MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Harrisburg considering backdoor ban on natural gas development; NATIONAL: Occidental, Blackrock form JV for Texas DAC facility; House GOP approves cutting EPA budget by nearly 40%; INTERNATIONAL: Natural gas demand suggests the IEA got peak demand wrong.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Nov 8, 2023”
Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. Last week, Summit issued its third quarter 2023 update. We previously reported on an early release of Summit’s 3Q operational update, which revealed the company is considering selling part or all of the company (see Summit Midstream 3Q Update – Considers Selling Part or All of Co.). Summit CEO Heath Deneke provided an update last week on the process of finding a potential suitor.
Read More “Summit Midstream Reports Significant Interest by Others in M&A”
This past May, MDN told you about a coming real-life nightmare that the Everett LNG import terminal, which accepts and regasifies foreign-sourced natural gas, may shut down following the closure of New England’s biggest natural gas-fired power plant, the Mystic Generating Station in Everett, MA (see Nightmare in Boston – Everett LNG Import Terminal May Close 2024). The potential shuttering of the Everett LNG plant was the main topic of discussion a month later (in June) at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s second New England Winter Gas-Electric Forum last week in Portland, Maine (see Potential Shutdown of Boston LNG Terminal Discussed at FERC Forum). Yesterday, both FERC and NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation) issued a joint statement about Everett LNG shutting down, warning of dire consequences for New England’s energy reliability and affordability if a shutdown happens.
Read More “FERC, NERC Warn of Dire Consequences if Boston LNG Terminal Closes”
Just when we were beginning to feel comfortable that maybe, just maybe, the price of natural gas would stay higher for longer instead of lower for longer, yesterday happened. Did you notice? The price for the “front month contract” of the NYMEX Henry Hub got whacked, falling a full 25 cents in a single day, closing at $3.26/MMBtu. It was the biggest one-day plunge in price since March of this year. What happened? As is typical, it’s because of the weather.
Read More “NatGas Price Whacked Again – Drops $0.25 in One Day Due to Weather”
Dominion Energy plans to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Person County, North Carolina, to enhance natural gas service reliability for residential and business customers in the growing region. Dominion studied several potential sites and collected a boatload of data during the site selection process, including but not limited to construction feasibility, minimizing landowner impacts, connection to Dominion’s existing natural gas system, and avoiding environmentally sensitive areas. Ultimately, Dominion selected a site in the southeast corner of Person County. Mainstream media is doing its best to scare local residents, hoping to block the project.
Read More “NC Residents Freak Out Over Proposed Dominion LNG Storage Tank”
Long-time MDN readers will know what “associated gas” is — natural gas that comes out of the same hole that oil comes from. When shale oil drillers sink a hole with the intent to get oil (one hydrocarbon), natural gas (another hydrocarbon) comes out, too. Even more hydrocarbons may also come out, including ethane, propane, and butane (NGLs). It’s natural! It happens. The “problem” for oil drillers has been what to do with “associated” natgas, which is considered a waste product for an oil driller. With new regulations adopted in recent years in places like Texas, New Mexico, and North Dakota (big oil drilling states), drillers increasingly cannot flare (or burn off) the natural gas coming out of the borehole along with the oil. It creates too many CO2 molecules floating in the atmosphere, toasting Mom Earth (as the myth goes).
Read More “EIA Discovers More Oil Drilling Produces More Associated NatGas”
Last week, Tellurian issued its third quarter update, and the news was not good. Tellurian’s primary focus is to build Driftwood LNG, a 27.6 million tonnes of LNG per year facility that will cost on the order of $14.5 billion to build. Thus far, Tellurian has not made an official final investment decision (FID) to proceed with the FERC-approved Driftwood project. Even so, construction began on the project in March 2022 (see Tellurian Begins Construction of Driftwood LNG with No FID). Last week, Tellurian warned investors that its financial situation raises “substantial doubt” that the company can continue as a going concern. In other words, Tellurian is signaling it may be heading for a bankruptcy filing.
Read More “Tellurian and Its Driftwood LNG Project in Financial Trouble”
According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, the next “super-cycle” of multi-billion-dollar LNG export terminal construction in North America is now getting underway. In the US, LNG feedgas demand could reach nearly 28 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) by the early 2030s, up from about 13 Bcf/d in 2023. Where will all of the LNG plants come from to handle that kind of volume? S&P provides a really cool map with all current and announced/planned LNG export facilities in North America, detailing how much gas they can produce (in million metric tonnes per year) and the announced start date.
Read More “List (Map) of All Proposed LNG Terminals in North America”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Civil & Environmental Consultants acquires Arizona firm; Isner to lead GO-WV for 2023-2024 term; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: ArcLight completes acquisition of ownership interest in Kleen Energy; NATIONAL: Congress must halt the ascendance of regulation by subsidy; “Too favored to fail” – taxpayers bailout Biden’s green friends; INTERNATIONAL: German gas storage tops 100% but winter risks remain.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Nov 7, 2023”
Southwestern Energy, with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica and Louisiana Haynesville, issued its third quarter 2023 update last week. The company generated $45 million in net income for the quarter versus profiting $450 million in 3Q22. Southwestern reported total net production of 425 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent), or 4.6 Bcfe per day, including 4.0 Bcf per day of gas (86% natgas, 12% NGLs, 2% oil). Southwestern invested $454 million of capital, using it to drill 24 wells, complete 25 wells, and place 23 wells online to sales, including 15 in the Marcellus/Utica and 8 in the Haynesville. New drilling fell (by our back-of-the-envelope estimate) about one-third from 2Q23.
Read More “Southwestern New Drilling Drops by One-Third, Profits Down Too”
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company National Fuel Midstream (formerly Empire Pipeline). Last week, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. NFG operates on a weird fiscal year system. This latest update is for the company’s fourth quarter (and full year), which would be everybody else’s third quarter update. During the company’s fourth quarter, Seneca produced 93.8 Bcfe, an increase of 5.9 Bcfe, or 7%, from the prior year, despite the impact of approximately 2 Bcfe of price-related curtailments due to low in-basin pricing. The big news (for us) coming from the update was the announcement of a new pipeline project to flow more Seneca production to more markets, a project called the Tioga Pathway Project.
Read More “NFG & Seneca Announce New Tioga Pathway Pipeline Project”
The U.S. rig count changed course again last week, dropping rigs after adding rigs (albeit anemically) for the prior three weeks in a row. The national rig count lost seven rigs last week — dropping to 618 active rigs — not only the lowest rig total this year but the lowest count since February 2022. The count in the Marcellus/Utica gained one rig and now stands at 40 active rigs. However, the mix changed. PA lost two rigs, going from 22 to 20 last week. Ohio picked them up, going from 10 to 12 active rigs. And WV picked up one rig after losing it the week before. WV now stands at 8 active rigs.
Read More “U.S. Rig Count Hits New 2023 Low – Loses 7 @ 618, M-U Adds 1 @ 40”
On Friday, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis had 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). DeIuliis spoke to the Pittsburgh Business Times on Friday (a day after signing the deal) to explain his thinking and why he signed the agreement.
Read More “CNX’s DeIuliis Explains Why He Did a Deal with the Devil (Shapiro)”
EQT Corporation CEO Toby Rice says there is a “war on infrastructure” here in the U.S. (meaning a war against pipelines) that is sparking a “Europe-style energy crisis.” Rice says, “The industrial world that we enjoy now is severely compromised because of the lawsuits, the pushback and the movement to cancel energy infrastructures and modern society.” He also says we’re just five years behind Europe in regard to an energy crisis.
Read More “EQT’s Toby Rice Says Industrial World Threatened by Pipe Lawsuits”
Last week, on Halloween Day, officials from the PJM Interconnection presented a plan to make up for the retirement of fossil fuel generators and increasing demand on the way over the next five years. The plan includes 72 proposals from FirstEnergy, Dominion, and other companies designed to meet future power needs — for a total price tag of roughly $5 billion. Here is a startling admission from PJM made as part of its announcement: There will be a 7,500 megawatt (MW) increase in demand from now until 2028 due to data center additions to the system in Virginia and Maryland. At the same time, more than 11,000 MW of fossil fuel generation across the PJM footprint of 13 states and Washington, D.C., have or are being retired. Add the two together, and you get a delta of 18,500 MW that we need to cover somehow. Yikes!
Read More “PJM Plans for 18,500 MW Shortfall in Electricity Through 2028”
A Maryland company called Machfu has developed “a powerful, yet affordable continuous methane monitoring system” for orphaned oil and gas wells. According to the CEO of Machfu, his company’s solution is simple and reliable and provides 24/7 monitoring. The alternative is to use drones or airplanes, which are far more expensive and don’t work 24/7 but for a limited (brief) period of time.
Read More “Maryland Co. Innovative Solution Monitors Orphaned Wells 24/7”