U.S. Natural Gas Production Dipped by 1 Bcf/d in March
In February the natural gas industry in the Lower 48 States made history by hitting record high production (see US NatGas Production Hits Record High in February – 73.3 Bcf/d). What about March? Bentek Energy, the energy analytics divison of Platts, has just issued its estimate of production for March. The country slipped, losing about 1 billion cubic feet per day in production. Although all of the major shale-producing basins contributed, Platts analysts say it was mostly 50/50–about 50% of the decrease came from less production in the Marcellus/Utica, and the other 50% from Texas…
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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…
In the natural gas world there are two seasons: winter (when you use natural gas) and summer (when you “inject” or store natural gas). The “winter strip” goes from November to March, and the “summer strip” runs from April through October. Storage levels are a key factor in the pricing of natural gas. Economics 101: the price for commodities like natgas is purely a function of supply and demand. If you have more supply than demand, the price goes down. In the northeast part of the country we just came through the mildest (temperature-wise) winter in a generation. We used a lot less natgas than we normally would. That means the gas sitting in storage didn’t get drawn down nearly as much as it usually does. That’s what you would expect, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has confirmed it. We ended the winter heating season at the end of March with “record high levels” of natgas sitting in storage. And now we begin the process of storing more. If all other factors remain equal–meaning there’s no new or sudden increase in demand this summer–it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how record high storage levels will affect the price. Here’s the EIA with their latest on storage…
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”…
Not long ago researchers at the University of Cincinnati that found fracking in Carroll County, OH taking place near water wells did not affect those wells (see 
CPA/consulting firm HBK (Hill, Barth & King) is fresh out with their 2016 Energy Assessment–an analysis of energy trends, opportunities, challenges and risks. In the assessment (full copy below) HBK Energy Advisors (a division of HBK) weighs in on issues like Obama’s odious Clean Power Plan, renewable energy, LNG and more. Of particular interest to MDN is a series of predictions made not in the official assessment, but in an accompanying blog post on the HBK website. The analysts make a series of predictions for Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and Florida. The first prediction for Ohio is that pipeline work in the Buckeye State will increase, mostly due to the NEXUS pipeline. Which we find interesting. Just last week we told you an analyst from Wood Mackenzie predicted the NEXUS won’t get built (see