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Transco Pipe’s Leidy South Startup Keeps Gas Prices Up in M-U
The spot price for physical natural gas traded at the Eastern Gas South trading hub near Pittsburgh (formerly called Dominion South) has taken quite a hit over the past few weeks, as evidenced by the chart at the left. However, the Eastern Gas South price most likely would have fallen even more were it not for a new pipeline expansion project for the mighty Transco system–the Leidy South project which began partial service in November with 225 MMcf/d of extra gas flows. The rest of Leidy South, a full 582 MMcf/d capacity, is set to be online sometime this month.
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In August of this year, co-CEO of Energy Transfer, Tom Long, said “the final phase of the Mariner East Pipeline is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021” (see 
Far-left Democrat and so-called civil rights “leader” Rev. William Barber II “preached” to a crowd of fellow lefties on Saturday. The topic of the reverend’s sermon? The evil, racist Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). We bet you didn’t know that MVP is “an abusive sin,” did you? Yeah, it’s right there in Revelation. That’s what Rev. Barber told his audience. That evil ole’ snaking pipeline will “harm the poor” and people of color. The rally was arranged ahead of this week’s Virginia State Water Control Board vote (on Tuesday) to allow MVP to cross minor creeks and swamps in the state.
A natural gas pipeline project management company based in Canonsburg, PA, GW Ridge LLC, ceased all operations in November and filed for bankruptcy in a Texas federal court. Creditors owed money filed a competing Chapter 7 bankruptcy action against the company in Pittsburgh and GW Ridge withdrew its Texas filing and agreed to allow the Pittsburgh case to proceed. A Chapter 7 (as opposed to a Chapter 11) means the company has stopped all operations and its assets will be sold or auctioned and the money given to creditors. GW Ridge is no more.
MDN first told you about plans to build the Chickahominy Power Station, a 1,650 megawatt state-of-the-art natural gas-fired power plant in Charles City County, VA, in June 2018 (see 
Speakers on a panel at the recent 23rd World Petroleum Congress, held in Houston, TX, made a strong case for natural gas as the only legitimate “green” alternative to power the world. At least for the next couple of decades. The panel was called “Can Natural Gas, Including LNG, Deliver on the Promise of a Clean & Affordable Transition Fuel?” Charif Souki, Chairman of Tellurian and founder of Cheniere Energy, along with Jim Teague, Chief Executive of Enterprise Products Partners, made some great points. Souki asked the question, why in the world would we “trade” dealing with OPEC for dealing with (subjugation to) China?
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) along with the state Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) jointly fined Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project $4 million and is requiring it to perform another $4+ million worth of work at Marsh Creek Lake where construction last year caused an accidental spill of 8,000 gallons of nontoxic drilling mud (see 
While drilling in Chester County in August 2020 in the Marsh Creek State Park area, Energy Transfer’s (ET) Mariner East 2X pipeline experienced an “inadvertent return”–nontoxic drilling mud coming up out of the ground where it’s not supposed to (see 
On Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a new temporary emergency certificate to the Spire STL pipeline, a 65-mile pipeline that connects to and flows Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to residents and businesses in the St. Louis, MO area. The temporary certificate means the pipeline will not have to shut down just as winter sets in, endangering the lives and property of more than half a million residents in the St. Louis area. Whew.
So many lawsuits and appeals of actions have been filed against the Mariner East pipeline system (being built by Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Sunoco Logistics) we’ve lost count. Dozens? Hundreds? Who knows! We try to highlight some of them–the more important ones that have the potential to slow or stop work on the 99% done system. Here’s one not even on our radar that got completely dismissed last week: Wilmer Baker and Rolfe Blume vs. Sunoco Pipeline L.P.
According to S&P Global Platts, gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shales, since the beginning of November, has “surged,” rising by nearly 1 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day), or up about 2.7%. The surge means production is now near record highs–in the upper 34 Bcf/d range. However, the M-U is constrained by pipeline takeaway and finite local markets. With rising supply and steady demand, prices are doing what Econ 101 predicts: beginning to fall.
Leftist tyrants are no longer content to block new shale and pipeline projects. They’ve been largely successful doing that. They have now moved on to attacking existing shale and pipeline projects, hoping to shut them down. Completely evil people. Case in point: The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) targeted the Spire STL pipeline, a 65-mile pipeline that connects to and flows Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to more than 640,000 residents and businesses in the St. Louis, Missouri area. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does not extend an emergency certificate for the project, it will close down on Dec. 13–in two weeks’ time. How does this new development of the left weaponizing our courts against us affect other existing pipelines? Will the darkness grow and threaten other assets?