Western Midstream Deal to Sell Marcellus Gathering Systems Share
Two days ago, MDN told you about the rumor that Occidental Petroleum is considering a sale of its majority share in Western Midstream Partners for $20 billion, looking to work down a big pile of debt (see Sources: Occidental Looking to Sell Its Share of Western Midstream). That post was mainly about the dispute over whether Oxy can actually “sell” the Western Midstream company as it is a standalone company. However, our interest is in one of the smaller assets part of Western’s portfolio, three gathering systems in Central PA.
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If this doesn’t take the cake. Venture Global has been screwing its contracted customers for more than two years by not officially christening its Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana as officially open for business (denying customers cargoes under contracted prices), yet during that time, Venture Global has exported (on the spot market) more than 250 LNG cargoes! It’s a sham, and everybody knows it! Venture Global got the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to extend the “must officially be open by date” for an extra year last year (expired Feb 21st of this year). And now, unbelievably, Venture Global wants FERC to extend it for ANOTHER year!
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Save Ohio Parks promotes commission meeting, fossil fuels rally; NATIONAL: Oil rises amid signs of tighter market; JP Morgan, Standard Chartered reveal latest oil price forecasts; Use of natgas-fired generation differs by technology and region; Nothing we do about CO2 emissions has any relevance whatsoever; ‘Sue and settle’ is back under the Biden administration; Billionaire Dem funded anti-LNG campaign while investing in China.
Chesapeake Energy issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update yesterday, complete with commentary on what’s coming in 2024. And yes, there was some big news coming from that update. Some of the biggest news (that moved the entire market) is that while Chesapeake produced an average of 3.66 Bcfe/d (billion cubic feet equivalent per day), approximately 95% natural gas and 5% total liquids, in 2023, the company plans to lay down rigs, cut fracking crews, and produce 2.65 – 2.75 Bcfe/d in 2024. Meaning a drop of 25-28% in production this year. That simple announcement was enough to move the NYMEX price of natural gas up $0.20 (11%) in a single day.
Finally, here’s a little good news to write about regarding the price of natural gas! The NYMEX front month futures contract yesterday started the day with a bang based on announcements from the previous evening (in advance of a conference call) from Chesapeake Energy that the company plans to scale back production by roughly 1 Bcfe/d in 2024 from 2023 levels (down 25-28%, see today’s lead story). Chessy’s announcement, along with rumblings from other big drillers about pulling back in 2024, was enough to boost the NYMEX, which closed up $0.20, or 11%, from the previous day. It was the largest one-day percentage gain since Thursday, July 7, 2022.
The contours of how and why Equitrans Midstream decided to cut its MVP (Mountain Valley Pipeline) Southgate project in North Carolina are becoming apparent. We told you in January that Equitrans had decided to slice MVP Southgate in more than half (see 
Democrats will never be satisfied until they tax you for breathing and even existing, which was perfectly illustrated by a proposal submitted by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to its so-called Climate Change Advisory Committee on Tuesday. Not satisfied to try and force a Marcellus-killing carbon tax (called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI) on gas- and coal-fired power plants, the DEP now wants to grow RGGI or some facsimile thereof to “all sectors” of the PA economy. Are they TOTALLY INSANE? We have to say the answer to that rhetorical question is YES!
Wow! Where does the time go? In April 2021, CNX Resources Corp. announced instead of just blowing smoke about ESG (environmental, social, governance) with pretty slide shows and hoopla, they would donate $30 million to local, underserved communities and populations in the tri-state region (see 
Last November, MDN warned you about delays with LPG (propane) and LNG ships transiting the Panama Canal (see 
Two really big (huge) pieces of news are coming from yesterday’s Equitrans Midstream fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update. The first bit of news is that Equitrans is actively considering a buyout offer. The company doesn’t use that exact language, but that’s what’s happening. This should come as no surprise, given the rumor mill on a potential Equitrans sale heated up last December (see 
According to sources whispering to reporters from Reuters, Occidental Petroleum is “exploring a sale of Western Midstream Partners,” a U.S. natural gas-focused pipeline operator that has a market value of close to $20 billion. Western Midstream responded to the news report by issuing a press release to say it is NOT engaged in any kind of sale process. But that’s a bit disingenuous as Occidental owns a controlling interest in the company. So if Oxy sells its interests, it is, in essence, selling the business.
The money behind Big Green never stops. Where in the heck do they get it all? In November 2023, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met in a public forum and voted to allow shale drilling under (not on top of) three different state-owned tracts of land: all 20,000 acres of Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County, more than 300 acres of Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County, and 66 acres of the Zepernick Wildlife Area in Columbiana County (see 
Last week, Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update, which we covered (see