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PA Re-Adds a Rig to 14; National Rig Count Even 3rd Week @ 585
Three weeks ago, Pennsylvania’s rig count dropped to just 12 rigs, the lowest that state has operated in the last 17 years (see PA Drops Another Rig to 17-Year Low; National Rig Count Even @ 585). Two weeks ago, PA picked up a rig, returning to 13 active rigs. Last week, Baker Hughes reported PA added yet another rig, and the state count is now at 14. Almost three months ago (as of August 23), PA operated 21 rigs for perspective. Last week, Ohio and West Virginia maintained their respective counts of 10 active rigs each. The combined count in the M-U stands at 34. Read More “PA Re-Adds a Rig to 14; National Rig Count Even 3rd Week @ 585”
Yesterday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee issued a report exposing the Biden administration’s massive green group giveaway (copy of the report below). The EPA received $41 billion from the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), legislation made possible by Joe Manchin’s vote and signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 (see 
U.S. ethane production increased steadily over the last decade and reached a record of 3.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in May 2024. Ethane production in the first half of 2024 (1H24) averaged a record 2.8 million b/d, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Petroleum Supply Monthly. Ethane production in the Marcellus/Utica region (called the Appalachian No. 1 refining district), which straddles most of the Appalachian Basin production area in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, increased during 1H24, averaging 327,000 b/d, up from 292,000 b/d in 1H23. 
Hydrogen is all the rage, at least in the D.C. swamp. Joe Biden and his sidekick Kamala Harris held a Hydrogen Hunger Games contest and in 2013 awarded seven proposed projects around the country with a total jackpot of $7 billion. Among the winners was the West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), which is a project that will use Marcellus/Utica natural gas as the feedstock to produce “blue” hydrogen, which is hydrogen made from natgas where carbon dioxide from the process is captured and either used or stored underground (see 
Last week, National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA) Senior Fellow Tristan Abbey published a report examining the politicization of liquid natural gas (LNG) exports and recommending three pathways to ensure the United States maintains and expands the economic and geopolitical benefits from its dominant position in the global LNG market. In “A Generational Opportunity: Achieving U.S. Dominance in Global LNG” (full copy below), Abbey explores the history of LNG exports, the mechanisms by which the U.S. ascended to primacy, and the urgency in pursuing reform to capture a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity. 
The realignment 
How often have we told you the mainstream media lies to you about fossil energy? Maybe a bazillion times, right? Today, we have a case that incontrovertibly proves our point. Last Friday, researchers from Colorado University at Boulder (CU) and collaborators from several other institutions published a new study in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study proves that so-called fugitive methane floating in the atmosphere is NOT coming from fossil fuels. At least, the contribution from fossil fuels is minor and nonconsequential. Where DOES fugitive methane come from? The researchers can’t be 100% sure (yet), but they say it’s either natural (Mom Earth, things like wetlands) or agriculture (cow burps and rice paddies). And where are the stories in mainstream media about this earth-shattering discovery? NOWHERE. It’s crickets. You can’t FIND a mainstream article that covers this study. Nothing in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, AP, UPI, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, etc. 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that U.S. natural gas production from shale and tight formations declined by about 1% from January through September 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Most of the decline comes from two shale plays—the Haynesville in Louisiana and Texas (down 12%) and the Utica Shale in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (down 10%). Although the EIA’s analysis (below) is excellent and instructive, it misses one important detail about the decrease in Utica Shale gas production. 
In a post published yesterday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the agency noted that construction costs rose slightly for solar and wind, but dropped for natural gas in 2022 (the most recent year with available stats). Average construction costs for solar generators increased by 1.7% in 2022. For wind turbines construction costs increased by 1.6%. Average costs for natural gas-fired power decreased 11%. However, the first chart at the top of the post shows something *not* highlighted by the EIA—that overall construction costs for natural gas are FAR lower than building new solar and wind. 
For more than three years, MDN has called out the International Energy Agency (IEA) and its executive director, Dr. Fatih Birol, as nothing more than tools of Big Green. We’ve reported on many of the IEA’s fake predictions about peak demand for oil and natural gas (see 
Shale energy has been an astonishing miracle, made possible exclusively due to the ingenuity and tenacity of America (specifically one American, George Mitchell). The shale miracle resulted in, get this, North America adding 15 million barrels a day (bpd) of liquid hydrocarbon and 50 billion cubic feet a day (Bcf/d) of gas production to the global market since 2005. How much more will the world need in the next 15 years, and how much of that will be supplied by North America? 
An assistant professor of data science at Saint Vincent College in Westmoreland County, PA, recently published a study (based on hospital records) examining whether some chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing affect the occurrence of pre-term births (PTB) and low birth weights (LBW) in the United States. She looked at data from several counties in southwest PA. The researcher says she found that “counties that had more hydraulic fracturing wells that utilize chemicals that target certain hormones also had greater amounts of PTB and LWB.” Yet her data shows just the opposite! 