DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and in other regions, such as Haynesville. Yesterday, DTM announced it had cut a deal to buy three FERC-regulated interstate pipelines from Oklahoma-based ONEOK, Inc. for $1.2 billion. Two of the three pipelines flow Marcellus/Utica molecules to Midwestern markets. Read More “DT Midstream Buys 2 Interstate Pipelines with M-U Connections”
Environmental wackos have made building a new natural gas pipeline anywhere in the northeast (or southeast) such a heinously nasty experience with multiple and repeated regulatory challenges and a blizzard of lawsuits that nobody has ventured to propose a new “greenfield” (brand new from scratch) pipeline since Mountain Valley Pipeline, which took a decade to complete at double the original budget. We’re hopeful the situation will change under the new Trump administration. The Marcellus/Utica industry recognizes we need another new pipeline to move more of our molecules to other regions. What would be the “driving force” to prompt a company to be willing to try once again? Read More “When Will the M-U Get Another New Greenfield Pipeline Project?”
We won’t lie—we have a love/hate relationship with the American Petroleum Institute. Big Oil companies (like Exxon) control the organization (they pay big membership fees), and often, Big Oil is at odds with smaller, independent oil and gas producers like those who do most of the shale drilling. The API tends to suck up to politicians like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In remarks made yesterday, API President Mike Sommers said his organization supports (!) the massive worldwide shakedown of America called the Paris Accords (which targets HIS members for extinction). Go figure. However, the API isn’t all bad. The API released a policy roadmap yesterday for the incoming Trump administration. Read More “API Releases 5-Point Policy Plan to Make Energy Great Again”
Harold Hamm is the legendary founder and executive chairman of Continental Resources, a large, privately owned drilling company. Hamm is, along with George Mitchell, Aubrey McClendon, and a few others, one of the original pioneers who figured out how to combine fracking with horizontal drilling to access previously trapped oil in shale deposits. Hamm’s claim to fame is drilling in the mighty Bakken oil fields of North Dakota. Harold Hamm is, by all accounts, one of the biggest frackers in the world. He’s also a big fan of Donald J. Trump and helped coral donors from the oil and gas industry to donate money to Trump’s campaign. Although Hamm won’t have an official role in the new administration, he does have four energy goals for the next administration to tackle. Read More “Harold Hamm’s Oil & Gas Priorities for Trump’s Second Term”
We hate this…writing yet another post mortem for a pipeline project in the Marcellus/Utica. Yesterday, National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) CEO David Bauer confirmed that his company has given up after battling for 10 years to build the Northern Access Pipeline, a 97-mile pipeline from McKean County in Pennsylvania into and through Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Erie counties in New York that would have flowed Marcellus gas into New York State. The project faced intense opposition from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and later his lackey and successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul. Even though the project eventually won the right to build via the courts, years of opposition from NY increased the costs exponentially and led NFG to pass on building it. A very sad day. Score another victory for the Evil Empire State. Read More “NFG Gives Up on Building Northern Access Pipeline; NY Killed It”
Yesterday, Hart Energy held its DUG Appalachia Conference and Expo in Pittsburgh. DUG stands for Developing Unconventional Gas. According to press accounts, folks were smiling, and the atmosphere was a lot more optimistic following Donald Trump’s crushing victory over The Cackler. A number of Marcellus/Utica luminaries attended, including EQT Corp. CEO Toby Rice. In a keynote speech to attendees, Rice had one of (perhaps THE) most memorable lines of the day. He said, “We’re in a different world, and it’s not about drilling, it’s about ‘build baby, build,’ and we need more pipelines.” Read More “DUG Appalachia: “Drill Baby Drill” has Become “Build Baby Build””
According to Hart Energy, “massive” transformations are “shaking” the natural gas industry along the Gulf Coast via new pipelines in Texas and LNG export plants in Louisiana. However, the nation’s largest gas field on the eastern side of the U.S., the Marcellus Shale, is not seeing the same transformations. Why? “CEOs are often fighting political battles for permission to build infrastructure.” According to EQT Corp. CEO Toby Rice, the solution is to get back to building new pipelines. If only we could… Read More “EQT CEO Says the M-U Needs to Get Back to Building Pipelines”
CNX Resources filed a request with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in April 2023 to build two pipelines—two for natural gas—along a 13.9-mile route in Bell, Loyalhanna, and Salem Townships in Westmoreland County. An additional 4-mile pipeline would be built for water. Called the Slickville Trunkline Project, the DEP originally told CNX its application was “incomplete.” The DEP later told CNX (in March of this year) the agency considered the application “withdrawn” because it hadn’t received any more information (see Temporary Setback for CNX Gas & Water Pipeline Project in SWPA). Since then, CNX was able to provide the information the DEP wanted, and in early October, the DEP issued permits for the project, which has torqued off the antis. Read More “2 Radical Groups Appeal CNX Gas & Water Pipeline Project in SWPA”
Williams’ Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project expands the mighty Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. About 450,000 MMcf/d of the total capacity went online in late 2023 along Transco’s Leidy Line in Pennsylvania. Another 160 MMcf/d went online in PA and NJ in early July. On July 26, FERC granted Williams’s request to bring online the final 219 MMcf/d ahead of schedule (see FERC OKs Request to Place Balance of Transco REAE Online Early). Two PA-based anti-fossil groups are still trying to get permits for the project in PA invalidated. They won a minor victory in that regard with a federal court yesterday. Read More “3rd Circuit Sides with PA Antis’ Appeal of REAE Permits 2nd Time”
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. DTM issued its third quarter 2024 update last week. Of high interest to us was the announcement that DTM is upsizing a previously announced project to connect its Stonewall Gathering System to Equitrans Midstream’s (now EQT) Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia, giving DTM customers the ability to reach Mid-Atlantic markets with their molecules. Read More “DT Midstream Expanding Marcellus Gathering Pipe Connection to MVP”
Last November, MDN brought you the news that pipeline giant Williams planned to proceed with a new Transco pipeline expansion project called the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (see Transco Expansion to Add 1.4 Bcf/d Capacity to Flow M-U Gas South). The project was estimated to flow an extra 1.43 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of Marcellus/Utica molecules southward along the Transco pipeline system, delivering those molecules to states in the southern U.S. Williams later upped the capacity to 1.587 Bcf/d (essentially from 1.4 to 1.6). Williams pre-filed with FERC earlier this year (see Williams Pre-Pre-Files for Southeast Supply Enhancement Project). On Tuesday, now a year later, Williams finally filed the full, official request with FERC to build the project. Big Green (and their high-priced lawyers) immediately jumped on the filing. Read More “Williams Files with FERC to Expand Mighty Transco Pipe in Southeast”
The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d of natural gas through 1,131 miles of pipeline. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. We told you in September 2023 that Enbridge conducted an open season to gauge interest in expanding Algonquin’s capacity to flow more gas into New England — mainly from the Marcellus/Utica — called Project Maple (see Enbridge Open Season to Expand Algonquin Pipe in New England). Since then, colluding Big Green groups have targeted the governors in various states to bully them into rejecting Project Maple, even though it’s a federal project under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authority. Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee is the latest to be threatened by Big Green. Read More “Rhode Island Radicals Pressure Governor to Block Project Maple”
Last Friday, Reuters reported that sources “familiar with the matter” whispered to its reporters that private equity firm Blackstone is “in advanced talks” to acquire minority stakes in the interstate natural gas pipelines now owned by EQT Corp. (following its purchase of Equitrans Midstream) for a whopping $3.5 billion. The deal would help EQT reduce the debt it accumulated from buying Equitrans. Read More “Blackstone Seeks to Buy Pipeline Stake from EQT for $3.5 Billion”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently published an interesting post about natural gas pricing hubs in North America. There are nearly 200 such pricing hubs. The hubs “provide transactional flexibility to buyers and sellers in the natural gas industry.” As we’ve pointed out before, there is no one “price” for natural gas. Prices at various trading hubs can vary significantly. All pricing hubs compare themselves to the Henry Hub “benchmark” hub in Southern Louisiana. You may read about such-and-such as a hub trading a “discount” or “premium” to the HH. The EIA post explains how these hubs work and provides examples from various locations around the country, including three hubs in the northeast that flow Marcellus/Utica molecules. Read More “Understanding NatGas Price at Key Trading Hubs, Incl. the Northeast”
Alan Armstrong, CEO of Williams, had some interesting things to say during a recent webinar hosted by the Global Listed Infrastructure Organization (GLIO). Among Armstrong’s comments: “Across the board, I’ve never seen a time like this. I’ve been with Williams for 38 years and in the gas pipeline and gathering business for that length as well. And I’ve never seen a time like this where we’ve seen so much demand for services in so many areas.” Read More “Williams CEO has Never Seen Such High Demand for Natural Gas”
S&P Global Ratings analysts estimate that U.S. data centers’ increasing energy demands will lead to additional natural gas demand of between 3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) and 6 Bcf/d by 2030, from a starting point of almost none today. The analysts believe additional demand from data centers should contribute to “at least a decade” of supply growth, with pipeline companies located in gas fields near data center hotspots reaping the most rewards. S&P says short pipelines offer the best options for meeting a rapid scaleup in demand. Read More “Short Pipelines are the Fast, Easy, Cheap Solution for Data Centers”