WV Supreme Court Rules Antero CAN’T Deduct Royalty Expenses
There is an important development for landowners AND drillers in a class action case that began some seven years ago. A civil suit was brought by Harrison County oil and gas owners against Antero Resources Corp., claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. In 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled mostly in favor of the landowners. The District Court sent two certified questions to the state Supreme Court. The Supremes ruled on both issues in November. The court ruled that energy companies cannot deduct post-production costs without explicit lease language, favoring royalty owners over drillers. Read More “WV Supreme Court Rules Antero CAN’T Deduct Royalty Expenses”
When EQT first announced it intended to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), stretching from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, the project came with an estimated price tag of $3.5 billion and an estimated completion date of 2018 (see 
In July, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility (see 
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), working natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 states ended the natural gas injection season (Apr 1 – Oct 31) with 3,922 billion cubic feet (Bcf), the equivalent of 3.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). U.S. inventories are starting winter 2024–25 with the most natural gas since 2016, which is typically bearish for natgas prices. The more supply you have with the same demand, the more prices will decrease. However, weather is the big unknown variable. A cold winter could quickly drain supplies and lead to higher prices. 
According to a Reuters analyst, natural gas prices in Asia, Europe, and North America have climbed by 30% to 50% in 2024 and are likely to keep rising over the coming months in early 2025 as forecasts for cold weather trigger higher heating demand in key consumer hubs. Although Europe entered the winter with “full” gas stocks, Europe and Asia are already looking to restock by buying more natgas (LNG), spurring demand for LNG. That should ensure gas traders will remain bullish (pushing prices higher) until the upcoming winter is over. Gas prices “may have little scope to retreat until well into 2025.” We like the sound of that! 
In June, we told you that a once-respected oil and gas consultancy had become a partisan purveyor of pap (see 
Rystad Energy, based in Norway, is an independent energy research and business intelligence company providing data, analytics, and consultancy services to clients exposed to the energy industry across the globe. In an article published by OilPrice.com, Rystad analysts make this bold claim: “Triggered by incoming US President Donald Trump, the next four years could prime the liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets for a golden era.” Look for the Trump administration to “accelerate US LNG infrastructure expansion through deregulation and faster permitting, bolstering global supply.” After years of uncertainty about U.S. LNG thanks to a dithering President Biden, someone with demonstrable cognitive decline, LNG is “back” under Trump, and global markets are delighted. 
NATIONAL: America needs Trump to unleash natural gas; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC output rises as Libya recovery offsets Iraqi curbs; Analysts examine 2025 oil, gas markets. 
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The Baker Hughes national rig count dropped another rig last week and now sits at 582. The national count continues to be rangebound between 581 and 589 since June. Slicing the national count slightly differently—by oil-focused vs. gas-focused rigs—oil rigs fell by two to 477 last week, their lowest since July, while gas rigs rose by one to 100. Last week, all three Marcellus/Utica states maintained the same count for the third week in a row, with PA operating 15 active rigs and Ohio and West Virginia operating 10 rigs each, for a combined 35 rigs. That’s the third week in a row the M-U has operated 35 rigs. It feels like the doom and gloom is finally starting to lift. 
In early October, Infinity Natural Resources (INR), with 90,000 acres in the Marcellus/Utica, filed an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), hoping to raise $100 million (see 
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The volume of natural gas flowing to U.S. LNG export facilities on Friday was on track to hit 14.6 billion cubic feet (Bcf), just shy of the all-time high of 14.7 Bcf recorded one year ago, in December 2023. The reason for the near-record high is that all LNG export facilities, including the up down up down up down Freeport LNG facility, were firing on all cylinders. Two weeks ago, one of Freeport’s three trains tripped off (see 
It’s funny how Big Tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, and others—all of them virtue-signalers—are willing to dump their virtue signaling (dump their insistence on using “green” energy) when it begins to affect the bottom line. We’re seeing it now with AI (artificial intelligence) and data centers. Big Tech needs power to run AI, and it needs it NOW (over the next several years). Big Tech is coming to the realization that hillsides full of ugly solar panels and windmills are not the solution but the problem. Solar and wind energy are intermittent (i.e., unreliable), and the existing power grid is about at maximum right now. So what is Big Tech now doing after trashing fossil energy for most of the last decade? Big Tech is looking at gas-fired power plants once again as the solution to meet their power needs. Welcome back to sanity and reality, Big Tech. 
You’ve heard of the Holy Trinity, right? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three largest LNG exporting countries in the world, the U.S. (#1), Australia (#2), and Qatar (#3), are referred to as the LNG Trinity. Together, all three countries represent roughly 60% of all LNG exported on the planet. However, each country has its own strategy, politics, and approach to the market. How are they similar, and how are they different?