Nacero, Building GTL Plant in NEPA, Gets Air Permit for Texas Plant
In November we shared the exciting news that Nacero Inc. will build a $6 billion refinery on the site of a former coal mine in Newport Township and Nanticoke in Luzerne County, PA (see NEPA Huge Deal – $6B Plant to Convert Marcellus Gas to Gasoline). The plant will convert Marcellus natural gas into zero-sulfur gasoline for use in existing cars and trucks without modification. However, Nacero has plans to build three such plants in the U.S. One of their projects, located in Texas, has just received an air quality permit and plans to begin construction on phase one within the next 30 days.
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Chesapeake Energy is the latest big oil and gas producer with major assets in the Marcellus region to declare itself clean and green. The company just launched a new “microsite” (website) dedicated to the company’s ESG reporting and progress toward its climate-related targets. ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance efforts. You already know what we think of such programs (see 
Here’s a startling statistic: A survey of nearly 17,000 global energy industry companies, recruiters, and workers conducted by Brunel and 
Back in June, MDN told you about a long-running lawsuit in Tioga County, PA by landowners who claim that UGI has taken their mineral rights as part of operating the Meeker Storage Field, an underground natural gas storage facility (see 
Earlier this week MDN told you about a nastygram written by U.S. Senator Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren (see 
According to the experts at RBN Energy, “If there was ever a year that proves NGLs march to the beat of a different drummer, 2021 was it.” Production of NGLs went *up* during the pandemic, not down. Prices have been up, down, and all around. Like all oil and gas markets (markets of any kind, really), there is no one, specific factor or reason why NGL production and prices are doing what they are doing. It is a complex soup of factors that affect the NGL market–a market that’s increasingly vital for Marcellus/Utica producers.
According to S&P Global Platts, gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shales, since the beginning of November, has “surged,” rising by nearly 1 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day), or up about 2.7%. The surge means production is now near record highs–in the upper 34 Bcf/d range. However, the M-U is constrained by pipeline takeaway and finite local markets. With rising supply and steady demand, prices are doing what Econ 101 predicts: beginning to fall.
Contrary to the false narrative spun by leftist media that “everyone,” especially large institutional investors, are divesting from and refusing to buy new investments in stocks of companies that drill for oil and natural gas, some of the largest institutional investors came off the sidelines and some (for the first time ever!) got into the game by investing in individual shale gas stocks in the Marcellus/Utica during the third quarter of 2021. Which big investors did the investing and how much did they invest/purchase in the way of stock? We have all the deets below…
We told you in October 2020 that a pair of natural gas-fired power plants in and near New York City were fighting for their lives (see 
Leftist tyrants are no longer content to block new shale and pipeline projects. They’ve been largely successful doing that. They have now moved on to attacking existing shale and pipeline projects, hoping to shut them down. Completely evil people. Case in point: The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) targeted the Spire STL pipeline, a 65-mile pipeline that connects to and flows Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to more than 640,000 residents and businesses in the St. Louis, Missouri area. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does not extend an emergency certificate for the project, it will close down on Dec. 13–in two weeks’ time. How does this new development of the left weaponizing our courts against us affect other existing pipelines? Will the darkness grow and threaten other assets?
Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) is expanding its drilling program in Upper Burrell, in Westmoreland County, PA, near Pittsburgh (see 
West Virginia, the state legislature in particular, is up to its collective neck in a mess of its own making. The legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2581 on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April. HB 2581 changes how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes (see 
Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) plan to flow more Marcellus gas to Westchester and New York City is called the East 300 Upgrade Project. The project involves upgrades at two existing compressor stations (in Pennsylvania), along with building a brand new compressor station in West Milford (Passaic County), just across the border and not far from Westchester County, NY. For a second time this year, Passaic County commissioners have refused to vote in favor of a resolution opposing the project.
Something strange is happening–has been happening for years now. When we first started to cover the Marcellus/Utica on the MDN site in January 2009, the received wisdom was “the more active rigs, the more production,” and conversely, “fewer active rigs will lead to less production.” But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Drillers got better at drilling. More efficient. And more production could be had from fewer wells and less drilling of wells. Even though rig counts go down and stay down, production stays the same or goes up. That’s the situation we find ourselves in currently.
Leftists are not only anti-fossil fuels and anti-freedom, they’re also (when they eventually don’t convince others with their inane arguments) violent. Case in point: David Suzuki, the so-called godfather of the Canadian environmental movement, warned over the weekend that if politicians don’t act to reverse climate change, there could be attacks against oil and gas infrastructure. He flat-out threatened to blow up pipelines. Why is this man not in jail?