July STEO Predicts U.S. Natgas Output Declines, Demand Rises 2024
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. Starting last month, the EIA axed its monthly Drilling Productivity Report that focused on shale plays and instead rolled it into the monthly STEO (see Biden EIA Dumps Detailed Monthly U.S. Shale Drilling Report). We’re still grumbling about the change. So, what did yesterday’s July 2024 STEO show? On a macro level, the EIA predicts U.S. natural gas production will decline in 2024 while demand will rise to a record high.
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Conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House are pushing a so-called bipartisan bill to “study” the carbon emissions of products produced in the U.S. versus emissions for products manufactured in other countries, like China. We think this may be a slippery slope. We first wrote about this issue in March 2023 when the Senate was working on the bill (see 
For donkey’s years, BP (British Petroleum) published its annual Statistical Review of World Energy — since 1952. Last year BP said it would no longer publish it and instead turn it over to a Big Green advocacy group known as The Energy Institute (EI) to publish (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Washington County Transit Authority gets $15M for new CNG terminal; Honeywell strikes $1.8 billion deal for LNG business; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Construction progresses on Sempra’s Port Arthur LNG export project; Pennybacker buys New Fortress Energy Miami LNG; NATIONAL: Oil falls as traders analyze Powell comments; Sen. James Inhofe, a courageous dissident on climate crisis, passes away; US Oil and Gas president says he supports RNC platform; INTERNATIONAL: Will OPEC+ ever rein in its non-compliant members?; Disney launching cruises in Japan; America’s NATO partners anticipate U.S. LNG supplies to Europe; Russia and Iran move closer to creating gas OPEC-style cartel.
Pennsylvania Democrat leftists face a conundrum. Do they listen to one set of environmentalist wackos, including the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Nature Conservancy, and Clean Air Task Force? Or do they listen to a different set (on the same ideological side of the aisle), including Better Path Coalition, 350 Pittsburgh, 412 Justice, the Center for Coalfield Justice, and the Clean Air Council? Two weeks ago, the first set of wackos threw their support behind PA Senate Bill (SB) 831, the Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act (see 
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) have been all the rage over the past year or so. In 2024 alone, Chesapeake Energy announced a $7.4 billion deal to buy Southwestern Energy (see 
Williams’ Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project involves expanding the mighty Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. Part of the project was completed and went online last year (see 
As we mentioned in a companion post today, the Williams Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project recently received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin operations for another segment of the REAE project, flowing an extra 130 MMcf/d of natural gas to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland (see FERC OKs Request to Place More of Regional Energy Access Online). However, yesterday, Williams suffered a minor legal setback related to the REAE project.
We began our headline with the word “Surprise!” because, well, nobody is surprised that Freeport LNG is, once again, down. That has been the theme since it began to operate. We’ve tracked the up down up down up down situation at Freeport LNG since it came online in 2019. Freeport was mostly offline this year following an episode of cold temps in January (see 
Climate hucksters like the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) peddle the false narrative that Big Oil is spending mountains of money to protect its filthy, polluting industry, while environmental groups (like the NRDC) that just want you to breathe clean air and drink pure water are just about flat busted. Big Oil is Goliath, and Big Green is David. The opposite is the truth. According to an analysis of IRS records, for every dollar spent by organizations and groups that support fossil energy, nearly $10 ($9.60 to be exact) is spent by Big Green groups.
We’re playing catch-up following our brief Wednesday through Friday vacation last week. The first order of business is to bring you the list of permits issued for the week of June 24 – 30. A total of 15 new permits were issued, with most (10) issued in Pennsylvania. Ohio issued four new permits, and West Virginia issued one new permit. Both Seneca Resources and Apex Energy tied for most new permits (three each), with Seneca’s permits issued in Tioga County, PA, and Apex’s permits issued in Westmoreland County, PA.
Nearly one year ago, in August 2023, MDN brought you an update on the KeyState Natural Gas Synthesis project in Clinton County, PA (see 
Last week, MDN told you about some of the early impacts as a result of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that stretches from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, coming online (see 
Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline (TETCO) is a major natural gas pipeline originally built to flow gas from the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas and Louisiana up through Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to deliver gas in the New York City area. Owned by Canadian-based Enbridge, TETCO is one of the largest pipeline systems in the United States. Years ago, large portions of TETCO were reversed to flow Marcellus/Utica gas southward along the pipeline. Here’s something we’re sure happens with big pipes like TETCO, but not something you read about often: TETCO is replacing a segment of its pipeline that runs through Fayette County, PA.
Dominion Energy plans to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, near Richmond (see