PJM Auction Results: 45% Electricity from Natgas, 5% from Wind/Solar
In January, MDN reported that the PJM Interconnection electrical grid operator, covering Pennsylvania (along with all or parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia), had caved to the political demands of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to artificially cap the prices of the next capacity auction scheduled for July 2025 (see PJM Grid Caves to PA Gov. Shapiro Bullying, Blackout Risk Rises). The auction was just held, and sure enough, the prices negotiated were all at the highest price point allowed under the agreement with Shapiro. Read More “PJM Auction Results: 45% Electricity from Natgas, 5% from Wind/Solar”
One of the environmental left’s favorite tactics to defeat fossil fuel projects is to challenge every single infrastructure project (pipeline or otherwise) connected to fossil energy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As soon as a company files an application to build a new project, and FERC approves it, Big Green will challenge it, first at FERC, and eventually via the courts. FERC has an internal rule, called Order No. 871, that states a company cannot begin construction (even though FERC has approved the certificate) until all such legal challenges are resolved. Which can take YEARS. Which is the point—delay, and eventually some of the projects will give up and won’t build. Run out the clock. 
Shell, Norway’s Aker BP, and Canada’s Enbridge have all quit a Big Green-backed organization called the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a corporate climate action organization that is supposed to enable companies and financial institutions worldwide to “play their part in combating the climate crisis,” primarily by eliminating fossil fuels. Someone finally woke up at Shell and these other companies, and they quit, pulling their funding with them, which shut down SBTi’s work on a so-called net-zero standard for oil and gas in the process. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Environmentalists against respectful civic discussion; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: To plug NY’s massive budget gaps, Gov. Hochul should focus on growing the economy; Trump says US to form JV with Japan for Alaska LNG exports; NATIONAL: Wall Street stubbornly bullish on downtrodden energy stocks; Analyst explores natural gas price drop; The great ‘zero-carbon renewables’ deception; Baker Hughes beats 2Q profit estimates on strong demand for natgas technology; GM outlines $4 billion plan to expand production of gas trucks and SUVs; Rush for US gas plants drives up costs, lead times; INTERNATIONAL: Oil slips for third straight session; ‘Authoritarian, aggressive, unlikeable’: Greens co-founder on his party. 
We spotted a fascinating Hart Energy article that summarizes information from a recently released Mizuho Securities study. Mizuho researcher Nitin Kumar says that we are roughly halfway through the shale revolution. He posits that approximately 290,000 horizontal wells have been landed in shale rock in the Lower 48 and that under current economic conditions and with current technology, another 270,000 locations remain. It will take another 25 years to drill them, says Kumar. Which is interesting, although we take some issue with those findings. However, embedded in the statistics is something that caught our attention: the value of undeveloped acreage in various shale plays, including the Marcellus. 
As we previously reported, a truly mind-blowing event was held in Pittsburgh last week—the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, organized by PA Senator Dave McCormick (see 
In an interview with the Financial Times, EQT Corporation CEO Toby Rice stated that onerous permitting rules are hindering President Trump’s ambitions for energy dominance. Rice said Congress needs to cut project approval times to compete with Russian LNG exports and to win the AI race against China. His message was clear: Permitting reform, NOW. We’ve danced around permitting reform long enough (for years). It’s time to act. Republicans control Congress and the White House. If we can’t get permitting reform done now, it will never get done. 
On July 8, PA State Senator Art Haywood (Democrat from Philadelphia) introduced PA Senate Bill (SB) 910, which slaps a 6.5% severance tax on the gross production of all oil and natural gas produced in the state (see 
Venture Global (VG) is building a massive LNG export facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, approximately 20 miles south of New Orleans. It’s creatively called Plaquemines LNG. VG is bringing Plaquemines LNG online in two phases. Each phase consists of nine blocks, and each block contains two liquefaction units, called trains, for a total of 18 liquefaction trains each (36 trains for both phases). Phase 1 began exporting in December (see 
Freeport LNG, located near Galveston, Texas, currently exports roughly 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from three trains—when it’s actually up and running. The Freeport facility has been plagued with outages, the most spectacular of which happened in June 2022, taking the facility offline for 10 months (see 
In December 2017 (7.5 years ago!), MDN told you about the bastardization of our justice system by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg funneled money to the New York University (NYU) School of Law, which in turn pays to hire radical (Democrat) attorneys to work inside the offices of the attorneys general in Democrat-controlled states, including Pennsylvania (see 
We finally saw some relief last week for the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count, which added rigs for the first time in three months (12 weeks). The U.S. count added seven rigs and now stands at 544 active rigs. However, it was gas-focused rigs that saved the day. The number of oil-focused rigs continued to fall last week (down another two) while gas-focused rigs had a massive increase (up by nine). The Marcellus/Utica count stayed even last week (after falling by one three weeks ago) at a combined 35 active rigs. There were 23 rigs targeting the Marcellus and 12 rigs targeting the Utica last week. 
Two years ago, Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline Company (aka TETCO) filed to build the Appalachia to Market II Project (A2M II) and the Entriken HP Replacement Project (see 
The Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project is designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets. Following some intense conversations between President Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, she caved (according to the White House). She agreed to allow two long-stalled pipeline projects—the Constitution and NESE—to get built in NY in return for Trump allowing her to continue to sink $5 billion into an offshore wind project (see