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Equitrans Still Needs to Tidy Up at Rager Mountain Gas Leak Site
In November 2022, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County (in Pennsylvania), began to leak. Equitrans is the owner/operator of Rager Mountain. The well leaked roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see Equitrans Gas Storage Well in Cambria County, PA is Leaking). It took two weeks for the leak to get fixed after it had leaked an estimated 1.4 billion cubic feet into the air (see Storage Well Leak Fix in Cambria County Failed, Leaked 1.4 Bcf). It turned out to be less — around 1.1 Bcf of leaked methane in total.
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Only in the mind of twisted leftists does this make sense. New York State is energy-hungry. Yet our state “leaders” demand we begin to phase out the one source of energy that provides something like 90% of all energy in the state: Natural gas and oil. You have to replace all that energy somehow. The answer for home heating, in the minds of leftists, is to drill geothermal wells. The state is *requiring* the state’s seven largest utilities to launch at least one geothermal project (and up to five such projects) to get the ball rolling. So here’s what happens. Instead of a gas driller drilling one well that produces enough energy for thousands of surrounding households, geothermal drillers must drill hundreds of wells (400 in our example below!) to produce enough energy for a few dozen households, plus some businesses. Same darned hole in the ground, yet if it’s for natural gas or oil drilled in the countryside where nobody sees it, it’s Satanic. But, drilling several hundred of the same holes in the ground for geothermal — in densely populated urban neighborhoods — is angelic. How do you figure, New York State?
LS Power, headquartered in New York City, has developed or acquired 47,000 MW of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, battery energy storage, and natural gas-fired facilities. We’ve previously mentioned LS Power in a number of MDN articles (
Rigzone asked several U.S.-based oil and gas recruitment experts what themes will dominate oil and gas recruitment this year. What kind of job opportunities will American oil and gas provide this year? One respondent said jobs will continue to be field engineering and specialist roles, jobs not requiring degreed engineers or geoscience professionals. What about drilling specialists, tool pushers, etc.?
One of our favorite Marcellus/Utica people is Nick Deiuliis, CEO of CNX Resources. Apart from Nick’s great work in leading CNX, he is also a writer and thinker. Like a few others, he understands political and philosophical issues related to energy. And Nick isn’t afraid to “say it straight.” Nick is in the process of releasing three videos called “A Rational Thinker’s Guide to Climate Change and Related Policies.” We previously brought you Part 1, Diagnosing the Problem and Issue (see 
NATIONAL: Drivers sue US shale oil producers over alleged price-fixing scheme; John Kerry has a lot to answer for; No end in sight for our gasoline use; Globalists are using ‘green energy’ to destroy OUR way of life; What a second Trump term could mean for US oil and gas; INTERNATIONAL: BP confirms new CEO after Looney scandal; OPEC chief says oil demand will defy predictions of a peak.
U.S. natural gas and power prices hit multi-year highs on Friday with the prospect of frigid temps and snow storms in various portions of the country. The extreme cold was expected to bring record gas demand and cut supplies by freezing wells. The spot price of natural gas at various trading hubs from the West Coast to Middle America to the East Coast all jumped. Of particular interest for us, spot gas prices at the Eastern Gas South hub, widely considered the “benchmark” for the Marcellus/Utica, jumped from $2.45 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Thursday to $10.40 on Friday — the highest price at that hub since July 2008.
The Bidenistas unveiled a new regulatory proposal targeting natural gas on Friday that would introduce an obscene new tax on the fossil fuel industry, punishing natgas producers that exceed a certain level of methane emissions. The Biden EPA, which took point on introducing the new federal methane tax, said it will help “tackle wasteful methane emissions” from the oil and gas sector, encouraging facilities with the highest emissions levels to meet or exceed higher levels of performance. The proposed rules would create a so-called Waste Emissions Charge, which begins at $900 per metric ton of wasteful emissions in 2024, and increases to $1,200 for 2025 and $1,500 for 2026 and beyond. Bonkers!
West Virginia continues to lag behind both Pennsylvania and Ohio with respect to building combined cycle natural gas-fired power plants. PA and OH have a combined 39 such power plants. WV has zero. In March 2023, West Virginia Senate Bill (SB) 188, aimed at making WV’s gas-fired power generation more competitive with its neighbors in PA and OH, was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice (see 
Antero Resources is one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica (with major assets in West Virginia). As good and careful as companies like Antero are when hiring, sometimes there’s a rotten apple found in the barrel. Such was the case with a former employee who headed up the company’s operations in WV — where most of its drilling happens. The former employee took bribes and kickbacks from a vendor over a period of years (2012-2015), steering contracts to that vendor. The vendor’s performance was not as good as other competitors. At the end of years of litigation, Antero was finally awarded compensation from a jury, and a bit extra from a judge, to make up for the actions of their rogue employee (see 
The Baker Hughes rig count lost ground again last week, as it has in four of the last five weeks. The count went from 621 active rigs two weeks ago to 619 last week. The Marcellus/Utica count was steady at 40 active rigs; however, the mix changed. Pennsylvania kept 19 active rigs as in previous weeks, but Ohio picked up one rig for 13 active rigs, while West Virginia lost one rig for 8 active rigs.
In what is a laughable defense, Venture Global LNG told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it cannot meet contractual obligations to provide liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to several major customers because its export plant is not yet ready to meet three criteria found in the contracts. Venture Global continues its charade that the Calcasieu Pass export facility is not yet ready for primetime — even though it has shipped over 200 cargoes! Venture Global is using language in the contracts as an excuse to continue profiting from not honoring those contracts and instead selling cargoes at a higher non-contract price. It’s disgusting, and it’s giving American LNG a black eye.
QatarEnergy, the world’s second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, has stopped sending tankers via the Red Sea, although production continues. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group has, since November, attacked vessels in the Red Sea, part of a route that accounts for about 12% of the world’s shipping traffic. The terrorists are using Israel’s justified war in Gaza as the excuse to attack ships in the Red Sea. The U.S. and U.K. dropped some bombs on the Houthis in Yemen last week. The Houthis have continued to attack ships in the region, despite it raining bombs. Maybe it’s time for bigger bombs to be dropped?
Since it is a stock exchange holiday, and to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., MDN is taking today off, Monday, Jan. 15. Full strength MDN will return Tuesday!
There were 18 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the first full week of 2024 (Jan. 1-7), versus 24 permits issued for the final two weeks of last year (Dec. 18-31). Pennsylvania issued 9 new permits last week. Ohio issued just 1 — which was to drill a Marcellus (not a Utica) well! West Virginia issued 8 permits. Antero Resources took the top spot last week with 7 new permits, all of them issued for drilling in Wetzel County, WV.