Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Mar 18, 2025
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Delaware Basin fracking ban based on ‘junk science’; Seneca Resources donates truck to Tioga County emergency responders; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere announces substantial completion of Train 1 at Corpus Christi Stage 3 project; NATIONAL: BH bags deal to ‘provide reliable and efficient power to US data centers’; Natgas pipeline project completions increase takeaway capacity in producing regions; Lights out for Sunnova Energy?; Crusoe secures 4.5GW of natural gas power for AI data centers; INTERNATIONAL: Goldman cuts oil forecasts on slow USA growth, OPEC+ policy; Natural gas is becoming the undisputed king of Europe’s power markets; Oil’s oversupply spiral – can prices stay above $60?; China halts US LNG imports as trade war reroutes deliveries. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Mar 18, 2025”
Last Friday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul went to The White House for a private one-on-one meeting with President Trump. Among the topics discussed was the Constitution Pipeline project (see 
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company NFG Midstream (and subsidiary Empire Pipeline). In November 2023, MDN first reported on NFG Midstream’s Tioga Pathway project, an estimated $90 million modernization and expansion project that will add 190,000 Dth per day (190 MMcf/d) of firm transportation takeaway capacity from northwest Tioga County, Pennsylvania (see 
The Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count did not gain or lose last week—staying even with 592 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 18 weeks. OH has operated nine rigs for the past 15 weeks. WV had operated 10 rigs for an astonishing 23 weeks in a row. One month ago, WV added (and has kept) one additional rig and now operates 11 active rigs. 
We feel like it’s “peaker” day here at MDN. We have three stories that revolve around peaker gas-fired power plants. What is a peaker? It’s a gas-fired power plant that pops on and gets used only during the heaviest electric usage times, like really hot days in the summer and really cold days during the winter. “Baseload,” on the other hand, are gas plants that run constantly. LS Power, a huge power generation company that owns and operates some 50,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, battery energy storage, and natural gas-fired facilities, announced on Friday a plan to add more than 700 MW of new electric generating capacity across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. The plan includes promoting (upgrading) two peakers, one in PA and one in OH, to become full-time baseload plants. More yummy Marcellus and Utica gas will be required to feed these plants. 
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission operates the largest sewage treatment plant in New Jersey — in Newark. When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, the sewer plant lost power and dumped BILLIONS of gallons of raw sewage into the Passaic River. The Commission plans to prevent that from happening again by building a tiny natural gas peaker plant to generate electricity. It would only be used to avoid such environmental damage again (i.e., rarely used, only for emergencies). Great news: The plant has been approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and now has (or soon will have) all the permits it needs to begin construction. 
J.P. Morgan recently issued its 15th annual Eye on the Market Energy Paper. It’s mysteriously titled Heliocentrism. Heliocentrism is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets orbit the Sun, the center of the solar system, proposed by Copernicus in the 16th century. Heliocentrism replaced geocentrism, the earlier belief that Earth was the stationary center of the universe, with the Sun, planets, and stars revolving around it. You could be burned at the stake for not believing in geocentrism once upon a time. J.P. Morgan’s report uses the metaphor of heliocentrism. In the report, the “sun” is fossil fuel energy, and the planets that orbit it are renewable energy like solar and wind. Leftists believe the opposite. 
For the week of Mar 3 – 9, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by six from the previous week. Last week, 22 new permits were issued, with 13 (more than half) going to the Keystone State (PA). Expand Energy (Chesapeake Energy) scored five permits for a single pad in Bradford County. Coterra Energy also received five permits for a single pad in neighboring Susquehanna County. EQT had two new permits for a single pad in Washington County. And Range Resources rounded out PA’s permits with a single permit in Washington County. 
Speaking of the Constitution Pipeline project (see today’s post, Williams CEO Supports Restart of Constitution Pipe – With Conditions), New York Governor Kathy Hochul will visit The White House for a one-on-one with President Trump today. They have a few things to discuss. One of the biggest discussion topics will be Trump attempting to convince Hochul that it’s time to allow the 124-mile Constitution Pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA, to Schoharie County, NY, to move Marcellus gas into New York State and New England, to get built. Will he be successful? 
A three-judge panel (all liberal Democrats) from the Ohio District Courts of Appeals for the Tenth District ruled yesterday that anti-fossil fuel fanatics don’t have the right to appeal a decision by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) to meet and award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. The case was appealed by Earthjustice acting on behalf of the anti-fossil fuel Save Ohio Parks. In February 2024, a liberal Democrat judge from Franklin County ruled against antis (see 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday, the agency’s monthly best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. In this latest assessment, EIA expects the Henry Hub price to average around $4.20 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2025, 11% more than last month’s forecast. EIA also expects the annual average price in 2026 will be near $4.50/MMBtu, up 8% from last month. What changed? EIA now expects more consumption of natural gas in 2025 and 2026 and less natural gas in storage, leading to the rise in its forecasted Henry Hub spot price.