Southwestern Returns as Much Freshwater to Environment as Used
Southwestern Energy continues to be a trailblazer among Marcellus/Utica shale drillers. The company voluntarily participates in several environmental programs aimed at lowering methane emissions, including the TrustWell™ Responsible Gas Program and the ONE Future organization (see Southwestern Energy Lands Another “Responsible Gas” Customer). Air quality is not the only environmental issue important to Southwestern. Water is too.
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Is this time different? The oil and gas industry is known for its “boom and bust” cycle. The price of oil and gas goes high, drillers jump on the bandwagon and inevitably produce far more than the market demands resulting in a price bust and a slowdown in drilling as it becomes unprofitable. Until the next cycle.
Equitrans (nee EQT Midstream) owns a natural gas storage field in Greene County, PA, in the southwest corner of the state, called Swarts Field. Natural gas storage fields are an important, but often overlooked, part of the natgas ecosystem. Last December the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) threatened to shut down Swarts Field because of coal mining in the area, saying Equitrans had not properly mapped old/abandonded conventional gas wells in the area (see 
We’re still feeling the fallout of FirstEnergy’s sleazy campaign to keep their $1 billion ratepayer bailout in Ohio. Last week we told you about FirstEnergy’s Mafia-like tactics in attempting to block petitioners from gathering signatures to overturn House Bill 6 that hands FirstEnergy $1 billion (see 
While on the surface the liquefied natural gas (LNG) marketplace may seem simple and straightforward, when you dig down you’ll find it is complex. There are different kinds of contracts between those who sell the gas, those who liquefy and ship it, and those who buy it. The LNG marketplace is, with the entrance of the U.S., changing rapidly. Our friends at RBN Energy recently posted an explanation for how it all works.
Quick, when we ask you how natural gas gets exported from the U.S. to other countries, what do you think of? LNG, right? That’s true. Yet while LNG grabs all the headlines, more than twice as much natural gas is exported to Canada and Mexico via pipeline every day than is exported to other countries via LNG ships. LNG is expanding and catching up–but it has a ways to go. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, during the first half of 2019 natural gas exports from the U.S. to other countries doubled–largely because of LNG.
We have, for years, brought you arguments about the superiority of an impact fee over a severance tax (see 
The State of Connecticut’s “Siting Council” changed its mind in July and approved NTE Energy’s proposed project to build a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly (see 
Last year a hedge fund manager tried pitching a fund that would “bet against” shale drillers to investors. At the time he was “basically kicked out of every office in New York City.” Good! However, the now-former hedge fund manager has an advisory service that in a sense also disparages the shale industry, but perhaps performs a valuable service for the industry. The new company uses data that is number-crunched from state records, applying assumptions that are “more realistic” than numbers offered by companies in investor presentations when it comes to how much the wells they *will* drill will produce. That is, this new service provides a more realistic look at reserves–proven and otherwise.
Williams has temporarily withdrawn three of four applications with the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to build its Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project. Just last month NJDEP gave Williams an extra month with the permits (see 
Andrew Cuomo is a desperate man. There’s nothing as dangerous as a cornered leftist politician whose policies have been revealed to cause pain and suffering for the very people he’s supposed to serve. That’s what has happened to man-child Andy–and desperate politicians who have been exposed for all to see do crazy things. In Andy’s case, he goes berserk. Cuomo has instructed his own state Public Service Commission (PSC) to look for ways to revoke the operating license of utility company National Grid, which supplies natural gas to all of Long Island (and the NYC boroughs that sit on Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens). Why?
Opposition to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to have PA join with northeastern states in the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) continues. Big opposition. Earlier this month Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf went completely off his rocker with a power-grab to force PA into a regional alliance to tax natural gas-fired electric plants out of existence (see 
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo followed a blindly stupid political philosophy of anti-fossil fuelism by blocking the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline, with tragic consequences–thousands of potential natgas customers who cannot connect to the local utility. Is New Jersey heading for the same scenario under Gov. Phil Murphy? If the state rejects the PennEast Pipeline, that answer is a resounding YES. We’ve seen this movie before.