New Poll Shows Swing State Voters Want Answers on Energy Policies
A new Morning Consult/American Petroleum Institute (API) poll recently surveyed registered voters in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Inflation is a huge issue for voters in those states, with 81% to 86% saying the price of daily necessities has become “financially painful” and anywhere from 88% to 94% saying they are “concerned” about inflation. Of particular relevance for us, the vast majority of voters in those swing states said *more* domestic oil and natural gas production would lower costs. Anywhere from 80% to 87% of those surveyed support more domestic energy production over more foreign production. The poll also found that 9 in 10 voters in those states want details from presidential candidates on energy issues. Read More “New Poll Shows Swing State Voters Want Answers on Energy Policies”
The province of Québec, Canada, with a huge supply of Utica Shale gas sitting beneath it, passed a new law in 2022 outlawing all oil and natural gas production throughout the province (see 
Two days ago, MDN told you about a Congressional investigation looking into the Department of Energy’s use of a prematurely released “study” as an excuse to “pause” (i.e., ban) new LNG export approvals (see 
There are so many colors for hydrogen (denoting how it is produced) that we’ve lost track of the number. Some 95% of all hydrogen today is made by using steam with natural gas to separate hydrogen from carbon, referred to as “gray” hydrogen. If the hydrogen producer captures the carbon dioxide generated during the process, it’s called “blue” hydrogen. “Green” hydrogen uses electricity from solar or wind to pass an electrical current through water to split the molecules into hydrogen and oxygen (by far the most expensive way to produce hydrogen). “Pink” hydrogen is produced from water using nuclear power. There are other colors too, like white and brown. However, we’re interested in “turquoise” hydrogen today, which is also made from natural gas. Instead of steam, methane is heated to 900 degrees Celcius, which frees the hydrogen atoms and turns the carbon into a solid. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Virginia Natural Gas taps new CEO; NATIONAL: John Kerry says First Amendment is the enemy, elites try to eliminate free speech; US, Brazil extend energy transition collaboration; INTERNATIONAL: Oil soars on Biden remarks; Why carbon credits are a load of hot air and where the money really goes. 
Today, we bring you news about a lawsuit filed just over three years ago, in September 2021, by four landowners in southwestern Pennsylvania who leased their land to Range Resources for drilling. The lawsuit is just now coming on our radar screen. Range did drill and, claims the landowners, deducted expenses from royalty checks for both methane and NGL production that were not allowed. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of PA and continues to advance. On September 30, a judge certified the case as a class action with the potential to affect 204 landowners with leases containing specific language. 
In August, the Biden-Harris administration promised (but hasn’t yet delivered a dime of) up to $152 million in “Phase 2” federal money, i.e., your taxpayer dollars, to help plug old conventional oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania (see 
Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw believes he has a solution to help fund plugging many of the state’s ~350,000 orphaned and abandoned conventional oil and gas wells. Yaw recently introduced a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 1330, that directs the PA Department of General Services to sell any alternative energy credits it owns from buying unreliable solar energy and use the funds to plug old wells. The proposal, which could generate upward of $227 million, drives the enviro-left nuts. 
In January, MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township in McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see 
MDN previously told you that gas flows (called “feedgas”) heading to the Cove Point LNG export facility along the coast of Maryland had fallen to zero as of Sept. 20 because the facility is undergoing annual maintenance (see 
We’re not high finance people (nor are we lawyers), but we do the best we can to explain financial (and legal) news that impacts companies and individuals in the Marcellus/Utica. Yesterday, Ascent Resources, a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale, announced it is floating new unsecured notes that mature in 2032 to purchase and payoff already-existing unsecured notes that were due to be paid (“maturing”) in 2026. We call them IOUs. Ascent is hoping to raise $600 million by selling the new notes. 
EQT Corporation is now the #2 largest natural gas driller in the U.S. following the merger of Chesapeake Energy with Southwestern Energy to form Expand Energy Corporation (see today’s lead story). EQT took the opportunity yesterday, while everyone was focused on the shiny new object (Expand Energy), to file a Form 8-K with the SEC announcing it is laying off 15% of its entire workforce. EQT says the layoffs are a result of too many workers following the merger with its former midstream division, Equitrans, in July (see 
We spotted a press release about new leadership at the top of Calpine Corporation, one of the largest power producers in the U.S. with major assets in the upper East Coast area (fed by Marcellus/Utica molecules). The company’s CFO, Andrew Novotny, is becoming the CEO. Beyond the tie-in with the M-U because the company uses our molecules, we have a fond memory of one of Calpine’s gas-fired power plants in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (see 
Two oilfield services companies—Axis Energy Services LLC and Brigade Energy Services LLC—jointly announced the closing of an agreement to merge and form the nation’s largest well servicing company. The new company will retain the Axis Energy name and will remain headquartered in Dallas, TX. According to Axis, the transaction creates the nation’s leading company for completion services, workover solutions, and plug and abandonment operations. The newly combined company boasts more than 1,700 employees and 200 active and marketable workover rigs—the largest single fleet in the industry. The company has a “strong presence” in the Marcellus/Utica.