PA’s Natural Gas Star Beginning to Fade from Lack of Pipelines
It’s hard to underestimate the influence and role of Pennsylvania on the world’s energy sector, especially over the past 19 years with the rise of the Marcellus Shale. However, advocates for fossil energy (like the American Petroleum Institute) are expressing concerns that PA’s dominant role may change to one with far less influence. Why? Lack of pipelines to transport PA’s production to other regions (or to export plants). Their concerns are valid (see IFO: PA NatGas Production, Wells Spud Both Decreased in 3Q). Read More “PA’s Natural Gas Star Beginning to Fade from Lack of Pipelines”
The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which runs from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, is nearly done, thanks to our recent warm weather. What’s left to do? Less than one mile of “upland” pipe to install, less than 50 water/wetland crossings, and just one more compression station to finish. According to Equitrans, the majority partner and builder of MVP, the pipeline will come online in March. Finally!!!!
Wow! That was fast! On Dec. 27, pipeline giant Williams issued a press release to announce a deal to buy six underground natural gas storage facilities located in Louisiana and Mississippi with a total capacity of 115 billion cubic feet (Bcf), as well as 230 miles of gas transmission pipeline and 30 pipeline interconnects, for $1.95 billion. Some of the interconnections connect to the Williams Transco pipeline system, a huge system that transports Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast area. One of the big reasons for the deal, according to Williams, is to connect more gas supplies to LNG export markets. Yesterday, Williams issued a second press release to say the deal is already done! Williams now owns the assets.
Big news broke yesterday about the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project. In 2018, Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the 303-mile MVP, proposed to extend the pipeline by an extra 75 miles from the current MVP terminus in Pittsylvania County, VA, to Alamance County, NC, to provide natural gas for heating and electric generation. The 75-mile extension is called MVP Southgate. Yesterday, various media outlets noticed and reported on a recent filing by Equitrans with the Securities and Exchange Commission. An Equitrans Form 8-K filing from Dec. 29 highlights a major change in the proposed MVP Southgate project.
Two related pipeline projects in southeast Virginia now have all regulatory approvals in hand, and the projects will soon begin construction. Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) applied with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of existing pipeline. VRP will dig up, replace, and double the size of two sections, or about 48 miles, of the Columbia Gas pipeline between Chesapeake and Petersburg. Williams’ Commonwealth Energy Connector Project will feed VRP by building six miles of new pipeline within Transco’s existing right-of-way in Virginia, expanding a meter station, and building a 30,500-hp electric motor-drive compressor. Both projects received final approval by FERC in November (see 
The left in Ohio is up in arms again. It’s always up in arms. Everything is a crisis. Everything is a climate tragedy. Everything is a conspiracy — so says the environmental left. Last Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill (HB) 201 into law. A provision was tacked onto HB 201 late in the legislative process, several weeks before it was passed, that allows natural gas utility companies to charge customers a piddly $1.50 per month ($18 per year) to help fund new pipelines that will get built in rural areas to industrial sites — areas without existing natgas pipes. The aim is to attract new businesses to locate in the Buckeye State. Many companies won’t consider a potential site without cheap, easy access to natural gas already installed. HB 201 helps make it much more likely a business will consider a site in Ohio, given access to cheap Utica Shale gas. Cue the enviro left’s shrill response.
Columbia Gas of Ohio will start work this spring to replace a 4.3-mile section of a 20-inch natural gas pipeline from Clintonville to North Linden (Columbus), a key piece of infrastructure that brings gas to thousands of homes throughout central Ohio. Columbia Gas purchased and will demolish several buildings along the pipeline’s route as part of the project. The work is scheduled to begin in April and finish by the end of the year. Columbia’s president and chief operating officer, Vince Parisi, says the pipeline is “our backbone of Columbus” and is “pretty critical” to natural gas distribution throughout the region.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is reporting there are eight natural gas pipeline projects either currently under construction or in advanced planning, totaling 20 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of capacity to carry natural gas to LNG export facilities either up and running or planned for the Gulf Coast. Considering the country currently produces around 95 Bcf/d in total for all purposes, adding another 20 Bcf/d (nearly 20%) is huge!
Williams is a powerhouse pipeline company. Williams operates more than 33,000 miles of pipelines in the U.S. and flows approximately one-third of the natural gas used in our country through those pipelines. Massive! The CEO of Williams, Alan Armstrong, is (or was) in Dubai for the United Nations COP28 climate meeting. He was there to preach the gospel of natural gas as the best way, the near-term way, to lower carbon dioxide emissions across the planet. He has proof to back up his claims. The U.S. is the only major country on earth to lower CO2 emissions since 2005. How? By switching from coal to natural gas for power generation.
Hope Gas is a Local Distribution Company (LDC) that provides gas service to approximately 125,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-five West Virginia counties. The company owns and maintains more than 6,900 miles of pipelines that safely deliver West Virginia natural gas to many homes and commercial or industrial sites. In September, Hope Gas asked the WV Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia for permission to build a new 30-mile pipeline in Monongalia County (see 
Amol Wayangankar, principal of Enkon Energy Advisors, spoke at the recent Hart Energy DUG Appalachia event in Pittsburgh. He had some REALLY interesting things to say about pipelines and takeaway capacity and where (and how much) Marcellus/Utica gas flows. One fascinating observation: Over the past 24 months, Appalachia gas production grew 0.3 Bcf/d, while production in the Haynesville Shale grew 2.5 Bcf/d and 5 Bcf/d in the Permian Basin. The M-U is in danger of losing market share to other basins unless we can begin to get more of our production out of the Northeast.