NATIONAL: Which Kamala Harris should voters believe?; INTERNATIONAL: Oil is still not out of the woods; JP Morgan analysts don’t see a peak in oil demand through 2035; EU issues guides on phase-out of fossil fuel stand-alone boilers. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Oct 22, 2024”
Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania lost two rigs, down to just 13 active rigs, the lowest PA’s rig count has been since July 2016 (see PA Craters, Drops 2 Rigs, M-U @ 32; National Rig Count Adds 1 @ 586). That’s the lowest rig count for PA in more than eight years. Last week, PA and the other two Marcellus/Utica states, OH and WV, remained constant in their rig counts (13, nine, and ten, respectively). The national rig count collectively lost one rig last week and now stands at 585. Read More “PA Rig Count Stays Down, M-U @ 32; National Count Drops 1 @ 585”
Kentucky has seen unprecedented economic growth in recent years like other southern states. Data centers are looking to Kentucky for future expansion. Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU), both part of PPL Corporation, are forecasting in their Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) the need for additional power generation due to the expected influx of data centers and economic development across their service territories. The companies want to build two new natural gas combined-cycle generation units—one in 2030 and another in 2031. Read More “Kentucky Utilities Want to Build 2 New NatGas Power Plants”
It is just coming to light for us now that back in August, Hope Gas, a large local utility company that provides gas service to more than 131,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-seven West Virginia counties, filed a rate case with the state Public Service Commission (PSC) looking to convert customers who use a “farm tap” gas system to either propane fuel or electric heat for their homes. The change would affect around 600 customers, removing them from the ability to use local natural gas. Read More “WV’s Hope Gas Seeks to End “Farm Taps” for 600 Customers”
AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company, is a utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation. In August, AES Indiana said that it wants to invest $1.1 billion in Pike County, IN, to convert the company’s two remaining coal-fired power plants to run natural gas instead (see AES Indiana Spending $1.1B to Convert Last Coal Plants to NatGas). Unfortunately, the coal lobby has pressured some Republican politicians, including Indiana’s Republican candidate for governor, into opposing the plan. However, AES remains committed. Read More “AES Indiana Committed to Converting Last Coal Plants to NatGas”
Air Products, headquartered in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania (Allentown area), once manufactured huge rocket-looking “production trains” or “heat exchangers,” which are pieces of equipment that turn natural gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG), in a plant in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The heat exchangers manufactured by Air Products in Wilkes-Barre were two-thirds of a football field long (180 feet) and used by plants all over the world to condense natural gas into a liquid. Air Products shut down the Wilkes-Barre plant in 2017. However, it kept operating a second LNG manufacturing plant in Port Manatee, Florida. A few weeks ago, the company announced that it had completed the process of selling its LNG technology manufacturing business, including the Port Manatee facility, to Honeywell for $1.8 billion (see PA-Based Air Products Sells LNG Tech Biz to Honeywell for $1.8B). The company dumped LNG because it is making big investments in so-called green hydrogen. Major investors are not happy with the change in focus. Read More “Investors Not Happy with Air Products’ Focus on “Green” Hydrogen”
For more than three years, MDN has called out the International Energy Agency (IEA) and its executive director, Dr. Fatih Birol, as nothing more than tools of Big Green. We’ve reported on many of the IEA’s fake predictions about peak demand for oil and natural gas (see IEA Rushes to Change Absurd Peak Oil Prediction 24 Hrs After COP28) and about the IEA’s plea for no new oil and gas drilling worldwide, starting now, because of man-made global warming concerns (see Intl Energy Agency Says World Should Stop All New O&G Development). We told you then that IEA was not to be trusted, so when the agency recently released its 2024 World Energy Outlook with predictions that demand for oil and natural gas will peak within five years, we ignored it. Why bother you with more IEA Big Green propaganda? Read More “IEA Admits Fake Peak Oil Prediction Isn’t an Actual Forecast”
Net zero is a goal to balance the amount of so-called greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted into the atmosphere with the amount removed. Mythical net zero can be achieved by reducing emissions and removing carbon from the atmosphere. One of the ways net zero dreamers think they can save Mom Earth is to eliminate natural gas-fired power plants and replace them with alternatives like unreliable solar and wind. According to an article by law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC, “The primacy of natural gas is not likely to change soon.” Translation: Natgas isn’t going anywhere. Read More “Law Firm Predicts “Natural Gas is Not Going Away””
NATIONAL: WTI crude sees biggest weekly drop in over a year; The high costs of obstructing LNG exports; U.S. ‘zombie summer’ saps energy demand and natural gas prices; INTERNATIONAL: Dubai firm takes control of Russian LNG ships in effort to skirt sanctions; Former Russian oil executive found dead after ‘fall.’ Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Oct 21, 2024”
Ten permits were issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica for the week of Oct. 7 – 13, half the number issued the prior week (see 20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 30 – Oct 6). The Keystone State (PA) had just six new permits, with three going to Range Resources in Washington County, two for EQT in Greene County, and one for Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Sullivan County. Buckeye State (OH) had three new permits, and all three went to Encino Energy (EAP) for a single pad in Sullivan County. The Mountain State (WV) issued one new permit to EQT in Wetzel County. Read More “10 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 7 – 13”
Feedgas flowing from the Marcellus/Utica to the Cove Point LNG export facility located on the shore of Maryland fell to zero on Friday, Sept. 20, as the facility began its planned annual maintenance outage (see Flows Drop to Zero @ Cove Point LNG, Closed for Annual Maintenance). Most years, maintenance at Cove Point takes around three weeks. True to form, Cove Point came back online and restarted liquefying gas last Saturday, Oct 12, so the plant was out exactly three weeks (from Friday, Sept. 20 to Friday, Oct. 11). Read More “Maintenance Done: M-U Gas Flows Restart to Cove Point, Maryland”
Just two days ago, MDN brought you a story about a developing issue of who, ultimately, should pay to build out new electricity sources for data centers (and AI) that increasingly use huge amounts of power (see Big Tech and Big Utility Tangle in Ohio re Data Center Electricity). A large utility company in central Ohio is tangling with Big Tech companies, including Amazon, Google, and others, about the commitments those companies should make before utility companies will risk investing billions to bring new facilities online. We predicted that this issue would pop up in other locations, too. And here we are two days later with news that Virginia is about to tackle the same issue. Read More “Virginia About to Tackle Who Pays for New Power for Data Centers”
The environmental left continues to try and co-opt the term “Evangelical Christian,” defined as protestants who tend to be pro-life and conservative in their political views. We’re talking about the so-called Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) and its political lobbying arm, EEN Action. The group continues to pressure Pennsylvania’s political leaders to adopt unreliable renewable energy (by government fiat) and to force residents to dump their use of fossil energy. We previously exposed them for who they really are (see Pretend Evangelical Christians Want PA to Dump Fossil Energy). The group is back with another press release to say 36,000 people who pretend to be “pro-life” signed a petition sent to Gov. Josh Shapiro asking him to adopt a methane rule so restrictive it will ban new gas-fired power plants and get rid of all existing coal-fired plants as a bonus. Read More “Pretend Evangelical Christians (Partisans in Disguise) Lobby PA Gov”
Shale energy has been an astonishing miracle, made possible exclusively due to the ingenuity and tenacity of America (specifically one American, George Mitchell). The shale miracle resulted in, get this, North America adding 15 million barrels a day (bpd) of liquid hydrocarbon and 50 billion cubic feet a day (Bcf/d) of gas production to the global market since 2005. How much more will the world need in the next 15 years, and how much of that will be supplied by North America? Read More “How Much Can North America Grow O&G Production in Next 10 Years?”
Flex LNG, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, owns 13 LNG cargo carriers, including the Flex Artemis (pictured at the left). The company published its latest presentation (PowerPoint slide deck) two days ago to coincide with CFO Knut Traaholt’s upcoming meetings with investors in the U.S. and Canada as part of a “non-deal roadshow.” Flex’s fleet is small compared with others (not even in the top 10 list). However, the slide deck includes some great slides that give us an inside look at the coming growth in American LNG exports and details about which countries are likely to buy increased supplies of LNG. Read More “LNG Shipping Co. Flex LNG Does Roadshow with Interesting Slides”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Phillips 66 to shut down LA refinery as Newsom doubles down; Cheniere Energy moves closer to starting new Texas LNG export operation; NATIONAL: American Forest Foundation gets in on carbon credit scam; Tech titans’ quiet exodus from the grid; INTERNATIONAL: Oil steadies, but on track for biggest weekly loss in over a month; Snam CEO claims Europe is vulnerable to natural gas supply shocks. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Oct 18, 2024”