Energy Companies | Energy Corporation of America | Greene County (PA) | Greylock Energy | Pennsylvania
ECA Marcellus Trust I Gives Investors 3-Cent Dividend 4Q23
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced it would issue a three-cent ($0.03) dividend to unitholders for 4Q23. The company paid 4.3 cents per unit in 1Q23, nothing in 2Q23, and six-tenths of a penny ($0.006) in 3Q23 (see ECA Marcellus Trust I Gives Investors Half a Penny Dividend 3Q). The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 4Q23) to build a cash reserve for “future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities.”
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Fired FirstEnergy execs indicted in $60 million Ohio bribery scheme; NATIONAL: Enbridge makes progress toward U.S. gas utilities takeover; America must show energy leadership on a global stage; Rubio questions Biden admin’s authority to pause LNG exports; US LNG export terminal permit pause could boost coal use; How low can you go? Natgas down to $1.67/MMBtu; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC report shows uneven delivery of new oil production cuts; US exports crude to Nigeria for the first time.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an excellent article reporting on an effort by Tenaska, one of the largest privately operated companies in the U.S., to build a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) hub spanning tens of thousands of acres in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Landmen are “knocking on doors again” in all three states, looking to sign up landowners to store carbon dioxide deep underground. We have the details below, including how much money Tenaska is paying as a signing bonus and how much is on offer (per acre) each year.
West Virginia House Bill (HB) 4292 attempts to close a loophole affecting landowners and mineral rights owners with a conventional oil or gas well. Royalties from conventional O&G wells are typically small, as little as $40-$50 per month. Some energy companies (hopefully very few) that own the wells are intentionally late with royalty payments or outright refuse to make the payments. Because the amounts are so small, lawyers typically won’t take on a case for nonpayment of royalties. This bill aims to fix that.
We’re sad to have to report on yet another down day of the NYMEX Henry Hub natural gas futures contract. Yesterday, the NYMEX price closed at $1.77/MMBtu, the lowest closing price for the “front month” contract in 3 1/2 years (since Monday, July 27, 2020). Yesterday’s closing price breaks through the latest “floor” of $1.80, an important psychological barrier traders monitor. As has been the case in recent weeks, weather is cited as the main factor in the low price. It’s just not cold enough this winter to spur big domestic demand for natgas. The price is down 31.4 cents (15%) over the last five trading sessions. How much lower will it go?
We report today in a companion story about the crash in the NYMEX price to $1.77/MMBtu that NGI’s Spot Gas National Average jumped 36.5 cents to $2.115 yesterday based on winter weather forecasts in some states. What will the Henry Hub spot price (not the futures price, but the physically traded spot price) average for 2024 and 2025? The number crunchers at EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) explain their reasoning for a prediction that the average spot price will remain below $3 this year and next.
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company NFG Midstream (and subsidiary Empire Pipeline). Last week, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. During the quarter (considered the company’s first quarter), Seneca produced 100.8 Bcf (billion cubic feet) of natural gas, an increase of 10.2 Bcf, or 11%, from the prior year, mainly due to production from new Marcellus and Utica wells in Seneca’s Eastern Development Area (EDA).
The Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline project called Enhancement by Compression (ExC) increases horsepower at three compression stations — two in New York and one in Connecticut — by an extra 125 MMcf/d, flowing more Marcellus/Utica gas into New York City and New England (see 
Last Thursday, 29 far-left nutball groups wrote Mike Rolband, Director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), demanding that he issue a stop work order for the 99% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) due to “repeated and widespread violations and damage to waterbodies and private property.” This isn’t the first time these groups have demanded regulators intervene to block MVP based on flimsy grounds. The 29 radical groups include Wild Virginia, The Wilderness Society, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, West Virginia Rivers Association, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and others (most of them obscure, one-person “groups” pretending to be bigger than they are).
In early December, MDN updated you on the very real possibility that Everett LNG import terminal (Boston area), which accepts and regasifies foreign-sourced natural gas, may shut down this May following the closure of New England’s biggest natural gas-fired power plant, the Mystic Generating Station in Everett, MA (see 
Hyperion Midstream LLC, a subsidiary of Olympus Energy, is seeking a special exception to a Penn Township (Westmoreland County) zoning ordinance to build a six-generator compressor station along Wilderness Road over the next four years. In early January, Hyperion representatives and witnesses testified at a township zoning hearing in favor of the plan (see 
U.S. natural gas production in the Lower 48 states is once again very close to all-time high levels, contrary to the blatherings of groups like the International Energy Association (IEA), which continues its meme that both oil and natgas either already have or will soon peak in demand. That’s just not happening here at home. Natural gas production is up to nearly 104.5 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) over the last week, not far off from the all-time highs of nearly 105.7 Bcf/d recorded in December, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.