Another Peak Shale Oil Prediction – by Respected Investment Advisor
If we had a nickel for every peak oil prediction we’ve reported on over the years, we’d be rich! Every few months, somebody comes along to say that either oil production or oil demand is heading for a decline…real soon now, any day, it’s inevitable. And they list their reasons why we’re hitting peak and about to go into a decline. And every darned time, they’re wrong. We have another such prediction, but this one is a bit different. It comes from an investment advisor writing to other investors on the Seeking Alpha website, an investment advisor whose work we have shared with you in the past. It’s a column from someone whose opinion we respect. Read More “Another Peak Shale Oil Prediction – by Respected Investment Advisor”
We read a story published last week that is frightening. It leaves us speechless, and that’s saying something. Just the News is reporting that the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) and several other publications and leftwing groups are behind a project called the “Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation,” which encourages reporters to insert climate change into every story and view fossil fuel industry voices as inherently dishonest. The project openly promotes the idea that journalists should NOT be objective when reporting on climate and energy but instead should be biased and revel in their bias. Speechless. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Silicon Valley is looking to invest in natural gas; Cheniere sees LNG growth from Asia’s ‘three pillars’ of demand; NATIONAL: ExxonMobil announces major progress in carbon capture project; Henry Hub prices come under downward pressure; U.S. hourly electricity demand peaked in July with widespread heatwaves; Why hasn’t DOE published residential energy costs as required by law? 
Berkshire Hathaway, owned by one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett, owns an energy subsidiary called Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE). BHE, in turn, owns major oil and gas assets across the country, including major assets right here in the Marcellus/Utica. In 2020, BHE cut a deal to buy Dominion Energy’s vast network of pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica (and beyond) for $9.7 billion (see 
The SHALE INSIGHT® 2024 event was held from September 24 to 26 at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, PA. Attendees got an insider’s view from the nation’s foremost energy leaders and experts on shale development, environmental protection, pipeline investment, energy-driven manufacturing, and in-demand jobs. We brought you a few news items we noticed in mainstream media from the event, one about antis protesting outside the event (see 
We happened to come across two articles casting doubt on so-called “green” hydrogen, both from far-left media outlets (Bloomberg and POLITICO). Which kind of surprised us. The left believes hydrogen is the savior that will move the world to net zero carbon emissions and finally drive a stake in the heart of fossil energy. But there’s a problem with hydrogen for the left. Today, 95% of all hydrogen is produced by using natural gas as the feedstock. The brainiacs on the left believe passing an electric current (from electricity provided by solar and wind) through water to create hydrogen at scale (called “green” hydrogen) is the solution to replace natgas as a feedstock (called gray or blue hydrogen, depending on whether or not CO2 is captured). However, according to a new Harvard University study, producing green hydrogen isn’t economically feasible (and won’t be for decades) due to transportation and storage costs, two items overlooked in most green hydrogen scenarios. 
Once a month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysts issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. What did the October 2024 STEO, issued yesterday, show? EIA’s analysts believe U.S. natural gas production will decline in 2024 while demand will rise to a record high this year. EIA predicts the average spot price for natural gas for all of 2024 will end up being $2.30/MMBtu, up $0.10 from its prediction last month. The agency said the average for 2025 will be $3.10/MMBtu, which is the same prediction as last month. 
The stakes in this November’s election are incredibly high—for the country as a whole and for shale energy everywhere, including here in the Marcellus/Utica. Pennsylvania has been the focus this election season due to the presidential race. However, there is another M-U state, Ohio, where the outcome of a statewide race is also very important: that of the Ohio Supreme Court. There are seven judges on Ohio’s high court, with Republicans holding a slim 4-3 majority. There are three seats up for election. It is anticipated that the Ohio Supreme Court will handle an appeal by anti-fossil fuel zealots of the state’s law that allows drilling under (not on) state land and state parks. If the high court tips to the radical left, drilling under state land is in jeopardy. 
If you live in Pennsylvania, particularly in an urban area, and happen to be black, Asian, or Native American, and you own an Apple product and like to do things outdoors, you can expect a knock on your door by the Democrat anti-shale/global warming squad hoping to recruit you to become a Kamala Harris zombie voter. The younger or older you are, the better (especially under 25 and over 65). The Dems never see people in all of their complexity as individuals who can be reasoned with rationally—they only see groups that can be herded given the right fear-tactic stimuli, like schoolyard bullies from the fourth grade. That’s how they hold on to power. 
Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG export facility (Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana) has consistently received small gas deliveries since mid-September from an interconnect with the Texas Eastern Transmission Company (TETCO) pipeline. However, the 2.6 Bcf/d Plaquemines terminal has not yet begun to produce its first LNG. Gas deliveries will increase this fall as commissioning activities ramp up. The question is, will Venture Global screw its Plaquemines contracted customers the way it has its Calcasieu Pass customers? 
In June 2019, a series of explosions and a massive fire occurred at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refining Complex (see