Mass. Takes First Steps to Dump NatGas, Commit Energy Suicide
Look for the steady flow of people moving out of Massachusetts to become a stampede. The state is floating new legislation that will outlaw the use of natural gas as energy. The first step is to block any new customers from connecting to gas. The next step is to forbid repairing gas infrastructure, forcing broken pipes to be replaced with alternatives like electricity or geothermal. Eventually, the liberal crazies running the state want to turn off all natural gas. We call it the clinical definition of insanity. Get out while you still can! Read More “Mass. Takes First Steps to Dump NatGas, Commit Energy Suicide”
The great folks at Steel Nation, headquartered in Canonsburg, PA, have built over 2,200 compressor stations and other structures for the oil and gas industry in the Marcellus/Utica (and beyond) over the past 17 years. Yesterday, Steel Nation announced it has launched a new division to build electric microgrids for companies looking to create their own on-site power plants to ensure their operations run efficiently 24/7/365. The new division, Steel Nation Microgrids, will work on projects from small 20 MW microgrid centers up to large hyperscale data centers that can require over a gigawatt of reliable on-site electricity to run AI facilities. This is exciting stuff! 
Yesterday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee issued a report exposing the Biden administration’s massive green group giveaway (copy of the report below). The EPA received $41 billion from the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), legislation made possible by Joe Manchin’s vote and signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 (see 
If you want the shale miracle to continue, if you want reliable energy supplies, and if you don’t want rolling, periodic blackouts, there is a clear choice of whom to vote for today. We’ve heard all the arguments against Donald Trump (and Kamala Harris). But honestly, there is only one candidate who supports real energy security for our country: Donald J. Trump. We’re not voting for a best friend. We’re not voting for a pastor. We’re not voting based on someone’s (bad) manners and (over)use of social media. We’re voting for a LEADER, for a President, for someone who will stand up for America (first, last, and always) and someone who truly, in his bones, supports the oil and gas industry. Today is the day. You MUST go out and vote if you haven’t already (we voted on the first day of early voting here in New York State). PLEASE make it a priority to vote. Don’t let anything keep you from the ballot box. Cast your ballot not for a friend or buddy but for the person who will proudly lead this great country over the next four years. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Consumers Energy completes Mid-Michigan natural gas pipeline; NATIONAL: U.S. exports of ethane and ethane-based petchems rose 135% from 2014 to 2023; Companies boost social and climate reporting amid ESG backlash; Kamala Harris will keep America from the energy we need; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC extends its oil output cuts by one month until the end of December; Will USA election outcome affect OPEC+ policy?; South Korea weighs buying more USA energy if Trump wins election. 
Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania lost another rig, going from 13 rigs down to 12 rigs, the lowest that state has operated in the last 17 years (see 
In September, the Board of Supervisors for Cecil Township in Washington County, PA, caved to pressure from radical leftists and, by a vote of 3-2, instructed the town’s solicitor to prepare a new zoning ordinance that increases setbacks from “protected structures” from 500 feet to 2,500 feet (half a mile), and add a setback of 5,000 feet from schools and hospitals (almost a full mile, see 
Coterra Energy, formed by the merger of Cabot Oil & Gas (drills for natural gas in the Marcellus) and Cimarex Energy (drills for oil in the Permian and Anadarko basins), issued its third quarter 2024 update last week. The company turned in respectable financial numbers, making a profit of $252 million in 3Q24, down 22% from the $323 million it made in 3Q23. Unfortunately, there was bad news for the Marcellus. The company is boosting the amount of gas it curtails from the Marcellus to 340,000 MMcf/d gross (288,000 MMcf/d net) during November. Both new drilling and new completions (fracking) in the Marcellus are zero for now. Sadly, the company is operating NO rigs in Marcellus right now. 
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. DTM issued its third quarter 2024 update last week. Of high interest to us was the announcement that DTM is upsizing a previously announced project to connect its Stonewall Gathering System to Equitrans Midstream’s (now EQT) Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia, giving DTM customers the ability to reach Mid-Atlantic markets with their molecules. 
The Ohio Natural Energy Institute (which 
For the week of Oct 21 – 27, there were 17 permits issued to drill Marcellus/Utica wells, up from 14 permits issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had 12 new permits, with five going to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Wyoming County and two each for PennEnergy Resources (Beaver County) and Coterra Energy (Susquehanna County). Single permits were issued to Pennsylvania General Energy, Inflection Energy, and XPR Resources. The Buckeye State (OH) had five new permits, with four going to Gulfport Energy in Belmont County. The other OH permit was for Infinity Natural Resources (INR) in Guernsey County. The Mountain State (WV) issued a big, fat zero new permits last week. 
Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its third quarter 2024 update yesterday. The company reports net production averaged 3.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q24, a decrease of 2% year-over-year. Of the company’s 2024 production, liquids (NGLs) averaged 206 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), an increase of 2% from 3Q23. Natural gas production averaged 2.2 Bcf/d, down 4% from 3Q23. The company lost $20 million in 3Q24 versus making $17.8 million in profit in 3Q23. 
In May 2023, two radicalized Big Green groups—the Environmental Integrity Project (based in D.C.) and the Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia)—filed a lawsuit against the Shell Polymers Monaca Plant (ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA), claiming the plant has repeatedly violated federal air pollution limits (see