June STEO Predicts Marcellus/Utica Production to Fall 4% in 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. 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.
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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 
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.
Since April, mainstream media has been abuzz with the ironic conundrum that there are huge quantities of lithium in shale brine/wastewater (see 
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.
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.
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!
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.”
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 (
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.
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.
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 
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 
For all of the griping and complaining and moaning from the radical left (and uppity Virginia horse farmers) about the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) being unnecessary and a blight against humanity, wonder of wonders, customers are WAITING for the gas that will flow through MVP! In fact, the CEO of Roanoke Gas Co. says “We were out of gas literally.” Roanoke Gas desperately needs the new supplies that will flow through MVP. In addition, Summit View Business Park in Franklin County will receive gas from MVP, which will boost the park’s efforts to market its 13 available sites.