Still Plenty of Drilling & Pipeline Work Happening in PA Marcellus
Lately, we’ve written plenty of negative stories, things like the Pennsylvania rig count getting whacked with the lowest numbers in eight years (see PA Craters, Drops 2 Rigs, M-U @ 32; National Rig Count Adds 1 @ 586), companies like Coterra stopping all new Marcellus drilling (see Coterra Stops Drilling New Wells in Marcellus, Fracking Ends Soon), and production numbers going down each quarter (see IFO 2Q24 Report: New Wells Drilled, Production Both Down in Pa.). We don’t want to leave you with the wrong impression. It’s not all doom and gloom. A LOT of activity is still happening in the shale fields of PA. New pipelines are being built. Permits for existing (and new) compressors are being issued. New well pads are receiving permits, and permits for wastewater storage tanks are being issued. Yeah, maybe the pace of activity has slowed a bit, but there’s still plenty of activity happening in the PA Marcellus. Keep your chin up! Read More “Still Plenty of Drilling & Pipeline Work Happening in PA Marcellus”
An assistant professor of data science at Saint Vincent College in Westmoreland County, PA, recently published a study (based on hospital records) examining whether some chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing affect the occurrence of pre-term births (PTB) and low birth weights (LBW) in the United States. She looked at data from several counties in southwest PA. The researcher says she found that “counties that had more hydraulic fracturing wells that utilize chemicals that target certain hormones also had greater amounts of PTB and LWB.” Yet her data shows just the opposite! 
The northeast, particularly New England, has some of the highest energy costs in the country. We are the poster child for inadequate fuel supplies and lack of energy. Yet we have embarrassing riches of energy under our feet in the Marcellus/Utica! The problem? “The Northeast is the most extreme example of demand/supply mismatch in recent years, thanks to local court decisions and policy changes that have brought gas infrastructure developments to a screeching halt. Challenges facing the region will only persist, if not get worse until adequate infrastructure is built to bring energy into the region.” 
In May 2023, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced that it would convert the Kingston Fossil Plant (coal-fired plant) in East Tennessee to a natural gas-fired plant capable of generating 1,500 megawatts of electricity (see 
NATIONAL: Upstream M&A descends to $12 billion in 3Q24; Henry Hub reverts to downtrend; Oil, gas investors should not sweat the polls; EIA says natgas the most affordable option for heating homes; Harris climate advisor just undercut weeks of Kamala touting pro-fracking; Kamala once threatened to jail oil executives; INTERNATIONAL: Partnership focuses on hydrogen filling stations in Europe. 
We always get a small thrill when we notice a new company working in the Marcellus/Utica. This is one of those occasions. Tiburon Oil & Gas Partners, LLC, headquartered in Houston, TX, is headed by four former Carrizo Oil & Gas executives. Tiburon was formed in 2022 “to responsibly acquire, develop, and operate upstream oil and gas assets in the Appalachian Basin.” In a press release issued yesterday, Post Oak Energy Capital announced it is giving buckets of money to Tiburon to close a deal to lease land in the liquids-rich portion of the Utica Shale play in Ohio. Have money, will drill. 
In early September, MDN told you that UGI Corporation, one of PA’s largest utility companies, plans to store trailers of LNG in the parking lot of a storage facility near Scranton, PA, and is seeking a zoning variance to do so (see 
We’ve been talking a lot lately about data centers and AI (artificial intelligence) because these facilities use enormous amounts of electricity, and electricity must be generated somehow. Most often, electricity is generated by burning natural gas. Gas-fired plants are important customers for Marcellus/Utica gas. A situation in Ohio in the Columbus area related to gas-fired power is likely to play out in other areas, too. It’s something you should be aware of. The issue, in a nutshell, is this: Who should pay to build new power sources to feed data centers? Should existing electric customers be on the hook for some of the cost? Should the data centers (companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.) pay upfront or be forced to commit to long-term contracts for the extra demand they will place on the grid? 
Dominion Energy Virginia yesterday issued its “2024 Integrated Resource Plan” to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) and the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC). The document outlines a plan to meet rising power demand through significant investments in new power generation from “every source,” expansion and modernization of the power grid, energy storage, and energy efficiency programs. The problem is (from our perspective), the plan deemphasizes natural gas in favor of unreliable renewables, to the peril of Dominion’s customers. 
Simply amazing. In August, we told you that most of Venture Global’s contracted customers for LNG from the company’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in southwestern Louisiana’s Cameron Parish had filed for arbitration over Venture Global’s refusal to sell them cargoes under contract (see 
Once again, the bottom dropped out of the Pennsylvania Marcellus rig count. PA lost two rigs last week, down to just 13 active rigs, the lowest the PA rig count has been since July 2016. That’s the lowest rig count for PA in more than eight years, lower than the deep dark days of the pandemic four years ago. Ohio and West Virginia’s counts remained the same at nine and ten, respectively. On August 23, PA ran 21 rigs, OH had nine rigs, and WV had just five rigs. Last Friday (just two months later), PA had 13 rigs (a loss of eight from August), OH still had nine, but WV had ten rigs (a gain of five of PA’s lost eight). The realignment of rigs from PA to WV is an ongoing, big story concerning the rig count. 
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (6th Circuit) slammed the brakes on a pipeline project in Tennessee on Friday. In January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a certificate of public convenience for Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) subsidiary to build the Cumberland Project, a 32-mile, 30-inch pipeline to feed 245 MMcf/d of natural gas (from the Marcellus/Utica) to the Tennessee Valey Authority’s (TVA) proposed Cumberland gas-fired power plant. 
PJM Interconnection is the largest U.S. power grid operator, serving 65 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including PA, OH, and WV). PJM supplies power to more than 20% of the U.S. economy. The organization issued its annual Winter Outlook yesterday. The analysis says PJM and its members have adequate resources to serve the forecasted demand for electricity this winter under expected conditions, although reserve margins continue to shrink with continued generator (coal plant) retirements and increasing demand. However, if we have “extreme” weather events, problems like blackouts are possible. In other words, we will have enough electricity, but cross your fingers that we don’t experience any extreme weather.