NATIONAL: Energy Aspects thought USA natural gas price rise was overdone; A broken energy permitting system hurts Hispanic families and small biz; Readers led to believe fictional portrayals are accurate in climate fiction; U.S. shale hits snooze; INTERNATIONAL: Europe can’t seem to kick its Russian energy habit. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Sep 30, 2024”
There were 32 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica for the week of Sept. 16 – 22, more than doubling the 15 issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had nine new permits, with five of them going to EQT in Greene County. The Buckeye State (OH) had 20 new permits. The floodgates opened up! The top recipient in OH was Encino Energy, which received eight permits divided between Guernsey and Carroll counties. EOG Resources received five permits in Harrison County. The Mountain State (WV) had three new permits after getting skunked the prior week. All three were issued to Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) in Monongalia County. Read More “32 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 16 – 22”
It’s the end of an era. Chesapeake Energy was founded in 1989 by Aubrey McClendon and Tom L. Ward with an initial investment of $50,000. The flamboyant McClendon, who became the CEO, named the company after the Chesapeake Bay due to his love of the region. He rapidly grew his company, headquarter in Oklahoma City, by doing big, audacious deals to lock up large tracts of acreage for gas drilling. Chesapeake, now helmed by one of McClendon’s old friends and lieutenants, Nick Dell’Osso (formerly CFO), announced a deal to buy out and merge with Southwestern Energy earlier this year (see Deal is Done! Chesapeake & Southwestern Announce $7.4B Merger). Yesterday, Dell’Osso announced the final merger, which the Bidenistas had delayed, will close soon, likely next week. The combined company will no longer be called Chesapeake Energy or Southwestern Energy but will be rebranded as (trumpet fanfare)…Expand Energy Corporation. Read More “Chesapeake & Southwestern Merger to Close Next Week; New Name”
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. Read More “U.S. Senate Candidate McCormick Addressed Shale Insight In Person”
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. Read More “Stock Price for M-U Drillers Surprisingly Resilient in 2024”
In August, MDN told you about a tiny new gas-fired power plant coming to Kentucky (see Gas Peaker Planned for Madisonville, KY to Aid Unreliable Renewables). The Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KYMEA) and the City of Madisonville announced the development of the KYMEA Energy Center I, a 75-megawatt peaker natural gas electric generating facility to be located in Madisonville. The facility will supplement (make possible) unreliable renewable energy that can’t meet sudden increases in demand for electricity. We have some details about the technology that will be used in the plant—tech that will come from Finland, of all places. Read More “Finland Providing Tech for Gas Peaker Plant in Madisonville, KY”
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. Read More “Second New LNG Love Boat, Based in FL, Under Construction in Italy”
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. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Sep 27, 2024”
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 The Time is Now Right – BKV Launches IPO Hoping to Raise $315M). BKV, which is being carved out of Banpu to stand on its own, had hoped the IPO would raise between $19 and $21 per share (for 15 million shares), generating $285 – $315 million. Yesterday, BKV announced the IPO result, which came in slightly under the hoped-for amount. Read More “BKV Adjusts IPO Price Down from $19-$21 to $18 per Share”
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 2Q – Selling Rest of NEPA Non-Op Assets, Curtailing 500 MMcf/d). A number of other M-U producers, BIG producers, also announced curtailments this year, including Chesapeake Energy and Coterra Energy. EQT CEO Toby Rice told Reuters yesterday that his company will begin to restore some of the curtailed volumes starting in October. Read More “EQT to Begin Reversing Curtailed Production Starting in October”
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… Read More “EQT’s Rice Says Data Centers #1 New Customer; Price Spikes Coming”
While Toby Rice was talking about AI and data centers at an event in New York City yesterday, Coterra Energy CEO Tom Jorden was talking about AI 450 miles away from NYC in Erie, Pennsylvania, at the annual Shale Insight event. Jorden said sucky government policies (our term, not his) are not working. Instead, said Jorden, government bureaucrats and politicians should turn to AI (artificial intelligence) to help create and guide energy policies—since what passes for intelligence in government weenies is sorely lacking. Read More “Coterra CEO Says Government Should Use AI for Better Energy Policy”
CNX Resources released its first Radical Transparency™ assessment report in August (see Independent Monitoring of CNX Ops Shows No Public Health Threat). The initial results of nine months of continuous air emissions monitoring at natural gas well sites and compressor stations in southwestern Pennsylvania indicate that CNX natural gas development poses no public health risk. Period. The data is collected and disseminated to the public by an independent third-party contractor. This is objective you-can’t-argue-with-it data that shows CNX is not causing any kind of public health hazard. Big Green is apoplectic that their lying narratives are now countered by objective (truthful) data and is attempting to smear CNX and its objective data (see Leftists Rattled by CNX’s Real Science and Radical Transparency). Apparently, CNX is taking some heat from the shale industry because at yesterday’s Shale Insight event in Erie, PA, CNX’s Chief Risk Officer, Hayley Scott, defended her company’s participation in the ongoing monitoring study they call Radical Transparency. Read More “CNX Official Calls on Entire Industry to Get Radically Transparent”
Some 800 delegates are attending the Shale Insight event held in Erie, PA, from Tuesday through today. It’s the premier shale event in the Marcellus/Utica each year. While 800 talented, hardworking, intelligent people are inside listening to speakers, networking (talking to others), and learning how to make shale drilling better (safer, faster, cheaper)—in general, figuring out how to solve problems and move our industry and the world forward, making life better for everyone—there were a handful of protesters outside the event. The people outside don’t create jobs but destroy them. They don’t offer solutions, only criticism. Of course, the media was there to highlight these ne’er-do-wells, including comments from a lying nun.
Read More “The Lying Nun Makes an Appearance at Shale Insight Event”
NATIONAL: Climate activist group endorses Harris; Tally of US wind & solar rejections hits 735; Diversified E&Ps rebalancing portfolios to crude oil as natural gas revenues sink; INTERNATIONAL: Is oil more likely to go to $60 or $100 in 2024?; Chevron paid more to African petrostates than the USA in 2023; 100+ global lawmakers urge Biden to reject new LNG exports. Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Sep 26, 2024”