U.S. Power Sector Sets Another New Record for NatGas Demand in Q1
According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, U.S. power sector natural gas demand set another record high in the first quarter and has remained higher year over year into April. Demand from the power sector for natural gas totaled 32.7 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) in the first quarter of 2024, up 2 Bcf/d from the first quarter of 2023. The trend has continued into April. Gas demand from power plants averaged 30.8 Bcf/d from April 1-18, which is 2.1 Bcf/d higher than the same period of 2023. However, whether the trend will continue through the rest of the year is an open question.
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A local community receiving a federal grant of $14 million (arranged by a local Congressman) to improve natural gas infrastructure, like replacing worn-out gas pipes, is a fairly common occurrence across most of the country. But it’s not a common occurrence when the community receiving the grant and doing the work is located in New York State — a state that is utterly hostile to even a single square inch of new natural gas infrastructure. That’s what makes this story so unusual, so “man-bites-dog” in nature. Bath and Woodhull (both in Steuben County, NY) are receiving a combined $14 million to replace nearly 18 miles of natural gas pipelines.
Bloomberg is reporting that White House officials have restarted discussions about potentially declaring a national “climate emergency” in order to unlock sweeping federal powers in order “to stifle oil development.” Yeah, you read that right. The Bidenistas want to destroy the U.S. oil industry. Declaring an emergency would grant the president sweeping powers that “could be used to curtail crude exports, suspend offshore drilling, and curb greenhouse gas emissions.” These radicals are over-the-top drunk on power. They are authoritarian (Communist) to their core. They are the opposite of what this country was founded on — freedom.
NATIONAL: Biden moves to make conservation an equal to industry on US lands; DOE invests $8 million for projects to advance carbon capture tech; INTERNATIONAL: Scotland ditches 2030 climate target to cut emissions by 75%; Shell urges investors to reject shareholder group’s climate demands; US confirms reimposition of oil sanctions against Venezuela; Updated transit levels at Panama Canal don’t faze LNG shippers.
In January 2023, Pennsylvania State Senator Scott Martin (from Lancaster, PA) hosted a reelection fundraiser at an Italian restaurant in nearby Harrisburg. A pretty swanky fundraiser, too, at $1,000 a plate. Like it or not, this is how it works in the world of politics. Martin happens to be a Republican and a supporter of fossil energy. Those two things send leftists into orbit. A small group of far-left (professional) protesters showed up at the entrance of the restaurant to make a lot of noise and to make silly asses of themselves (which they excel at doing). One of them tilted over into criminality. He obstructed the doorway to the restaurant and would not let anyone enter or leave — a fire hazard at a minimum. Justice was finally rendered on Wednesday in a Dauphin County courtroom.
In October 2019, Eureka Resources, which operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale (and is building a fourth facility in Dimock, PA), began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see 
Berkeley Research Group (BRG) published a very important new study yesterday that has Big Green tied up in knots. The study, “Comparative GHG Footprint Analysis for European and Asian Supplies of USLNG, Pipeline Gas, and Coal” (full copy below), analyzes methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions across leading fuel supply chains for power generation in 13 European and Asian end markets. The study has been under development since 2021. It uses a “bottom-up methodology” to arrive at a comprehensive comparison of the emissions intensity of the primary fuel sources, as well as continuously updated data from numerous sources. It’s far more rigorous and reliable than the typical Big Green propaganda that relies on aggregated emissions information to develop general theoretical conclusions. This is real science.
The EIA says the U.S. natural gas trade will continue to grow with the startup of new LNG export projects. In a Today in Energy post, the EIA says (based on its recent Short-Term Energy Outlook report) that it expects U.S. LNG exports will increase just 2% this year over last year. However, in 2025, LNG exports will soar by 18% due to three new LNG export facilities currently under construction that will come online next year.
The devious left is at it again. In their hatred of fossil energy, the Democrat Party is targeting a little-known portion of the Clean Water Act (CWA), called a Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), that is often used to streamline the construction of new oil and gas pipelines. NWP12 was used, in part, to construct the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia. The Dems are leaning on the Bidenistas to “review” the NWP12 and to revise the regulation to exempt its use to build oil and gas pipelines. Yet another attack from the Democrats on oil and gas.
Hydrogen has been hyped as a carbon-free fuel that will magically fix the nonexistent climate crisis. It will supposedly clean up “dirty” industries like Big Chemical and Big Steel. It will power our cars and trucks, farting out water instead of CO2. And, it will help the U.S. hit mythical net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — the artificial date by which Mom Earth will toast if we do nothing. Billions of dollars have been and are being poured into hydrogen, and whoops! Nothing is happening because (a) the Bidenistas refuse to allow tax credits for hydrogen made from natural gas, and (b) hydrogen is too expensive to create apart from natural gas.
PennEnergy Resources, LLC, the 11th largest shale driller in Pennsylvania, has introduced the use of liquid nitrogen systems (via a partnership with Kathairos Solutions) into its portfolio of emission reduction strategies, allowing for the rapid conversion of traditional pneumatic devices to zero-emission sources. The technology has been “a game-changer” for remote legacy facilities with limited access to infrastructure.
Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (with assets in other regions, too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with 67,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. Diversified set a goal of reducing methane emissions by 50% over levels from 2020 and to do it by 2030. At the recent Hart Energy DUG GAS+ Conference and Expo, Diversified senior VP of EHS&R, Paul Espenan, said the company is pleased to announce it has already met that goal! And the company is well on its way to zero methane emissions by 2040. How is Diversified doing it?
West Virginia Public Broadcasting recently sat down with Charlie Burd, president of the West Virginia Gas and Oil Association (GO-WV), to ask him about the Mountain State’s role in supplying natural gas to the global market. The discussion covered a number of topics, including who are the biggest gas producers in WV, pipelines, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), and why WV still has not added any new natural gas-fired power plants to its electric generating fleet.
It must be its “predict the future price of natgas” season, along with tax season. Yesterday, we told you that BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, hauled out its crystal ball to make predictions about the “front month” contract price for NYMEX natural gas (based on the Henry Hub) for the next five years, beginning with 2024 (see