NATIONAL: The Gensler SEC loses again; The latest on the war against internal combustion vehicles; Fossil fuels – the best-kept secret in our world today; INTERNATIONAL: China is main beneficiary of West’s futile energy transition push.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Jun 13, 2024”
Wonder of wonders. Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted its permission for the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to begin flowing natural gas. YES!!!! We are elated! Finally, nine years after MVP filed for permission to build, the pipeline is now (or soon will be) flowing Marcellus/Utica gas to the Southern U.S. This is a great day for all of the Marcellus/Utica.
Read More “FERC Grants Permission to Mountain Valley Pipeline to Start Flowing”
In July 2022, MDN brought you news of a possible frac-out, or “inadvertent return” that happens when drilling mud pops out of places where it’s not supposed to — places outside the borehole being drilled (see Possible Frac-Out Reported at EQT Well Site in Greene County, PA). A landowner who lives near a well being drilled and fracked by EQT in Greene County complained her water well was fouled by EQT’s drilling and that a nearby abandoned well was releasing fluids and natural gas. According to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), EQT confirmed some of its fluids were “communicating” with the abandoned well. A year later, in August of 2023, the nearby community of New Freeport, where the frac-out happened, said the situation remained unresolved (see Possible Frac-Out Near EQT Pad in Greene County…One Year Later). However, on November 29, 2023, the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) accepted a settlement agreement between the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and EQT involving appeals of DEP actions related to the frac-out, settling the matter. Or so it seemed…
Read More “Continued Concerns with Water Wells Near EQT Frac-Out in Greene Co.”
Once a month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysts issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. We sometimes poke good-natured fun at the EIA because their predictions go up in one month, and in the next month, they go down, etc. What about the latest STEO dart board, published yesterday? EIA predicts the average spot price for natural gas will be $2.50/MMBtu in 2024, up $0.30 from its prediction just last month (see May STEO Predicts NatGas Production to Fall Slightly in 2Q). The agency also raised the average spot price prediction for gas in 2025. Last month, it was $3.10; this month, it was $3.20.
Read More “June STEO Predicts Marcellus/Utica Production to Fall 4% in 2024”
It is the sad end of an era brought about by the Bidenistas at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). For years, since the very first Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) issued by the EIA, MDN has brought you the monthly DPR, a report that delves into the latest numbers for each of the seven major shale plays in the U.S. The monthly DPR reported estimates of production for each play each month, along with DUC (drilled but uncompleted well) counts and other vital statistics. But, no more. We checked the EIA’s DPR report page today and found this notice: “Beginning June 11, 2024, we will publish the shale gas tight oil production data and Drilling Productivity Report data in the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) data tables. These improvements will provide a disaggregated STEO forecast for oil and natural gas production in different regions of the United States.”
Read More “Biden EIA Dumps Detailed Monthly U.S. Shale Drilling Report”
Ameren Missouri, a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation, recently filed an application with the Missouri Public Service Commission to build an 800-megawatt, simple-cycle “peaker plant” powered by natural gas to serve as a reliable backup source of energy, ready to use when customers need it most. The Castle Bluff Energy Center is designed to bolster grid reliability, deliver energy on the hottest summer days and the coldest winter nights, and complement the increasing amount of renewable energy generation being added to the grid.
Read More “Ameren Seeks to Build 800-MW Gas-Fired Peaker Near St. Louis, MO”
Since April, mainstream media has been abuzz with the ironic conundrum that there are huge quantities of lithium in shale brine/wastewater (see Mainstream Media 5 Years Late Reporting Lithium-from-Shale Story). As we’ve pointed out in several posts, we’ve covered the lithium-from-Marcellus-brine story for five years. So, welcome to the party, mainstream reporters! Here’s some legitimate new news with respect to lithium from brine: Scientists at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering have invented a technique for removing lithium from various sources, including seawater and brine (shale wastewater). The innovation allows for lithium extraction that is faster, cheaper, and greener than current methods.
Read More “University of Chicago Invents New Way to Extract Lithium from Brine”
A once-respected oil and gas consultancy has become a petty partisan purveyor of pap. We’re referring to Wood Mackenzie, the “global insight business for renewables, energy and natural resources.” In a recently released report, WoodMac analysts make this partisan statement: “A Republican victory in 2024 could roll back decarbonisation policies and usher in a delayed energy transition for the US.” The not-so-subtle implication is that if you care about the planet and the mythical “energy transition” that must take place (or else)…you’ll vote Democrat in November. What a huge, stinking pile of B.S. WoodMac has become as corrupted and unreliable as the International Energy Agency (IEA) with its pronouncements of doom and gloom to the planet if we don’t ban fossil energy now. Shame on WoodMac for becoming partisan hacks.
Read More “WoodMac Pimps Itself Out for Democrats in New “Report” re Election”
NATIONAL: Natural gas prices jump 4% on forecasts for extreme heat; Supremes asks Biden admin for input on Hawaii Big Oil lawsuit; INTERNATIONAL: The ‘climate crisis’ fades out; Gail India planning to build new cracker fed by ethane imports.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Jun 12, 2024”
Is today the day we’ve been waiting and writing about for the past nine years? Possibly! Yesterday, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), the 303-mile, 2 Bcf/d pipeline from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to say the pipeline is now mechanically complete, meaning the pipeline is in the ground, covered up, fully tested, and ready to begin operations. MVP asked FERC to allow it to begin flowing gas TODAY, June 11. At best, it’s a 50/50 shot that FERC will allow it to begin operations today. No matter. Whether today, tomorrow, or next week, MVP is done and will begin. WE WON!
Read More “MVP “Mechanically Complete” – Asks FERC to Begin Flowing TODAY!”
Natural gas utility Peoples Natural Gas (headquartered in Pittsburgh) is working with Pittsburgh startup company H Quest and the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering to test new technology from H Quest that microwaves natural gas (CH4), turning it into clean hydrogen (H2) and carbon black. No carbon dioxide (CO2) is released in the process. The H Quest tech is housed in what looks like a tractor-trailer container unit that is powerful enough to “decarbonize more than 1,000 residential households in one go.”
Read More “Peoples NatGas & Pittsburgh Startup Demo Tech Converting CH4 to H2”
We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River, since the Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against the company back in March (see our AMS stories here). AMS has stored at least 10,000 tons of fracking waste (drill cuttings with low radioactivity) at the facility. The facility is rated and permitted to hold 600 tons. In March, Ohio AG Dave Yost asked the Belmont County Common Pleas Court to block AMS from receiving more waste and order it to clean up and comply with its rating. According to Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies, who addressed the city council last Wednesday, nothing has been done so far.
Read More “Martins Ferry Sees No Evidence of Cleanup at Austin Master Serv.”
Anti-fossil fuelers can’t protest specific projects that are part of the ARCH2 (Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub) initiative because the projects are still being fleshed out. There aren’t any specifics yet to share, which makes antis mad. As soon as they know what projects are planned, they will use considerable sums of money (from dubious sources) to try and defeat, block, and oppose those projects because they irrationally hate natural gas, which will be the feedstock used in ARCH2.
Read More “Antis Mad They Can’t Protest Specific ARCH2 Hydrogen Projects”
Did you know that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is responsible for processing and issuing some 800 different types of permits? Does that not seem a bit excessive? (Is there a permit for applying for a permit?) Being responsible for issuing 800 permits sure sounds like government run amok. Big government. PA State Rep. Jim Struzzi (Republican from Indiana County) announced the introduction of House Resolution 468 last week. The legislation directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) to conduct a survey of the PA DEP’s permitting processes.
Read More “Bill Would Study Why PA DEP Issues 800 Different Types of Permits”
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility received FERC authorization to place the final three liquefaction blocks (7-9) into service last fall (see Venture Global Gets FERC OK to Commission 3 Calcasieu Pass Trains). The other trains, 1-6, have been online for over two years. However, the entire facility is not officially in commercial service, even though it has shipped over 200 cargoes! Venture Global claims it’s still working out the kinks. Venture’s contracted customers are frustrated that they aren’t getting any of their contracted (price-guaranteed) shipments, so they sued last September (see Repsol Joins Shell, BP in Suing Venture Global for Missed LNG).
Read More “FERC Orders Venture Global to Hand Over Documents to LNG Customers”
Massive wealth transfer (your money forcibly transferred to other people in other countries)… subjugation of your life by controlling the energy you use… a new form of worldwide Communism. Has MDN gone off its rocker? Does MDN really believe the stuff it writes about issues like a carbon tax aimed at not only stifling the use of fossil fuels but also being a heist — the theft of your money? Well, yes, we do believe it! And we believe it not because of some conspiracy theory spun by a crackpot commentator on the radio. We believe it because we read and listen to the actual words of leftists. We don’t make things up. The left will tell you what it intends to do if you just open your eyes and ears. Case in point… Here is a current headline from a mainstream news service: “Here’s an idea: a worldwide universal basic income paid for by a carbon tax. A study found that it could boost the global GDP by 130%.” Who uses the most fossil energy in the world? We do, here in the U.S. So who would “fund” the vast majority of a guaranteed, worldwide “universal basic income” for the rest of the world via a forced carbon tax? We would — U.S. taxpayers. Still think we’re crazy crackpots?
Read More “End Game Revealed: Carbon Tax Would Fund Universal Basic Income”