Marcellus Drilling News

CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Charif Souki Exits Tellurian & Driftwood LNG with $8 Million Payout
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

Last week, Charif Souki, an Egyptian-born but naturalized U.S. citizen, was booted from the company he co-founded, Tellurian (see Tellurian Fires Charif Souki – Out as Chairman & Executive Officer). The board fired Souki but let him keep a board seat. Souki is now gone from the board, too. He worked out a deal to leave the company with a severance package worth roughly $8 million.
Read More “Charif Souki Exits Tellurian & Driftwood LNG with $8 Million Payout”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Research

Morningstar Natural Gas Price Outlook 2024: Recovery Coming
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

DBRS Morningstar is a leading provider of independent rating services and opinions for corporate and sovereign entities, financial institutions, and structured finance instruments globally. Rating more than 4,000 issuers and 60,000 securities, DBRS Morningstar is the fourth-largest credit rating agency in the world and a market leader in Canada, the U.S. and Europe in multiple asset classes. The agency published a commentary on Monday that will be of interest to the MDN audience: “North American Natural Gas Market Outlook: Price Pressures Through Early 2024 Followed by a Recovery” (full copy below).
Read More “Morningstar Natural Gas Price Outlook 2024: Recovery Coming”
Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 21, 2023
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Court rules Oregon’s landmark climate change regs invalid; NATIONAL: Rockefellers still heavily invested in oil companies; How gas pipeline rates are really set and why you should care; INTERNATIONAL: ING plans to phase out of oil and gas financing after COP28; Oil edges up as rising US stockpiles dim Red Sea chaos.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 21, 2023”
Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | North Carolina | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

FERC Approves MVP Southgate Request for 3-Yr Extension to Build
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

In July of this year, the Democrat Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking the four commissioners to deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) request for a time extension to build the MVP Southgate expansion project into his state (see NC Leftist Gov. Cooper Asks FERC to Deny MVP Southgate More Time). A month later, 28 Democrats in the U.S. House did the same thing (see 28 U.S. House Democrats Ask FERC to Reject MVP Southgate Project). We’re happy to report FERC ignored them all and yesterday granted the Southgate project a three-year extension to build.
Read More “FERC Approves MVP Southgate Request for 3-Yr Extension to Build”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

New Drilling Under “Gasland” Dimock Coming Sooner Than Thought?
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

A year ago, in December 2022, MDN brought you the great news that Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) would be allowed to restart drilling in a nine-square-mile area in Dimock, PA (Susquehanna County) following a “no contest” plea deal with PA’s then-Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, on a misdemeanor charge (see PA DEP Allows Coterra (Cabot O&G) to Resume Drilling in Dimock). After reviewing the DEP consent order, we discovered a provision that says Coterra can’t restart drilling in the Dimock/Carter Road banned area until a new water system for local residents has been installed, which is estimated to happen around the end of 2027 (see PA DEP Consent Order Delays Restart of Coterra Drilling in Dimock). However, maybe that interpretation is wrong. A new article by the left-leaning Associated Press implies that drilling in Dimock could restart anytime.
Read More “New Drilling Under “Gasland” Dimock Coming Sooner Than Thought?”
Diversified Energy | Energy Companies

4 U.S. House Democrats Launch Witch Hunt Against Diversified Energy
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

Democrats play dirty. At least, four Democrats from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee are playing dirty. On Monday, Diversified Energy, with major assets in the Appalachian region (including the Marcellus/Utica), began to trade its stock on the New York Stock Exchange alongside of continued trading on its “home” exchange, the London Stock Exchange. The very same day, four Democrats — Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Paul Tonko (D-NY) — sent a very public letter to Diversified CEO Rusty Hutson launching a probe into the company, implying that Diversified will never be able to plug all of the old wells that it owns (when it comes time to retire them), essentially accusing the company of planning to defraud the public. News of the Democrat smear job hit like a hammer, causing Diversified’s stock price to plunge by more than 15% (although it has since somewhat recovered).
Read More “4 U.S. House Democrats Launch Witch Hunt Against Diversified Energy”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

EIA Dec DPR: Another Big Production Drop Coming in M-U, Haynesville
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

The latest monthly U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) for December, issued Monday (below), shows EIA believes shale gas production across the seven major plays tracked in the monthly DPR for January will *decrease* production from the prior month of December. This is the sixth month in a row that EIA has predicted shale gas production will decrease for the combined seven plays. EIA says combined natgas production will slide by 200 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day). The Marcellus/Utica, called “Appalachia” in the report, is predicted to decrease by 135 MMcf/d in January compared with December, the biggest decrease in gas production for any of the seven plays.
Read More “EIA Dec DPR: Another Big Production Drop Coming in M-U, Haynesville”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Big Green Pressures NY Democrats to Reject CO2 Fracking in Upstate
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

At the end of October, MDN told you about a company called Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions, based in Binghamton, NY, sending fliers to landowners in Broome, Tioga, and Chemung counties (along the border with Pennsylvania, where there is no doubt large amounts of Marcellus and Utica gas beneath the ground) inviting landowners to sign up for what appears to be an exciting opportunity to sell gas rights (see Company Seeks to Lease New York Mineral & Pore Rights for Flat $10). Last week, we told you about several local politicians (Democrats) and several Big Green groups now gearing up to oppose the plan to “frack” (which is a misnomer) with CO2 (see Big Green, Democrats Launch Effort to Block NY CO2 “Fracking”). It’s time for Food & Water Watch and other nutball green groups to fundraise before the end of the year, so they launched an all-out assault on the Southern Tier Solutions plan yesterday.
Read More “Big Green Pressures NY Democrats to Reject CO2 Fracking in Upstate”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Regulation | Repsol | Seneca Resources | Statewide PA

SRBC Approves Water Withdrawals for 7 PA Shale-Related Projects
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals for responsible and safe shale drilling. Last Thursday, the SRBC approved 19 new water withdrawal requests within the basin, six of them for water used in drilling and fracking shale wells in Pennsylvania (and one for a gas-fired power plant). The Marcellus/Utica shale drillers receiving a green light from SRBC included EQT, Pennsylvania General Energy, Repsol (two requests), and Seneca Resources (two requests).
Read More “SRBC Approves Water Withdrawals for 7 PA Shale-Related Projects”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

American Gas Assoc. Sues to Block Biden Reg Against Gas Furnaces
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

At the end of September, the Biden Dept. of Energy (DOE) published a new rule that cracks down on gas furnaces in homes, essentially phasing out many existing models and requiring new ones to meet onerous new standards (see Bidenistas Attack Your Gas Furnace with New DOE Regulations). The DOE now requires a 95% annual fuel efficiency standard, up from the 80% that was on the books before the new rule was published. On Monday, the American Gas Association, several other trade groups, and a manufacturer filed a legal challenge to the rule.
Read More “American Gas Assoc. Sues to Block Biden Reg Against Gas Furnaces”
Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Dec 20, 2023
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Chesapeake Utilities Corp. expands propane services in NC; Consumers Energy continues billion-dollar natural gas investment; NATIONAL: Bridger Photonics partners with CSU on methane emissions measurement; It’s increasingly difficult to get U.S. LNG to Asia; The era of flat power demand is over.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Dec 20, 2023”
CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

CNX Delivers on Promise to Shapiro re Chemicals List, Air Results
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

In early November, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes). Gov. Shapiro’s office yesterday blew the trumpet to announce that CNX has begun to deliver by providing a list of the chemicals used in fracking and by posting air monitoring results in real-time for two of its well pads, with plans to expand the program across its operations statewide.
Read More “CNX Delivers on Promise to Shapiro re Chemicals List, Air Results”
Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

PTT Working on Plan to Build Petchem Plant…in Thailand, Not Ohio
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

This is your friendly (somewhat snarky) semi-annual reminder from MDN that the PTT ethane cracker project in Ohio is dead (see Facing Reality – PTT Ohio Cracker Plant Project is Dead). We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. Local and state leaders in Ohio sometimes pop their heads up to tell us to have hope; it will still happen. BUNKUM. Earlier today, PTT Global Chemical Public Company, the parent that would build an ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH, announced a deal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries “to explore the utilization of hydrogen, ammonia and CCS technology to develop a large-scale petrochemical plant to achieve Net Zero.” However, the location of the plant will be in Thailand, PTT’s home country, and NOT in Ohio. We’ve pointed out for years that PTT has all sorts of money to work on big, multi-billion-dollar petrochemical plant projects elsewhere, but apparently there is not enough money for the Belmont ethane cracker. Why?
Read More “PTT Working on Plan to Build Petchem Plant…in Thailand, Not Ohio”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

U.S. Customs Decision re Jones Act Makes Exporting LNG Harder
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

Bureaucratic incompetence? Or yet another attack by the Bidenistas against the American fossil energy industry? It’s hard to say. We’re speaking of a new policy decision by the Biden Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency that prohibits LNG tankers from partially filling up at one U.S. export plant and moving up the coast to finish filling up at another U.S. plant. The CBP says doing so violates the 103-year-old Jones Act. We’ll explain.
Read More “U.S. Customs Decision re Jones Act Makes Exporting LNG Harder”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Gas Trader’s Prediction for Henry Hub NYMEX Price in 2024 – LFL
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

It seems like everybody and his brother (and sister) are making predictions about where the price of natural gas will go in 2024. We’ve covered predictions from a number of sources, including the venerable U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). But what do the people who actually trade in natural gas say? What’s their take on the price in 2024? After all, they are the ones with the most “skin in the game.” We spotted a post on FXEmpire by the website’s chief analyst with his prediction for natgas prices next year…
Read More “Gas Trader’s Prediction for Henry Hub NYMEX Price in 2024 – LFL”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

IEA Rushes to Change Absurd Peak Oil Prediction 24 Hrs After COP28
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

How many times has MDN told you that the International Energy Agency (IEA) (and its executive director, Fatih Birol) is an anti-fossil fuel front organization for Big Green? Countless! The IEA and its so-called predictions of “peak oil” and “peak gas” (in either demand or supply) are nothing more than environmental propaganda. Why anyone believes a word coming from Birol and the IEA is beyond us. Mainstream media loves to report the IEA’s latest vomit, whatever it is. David Blackmon, a 40-year veteran of the oil and gas business, is out with a column on the Daily Caller that skewers Birol and the IEA. Blackmon points out the ink wasn’t even dry on the final communique from the COP28 climate confab before Birol was “adjusting” his previous preposterous predictions about peak oil.
Read More “IEA Rushes to Change Absurd Peak Oil Prediction 24 Hrs After COP28”