Study Says Shale Wastewater a ‘Substantial Source of Lithium’
Eureka Resources, which currently operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale (building a fourth facility in Dimock, PA), is doing really cool stuff. In October 2019 the company began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see Marcellus Wastewater Plant in PA Extracts 1st Batch of Lithium). In 2020 the company announced it had received its fourth patent for its lithium extraction process. The company also said its plants can theoretically supply up to 25% of the country’s annual lithium demand–solely with lithium recovered from Marcellus wastewater (see Eureka Can Supply 25% of US Lithium Demand from Marc. Wastewater). Now there’s independently published research confirming what Eureka has been saying for years–lithium from brine (wastewater) is the answer to a lithium supply shortage here in the U.S.
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The Enverus rig count, as of Wednesday, stood at 806, up by three from the week before. We are only 32 rigs away from the pre-pandemic high of 838 rigs. Last week the Marcellus operated 45 rigs (up by one), while the Utica operated 11 rigs (same as the week before), for a total of 56 active rigs in the M-U. Our chief rival, the Louisiana and Texas Haynesville, operated 71 rigs last week, picking up two rigs from the week before.
The Natural Gas Supply Association’s (NGSA) 2022 Summer Outlook projects “upward pressure” on the natural gas market compared to last summer because of robust industrial demand, lower storage inventories, and the ripple effect on energy commodities caused by Europe’s energy crisis as it struggles for independence from Russian oil and gas. The NGSA Summer Outlook predicts a summer-over-summer increase of 3.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in average daily production (supply). NGSA says the supply increase (4% higher than last summer) is actually 1 Bcf/d more than demand for natgas will grow this summer. Oops.
Last week Philadelphia released a so-called “Greenhouse Gas Inventory” report (full copy below) comparing emissions from 2019, the most recent pre-pandemic data, to a baseline in 2006. The report shows citywide emissions have dropped 20% since 2006. In reporting done by the lefties at PBS about this news, you have to read down to the fifth paragraph before you locate the reason for the 20% drop in Philly’s emissions: using Marcellus Shale gas to generate electricity.
Yesterday MDN highlighted a newly published Cleveland State University study commissioned (and paid for) by the nonprofit JobsOhio (see 
The sham “environmental” group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a litigation factory for Big Green leftist radicals, published (bought) themselves a “study” in the journal Nature Communications attacking conventional oil and gas wells. The so-called study says older conventional oil and gas wells that produce small amounts (less than 15 barrels of oil or the equivalent amount of gas a day), which represent only 6% of America’s total oil and gas production, contribute 50% of the country’s fugitive methane emissions.
Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration published data from U.S. wells completed from 2010-2021. The data shows that in 2021, 81% of U.S. well completions were horizontal or directional (i.e. shale wells), as opposed to 19% drilled vertical-only (conventional). The data also shows the length of wells has doubled from 2010 to 2021–going from an average of 7,300 feet in 2010 to 15,200 feet in 2021.
The leftists who have taken over the International Energy Agency (IEA) told the world last year that new oil and gas exploration should immediately stop worldwide in order to save Planet Earth from Global Warming monsters (see 
It appears the venerable number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) bungled the monthly estimates they forecast quite badly in March, making a revision to the numbers for both the Marcellus/Utica and all seven tracked shale plays in yesterday’s April monthly Drilling Productivity Report. Last month EIA forecasted the M-U would produce 36.848 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of natural gas in April (see 
The Enverus rig count, as of last Wednesday, stood at 791, even with the same number from the week before. We are still near the highest number of rigs in operation since March 2020, the dawn of the pandemic. We are only 47 rigs away from the pre-pandemic high of 838 rigs. Last week the Marcellus had 41 rigs operating (same as the prior week), while the Utica operated 11 rigs (dropping two rigs), for a total of 52 active rigs in the M-U. Our chief rival, the Louisiana and Texas Haynesville, operated 69 rigs last week, dropping three rigs from the week before.