ESG Clean Energy System Removes 100% of CO2 from Gas-Fired Plant
In December 2022, Rice Acquisition Corp II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) started by the Rice brothers (Danny, Toby, and Derek), announced a deal to acquire NET Power — an electric power developer with revolutionary new technology to capture every last molecule of carbon dioxide from natural gas-fired power plants (see Dan Rice Buys Co. that Builds Zero-Carbon Gas-Fired Electric Plants). It looks like Danny and the boys have some competition. ESG Clean Energy, LLC, developers of power generation/carbon capture systems with zero carbon output, announced that its carbon capture system has already achieved capturing 100% of the CO2 from a combustion exhaust stream at a 4.4-megawatt gas-powered generating plant in Massachusetts.
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We’ve covered the Pennsylvania state budget negotiations and passage in years gone by when PA’s then-Gov. Tom Wolf (far-left Democrat) requested a Marcellus-killing severance tax every year he was in office (eight loooong years). We’ve largely ignored the PA budget this time around under PA’s do-nothing dud of a governor, Josh Shapiro, as his proposed budget didn’t include a severance tax proposal. The budget passed last Thursday (two weeks late). We happened to spot a comment by the Marcellus Shale Coalition offering words of praise for the budget, so that got our attention. What is in this budget the MSC likes?
Refracs, also called re-entries and re-completions, re-enter an existing and declining well to access more rock and pump new life out of it. Refracs are becoming a much more common practice for operators. There are two main types of refracs. While refracs are mainly used in oil wells, there are times when they are used in gas wells. Is a refrac coming to a well near you?
CleanTechnica, a leftist pseudo-science website that caters to mind-numbed robots, is warning its readers that Donald Trump “intends to assemble an army to deconstruct the administrative state & the environment.” Cue screaming. The article details the horrors of a second Trump administration and what it will mean to the environment. Actually, the concern is what it will mean to the parasites who suck public money for scam renewable energy projects. The article is equal parts funny and accurate. It accurately outlines the approach Trump will take to dismantle the administrative state that currently exists and is completely controlled by leftist Democrats. What’s funny is that we agree! The article, while horrifying for leftists, brings us great hope and comfort that we can rescue this country from the disaster it has become under the left.
The U.S. national oil and gas rig count lost ground again last week for the fifth time in six weeks, albeit by a small amount. The national combined Baker Hughes oil and gas rig count lost one rig and now stands at 584 active rigs. The Marcellus/Utica stayed the same last week, for the sixth week in a row, with a combined 36 active rigs. Pennsylvania continued to operate 21 rigs. Ohio remained steady with ten active rigs. And West Virginia kept five active rigs. The M-U’s primary competitor, the Haynesville, held stead with 37 active rigs.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Supreme Court should protect PA energy from dog-and-pony show; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Inslee vows to defend Washington State climate law under attack; For now, natural gas is here to stay in Connecticut; Maryland “can’t import itself out of energy crisis”; INTERNATIONAL: Oil demand averages over 103 million barrels per day in July; UK Energy Dept confirms no new leases for offshore drilling.
Operators and investors are more concerned than ever about the remaining inventory of drillable locations. Who has it? Where is it? Will it be economic? The North American inventory rankings by shale play are always of interest. Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus, recently issued a report that ranks the plays by the number of economic-to-drill locations each play has left. Unfortunately, Marcellus Shale play is on the list of “losers” in this latest report. Why? A huge jump in Bidenflation — rig day rates were up 25% year-over-year in September in the Marcellus, compared to about 15% across the other plays. Also a factor is dropping productivity in the Marcellus (“productivity degradation”), particularly in northeast PA.
In January 2023, Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 became law with the signature of Gov. Mike DeWine (see 
A civil war in the Pennsylvania environmental movement is not getting any attention from mainstream media. Why are we not surprised? We told you about the civil war earlier this week (see 
Permitting in Pennsylvania overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six to eight months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits to speed up approvals (see 
On Tuesday, we told you that Freeport LNG closed its export plant on Sunday in anticipation of Hurricane Beryl hitting the Texas Gulf Coast (see 
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade increased 3.1% globally in 2023 to an average of 52.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), an increase of 1.6 Bcf/d from 2022, according to a recently released report from the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL). Expanded export and import capacity and increasing natural gas demand drove the growth in the global LNG trade last year.
We noticed that permit data has already been updated for last week, so we’re bringing you our weekly permit report a day early. For the week of July 1 – 7, a total of 18 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica. There were six new permits issued in Pennsylvania, with four of them going to Range Resources for a pad in Washington County. There were four new permits in Ohio, all of them going to Encino Energy for a pad in Guernsey County. West Virginia was the surprise with eight new permits, six of which were issued to Antero Resources in Tyler County.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan used a considerable amount of fossil energy and emitted tons of carbon dioxide to jet over to Dubai last December to participate in the COP28 confab, where he released a final rule that was “two years in the making” to force the U.S. oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions by using budget-busting new technologies and onerous (frequent) inspections (see