Last week MDN reported about a compressor fire at the Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island LNG export facility in Georgia (see Compressor Fire Shuts Down Three Elba Island LNG Export Units). The fire was in the compressor train #2. Just to be safe, Kinder Morgan shut down trains 1-3. The good news is that Kinder is restarting #1 and #3 this week.
Read More “Kinder Morgan Restarting 2 of 3 Shut Down Elba Island LNG Units”
The Marcellus/Utica region is a tale of two shales. One is dry gas, or methane only, and the other is methane plus NGLs–other hydrocarbons that come out of the hole along with methane, including ethane, propane, butane, and few others. NGL production can turn a breakeven or possibly money-losing venture into a profitable venture. The wet gas area is located in portions of southwestern PA, eastern OH, and the northern panhandle of WV (see the map). Given the pandemic, fluctuating natgas prices, curtailments, and the general craziness in the markets, what do the next 12 months look like for NGL production in the M-U?
Read More “Marcellus/Utica NGL Production & Exports – Shortage Coming?”
Baker Hughes, one of the largest oilfield services (drilling) companies in the U.S. and the world, began keeping records on rig counts starting in 1987. As of May 12, 2020, producers operated 339 rigs in the U.S. That’s the lowest number of operating rigs since Baker Hughes began publishing its venerated rig count. It’s not the kind of record we like to see broken.
Read More “U.S. Rig Count Falls to Lowest Level EVER – Since Records Began”
We spotted an interesting story by S&P Global Platts about the dramatic increase in the stock price for gas-focused drillers, particularly in the Marcellus/Utica. Did you know that EQT’s stock has shot up 127% in value over the past three months? Range Resources and Southwestern Energy are both up 81% in value. Antero Resources is up 76%. It’s impressive! Then again, the stock price for most of those companies decreased by 90% over the past five years, so we have a lot of ground to make up.
Read More “$4 Natural Gas This Winter? Maybe, IF Things “Fall into Place””
One of the worst overreaches and offenses of the Obamadroids was to redefine what “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) actually means. As they were getting ready to leave power, the Obama EPA redefined WOTUS as everything down to large mud puddles–no lie (see EPA Power Grab: Redefines Waters of the U.S. to Include Everything). When Donald Trump took over, he set out to correct Obama’s conceit by bringing the WOTUS definition back into the realm of reality. It took years and fending off multiple lawsuits funded by Big Green organizations, but we finally we have a new, permanent redefinition of WOTUS–taking it back to what it was meant to be (see EPA & Army Corps Publish Final WOTUS Regs – Obama Overreach Fixed). The new WOTUS revisions are set to go into effect in late June. A group of radical Attorneys General with Trump Derangement Syndrome are trying to block it.
Read More “CA & NY Attempt to Block WOTUS Redo from Taking Effect in June”
Yesterday a coalition of twenty-three free market, small business, and consumer groups joined the American Energy Alliance (AEA) in warning President Trump not to slap tariffs on imported crude oil from our enemies (Saudi Arabia and Russia) as a means to help the decimated oil and gas industry. We disagree.
Read More ““Free Market” Groups Urge Trump to Avoid Oil Tariffs on Enemies”
On October 3, 2016, landowner James Slamon filed a lawsuit against Carrizo and Reliance Industries in the Susquehanna County (PA) Court of Common Pleas. Slamon alleged Carrizo and Reliance underpaid royalties on oil and gas leases to him and a class of other landowners “exceeding one hundred members.” The drillers got the case moved to federal court on October 31, 2016. Fast forward to this past Monday and a judge in the federal court case has certified (in part) the class-action request. The lawsuit will now move forward.
Read More “Judge OKs Class Action Royalty Lawsuit Against 3 NEPA Drillers”
Big time opposition continues to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to force the state to participate in the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon aimed at coal and natural gas-fired electric power plants, with an eye to driving them out of business (see our RGGI stories here). Even Wolf’s own state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), an executive agency under his thumb, doesn’t want the state to join RGGI.
Read More “PA Gov. Wolf’s Own DEP Doesn’t Want RGGI Carbon Tax”
According to an S&P Global Platts article, “spending cuts by producers and pipeline operators likely will reshape what and when natural gas midstream infrastructure is developed over the next several years.” The cuts and reshaping will, however, be “uneven.” The experts interviewed say pipeline and other midstream projects in gas-focused plays, like the Marcellus/Utica, are more likely to get built while new gas infrastructure in oil plays like the Permian and Bakken are less likely to get built.
Read More “New M-U Pipes More Likely to Get Built than Gas Pipes in Oil Plays”
A Montana federal judge appointed by Lord Barack Hussein Obama–Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris–ruled in April that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are too stupid to know whether or not using a Nationwide Permit 12 (NP12) will harm so-called endangered species in the building of the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the Midwest. But Judge Morris didn’t stop there. He later ruled that NP12 permits for ALL pipelines (not electric power lines or other construction using NP12, just pipelines) are not allowed. The ruling stops cold pipeline construction across the country that uses NP12 permits, including Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) here in the M-U.
Read More “Obama Judge Blocks New Pipe Projects that Use NP12 Permit”
What happens in the oil patch has a direct bearing on the financial health of gas drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, which is why we periodically cover happenings in oil. We’re now beginning to see articles with the theme that the oil price crash is already over. Yesterday West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed at $32.50/barrel. Still not great, but a lot better than the negative $37.63 we saw a few weeks ago! However, does a higher price for oil automatically mean shale oil drilling will immediately return, and with it more associated gas keeping the price of natgas low?
Read More “Oil Price Collapse Appears Over Already…Gas Price Impact?”
We’ve been eagerly anticipating this month’s edition of our favorite report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), to see how much gas production in the Marcellus/Utica will decrease. The DPR estimates how much oil and natural gas each of the country’s seven largest shale plays produced in the previous (current) month, and how much each will produce in the coming (next) month.
Read More “EIA Report: Drop in Marcellus/Utica Gas Production Slows in June”
Pieridae Energy wants to build an LNG export plant in Nova Scotia, Canada. The project is called the Goldboro LNG project. We’ve tracked the project for years hoping Marcellus/Utica gas might one day feed it (see our Goldboro LNG stories here). Our hopes to have M-U gas feed Goldboro were dashed when Pieridae announced a deal last June to buy assets from Shell in Western Canada with plans to pipe the gas to the Goldboro plant (see Pieridae Buys Shell Assets in W Canada to Feed Nova Scotia LNG). Canadian regulators in Alberta have just scuttled the deal, refusing to grant permission.
Read More “Regulators Reject Pieridae/Shell Plan to Feed Nova Scotia LNG”
Will this, finally, help convince any fence-sitting Democrats who give a damn about the future of our country and the oil and gas industry that a vote for Joe Biden is a vote to end it all? Biden, the presumptive nominee for the Democrats to run for president (even though he’s senile, really) has appointed both Alexandria Occasional-Cortex, the woman with half a brain, and John “haughty” Kerry, the guy who tried to destroy America with the Paris climate treaty, as co-chairs of his campaign’s so-called climate task force. What a joke! Except…it’s not a joke. It’s real, and it’s very scary.
Read More “Joe Biden Names AOC to Lead Climate Task Force (PUKE)”
Is it time to turn the gas off for New York City and let the people there reap the “benefits” of having a dictator, Andrew Cuomo, as their governor? On Friday the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation, thoroughly and completely corrupted by Cuomo, issued yet another rejection for the critically-needed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project. It was the last straw for Williams, the builder of the project, which has walked away from the project. Gas customers on Long Island, including parts of NYC, now face the real prospect of running out of natural gas (this is not an exaggeration). Andrew Cuomo is the grossest, most corrupt governor in NY’s history.
Read More “Cuomo Rejects NESE Pipe Again, Williams Walks Away”
Yet another lawsuit trying to emasculate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by attacking its right to delegate eminent domain authority to pipeline builders has been tossed in federal court. Several of these cases have been tried using Marcellus/Utica pipeline projects. This latest case was brought by uppity, privileged landowners in Virginia against the Equitrans Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project.
Read More “Lawsuit Seeking to Gut FERC Eminent Domain for MVP has Failed”