OTHER U.S. REGIONS: What has California’s war on fossil fuels actually accomplished?; NATIONAL: Consolidation trend expands to the gas compression services sector; US Supreme Court declines to hear Exxon, Koch Industries appeal; Natural gas futures stage turnaround to settle higher; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ reaffirms commitment to unity; 2024 won’t be any easier for energy investors.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Jan 9, 2024”
In mid-October, the rumor mill kicked into high gear with talk that Chesapeake Energy was sniffing around a merger with Southwestern Energy (see Chesapeake Energy Exploring a Merger with Southwestern Energy). Both Chesapeake and Southwestern have significant, long-time Marcellus assets (in Pennsylvania), and both have added new assets in the Louisiana Haynesville in recent years. They are on parallel tracks with their strategy of using Marcellus assets as a cash cow to fund more drilling in Haynesville, with an eye on grabbing higher prices in foreign markets by exporting Haynesville gas as LNG. It certainly makes sense that one company would be interested in combining with the other. Last Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported the two are very close to a deal — a deal that could be announced as early as this week.
Read More “Chesapeake & Southwestern Very Close to Announcing $17B Merger”
The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which runs from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, is nearly done, thanks to our recent warm weather. What’s left to do? Less than one mile of “upland” pipe to install, less than 50 water/wetland crossings, and just one more compression station to finish. According to Equitrans, the majority partner and builder of MVP, the pipeline will come online in March. Finally!!!!
Read More “Mountain Valley Pipeline Almost Done – Makes Good Time with Weather”
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 Constellation May Have to Close Boston LNG Import Terminal). As we pointed out in that post, Constellation Energy, the owner and operator of the Everett LNG terminal, is actively trying to find new contracted customers so it can keep the terminal open. The search continues. A company spokesman confirmed to Bloomberg that nothing has yet been finalized, but the clock is ticking.
Read More “Boston LNG Import Terminal Still Looking for Customers to Stay Open”
EQT CEO Toby Rice appeared on CNBC’s ‘Money Movers’ program last Friday to discuss what he expects for natural gas prices this year, what lower natural gas production means for EQT, and more. It was an interesting segment (watch it below; it is just four minutes long). Rice said, among other things, that a key issue for people to understand is that the marginal cost (i.e., the breakeven cost) in the U.S. to produce natural gas is around $3.50/MMBtu, which will hold production levels flat. Prices lower than that lead to lower production.
Read More “EQT CEO Toby Rice: NatGas Price Below $3.50 Means Less Production”
The Baker Hughes rig count lost ground again last week, as it has in three of the last four weeks. The count went from 622 active rigs two weeks ago down to 621 last week. The Marcellus/Utica count was steady at 40 active rigs, broken down as 19 active rigs in Pennsylvania, 12 in Ohio, and 9 in West Virginia. The M-U’s chief rival (for money and resources), the Haynesville, lost one rig last week and now sports 43 active rigs.
Read More “Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Loses 1 @ 621, M-U Even @ 40”
Apart from today’s news that Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy (two huge gas drillers) are close to announcing a merger (see today’s lead story), it is oil companies in U.S. shale that seem to be at the epicenter of a hot M&A market. According to an analyst writing for Argus Media, “meaningful consolidation among US natural gas producers looks unlikely to take place soon owing to historically low, volatile commodity prices and a dearth of large privately-held operators.” The best opportunities lie with companies that have assets in the Haynesville, says the analyst. Perhaps uncoincidentally, both Chesapeake and Southwestern have major assets in the Haynesville (and the Marcellus/Utica).
Read More “U.S. Natural Gas Mergers & Acquisitions “Scarce” and “Uneven””
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Marathon Petroleum gifts $20,000 to Utica Shale Academy; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: USA Energy dept in conditional commitment to support methane monitoring; ExxonMobil posts $2.5B impairment for California assets; NATIONAL: ‘We’re the good guys’ in energy transition, says US exporter of LNG; The US shale magnate trying to sell oil and gas jobs to Generation Z; Natural gas producers’ game plan for LNG – wait out 2024; Pay no mind to the diesel behind your EV charging station; Biden admin fabricated paper trail in pursuit of major chemical plant shutdown.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Jan 8, 2024”
We are catching up on permits issued…for the last two weeks of December. Normally we cover permits issued for a single week. This report covers permits issued for the two weeks covering Dec. 18 – 31. Perhaps it’s a good thing we’re reporting on two weeks as Ohio’s ODNR seems to have taken the last two weeks of the year off, issuing just a single permit. There were 24 new permits issued for the final two weeks of the year, cumulatively, versus 35 permits issued for Dec. 11 – 17. Pennsylvania issued 19 new permits for the final two weeks of last year. Ohio issued just 1. And West Virginia issued 4 permits. Range Resources took the top spot with 9 permits issued in Washington County, PA.
Read More “24 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 18 – 31”
Last May, MDN told you about Zefiro Methane Corp., a private “methane offsets originator” headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, acquiring a majority ownership stake in Plants & Goodwin (P&G), an OFS and oil well-plugging company located in Bradford (McKean County), Pennsylvania, for an undisclosed sum (see Canadian Methane Offsets Co. Buys Northwest Pa. Well Plugging Co.). The Zefiro/P&G tie-up is now bearing fruit. DEP inspection reports reviewed by David Hess from the PA Environment Digest Blog show Zefiro has begun evaluating abandoned conventional wells in Springfield Township, Erie County, for its program.
Read More “Zefiro Evaluates 5 Orphaned Wells for Plugging in Erie County, PA”
Hope Gas provides natural gas service to approximately 131,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-five West Virginia counties. In October, Hope closed on acquiring the West Virginia division of Peoples Gas for an undisclosed amount, giving the company another 13,000 customers (see Hope Gas Closes Acquisition of Peoples Gas WV – Adds 13K Customers). The company also closed on a deal to buy Southern Public Service Company with another 6,400 customers across six WV counties in December (see WV’s Hope Gas Buys Southern Public, Adds 6,400 Customers). Hope is growing yet again…
Read More “Hope Gas Continues to Expand – Seeks to Buy 2 Small WV Utilities”
Earlier this week, MDN told you about proposed new IRS rules coming from the White House (the 45V tax credit) that will favor solar and wind use in generating so-called green hydrogen, and disfavor (make more expensive) hydrogen produced using natural gas (see Biden’s Proposed IRA 45V Tax Credit “Kneecaps” ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub). Yes, the new rules, as proposed, essentially kneecap the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project, winner of $950 million from Uncle Sam to help build a hydrogen hub in the Marcellus/Utica region. Of course, the proposed 45V tax credit is dense and difficult to understand. We have a better explanation of what it will do…
Read More “Confusing Biden Tax Credit Scheme Threatens to Block Hydrogen Hubs”
Riddle us this: In 2023, the rig count for all oil and gas rigs was 20% fewer active rigs than in 2022 (see Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Finishes Year @ 622, M-U @ 40). Yet, oil and natural gas production in 2023 hit new all-time highs! How does that happen? Isn’t that a paradox?
Read More “Despite Less Drilling, 2023 Produced the Most O&G Ever … How?”
A new article by Gordon Tomb — a senior fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based, free-market think tank, and senior advisor with the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia — has the intriguing title: “Are ‘green’ agendas carrying governors to political cliffs?” While the article focuses on recent actions by PA Gov. Josh Shapiro and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon in pandering to the radical environmental movement, much of the article reviews the evidence that a majority of people across multiple countries are beginning to reject radical environmentalism by electing conservatives. The radicals swung the pendulum way too far and too fast, and now the pendulum is swinging back to sanity.
Read More “The Pendulum is Beginning to Swing Against Climate Cultists”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Trinity constructing first greenfield gas storage project in many years; NATIONAL: U.S. natgas producers seek to balance production cuts, demand rebound; High court ruling in ‘Chevron deference’ challenge could upend energy regs; Wall Street is already cutting oil-price forecasts for this year; INTERNATIONAL: Events in Red Sea have escalated.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Jan 5, 2024”
In October 2020, a law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of several Cabot Oil & Gas shareholders against Cabot (now Coterra Energy), claiming the company “had inadequate environmental controls and procedures and/or failed to properly mitigate known issues related to those controls and procedures,” and that the company “failed to fix faulty gas wells which polluted Pennsylvania’s water supplies through stray gas migration,” and that the company, in general, hid all of this from the public — namely from investors (see Second Lawsuit Filed Against Cabot Claiming Securities Fraud). A similar lawsuit previously filed was canceled due to a lack of shareholders willing to sue. However, this second lawsuit sprouted legs and has continued. But here is where it gets murky…
Read More “Cabot Shareholder Lawsuit re PA Fracking Violations Tossed by Judge”