EQT’s Toby Rice Says Renewables Can’t Meet Demand from AI & EVs
Toby Rice, the Chief Executive Officer of EQT Corporation, currently the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. (but about to become second-largest next week, after Chesapeake Energy & Southwestern Energy merge to become the largest, see today’s companion story), addressed the 800 attendees at the Shale Insight event yesterday. He was in Erie, PA, yesterday, just one day after he spoke at an event in New York City at that city’s so-called Climate Week. Rice had some rather blunt words about the capability of renewable energy and the inability of renewables to meet a dramatic increase in demand for energy that will come from AI data centers and a massive expansion in the use of electric vehicles. He said renewables will “not be enough” to meet that demand, especially at the prices needed. Natural gas, on the other hand, IS enough. Read More “EQT’s Toby Rice Says Renewables Can’t Meet Demand from AI & EVs”
Voters in Pennsylvania have the opportunity to elect a U.S. Senator in November who is a 100% supporter of the state’s Marcellus shale industry: Dave McCormick. Will they? Or will PA voters re-elect Bob Casey for a third term—someone who voted with Joe Biden and his Big Green (anti-shale) agenda 98.5% of the time? A quote often attributed to Woody Allen is this: “Ninety percent of success in life is just showing up.” Dave McCormick showed up, IN PERSON, to deliver a talk at this week’s Shale Insight event in Erie, PA, showing his unreserved support for PA shale. Bob Casey was a no-show. Instead, Casey “mailed it in” by sending a prerecorded message to attendees, mouthing insincere words of support for the industry. Which one do you believe REALLY supports shale? It’s a no-brainer. 
In 2024, natural gas prices have spent almost the entire year under $3.00 per Mcf (thousand cubic feet), including a few months under $2.00/Mcf. You would think such low prices would have a negative effect on the stock prices of publicly traded Marcellus/Utica gas producers. Not so! Stock prices for our drillers have remained “remarkably stable.” In fact, Antero Resources’ price is actually UP this year. Range Resources is flat for the year so far. Others, like EQT and Coterra Energy, are down just a smidge. Given the disadvantages of the M-U basin—primarily the lack of pipeline takeaway capacity and the long distance our molecules must travel to Gulf Coast LNG export facilities—it’s surprising that stock valuations for our drillers have not been negatively impacted. 
In August, MDN told you about a tiny new gas-fired power plant coming to Kentucky (see 
For those of a certain age (or who like to watch reruns), do you remember that iconic song and TV series, The Love Boat? Sing along with us: “The love boat soon will be making another run. The love boat promises something for everyone. Set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance…” Princess Cruises is the operator of the ships featured on the Love Boat TV show. The company announced yesterday that finishing work has begun in Italy on its second LNG-powered cruise ship. The Star Princess is due to be based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and will set sail in the fall of 2025. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Digging deep to understand rural opposition to solar power; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Category 3 Hurricane Helene nears landfall, disrupts energy infrastructure; NATIONAL: Harris’ bait and switch on fracking; Shock election forecast gives Trump 11 point lead over Harris; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ confirms it has no specific price target for crude oil; Oil sinks amid Saudi output plans and Libyan oil revival; Oil prices to stay depressed through 2025 on global oversupply; Agencies reveal new framework to measure progress on methane reduction; The EU tries to extend its ESG regulatory reach to the U.S. 
Last week, MDN told you the time was finally right for BKV Corporation (Banpu Kalnin Ventures), the American arm of Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company, to launch an initial public offering (see 
In July, MDN brought you the news that the largest natural gas producer in the country, EQT Corporation, totally focused on drilling in the Marcellus/Utica, was still curtailing (intentionally reducing) some of its M-U production through the second half of 2024 (see 
EQT CEO Toby Rice has been in New York City for the city’s so-called Climate Week. Rice (EQT) is a member of the Partnership to Address Global Emissions. Bloomberg is reporting on several comments made by Rice that are intriguing and insightful—comments about the coming important role of AI data centers, when the price of natural gas may begin to rise again, and just how high the price may hit. Buckle up as we crawl inside the head of Toby Rice… 
The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d of natural gas through 1,131 miles of pipeline. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. As we told you in September 2023, Enbridge conducted an open season to gauge interest in expanding Algonquin’s capacity to flow more gas into New England — mainly from the Marcellus/Utica — called Project Maple (see 
CNX Resources released its first Radical Transparency™ assessment report in August (see 
A gigantic 91,000-square-foot facility that turns cow poop into CH4 (methane) is set to begin construction, possibly in October, near Seneca Lake in Ontario County, NY. Yes, the beautiful countryside of Upstate New York will soon produce methane, and it will be near the largest of NY’s bucolic Finger Lakes. The facility will use the manure from 12 local dairy farms with a combined 11,000 cows to extract methane through an anaerobic digester process. The methane would then be converted into natural gas and injected into a nearby NYSEG (New York State Electric & Gas) pipeline. Wait…where’s anti-fossil fueler Sandra Steingraber from Ithaca College? Where’s anti-fossil fueler Robert Howarth from Cornell University? They both begin to froth at the mouth whenever the word “methane” is uttered publicly or privately anywhere in Upstate New York! Yet they, and groups like Food & Water Watch, the Sierra Club, and a host of other Big and Little Green groups are completely silent about this plant that will see 91 truckloads of cow poop coming and going each and every day at this plant—12 hours a day. All to produce (gasp!)…METHANE.