NYC Comptroller Seeks to Divest Fossil Fuels from Pension Funds
Here we go again. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has put forth a proposal that would stop the city’s three pension funds from future private equity and infrastructure portfolio investments in midstream and downstream fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals. The prohibition would apply to New York City’s Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, and Board of Education Retirement System should their pension boards approve the decision. But here’s the thing… In May 2023, workers from those same three pension funds sued the funds to stop them from divesting from fossil energy companies (see 3 NYC Pension Funds Sued by Workers for Divesting from Fossil Fuels). What happened to the lawsuit? Read More “NYC Comptroller Seeks to Divest Fossil Fuels from Pension Funds”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Golden Pass LNG gets 3-year deadline extension to complete construction; Eversource proposes 25-30% rate increase for natural gas in Massachusetts; Some Mass. voters express frustration over lack of emphasis on climate change; NATIONAL: U.S. energy production increased faster than consumption past 50 years; Big Oil sees AI boom driving ‘crazy demand’ for U.S. natural gas; Biden/Harris LNG export policies are losing credibility; INTERNATIONAL: India’s natural gas demand set to nearly double by 2040; Panama Canal seeks LNG comeback after 65% decline in traffic. 
We are super excited to bring you the news that Balico, LLC has proposed building a gigantic, massive data center in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Sound familiar? We’ll get to the location in a moment. The data center would be powered by its own on-site gas-fired power plant complex, with 15 30-MW Mitsubishi gas turbines. Truly incredible! We have not heard of a gas-fired power plant this big in the entire country. It’s twice as big as most large gas-fired plants. Pittsylvania County is where the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) terminates and connects with Williams’ Transco pipeline. Both MVP and Transco flow Marcellus/Utica molecules. This massive data center will use enormous amounts of M-U molecules if built. It feels like Christmas came early! 
Yesterday, the NYMEX natural gas futures price for the “front month” (November) contract and the next contract in line to take over after today (the December contract) both dropped like a rock. The November contract (called the prompt month) dropped 25.1 cents to close at $2.309/MMBtu. The December contract, which becomes the prompt month tomorrow, dropped 22.9 cents to close at $2.863. Why the drop? It depends on who you ask, but the warm weather in the northeast seems to be one of the primary reasons. 
Permitting in Pennsylvania overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits to speed up approvals (see 
U.S. ethane production increased steadily over the last decade and reached a record of 3.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in May 2024. Ethane production in the first half of 2024 (1H24) averaged a record 2.8 million b/d, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Petroleum Supply Monthly. Ethane production in the Marcellus/Utica region (called the Appalachian No. 1 refining district), which straddles most of the Appalachian Basin production area in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, increased during 1H24, averaging 327,000 b/d, up from 292,000 b/d in 1H23. 
Ever notice how politicians like to blame others when their own policies create havoc and chaos? When you block new gas-fired power plants that provide more electricity for growing demand and pretend unreliable renewables will step in to save the day, there are negative consequences, like the price of electricity soaring through the roof (see 
Hydrogen is all the rage, at least in the D.C. swamp. Joe Biden and his sidekick Kamala Harris held a Hydrogen Hunger Games contest and in 2013 awarded seven proposed projects around the country with a total jackpot of $7 billion. Among the winners was the West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), which is a project that will use Marcellus/Utica natural gas as the feedstock to produce “blue” hydrogen, which is hydrogen made from natgas where carbon dioxide from the process is captured and either used or stored underground (see 
Last week, National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA) Senior Fellow Tristan Abbey published a report examining the politicization of liquid natural gas (LNG) exports and recommending three pathways to ensure the United States maintains and expands the economic and geopolitical benefits from its dominant position in the global LNG market. In “A Generational Opportunity: Achieving U.S. Dominance in Global LNG” (full copy below), Abbey explores the history of LNG exports, the mechanisms by which the U.S. ascended to primacy, and the urgency in pursuing reform to capture a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity. 
The realignment 
Last week, CNX Resources issued its third quarter 2024 update. The company made $65.5 million in profit for the quarter, compared with a profit of $21.3 million in 3Q23 (more than doubling net income). Production was 134.5 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent) in 3Q24 — which works out to 1.46 Bcfe/d — down from 143.4 Bcfe last year (a drop of 6%). Drilling all but stopped during 3Q. The company drilled just three new wells, all of them in the Utica in central PA. 
In September, the Executive Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) renewed 20 water-use permits for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Clearfield, Lycoming, Sullivan, and Susquehanna counties. We’re just learning of the action via an official notice published in the Oct. 26 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The approvals, which are NOT subject to public review according to SRBC regulations, are general water permits. Each site will be required to receive a specific water withdrawal approval at a later date. 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently published an interesting post about natural gas pricing hubs in North America. There are nearly 200 such pricing hubs. The hubs “provide transactional flexibility to buyers and sellers in the natural gas industry.” As we’ve pointed out before, there is no one “price” for natural gas. Prices at various trading hubs can vary significantly. All pricing hubs compare themselves to the Henry Hub “benchmark” hub in Southern Louisiana. You may read about such-and-such as a hub trading a “discount” or “premium” to the HH. The EIA post explains how these hubs work and provides examples from various locations around the country, including three hubs in the northeast that flow Marcellus/Utica molecules.