Industrial Sector NatGas Use Increasing, Will Hit 23.8 Bcf/d in 2022
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), our favorite government agency, is out with another prediction about natural gas. Based on EIA’s September Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the agency predicts natural gas consumption in the industrial sector will rise throughout 2021 and exceed pre-pandemic 2019 levels. EIA predicts growth in the use by industrial companies will continue into 2022, and natural gas delivered to this sector will average 23.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2022. If that happens, it will tie or exceed the all-time high use of natural gas by industrials, which happened in the 1970s.
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Although the price of natural gas has rocketed this year and cash flows for Marcellus/Utica drillers have ballooned, showering drillers with plenty of free cash flow, M-U drillers are spending less (19% less) on capital expenditures than they did in 2020. Production in the M-U is up slightly by 4% so far in 2021 vs. 2020. The experts at RBN Energy have dived into this latest twist in the shale story to help explain what’s going on and why.
Sometimes it seems like a full-time job running around and setting the record straight, correcting the outright lies and half-truths spun by the wacko environmental left. For example, shoveling up the messes made by the Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI), a far-left, hyper-partisan, nonprofit organization. Last month ORVI peddled falsehoods at a hearing convened by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management which is conducting a study on the prospects for a petrochemical industry in the Marcellus/Utica (see 
Here’s a paradox for you that we can’t explain. Last week we reported the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) predicts natural gas production in the U.S. will hit an all-time high in 2022 (see 
The latest weekly Enverus U.S. rig count shows total rigs regained some recently-lost ground to hit almost a new post-pandemic high. For the week ending September 2, the rig count stood at 623, up 2 rigs from the previous week. The Marcellus stayed even and the Utica lost 1 rig from the previous week. Collectively the M-U currently operates 44 rigs.
EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young Global Limited, is one of the Big Four accounting firms in the world. The company is also a powerhouse consulting firm. EY published a new study yesterday called “EY US oil and gas reserves, production and ESG benchmarking study” (full copy below). In the study EY tells us what we already knew: That 2020, due to the coronavirus, was a waste of a year in the oil and gas sector. It was bad–really bad. The EY study puts some numbers to just how bad, including the shocking number that capital expenditures (capex) totaled $60.3 billion, 60% lower than 2019. Of the 50 companies studied they collectively drilled 41% and 32% fewer development and exploration wells, respectively, compared with 2019.
Researchers at Penn State evaluated eight oil and gas wastewaters (i.e. brines), waste soybean oil, and commercial dust suppressants, comparing them to see how well they controlled particle pollution on simulated patches of road. If you believe the headlines about the study, you would believe wastewater is “not usually the best option” for treating dusty roads in PA. If you read the research study itself, you come to the conclusion the study draws no such conclusion.
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released their latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for April through June 2021 (full copy below). It’s sort of a mixed bag with some good and some not-so-good. In 2Q21 the number of wells spud (begun to be drilled) was 120 new shale wells, up from the 113 spud in 2Q20, which was the point when the pandemic began to take hold in a big way. Sadly, gas production slipped in 2Q over the previous quarter, but not by much. It was still the second-highest quarterly production in the state for all time.
Several mainstream media outlets who either didn’t read or intentionally lie about the results revealed in a new study are reporting a link between fracking and impacts on surface waters–particularly in the Marcellus Shale. In fact, the study, published in the journal Science, shows the authors found no such link. They found “a small increase in certain ions associated with hydraulic fracturing across several locations” that likely come from accidental spills of brine. And those slight increases disappear after a few months.
It’s been hard to miss the recent “the sky is falling” report issued by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Mainstream media has been in the throes of multiple orgasms over the