Energy Cos. Spending $50B Next 5 Years on New NatGas Pipelines
Energy companies are set to invest nearly $50?billion over the next five years in building or expanding 8,800 miles of U.S. natural gas pipelines to meet soaring domestic consumption, record LNG exports, and growing data center demand, greatly aided by regulatory changes under President Trump. Surging gas production, particularly in the Permian Basin as a byproduct of crude oil output, has outpaced pipeline and processing capacity, resulting in occasional negative Waha prices and production slowdowns. Major operators, such as Kinder Morgan and Enbridge, face record backlogs but continue to expand, especially in Texas and the Gulf Coast, with future gas growth tied to sustained oil prices. Read More “Energy Cos. Spending $50B Next 5 Years on New NatGas Pipelines”
Last week, FERC voted to sunset 53 outdated and unnecessary regulations to advance the Commission’s core mission of ensuring reliable, safe, secure, and economically efficient energy for consumers at a reasonable cost. The actions respond to President Trump’s Executive Order “Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy” issued in April 2025, which directs agencies to incorporate a sunset provision into their regulations governing energy production to stimulate innovation and deliver prosperity to everyday Americans. Bear in mind, this action comes from the current three FERC commissioners, which include two Democrats and one Republican. 
The Europeans have tried to regulate the U.S. oil and gas industry for more than a year (see 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: The math does not support New York’s climate plan; Record Waha gas price crash as outbound flows constrained; NATIONAL: Natural gas futures rise amid forecasts of cold snap; Stable crude oil prices, increasing refinery margins in third quarter of 2025; Together, power plants and greenhouses can feed humanity; Wind, solar projects can stick taxpayers with the tab coming and going; INTERNATIONAL: Oil rises after modest OPEC+ output hike; European Union’s US gas use set to soar, increasing price volatility; Undersea bacteria feast on methane. 
After gaining rigs for four weeks in a row, last week the Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count stayed even, neither gaining nor (more importantly) losing any rigs. The count remained at 549 active rigs. Sadly, Pennsylvania lost one rig, from 18 to 17, after maintaining its count for 10 consecutive weeks. Ohio kept 13 rigs in the Utica for a second week after gaining a rig two weeks ago. West Virginia kept its seven active rigs, the same number since May 30 (four months). The combined M-U count was 37 rigs, with 23 rigs targeting the Marcellus layer and 14 targeting the Utica. 
What is it about the modern Democrat Party that seeks the total destruction and annihilation of that which they perceive as a political threat? The party, or perhaps more accurately, the radical left elements of the party (which increasingly is all of the party), wants to destroy law and order, including our police departments. Just look at the “protests” (i.e., violent riots) in places like Portland, Oregon. Look at the violence against ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) employees in places like Chicago. And look at the dangerous talk of politicians like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is threatening to force the state out of the PJM Interconnection electric grid (see 
Last Thursday, energy and labor leaders gathered for the “All About Propane & Energy Reliability” one-day conference, held in Boothwyn, PA (Delaware County, near Philadelphia). The speakers highlighted the significant economic and employment impact of energy production, particularly at the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex. Speakers noted that Pennsylvania is the second-largest natural gas producer, with 12,000 wells producing 7.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas last year. Marcus Hook, originally a crude oil refinery dating to 1901, now exports propane and ethane globally, supporting hundreds of jobs and generating substantial wages and tax revenue. Projects like the Mariner East 1 and 2 pipelines created millions of man-hours for local trades. Panelists emphasized Marcus Hook’s ongoing growth potential and its central role in local and statewide energy development. 
In January, MDN brought you the great news that the six largest banks in the United States had canceled their memberships in the awful Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a group of woke banks under the umbrella of the equally terrible United Nations (see 
For the week of September 22 – 29, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica increased from the previous week. There were 27 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, up three from 24 issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued 18 permits in four counties. Ohio issued nine permits, also in four counties. West Virginia got skunked last week, issuing zero new permits. 
Carrie Crumpton, Vice President of Environmental Strategy, presented on behalf of CNX Resources at the recent 2025 Shale Insight Conference. Carrie provided an overview and update on CNX’s 
Ohio State University (OSU) is constructing two natural gas combustion turbine generators and one steam turbine generator with a maximum power generating capacity of 105.5 megawatts of electricity and 285 kilopounds per hour of steam. It’s being built on 1.35 acres at OSU’s main campus in Franklin County (see 
DT Midstream, Inc. announced yesterday that it has closed a successful binding open season (signup period) to award expansion capacity on its Guardian Pipeline. DT awarded capacity to five shippers totaling 328 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day, equivalent to 328,000 dekatherms per day) with a targeted in-service date of November 1, 2028. Guardian is an approximately 260-mile interstate pipeline with a current capacity of approximately 1.3 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) serving key Wisconsin demand centers. And yes, Guardian flows at least some Marcellus/Utica molecules. 
Disappointingly, the Trump Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-0 to maintain a “consent order” that prevents private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners from owning stock in EQT and prohibits the CEO of Quantum from serving on EQT’s Board of Directors. This is all to do with EQT’s purchase of fellow driller Tug Hill in 2023. In September 2022, EQT announced a deal to buy privately owned Tug Hill Operating’s West Virginia shale assets (90,000 acres and 800 MMcf/d of production in West Virginia) for roughly $5.2 billion (see