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Reuters Was Right – Blackstone Paying EQT $3.5B for Pipeline Stake
Just about one month ago, Reuters reported that sources “familiar with the matter” whispered to its reporters that private equity firm Blackstone is “in advanced talks” to acquire minority stakes in the interstate natural gas pipelines now owned by EQT Corp. (following its purchase of Equitrans Midstream) for a whopping $3.5 billion (see Blackstone Seeks to Buy Pipeline Stake from EQT for $3.5 Billion). The sources were right! This morning, EQT issued a press release to announce a deal for Blackstone to invest $3.5 billion in the company’s midstream (pipeline) assets. Read More “Reuters Was Right – Blackstone Paying EQT $3.5B for Pipeline Stake”
On May 30, 2023, a fire and subsequent explosion damaged an above-ground storage tank and the upper process building at the already-closed Fairmont Brine Processing plant in Fairmont, WV (see 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals for responsible and safe shale drilling. The Pennsylvania Bulletin from this past Saturday (Nov. 23) carried an official notice from the SRBC that the agency’s Executive Director gave his approval to one new and 41 renewed general water use permits in October for individual shale gas wells in Bradford, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wyoming counties. 
On Friday, we told you that a bankruptcy judge had tossed out a lawsuit brought by Freeport LNG against the companies that built the facility, claiming it was their shoddy work that has led to a steady string of problems and outages (see 
We still continue to say “pinch us!” that Donald Trump won the election. And what about the picks he’s made for his cabinet and other key positions…Wow! Now comes word from leakers that “within days” of his inauguration, the Trump team will roll out approvals for LNG export requests that have been stalled for a year under Joementia. Word also leaked that Trump plans to approve new on-shore and off-shore drilling on federal lands. It’s such a breath of fresh air! (Pun intended.) 
NATIONAL: Natural gas prices were on fire last week – this is why; Don’t defund the International Energy Agency; Fall natural gas storage peaked at 8-year high; What Trump’s Treasury pick means for clean energy tax credits; INTERNATIONAL: Climate talks end with a bitter fight and a deal on money. 
For the week of Nov 11 – 17, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica were strong, with 30 new permits issued, down just slightly from the 34 issued the prior week (but way up from the piddly numbers issued in prior weeks). The Keystone State (PA) issued 16 new permits, with seven going to Range Resources, all in Washington County. Six permits went to EQT in Lycoming County. Two permits were issued to Olympus Energy in Westmoreland County. A single permit was issued to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Susquehanna County. 
Yesterday, the Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) announced settlements with two Pennsylvania shale drillers claiming violations of the federal Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act. The Bidenistas alleged that XTO Energy and Hilcorp Energy violated emissions limits at oil and gas production facilities in Butler County, Lawrence County, and Mercer County. XTO is on the hook to pay a $4 million fine, while Hilcorp must pay $1.275 million. In addition, XTO will be made to pay another $1.4 million to plug orphaned wells the company had nothing to do with orphaning. That passes as “justice” with the Bidenistas. 
We spotted a press release that fascinates us but will take some explaining. Yesterday, Hanwha Power Systems Co. (headquartered in South Korea) announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with pipeline giant TC Energy to develop a sCO2 WHR (super-critical carbon dioxide waste heat recovery) project which will use the heat stream at a TC natural gas pipeline compressor station in West Virginia. 
We’ve been tracking the up down up down up down situation at Freeport LNG (where some Marcellus/Utica molecules flow) since it came online in 2019. Freeport was mostly offline for the first half of this year following an episode of cold temps in January (see 
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 
As we’ve pointed out a number of times this year, the New York legislature (both chambers controlled by radical Democrats) passed a ban on “CO2 fracking” (uses carbon dioxide instead of water) back in March of this year (see 
In 2021, as he was running for Governor in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin pledged that if he won, he would remove the state from the onerous carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Youngkin kept his promise, although it took longer than he had hoped. Unfortunately, the left-leaning (very partisan) Association of Energy Conservation Professionals sued. The judge in the case just ruled the way Youngkin removed the state from RGGI was unlawful and that the state must (for now) remain in the high-tax, onerous organization.