MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PA DEP releases 2 contracts for bidding in next round of conventional oil & gas well plugging; NATIONAL: WTI slips below $73 on mixed tariff signals; March natural gas contract tests $3.00 mark as weather warms; Bloomberg group keeps millions behind green wall; INTERNATIONAL: Hanwha and Baker Hughes developing ammonia gas turbines; LNG shipping rates hit record lows. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Feb 3, 2025”
For the week of Jan 20 – 26, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells fell off a proverbial cliff. Two weeks ago, 41 new permits were issued. Last week, the number plummeted to just seven new permits issued. Perhaps the most interesting thing about last week’s numbers is that NO new permits were issued in the Keystone State (PA). We believe that’s the first time we’ve seen no new permits in PA. We wonder if there’s a problem with the reporting system (the state DEP’s reporting system is known to occasionally have issues). We’ll check again next week to see if PA’s numbers get updated. Meanwhile, there were four new permits for the Buckeye State (OH) and three for the Mountain State (WV). Read More “7 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 20 – 26”
Yesterday, CNX Resources issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2024 update. The company lost $145 million for the quarter, compared with a profit of $514 million in 4Q23. Production was 141.9 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent) in 4Q24 — which works out to 1.54 Bcfe/d — down from 146.9 Bcfe last year (a drop of 3.4%). Drilling all but stopped during 3Q, and that trend continued in 4Q. The company drilled just one new Utica well in central PA. However, CNX fracked nine wells and brought six wells online to sales in southwestern PA. Read More “CNX Drilled Just 1 New Well in 4Q24, Plans to Add 34 Wells in 2025”
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). Yesterday, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. The company’s top brass is jazzed about the higher prices of natural gas and what it means for profitability. Production at Seneca increased by 6% over the previous quarter to 98 Bcfe as the company brought online some of its most productive pads to date. However, production was down a tad (3%) from the same period in the prior year. Read More “Seneca Continues to Focus on PA Utica Wells, Adds 50 MMcf/d to Gulf”
Pennsylvania’s do-nothing Governor, Josh Shapiro, traveled to Pittsburgh yesterday to put on another shuck-and-jive all-sizzle-no-steak show. He was there to unveil what he calls his “Lightning Plan” for energy in the state. His big plan? Reintroduce and try to bully Republicans into accepting a Marcellus-killing carbon tax and onerous regulations on emissions (called PACER, see PA Gov. Shapiro Proposes Own Version of Marcellus-Killing Carbon Tax). His plan didn’t fly in March of last year and won’t fly again this year. But that didn’t stop the shuckin’ and jivin’ by Shapiro. Read More “PA Gov. Shapiro Again Pushes Big Carbon Tax as Part of Energy Plan”
In June 2019, the New York State legislature passed a horrific “energy” bill that was later signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see New York Pulls the Trigger, Commits Energy Suicide with New Law). The law, called the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (or “Climate Act”), forces a reduction in so-called greenhouse gas emissions of 40% by 2030, and at least 85% from 1990 levels by 2050. It will force the end of burning natural gas and fuel oil (and wood) to heat homes and businesses. Current Gov. Kathy Hochul is now facing the buzzsaw of reality in implementing specific actions to meet those goals. She recently “shelved” a plan to implement a “cap and invest” plan that would force the state to reduce GHGs to comply with the Climate Act. Read More “NY Gov. Hochul Pauses Cap-n-Tax Plan; Angry Enviros Resign Panel”
As we told you two weeks ago, Connecticut’s Democrat Governor, Ned Lamont, wants to keep his nuclear and gas-fired power plants operating (for now) to avoid potential blackouts (see Gov. Ned Lamont Fiddles While Connecticut’s Electric Rates Burn). However, Lamont isn’t interested in building more pipelines or new gas-fired plants. He’s happy to allow the residents of Connecticut to continue paying some of the highest electric rates in the country because, you know, global warming. Unfortunately for Connecticut ratepayers, their rates will continue to climb because of the state’s overregulation. Read More “Credit Rating Agencies Downgrade Connecticut Utilities Due to Regs”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Largest solar farm in California heading for closure after 11 years; NATIONAL: Baker Hughes announces major gas tech orders for Venture Global LNG; Senate confirms Doug Burgum to lead Interior, advances Chris Wright for Energy; Trump’s tariffs would hurt Canadian oil producers more than U.S. refiners; Trump’s decision to end Biden’s home appliance micromanagement good news; INTERNATIONAL: UK sets goal to cut CO2 emissions by 81 percent by 2035; Japan weighs Alaska LNG pipeline pledge to win Trump’s favour. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Jan 31, 2025”
Last fall, MDN told you about a newly formed drilling company that aims to target the Ohio Utica Shale, a company called Tiburon Oil & Gas Partners, LLC (see Former Carrizo O&G Team Forms New Company to Drill in Ohio Utica). The company was founded by four former executives from Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. The company is backed with money from Post Oak Energy Capital. We’d not heard anything further about the company…until now. Read More “New Driller Tiburon Plans to Start Drilling Utica in 2Q25”
Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus, issued a summary of the fourth quarter and full-year 2024 upstream M&A (mergers and acquisitions) activity yesterday. Two of the top five M&A deals include deals in the Marcellus/Utica. Coming in at #3 on the list was EQT’s sale of non-operated assets to Equinor for $1.25 billion in October (see EQT Sells Remaining Nonop Assets in NE Pa. for $1.25 Billion). Coming in at #5 on the list was CNX Resources’ purchase of Apex Energy for $505 million in December (see CNX Resources Buys Apex Energy for $505M, Adds Pa. M-U Assets). Read More “2 of Top 5 Upstream M&A Deals in 4Q Were in the Marcellus/Utica”
Yesterday, we brought you the news that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro had cut a deal (i.e., bullied) the PJM Interconnection electric grid into artificially capping electricity auctions, which will (in our opinion) eventually lead to blackouts (see PJM Grid Caves to PA Gov. Shapiro Bullying, Blackout Risk Rises). We argued that Shapiro himself is to blame for higher electricity prices in the Keystone State. The Majority Leader of the PA Senate, Joe Pittman (Republican from Indiana, PA), addressed the Shapiro/PJM deal yesterday in comments made on the floor of the Senate. His comments outlined how Shapiro’s deal will cost PA consumers MORE money, not less. Read More “PA State Senate GOP Leader Schools Ignorant Dems on Energy Costs”
Natural gas-fired electric power generation has increased in Pennsylvania since 2013 as the state has shifted toward natural gas as its main fuel source for electric power generation. In October 2024, natural gas-fired generation accounted for 57% of the electricity generated in Pennsylvania, more than twice the share in October 2013 (26%). This is thanks to the miracle of Marcellus Shale and fracking. Read More “Gas-Fired Power in PA Doubled in 10 Years, Now 57% of Powergen”
Lawfare by the environmental left in this country is a serious cancer eating away at our country. It must be stopped. The focus for much of the lawfare by climate nuts is the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Yesterday, the Senate approved former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin (from Long Island) to become the next EPA Administrator. Zeldin is a great guy—very competent and a solid conservative. According to an interview with the New York Post, Zeldin has a plan to help him and the Trump administration combat the left’s lawfare in coming decisions the EPA will make to undo the damage done by the Bidenistas. Read More “Lee Zeldin, New EPA Chief, has Plan to Lawsuit-Proof Decisions”
The environmental left is now saying that calling out the scam known as carbon credits is causing companies to stop “investing” (i.e., blowing money) on said credits, and the situation is “devastating livelihoods and communities.” It is an “existential crisis” for the NGOs. Yes, it’s our fault that scholarships, new schools, and water projects are disappearing. Cry me a river. Read More “NGO Carbon Credit Scammers Exposed, Face “Existential Crisis””
There has been a shift in the ongoing war to defeat fossil energy. Have you felt it? It’s a shift in the direction of those of us who support fossil energy. Yes, the election of Donald Trump, who ran on a platform of unapologetically supporting oil and gas (and coal), and his overwhelming victory is a watershed moment in history. However, we propose that Trump’s win is a result (evidence of) and not the cause of this shift. A recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal nails the reason for the shift against radical environmentalism and in favor of fossil energy. The article begins with this lucid and insightful statement: “Momentous social movements begin to die the moment adherents figure out their leaders don’t believe what they say.” Read More “Climate Change Ideology is Dying Due to Leaders’ Hypocrisy”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Venture Global given OK to introduce natgas at another LNG plant; NATIONAL: Trump EPA fires science advisers just like Biden did; WTI slips below $73 as Canada-Mexico tariff uncertainty grows; Trump’s transport secretary orders fuel-economy rule rewrite; Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda will likely take on an entirely new shape; How to rescind the endangerment finding in a way that will stick; INTERNATIONAL: EU won’t ban Russian LNG until it secures alternatives. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Jan 30, 2025”