April 2016 Rig Counts Continue to Slide in World, US, Marc/Utica
The rig count–both internationally and domestically here in the U.S.–continues its historic slide. Last Friday Baker Hughes announced the average rig count numbers for April. Rigs operating outside the U.S. slide another 39, from 985 in March to 946 in April. In the U.S., the count slide 41 from 478 in March to 437 in April. In the Marcellus/Utica, the count was down another 2–both rigs lost came in Pennsylvania, which now has the lowest count in decades: just 16 rigs operating in the state. Ohio and West Virginia held constant month over month with 11 rigs operating in the Buckeye State and 12 rigs operating in the Mountain State. Here’s the sad news of the continuing decline in rig counts…
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MDN noticed an announcement for the publication of a new dissertation by a student in the masters degree program at the University of Vermont. The title of the student’s dissertation is, “Influence of Mission, Audience, and Policy Context on Issue Framing: A Case Study of Mobilization Against Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale.” When you dig into the abstract (i.e. summary) of the dissertation, it appears the student did research on a number of anti-drilling Big Green groups in the Marcellus/Utica and the techniques they use to manipulate public opinion. Sort of a look at how the Joseph Goebbels of our day do propaganda. We thought, “Hey, this is great! Somebody will finally lay bare how these incestuously-funded Big Green groups lie to and manipulate public opinion!” We tried to download the paper and promptly found that it won’t be available to the public for download until April 2018–two years from now. What’s up with that?…
According to new numbers just released by our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), fracked wells (most of them shale wells) now produce two-thirds of the natural gas produced in the United States. And the U.S. produces the most natural gas of any country on Mom Earth. Even so, Crazy Bernie and Hillary have both pledged to shut it all down (yes, we believe them, they would do it). Here’s the EIA’s story of how the miracle of hydraulic fracturing has taken over in the U.S.–a miracle we can continue if we don’t elect radicals to high office…
Everybody knows, anecdotally, that the shale revolution has been great for U.S. manufacturers. Empty plants have roared back to life and new plants have been built, bringing back millions of jobs, due to the huge quantities of natural gas being extracted from shale in the U.S. Now we have a research study to prove what we already knew anecdotally. Yesterday the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) released a new research report from IHS titled “Energizing Manufacturing: Natural Gas and Economic Growth” (full copy below). The research finds that shale gas has put an extra $1,337 back in the pockets of the average hard-working American family. Wow! Shale gas has also contributed to the creation of 1.9 million jobs throughout the economy. Double wow! Just building natural gas transmission lines has meant more than 347,000 jobs with 60,000 of those jobs in manufacturing. Here’s the best part: All of it is without a government program or taxpayer expense. Read on for more good news about how the shale revolution and the miracle of fracking has benefited every single American…
In February the natural gas industry in the Lower 48 States made history by hitting record high production (see 
Radical fractivism brooks no dissent. You either agree with them that fracking is evil and from the devil himself, or they WILL attack you–politically, professionally, personally–anyway they can. In other words, fractivists are bullies and not interested in free speech. If you have an opposing viewpoint or try to support your views with science and facts, you’re immediately shut down. That’s how it works with these vicious fossil fuel opponents. We’ve been tracking and telling you about an issue that first began in June 2015. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, after four years of study, concluded that fracking does not contaminate groundwater supplies (see 
Talk about intellectual dishonesty and academic incest…The Rockefellar family, behind the latest initiatives to force investors to divest from so-called fossil fuel companies and funders of numerous wacko Big Green initiatives, along with former members of the radical PennFuture organization who now work for far-left PA. Gov. Tom Wolf (PA Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resource Cindy Dunn, and PA Secretary of the Dept. of Environment Protection John Quigley), funded and contributed to a new report from the Brookings Institution that calls on PA to adopt a severance tax. Brookings is a once-proud organization that has stooped to pimping itself out like a cheap whore to anyone with money. They have the nerve to call it a new “study”–like it’s somehow an academic pursuit, beyond questioning–when in fact it’s nothing more than propaganda meant to pressure PA into adopting a Marcellus-killing severance tax. There’s nothing scholarly about it…
This will not sit well with anti-fossil fuel eggheads in the elite halls of Ivy League institutions. One of their own, Dartmouth College, will confer an honorary doctorate in June on one of the oil and gas industry’s consummate insiders–Daniel Yergin. Yergin is vice chairman of consulting powerhouse IHS, and the author of the bestselling book “The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power,” for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Yergin’s most recent bestseller is “The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World.” The New York Times calls Yergin, “America’s most influential energy pundit.” He is unabashedly pro-oil and gas. And now he’s going to be honored at the Darmouth graduation ceremony where he will (even worse!) deliver the commencement address…
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), charged with overseeing the health and use of the Susquehanna River (nation’s 16th largest river), has just issued a new report that examines the activities of the Commission surrounding its management of water use by the natural gas industry from 2008-2013. The report, titled “Water Use Associated with Natural Gas Shale Development: An Assessment of Activities Managed by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission July 2008 through December 2013” (full copy below) concludes that Marcellus drilling has not strained water supplies in the Susquehanna River Basin. The SRBC, unlike the DRBC (Delaware River Basin Commission) has responsibly managed water resources in its region and has not interfered with shale drilling–but rather has worked with drillers to successfully manage water resources. The DRBC, on the other hand, has been paralyzed, both without and within the organization, into blocking shale drilling within its jurisdiction. Here’s a report from the functional SRBC (as opposed to the dysfunctional DRBC)–a quasi-governmental organization that knows what it’s doing…
Forget about drilling, infrastructure is where it’s at baby! That’s our words summarizing a new study just released by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA). The new study, titled “North American Midstream Infrastructure Through 2035: Leaning into the Headwinds” (full copy below) says the U.S. and Canada need to invest $546 billion (real 2015$) total over the 21-year period from 2015 to 2035–or $26 billion per year–in natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure. Natural gas infrastructure includes “gathering and transmission pipelines, compressors, laterals, gas-lease equipment, processing, gas storage and liquefied natural gas export facilities” (NGI). Our tongue-in-cheek opening statement isn’t completely true. You need drilling or sooner or later you have no gas to flow through the infrastructure. However, for the time being, investors (and engineers and construction firms, etc.) need to pay attention to infrastructure buildout…
The International Gas Union (IGU) released their “2016 World LNG Report” at the LNG18 conference yesterday taking place in Perth, Australia. The report (we have a full copy below) shows global LNG, or liquefied natural gas, is set to grow. It will play an increasingly important role in the world’s energy mix. In addition to giving a great overview of the worldwide LNG industry, the report contains some really cool appendices, including a list of active liquefaction (i.e. export) plants, a list of export plants under construction, a list of receiving terminals (and terminals under construction), and a list of LNG ships that cart it from point A to point B. LNG, as we’ve said a number of times, will be an important market for Marcellus/Utica drillers. We look at this report like “everything you wanted to know about LNG”…