Industrywide Issues

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    Platts Says LNG Heading to Japan & Korea Fetching $7.40/Mcf

    Platts Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) LNG service issued an update yesterday that caught our eye. The JKM service says that LNG (liquefied natural gas) for delivery to northeast Asia (Japan and Korea) will average $7.397 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) for January delivery. Converted, that’s $7.40/Mcf (thousand cubic feet). That number is down 26.5% year-over-year. But hey, if our drillers were getting $7.40/Mcf for their gas? We’d be singing, “We’re in the money…” The problem is, of course, we don’t (yet) export our natural gas via LNG to any other countries. That’s about to change in January when Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG facility begins shipping (see Genscape: Sabine Pass LNG Export Began Accepting Natgas on Dec 10). It’s not likely any gas will head to Asia from our shores until the Cove Point LNG export facility in Maryland is completed in the next few years. Until then, we can only watch and hope that some day our gas will be sold for $7+ per Mcf…
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    NatGas Production in Lower 48 Slips in November by Less than 1%

    Earlier this week Platts’ Bentek service issued their prediction for natural gas production in the lower 48 states for November. Platts says that total gas production averaged 71.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in November, which is down less than 1% from production levels in October. The slightly lower production seemed to have surprised Bentek analysts who blame lack of pipeline takeaway capacity in the northeast for the down number. In fact, Bentek says that it is the northeast that is the star performer when it comes to production and whether production goes up or down, it will be because of the northeast. Here’s more of their expert analysis…
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    The Pretenders: Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative

    Big Green groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Clean Air Council, just to name a couple, are the fractivist arms of big-money foundations that fund and control them, including the Heinz Endowments and the Park Foundation. It’s an incestuous game with behind the scenes collusion among these groups and the deep-pocket foundations that pay for their attorneys to continue filing frivolous lawsuits. Here’s one Big Green group you don’t hear about often, but also part of the enviro-cabal: the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative, an official-sounding group which attempts to pass itself off as above-the-fray and populated with disinterested researchers focusing on the important issue of shale energy. It’s nothing of the sort. It’s a bunch of partisan hacks who lobby for high taxes on shale energy, and for limiting property rights for those who want to allow shale drilling. How do we know? Look at their so-called research. The Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative says, among many other things, that fracking is responsible an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Yeah, lefty kooks. Oh, and they’re funded by the Heinz Endowments and the Park Foundation, plus a few other leftist groups. We’ve written about them before (see Marcellus/Utica Anti-Drilling Group Back with Impacts “Research”). Every now and again this group finds a willing accomplice to plant a story about their “research” hoping it gets picked up by mainstream media. The latest shill media accomplice–the Midwest Energy News (anti-drillers who want to end the use of all fossil fuels), is only too willing to accommodate….
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    The ONLY Good Thing About Budget Deal: Lifts Oil Export Ban

    It was truly disheartening to learn of the complete sell-out by House Speaker Paul Ryan (Republican) and the Republican-led House in the latest budget deal. They essentially bent over and grabbed their ankles and assumed the position while Barack Hussein Obama had his way with them. This budget deal is repulsive–as grossly corrupt as it gets. The Democrats are even more corrupt–but we expect that of them. The only good thing that came from the budget deal, as near as we can tell, is that it lifts the 40-year ban on crude oil exports. As a Bloomberg article headline puts it, “Shale Drillers Are Now Free to Export U.S. Oil Into Global Glut.” Yeah, that about sums it up. Hey, having the crude oil ban lifted is good, we’re happy about that. But in the larger pantheon of the budget deal, we could have lived without it if we had gotten a better deal on far more critical items. Here’s what the inimitable Heartland Institute, one of our favorites, said about this disastrous budget deal…
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    NY Econ Dev Grant Signals Constitution Pipeline Approval Imminent

    celebrateSome very good news for supporters of the long-overdue Constitution Pipeline slated to run from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY. So far, New York has delayed granting stream-crossing permits for the project. We’ve advocated that it’s time for Williams and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to take NY to court (see Time to Force NY DEC to Issue Permit for Constitution Pipeline). In fact, a Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) official has said the DEC is in danger of permanently losing control over issuing such permits if they don’t approve the Constitution’s request (see DEC Official Says NY in Danger of FERC Taking Over Pipeline Permits). The good news is that NY has approved funding for a project that will build a $1.5 million, 18-mile feeder pipeline from the Constitution Pipeline to a forklift manufacturing plant in Chenango County. After banning fracking and the multi-billion dollar economic bonanza it would have brought to upstate NY, Andrew Cuomo has stolen $2 billion from taxpayers statewide to fund “economic development” via something called Upstate Revitalization Initiative grants. There are four grants of $500 million. One of those grants was just made to the Southern Tier area, where fracking would have been the strongest had it been allowed. In other words, this is a bribe being paid to upstate voters. But we digress. Tucked into the $500 million “grant” (i.e. bribe) for the Southern Tier is $1.5 million to build a feeder pipeline from the Constitution Pipeline to Raymond Corporation in Greene, NY. Why approve $1.5 million for a feeder pipeline if you’re not going to approve the Constitution Pipeline itself? You wouldn’t–ergo the Constitution is about to get approved…
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    DOJ Tells Halliburton/Baker Hughes “No Deal Yet” – What’s Next?

    As we told you yesterday, the Halliburton buyout of Baker Hughes continues to be in trouble due to regulators (see Whispers Turning in Chorus, Halliburton/BH Deal in Trouble). Regulators in Australia and Brazil are balking at the deal, and there’s grumbling in the European Untion. But that’s all inconsequential compared to the main obstacle–the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ). Earlier this week Halliburton/BH announced the timing agreement to reach a deal with the DOJ will expire with no deal worked out with the feds. However, they will keep working on a deal with the DOJ–they haven’t given up. What it means is that the new marriage date, which had slipped from December 1st to “early 2016,” will now be April 30, 2016–more than a year after announcing their nuptials. That is, IF they can hammer out a deal that pleases the bureaucrats at the Obama DOJ. Here’s the statement from Halliburton/BH issued earlier this week…
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    The One Thing Everyone Agreed on at PA Pipeline Task Force Mtg

    Yesterday saw another in a series of meetings by the Pennsylvania Task Force on Pipeline Infrastructure Development–the penultimate meeting for the group of 48 members appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf and the PennFuture Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley. At the last meeting, in November, the group introduced a list of 184 “recommendations” in a 335-page document that would “guide” future gathering pipeline development in the state (see PA Gathering Pipeline Draft “Recommendations” from Wolf Task Force). At yesterday’s meeting the usual anti-fossil fuelers were present to complain, which is what they always do. Seems they’re only happy when they can make other people’s lives miserable–and they did their best to do just that at yesterday’s meeting. According to one report, there was one thing (amazingly) everyone agreed on yesterday…
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    Will EPA Whore Itself to Antis and Change Fracking Water Study?

    The one great, huge, towering problem that anti-drillers have is that there is no scientific evidence that supports their wild claims that fracking contaminates water–which is their favorite lie to spread. When the Environmental Protection Agency arrived at the same conclusion–fracking doesn’t pollute water–after four years of studying it, that really took the wind out of the sails of rabid fossil fuel haters (see EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies). The EPA reviewed research from over 950 studies and even conducted nine of their own primary studies. Conclusion: fracking doesn’t pollute water supplies. What’s a good fossil fuel hater to do? Pressure the EPA to change the outcome of their study. True science means nothing to liberals–science is not objective for them, it’s political, a tool to be used. The Independent Petroleum Association of America recognizes that and apparently has some intel that the EPA may bow to pressure and reverse its previous finding to state that fracking does cause harm to water supplies, contra to their four-year-long review and all of the facts that say otherwise. Will the EPA whore themselves for radical environmentalists and change course?…
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    How Low Will it Go? Traders Say NatGas Price Will Hit 20-Year Low

    Two days ago we highlighted stories about the price of natural gas, noting it had hit a 14-year low (see Natural Gas Prices Hits 14-Year Low – When Will it Rebound?). On Monday the CME price (the price for futures contracts based on the Henry Hub price) closed at $1.89/Mcf (Mcf is thousand cubic feet, the equivalent of MMBtu, or one million British thermal units which the price is often quoted in). Yesterday the price closed at $1.79/Mcf. Just how low will the price go? A number of traders now believe it may hit $1.60/Mcf, which would represent a 20-year low. Some are saying it may hit (gasp) $1.50/Mcf. A lot of the “blame” for the historic low price of natgas is the prolific output from the Marcellus/Utica…
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    South Jersey Gas Customers Get $58 Xmas Present Thx to Marcellus

    Customers of natural gas utility company South Jersey Gas will get a nice Christmas present from the company next month–a credit on their bill for an average $58 per customer–collectively $20 million. Why? Because wholesale natural gas prices paid by the company are so low–thanks to the Marcellus Shale. So said South Jersey Gas in an announcement yesterday…
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    New EIA Report Shows Huge Growth in NatGas Electric Generation

    We talk a fair bit about the price of natural gas, which drives how willing drillers are to drill for it. The higher the price, the more willing they are to drill. The converse is also true. If you can’t make a profit, why drill? One of the major users of natural gas, a source that is increasing its use, are electric generating plants. Price is driven by supply and demand. More demand is good–and using natural gas to power electric generating plants is one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways of producing electricity. So when we saw a new report being published (monthly) by our favorite government agency, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) that covers the monthly inventory of electric plants–what’s powering them and how much electricity they’re producing–we perked up. In reviewing the stats, two things clearly stand out: using coal for electric generation is cratering, and using natural gas to power electric generating is rapidly rising…
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    It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Climate Change World

    mad worldWe think it’s hard to overstate the power play being made by those who assembled in Paris earlier this month for the United Nations COP21 Climate Change Conference. As we previously wrote two days ago, Obama will never get Congress to ratify a treaty based on the agreement he signed in Paris (see Paris Climate Treaty Signed by Obama NOT Binding on U.S.). However, like all good fascists, obeying our nation’s laws and Constitution won’t slow BHO down. He’ll figure out how to wave his magic Executive Orders wand and just “make it so.” That’s his plan. You may think we’ve gone mad, but we must point out, yet again, that IF the plan coming out of the Paris conference is actually implemented, it means the end of the fossil fuel industry. Period. We are NOT exaggerating this. That is their stated purpose–to end the world’s reliance on fossil energy. That’s how this agreement is being reported in mainstream media–have you bothered to read the reports? What’s even more insane is that yesterday we received a press release from the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP)–supposedly “the voice of the global upstream industry”–saying the IOGP “welcomes the historic COP21 agreement in Paris last week.” What? They “welcome” the end of fossil energy? Has everyone gone stark….raving….mad?….
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    Genscape: Sabine Pass LNG Export Began Accepting Natgas on Dec 10

    Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility in Louisiana is in the process of ramping up for it’s very first shipment of U.S.-produced LNG that will head to a foreign destination. In fact, this will be the very first exported shipment of LNG from the Lower 48 states–ever. Cheniere itself is tight-lipped about the exact date it fires up the plant and begins liquefaction, the process of supercooling natural gas into liquefied natural gas. So how do we know the plant has been activated? Through the ingenious work and service from a company called Genscape. MDN editor Jim Willis sat in on a Genscape presentation at Bloomberg’s offices in New York City in early November. They have a really cool service. Using special cameras mounted on nearby properties, Genscape can tell if natural gas is flowing through a pipeline, or if a plant’s compressors are fired up and working, or even monitor truck and rail shipments into and out of facilities like Sabine Pass. Using their proprietary technology, Genscape says “the first substantial deliveries (46 million cubic feet) of natural gas flowed into the Sabine Pass facility on Dec. 10. Why does MDN care? Because some of that gas either already does, or soon will, come from the Marcellus/Utica…
    Read More “Genscape: Sabine Pass LNG Export Began Accepting Natgas on Dec 10”

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    Evil Corporate Raider Carl Icahn Claims Another CEO Scalp

    In what has become an all-too-familiar pattern, evil corporate raider Carl Icahn has struck again, claiming another CEO scalp. Like he did with Chesapeake Energy, Icahn increased his stake in another oil and gas company, Cheniere Energy, about to export the very first shipment of exported LNG from the Lower 48 states. After Icahn grabbed a big share of Cheniere (13.8%), he forced out the company’s co-founder and CEO, Charif Souki. It’s disgusting, it’s immoral, it’s unethical–but unfortunately, it’s legal and even vaunted by investors who worship at the alter of the Almighty Buck. Like the case of Aubrey McClendon being forced out of the company he founded, Chesapeake Energy, Souki was a maverick, and he erred by taking too much OPM–other people’s money. The firing of Charif Souki certainly takes the luster and excitement off the company’s pending first export shipment of LNG. If Cheniere goes bankrupt (not beyond the realm of possibility as Souki is credited with keeping the company afloat), it will be because of Icahn’s action. Investors can thank old Carl. What’s happening, of course, is that Icahn wants to put some new financial paint on the company so he can flip it in a year or two, adding more billions to his existing billions. Jerk. The company has appointed an interim CEO (board member Neal Shear) while they look for a new hatchet man like Ichan did at Chesapeake with Doug Lawler. Let the firings begin!…
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    Dartmouth Study: Fracking Causes Toxic Metal Wastewater

    We call attention to a newly published study from three researchers at Dartmouth College. The new research paper, recently published in the journal Applied Geochemistry, is titled, “Reductive weathering of black shale and release of barium during hydraulic fracturing” (sorry, we don’t have a full copy to share with you). In reading over the Dartmouth press release, it appears the researchers have found evidence that plain water itself, water without extra chemicals added to it, will, under pressure a mile or more down, facilitate or somehow combine with shale and cause barium to leach out of the shale. The research is based on samples from three drill cores from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and New York. Our understanding of just what they are saying is far from perfect. It seems to us the importance of what they claim to have found is that produced water, which is water that comes from the borehole long after the initial frack flowback water has returned to the surface, contains a lot of barium (and some mild radioactivity) and that produced water must be disposed of safely. You can’t just cart produced water to the local sewage treatment plant and drop it off. That seems to be what they’re saying with this research. You read the description for yourself and tell us what you think it says…
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    Don’t Know Jack: Politician Lobbies for High OH Severance Tax

    The Marcellus and Utica Shale industry, like all shale industries in the U.S., is getting clobbered. Prices are at historic lows for natural gas–with no prospects it will go higher anytime soon (see Natural Gas Prices Hits 14-Year Low – When Will it Rebound?). Drillers (otherwise known as producers or E&Ps) can’t make a profit. Those who are making a profit are realizing profits that are razor thin–like break-even. So what does a “brilliant” politician like Ohio State Rep. Jack Cera (Democrat) lobby and advocate and agitate for? Raising the severance tax on shale drillers in Ohio. How utterly dense can you possibly be to not see that doing such a thing in this low-price climate would essentially shut down the Utica industry in the state? Or perhaps that’s what Jack really wants?…
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