Mass. State Rep (Anti) Softens Opposition to NatGas Reliability Pipe
Over the past two years, MDN has told you about a tiny 2.1-mile looping pipeline segment proposed by Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), to be buried next to the existing TGP, to connect regions around Springfield, Massachusetts to receive more natural gas supplies. Springfield neighborhoods like Holyoke have an ongoing moratorium on hooking up new natgas customers unless/until more supply is provided (see Holyoke, Mass. Gas Moratorium Continues Due to No New Pipelines). Although most (all?) local and state politicians have made noises opposing the project, there is one local Democrat politician, State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, who (using political doublespeak) appears to have flipped from opposition to support.
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Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA. Epsilon doesn’t typically do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Epsilon issued its third quarter update on Wednesday. The company’s Marcellus net gas production was 2.6 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in total for 3Q21, compared to 3.0 Bcf of net gas production in 3Q20 (a 13% decrease). However, revenues were $13.1 million in 3Q21, compared to $5.8 million in 3Q20 (more than doubled). In addition to the 3Q numbers, we have an update on Epsilon’s lawsuit against its partner Chesapeake Energy.
We are stupified watching how the biased, leftwing mainstream media is treating utility company Spire (located in St. Louis) over the company’s recent statements warning natural gas customers their gas may run out if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does not act to extend an emergency certificate authorizing the operation of a pipeline that’s been up and running for the past two years–Spire STL. Yesterday we told you about vicious attacks against Spire for simply speaking the truth (see 
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see 
A coalition of upstream (drilling), midstream (pipeline), and downstream (utility) companies formed an industry group called ONE Future back in 2014. The aim of the group is to lower methane emissions across all aspects of the natural gas infrastructure system nationwide and to emit (lose into the atmosphere) no more than 1% by 2025. A number of Marcellus/Utica companies have joined (
In September MDN brought you a fantastic column by Paul Driessen, a senior policy advisor for CFACT (Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, a Washington, D.C. think tank), taking aim at so-called ESG, or environment, social, and governance programs, that are all the rage these days (see 
Has it really come to this? If a utility company that’s being attacked by anti-drilling zealots (Environmental Defense Fund) with help from a colluding federal court (U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit) dares to warn its customers they may experience an outage this winter because of the government closing down a critical natural gas pipeline, the utility company is put on the hot seat and made out to be the villain! Blame the victim!! Free speech is now under attack everywhere.
Last week the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched what we consider a full-on attack against the oil and gas industry when it unveiled new methane regulations (see 
If you have even the most basic education in economics (Econ 101) you will have come across the concept of commodities–things like gold, silver, corn, soybeans, oil, and (yes) natural gas. A commodity is something that no matter who produces it, the product itself is the same. A molecule of methane (CH4) is a molecule of methane, no matter who or how it gets produced. Consequently, the only factors that drive price for a commodity are availability and whoever has the lowest cost. Efforts to pretty up a commodity like natgas by claiming it is “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG), or it comes from the butt holes of cows and pigs and chickens (RNG), or is carbon-neutral LNG, are efforts to (in our opinion) snooker people into paying more for what is a garden-variety commodity. Are there people/companies willing to pay more if natgas is produced in a certain way or from a certain source?
The current futures contract for NYMEX natural gas priced at the Henry Hub trading location, called the “front month” (of December), was down for the third trading day in a row yesterday. The December contract fell 45 cents (8.26%) to $4.98 per MMBtu–the first time it has slipped under $5 since October 21. Where might the price be heading next?
In August 2020 when Range Resources, the very first company to sink a Marcellus well back in 2004, issued its annual Corporate Sustainability Report (CSR), the company laid out a goal of achieving so-called net-zero carbon emissions by 2025 (see 
Piedmont Natural Gas, which is owned by Duke Energy, plans to build a small, 12-mile natural gas pipeline in northern Greenville County, SC. The company has about 90,000 customers in Greenville County right now and expects to add about 44,000 more over the next 20 years. Piedmont tends to run short on natural gas supplies now on the coldest days during winter. The pipeline will help meet demand now and in the future. Piedmont has just announced the route the pipeline will take, which is parallel to State Route 290, minimizing disturbance to the environment. Yet environmentalist wackos are opposed due to an irrational hatred of fossil fuels.
We’ve seen the name a few times over the years, but Abarta Energy (aka Abarta Oil & Gas Co.) has not appeared on our radar often. The privately-owned company is based in Pittsburgh and owns (did own) assets, including wells and pipeline systems, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky. On Sunday Abarta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reporting liabilities of $25.4 million and assets of $4.2 million. Abarta says it wants to liquidate/sell all of its remaining oil and gas assets.
What do you think of this one? The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is launching a “favorites” list for Marcellus drilling and pipeline companies. You can earn yourself onto the list to get special treatment if you go to the extraordinary (and very expensive) lengths to do things the DEP wants you to do–things *not* required under current law, like “plugging abandoned oil wells, powering equipment with renewable energy, improving water quality in historically polluted streams and planting trees to offset greenhouse gas emissions.” Your reward for landing on the attaboy list? Your application for building a well pad or pipeline corridor will move to the top of the stack for review, leapfrogging those in line for a standard review. In other words, you’ll get the treatment the law guarantees (14 days for an erosion permit review) instead of the months and months of delays (in violation of the law) you get now. What a deal.