “unleash” American LNG (see today’s companion story), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published a post that talks about LNG production from a decidedly “leashed” perspective. While Rice envisions new pipelines, rigs, and export facilities that will handle a huge increase in Marcellus/Utica drilling, the EIA’s vision is status quo–constrained pipelines from the M-U region.