Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Mar 26, 2025
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Shell CEO Sawan expects progress in Venture Global arbitration in coming months; Freeport LNG in Texas set to return to service after lightning strike; New Plaquemines terminal offers high hopes for U.S. LNG feedgas; NATIONAL: U.S. manufacturing energy consumption has continued to increase since 2010 low; U.S. faces uphill task to refill natural gas storage for next winter; Proposed U.S. fee on Chinese ships would drive up costs, upend global energy logistics; FERC finally wakes up; Hedge funds struggle as green stocks crash; The indefensible Republican defense of the 2022 IRA; INTERNATIONAL: Shell aims to grow LNG sales by 5 percent annually; Oil slips on Ukraine truce talks; Oil destroyed Hitler, fracking destroyed Putin. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Mar 26, 2025”
Never in our wildest dreams did we think that Donald Trump winning a second term would result in the resurrection of the 124-mile Pennsylvania-to-New York Constitution Pipeline project. Yet, that prospect appears increasingly likely. We don’t want to offer false hope, but we can’t ignore the signs favoring the Constitution’s springing back to life. The latest sign? Two prominent leftwing mainstream media outlets, none other than the Washington Post and POLITICO, ran stories yesterday all but admitting that the liberal Democrat governors of New York and New England are in the process of caving and either have or soon will support the Constitution Pipeline project. It’s absolute magic! 
Last week, MDN told you that fracking has begun under the park, and literally nobody noticed (see 
Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease and the largest M-U driller and producer in West Virginia, shoots to produce 3.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) of natural gas in the Mountain State. The company recently reported net production averaging 3.43 Bcfe/d in 4Q24, up ever so slightly from 3.42 Bcfe/d in 4Q23 (see 
In December, MDN told you the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, proposed new 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 
Two researchers from Miami University of Ohio have just published a new study (full copy below) that makes a bombshell revelation: Between the years of 2007 and 2019, the extraction and use of shale natural gas led to a REDUCTION in so-called greenhouse gases of 7.5% in the United States. Although the authors are careful to wrap their findings in the argument that natural gas is “just a transition that’s helping us reach renewable nirvana” (our words, their sentiment), we have to wonder if this study has just tanked the researchers’ academic careers. Nobody goes against the global warming orthodoxy with actual science that questions that orthodoxy and (academically) lives to tell about it. Poor sods. 
The Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count gained one rig last week, now at 593 active rigs. As for the Marcellus/Utica, the rig count was a combined 35 last week. Rigs focused on the Marcellus were a combined 24 across the three M-U states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Rigs focused on the Utica were a combined 11. PA has operated 15 rigs (or more) for the past 19 weeks. OH has operated nine rigs for the past 16 weeks. WV had operated 10 rigs for an astonishing 23 weeks in a row. Five weeks ago, WV added (and has kept) one additional rig and now operates 11 active rigs. 
Here’s a lawsuit we were unaware of, even though it’s been playing out for years. It’s quite complicated. On the surface, at a very basic level, Cardinal Midstream II (we assume a subsidiary of the Dallas-based 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the March 22 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Commission renewed 34 general water use permits in January for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Centre, Clinton, Elk, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. 
On Friday, March 21, 2025, Heathrow Airport (in London), one of the world’s busiest airports, experienced a complete shutdown due to a massive fire at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, west London, approximately 1.5 miles from the airport. The blaze, which began late Thursday night around 11:23 PM GMT, involved a transformer containing 25,000 liters of cooling oil. It caused a significant power outage, knocking out the primary substation and its backup system. This led to the cancellation of over 1,300 flights, affecting an estimated 200,000 to 290,000 passengers and causing widespread travel disruptions globally. The London Fire Brigade deployed 10 engines and around 70 firefighters to control the fire, which was mostly contained by Friday evening, though 5% remained active in isolated hotspots. What happened at Heathrow could not happen at Pittsburgh International Airport. Why? Because of the Marcellus shale. 
President Trump was 100% correct in calling the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Biden’s “green new scam.” Here is a perfect example. The heart of Marcellus Shale country is the highest-producing natural gas county in Pennsylvania, Susquehanna County (not far from where MDN sits). Anyone who lives in our region knows this: It is one of the cloudiest regions of the country. Binghamton, NY (where MDN resides) averages 212 cloudy days per year! Yes, we’re nuts for living here. About 25 minutes south of Binghamton down Interstate 81 sits Clifford Township, PA, in Susquehanna County. It’s just as cloudy as Binghamton. Yet Biden’s IRA (“green new scam”) is paying to build a….wait for it….solar farm in Clifford Township! In a place that is cloudy 58% of the time. Taxpayers are paying for this insanity. Meanwhile, natural gas (more reliable, easier to produce, and almost as clean as solar) keeps chugging away in Clifford and other locations around Susquehanna County. 
Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw from Lycoming County, chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, is a strong Marcellus Shale friend. Sen. Yaw recently reintroduced an “Energy Choice” bill blocking municipalities from banning a specific type of fuel source for appliances and heating homes or businesses. The language is fuel-neutral and is not specific to one energy source, but obviously, it’s aimed at preventing liberals who run municipalities in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (maybe Harrisburg) from blocking the use of natural gas in their homes and businesses, a favorite tactic of the left. 