PA Gov. Shapiro Continues to Push Flawed “Lightning” Energy Plan
Yesterday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro visited Voith Hydro North America (in York, PA) to announce that key components of his extremely flawed “Lightning Plan” will be introduced in the General Assembly in the coming weeks by sychophantic Democrats. Shapiro claims his so-called Lightning Plan is “a comprehensive, all-of-the-above energy plan to secure Pennsylvania’s energy future.” Except his plan puts the thumb of the government on the scales in favor of wind, solar, and hydro and purposely disadvantages natural gas. Read More “PA Gov. Shapiro Continues to Push Flawed “Lightning” Energy Plan”
Joe Stalin was a brutal dictator in the Soviet Union (Russia) who ruled with an iron fist during the early 20th century. He established the totalitarian political system known as 
Earlier this month, the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) released the 10th edition of its “State of Energy Report,” offering a detailed analysis of national and state trends in oil and natural gas employment, wages and other key economic factors for ?the energy industry in 2024 (full copy below). TIPRO’s “State of Energy Report” series was developed to quantify and track the economic impact of the domestic oil and natural gas sector, emphasizing the state of Texas. However, the report has a lot of great data, including a breakdown of key O&G employment and economic stats for Pennsylvania and Ohio. One thing that caught our attention is that nationwide those classified as working in “natural gas extraction” jobs made an average annual salary of $176,800 in 2024, up $10,740 from 2023. Hey, we’re in the wrong business! 
Up/down, up/down, up/down, up/down… We can’t count how many times the Freeport LNG export facility has come online to go offline again, with the cycle repeating (
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: First LNG cargo produced at Corpus Christi Stage 3 export facility; NATIONAL: Oil CEOs back Trump’s energy agenda as crude hits fresh low; US LNG exporters seek to renegotiate deals to cover rising costs; CFACT warns about dangerous wind and solar PFAS pollution; Technicals suggest natgas futures in ‘early innings of a long-term bullish cycle’; Trump just reversed course on two key U.S. climate pledges; U.S. could reach deal with Canada that avoids oil and gas tariffs; Gunvor eyes boosting US natural gas production assets; The future for oil takes center stage at CERAWeek opening day; INTERNATIONAL: Enbridge appoints Steven W. Williams as Chairman of the Board; The world has reached ‘peak oil trade’ (LOL); Oil prices rebound as market metrics signal oversold conditions; Energy market implications of Ukraine-Russia ceasefire could be huge. 
The NYMEX natural gas “front month” futures contract (currently the April contract) closed at its highest level yesterday since Dec. 29, 2022, closing at $4.4910 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). That was a gain of 9.2 cents from Friday’s close. However, it was quite the roller coaster, at least early in the day, as the price flirted with $5. At one point the price got as high as $4.901. Although weather is typically the factor driving price gains, this time it was trader psychology and concerns that U.S. natural gas storage levels could tighten further ahead of the summer air-conditioning season (less supply with the same or increasing demand). 
In December 2022, Rice Acquisition Corp II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) started by the Rice brothers (Danny, Toby, and Derek), announced a deal to acquire Net Power — an electric power developer with revolutionary new technology to capture every last molecule of carbon dioxide from natural gas-fired power plants (see 
For more than 13 years MDN has harped on the fact that groups like Trout Unlimited are filled with extremist anti-drillers (see our article 
After five weeks of adding rigs, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count decreased by a single rig last week. The national rig count now stands at 592. As for the Marcellus/Utica, the rig count was a combined 35 last week, retaining a rig added in West Virginia three weeks ago. 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 17 weeks. OH has operated nine rigs for the past 14 weeks. WV had operated 10 rigs for an astonishing 23 weeks in a row. Three weeks ago, WV added (and has kept) one additional rig and now operates 11 active rigs. Good things are happening in the Mountain State. 
Ascent Resources, founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2024 update last week. The big news came from comments during a conference call with analysts. CFO Brooks Shughart said company management and the board are internally discussing and monitoring the markets with an eye on a potential IPO (initial public offering), or possibly the M&A markets for a potential sale. 
On Sunday, March 2, MDN friend Tom Shepstone (who writes the must-read