Venture Global Says CP LNG Finally Ready on April 15
Well, look at this. After liquefying and exporting over 350 cargoes of LNG from March 1, 2022, through January 2025, Venture Global says its Calcasieu Pass (CP) LNG export facility is finally “ready” to begin “commercial” operations….on April 15th of this year. Nearly three years after it began shipping LNG. Venture Global has claimed the CP facility was not commercially ready until now. Read More “Venture Global Says CP LNG Finally Ready on April 15”
Newly-confirmed Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, appeared virtually before the ARC Conference in London yesterday. ARC stands for The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, an international movement with a vision for a better world where empowered citizens take responsibility and work together to bring flourishing and prosperity to their families, communities, and nations. The ARC organization tilts right. During a Q&A interview, Wright shared some fantastic truths, among them: “Net zero 2050 is a sinister goal, it’s a terrible goal.” He also said that countries that set net zero goals “export your industry.” And net-zero “is not energy transition” but instead “is lunacy.” Three cheers for Chris Wright! 
NATIONAL: Chevron vice chairman confirms job cuts; INTERNATIONAL: EU Commission warns a host of member states on adoption of energy rules; Will Europe return to Putin’s gas?; Is an oil market share war on the cards for 2025?; Coal’s persistence signals the myth of the energy transition. 
Never in our wildest dreams did we see this one coming. And we must caution against too much hope. However, we are JAZZED. Last Friday, President Trump signed yet another executive order. This EO creates the National Energy Dominance Council, directing the new council to move quickly to increase domestic oil and gas production (see our companion post today for details). During comments with reporters at the EO signing, Trump vowed to complete the long-dead Pennsylvania Marcellus to New York State Constitution Pipeline! Trump’s own words: “We are going to get this done, and once we start construction, we’re looking at anywhere from nine to 12 months.” Holy smokes!!!! 
President Trump signed an executive order Friday establishing the National Energy Dominance Council. The Council will be chaired by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and vice-chaired by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The other members are essentially all of the cabinet members, the secretaries of the other executive branch agencies, including State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, Transportation, EPA, and a litany of others. Among the instructions (duties) of the new Council is this: “Advise the President on how best to exercise his authority to produce more energy to make America energy dominant.” During a confab with reporters, President Trump said, “We have more energy than any other country, and now we’re unleashing it.” The council will advise the president on energy markets, investments, and how to keep the cost of energy down for Americans. 
On Friday, Commonwealth LNG achieved two significant milestones on the way to making a final investment decision (FID). The first was that the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a long-delayed (because of Biden) approval to export LNG to non-free trade agreement (FTA) countries. The second is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). Kimmeridge Energy Management, the main investor behind the project, said these two important items pave the way for an FID in September of this year. Provided that happens, the first LNG production at the plant is expected to flow in the first quarter of 2029. 
For the third week in a row, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count regained some of the rigs lost earlier this year. Two weeks ago, the rig count gained four rigs to 586. Last week the count regained another two rigs to 588. Note that for much of last year, the national count remained in a very tight range of 581-589. It seems like equilibrium is returning. As for the Marcellus/Utica, the rig count was a combined 34 last week—the same number for ten weeks in a row. It looks like we’ve hit an equilibrium in the M-U, too. 
DUCs are drilled but uncompleted wells. Drillers sink a hole first and then return later to “complete” the well by fracking it and connecting it to sales. An increase in DUCs means more new drilling is happening. A decrease in DUCs means fewer new wells are drilled while previously drilled wells are completed. According to a report by Enverus, some drillers have entered 2025 with substantially fewer DUCs than last year, creating potential effects on capital efficiency and production. Nearly every shale play, including the Marcellus/Utica, has seen DUCs fall. In some cases, by the hundreds. 
Last December, MDN told you that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection could find $600,000 to blow on “environmental justice” nonsense, but the very next day, it cried poverty that there’s not enough money in the budget to fund the Oil and Gas Regulatory Program (see 
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced last Thursday that it will issue a two-cent dividend to unitholders for the fourth quarter of 2024. The company paid half a penny dividend in 3Q24. The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 4Q24) to build a cash reserve for “future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities.” 
For the week of Feb 3 – 9, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells remained healthy. Two weeks ago, 22 new permits were issued. Last week, the number increased to 24 new permits issued. The Keystone State (PA) issued 11 new permits last week. Nine permits went to Range Resources for two pads in Washington County. One permit each went to Snyder Brothers and EQT in Armstrong and Greene counties, respectively. 
Something is going on in the State of Maryland. Last week, we told you that the Democrat leadership in the Maryland state legislature was pushing a bill that would rechristen gas-fired power as “green” and make it easier to build new gas-fired power plants in the state (see 
Yesterday, MDN told you that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a “fast-track” plan from the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection (which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV) to change how the grid operator decides which new power plants can connect to the system first (see 
What Elon Musk’s audits of federal money payments to NGOs, states, and individuals are finding is beyond shocking. It’s criminal. There is MASSIVE fraud happening across all of government. As you’ll read in another post today, Lee Zeldin, Trump’s new EPA Administrator, found $20 BILLION in money transfers from the EPA to a bank the Biden people affected just before leaving. It is perhaps the biggest theft of money in history! The Biden folks called it “throwing gold bricks off the Titanic.” This is stuff people should go to jail for for the rest of their lives. President Trump put a pause on the transfer of money from certain programs (not Medicare, not Medicaid, not payments to individuals). The pause has Democrats, like PA Gov. Josh Shapiro, squealing like pigs being weaned from mother’s milk. Shapiro filed a lawsuit to force the return of mother’s milk. Typical. The Dems are spending junkies. 
Two months ago, a video circulated on social media featuring a Biden EPA political appointee talking about “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” intentionally rushing to get billions of tax dollars recklessly out of the agency before Inauguration Day. The EPA’s new sheriff, Lee Zeldin, has located $20 billion of those gold bars sitting at a bank. The money is meant to fund radical anti-Trump efforts related to the environment. Zeldin is demanding the money be returned pronto.