PJM Approves 6 New Gas-Fired Power Plants, 32 Gas-Fired Expansions
In December, MDN told you that the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, proposed changes to how it decides which new power plants can connect to the system first. The new policy *favors* adding natural gas-fired power over other types of power like unreliable solar and wind (see New PJM Policy Favors Gas-Fired Power Over Solar & Wind). The change comes in response to the rapidly increasing demand for more electricity from data centers and artificial intelligence computing. PJM’s gas-favoring policy change rankled the environmental left. According to green grifters, the PJM proposal unfairly allows gas-fired projects to “jump the queue” ahead of unreliable renewables. Good news: On May 2, PJM announced it had selected 51 projects (out of 94) for fast-track approval. Read More “PJM Approves 6 New Gas-Fired Power Plants, 32 Gas-Fired Expansions”
In March, MDN told you about a legislative proposal from newly elected West Virginia Governor Pat Morrisey, a measure called the Power Generation and Consumption Act (House Bill 2014) to expand data center development in the state (see 
Diversified Energy, with significant assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (and other regions too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with close to 70,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. One of the new ways Diversified is looking to make money with old wells is by mining cryptocurrency at wells in remote locations not hooked to a pipeline network. In March 2023, MDN told you that Diversified would try crypto-mining at a well in Elk County, Pennsylvania (see 
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the first step in the DOE’s “largest deregulatory effort in history,” proposing the elimination or reduction of 47 regulations that are driving up costs and lowering the quality of life for the American people. Once finalized, these actions (the list of all 47 is published below) will save the American people an estimated $11 billion and cut more than 125,000 words from the Code of Federal Regulations. These actions, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Zero-Based Regulation to Unleash American Energy,” advance President Trump’s promise to restore consumer freedom, lower costs, and unleash American energy dominance. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Cleveland-Cliffs shifts away from hydrogen project at Ohio steel mill; NATIONAL: U.S. electricity prices continue steady increase; Bearish storage build, weak demand weigh on market as natural gas futures crater; As hydrogen market evolves, best uses will focus on cost, sustainability; Liability for climate change – an inequitable economic disaster; US to speed up oil and gas land parcel reviews for federal leasing; Why the proposed “phaseout” of IRA subsidies is unacceptable; INTERNATIONAL: Crude slips after inventory surge; Aramco pens $90B deals with US companies; OPEC+ makes careful start to supply revival; Europe will struggle to wean itself off Russian gas; BP’s chief U.S. economist worries China is winning the global energy war; GALACTIC: Webb’s Titan forecast – partly cloudy with occasional methane showers. 
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see 
A series of earthquakes (low level, sometimes felt, most of the time not felt) have hit Guernsey and Noble counties in eastern Ohio. According to the latest news we can find, some five quakes have hit since April 22, and another couple of quakes hit earlier in the year, in January/February. There is an existing fault line in the area, near Cambridge, known as the Burning Springs-Cambridge fault zone, formed more than 4.6 million years ago. So, earthquakes in the region are not unknown. The question is, why this most recent flurry? The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) claims it’s tied to oil and gas activity in the area. 
Yesterday, the seven members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (five Democrats and two Republicans) heard oral arguments in a lawsuit that attempts to force PA to accept the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants. Former Democrat Governor Tom Wolf tried to force the state to join RGGI in 2019 (see 
Investment firm ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC, announced it has acquired an additional 25% interest in Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL). As a result of the transaction, ArcLight will become the largest owner of NGPL with a 62.5% economic ownership interest, alongside partner Kinder Morgan, Inc., which continues to own a 37.5% economic interest and operates the pipeline. NGPL is the largest transporter of natural gas into the Chicago-area market, as well as one of the largest interstate pipeline systems in the country. It is also a major natural gas transporter to large LNG export facilities and other markets on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Most importantly, Marcellus/Utica molecules flow into NGPL. 
Commonwealth LNG has finalized a binding agreement with Glencore LTD, one of the world’s largest globally diversified natural resource companies, to form a strategic LNG partnership. Under the terms of the agreement, Glencore will purchase 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG for 20 years from Commonwealth. Yes, there is a key link between Commonwealth LNG and the Marcellus/Utica. 
Wow, what a difference four years can make! In May 2021, Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy with a new board and new management (see 