NATIONAL: Energy Transfer completes acquisition of Crestwood; Shale patch wages hit USA record; Oil strategists look at USA oil production; BMI Henry Hub outlook; How the U.S. is pumping more oil with fewer rigs; INTERNATIONAL: Oil prices are being torn between these 2 factors; Germany and the EU buck calls to end fossil fuel use.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Nov 6, 2023”
We have to confess this news came suddenly out of left field. And we’re still struggling with what to make of it. Yesterday, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis, author of Precipice: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy America (in which he writes about the “leeches” of the left), stood at a podium in Washington County, PA, with PA’s head leftist leech Gov. Josh Shapiro, to announce a voluntary deal for CNX to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law. Is this a sellout by DeIuliis? Or is it a masterstroke in which DeIuliis has shown us how to outsmart the left and beat them at their own game? That’s the question we’re struggling with.
Read More “CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes”
The next few weeks will tell the story of whether or not the final nail has been driven into the coffin of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax in Pennsylvania. Yesterday, we brought you the really big news that PA’s Commonwealth Court voted 4-1 to block the state from joining RGGI (see Near-Fatal Blow for PA Carbon Tax – Commonwealth Court Blocks 4-1). We termed it a “near-fatal” blow to the horrible RGGI carbon tax in PA because the current leftist Governor, Josh Shapiro, can appeal the decision to the PA Supreme Court (loaded with lefty Democrats). Will he appeal it? He was asked that question yesterday at a PR spectacle held in southwestern PA.
Read More “PA Gov. Shapiro Ponders Appealing RGGI Carbon Tax Case”
The Mariner East Pipeline system, including Mariner East 1 (ME1), Mariner East 2 (ME2), and Mariner East 2X (ME2X), completed construction and went online in the first quarter of 2022 (see All Construction for Mariner East 2 Pipeline Now Done, Online 1Q). Pipeline operators like Energy Transfer (ET), the builder and operator of the ME system, routinely inspect pipelines for potential troubles. They run a PIG (pipeline inspection gauge) down the pipeline to search for corrosion and anomalies. ET recently found an anomaly in the ME2X pipeline — a dent — in a section in Chester County, PA. So they’ve set about to fix it.
Read More “Energy Transfer Fixing Dent Recently Discovered in Mariner East 2X Pipe”
Pipeline giant Williams issued its third quarter update yesterday. Among the news of interest for the Marcellus/Utica was a statement by Williams CEO Alan Armstrong that the company completed the first half of Transco’s Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project well ahead of schedule (on Oct. 21). The company is working with FERC to get the completed portion of the project online and flowing asap. REAE is a plan to beef up the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. The initial portion (now complete) will flow about half that amount (see Transco REAE, Warm Winter Portend Low Winter Gas Price in NY-NJ).
Read More “Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion Online Ahead of Schedule”
Clean Fuel Services LLC, a subsidiary of Hog Lick Aggregates LLC, is one of fourteen partner companies from West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania providing hydrogen production, offtake, and connective infrastructure for the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project. Clean Fuel’s role is to develop a hydrogen fuel depot in Fairmont (Marion County), WV, as part of ARCH2. The depot will provide a “one-stop-shop” for customers transitioning heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks, construction equipment, delivery vehicles, and bus fleets from diesel to hydrogen.
Read More “Clean Fuel Services to Build Hydrogen Depot in WV, Part of ARCH2”
New shale permits issued for Oct 23 – 29 in the Marcellus/Utica increased again. There were 26 new permits issued last week, versus 22 the week before. Last week’s permit tally included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and 1 new permit in West Virginia. Coterra Energy was the top permittee for the week, drawing 7 permits in Susquehanna County, PA. Chesapeake Energy was #2 with 5 permits issued in Sullivan County, PA.
Read More “26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 23 – 29”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cureton Midstream announces sale to Williams; Bayswater deploys innovative nitrogen technology in DJ Basin; NATIONAL: Chevron in talks on 15-year LNG supply contracts into Europe; US October LNG exports climb to second highest level on record; INTERNATIONAL: These are the 10 most mentioned oil and gas companies on X.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Nov 3, 2023”
In the end, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court was not fooled by the Democrat left’s attempt to rename a tax as a fee to circumvent the necessary approval needed by the state legislature in approving taxes as provided for by the state constitution. We’re referring to the illegal attempt by former PA Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019 to force the state into a carbon tax scheme called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which would slap a new (very high) tax (i.e., “fee”) on electricity produced by coal- and gas-fired power plants, forcing them out of business in favor of unreliable “renewable” energy sources (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO Destroying Gas-Fired Elec, Carbon Tax). After exhausting all other possibilities, in 2022, energy producers and PA Senate Republicans sued to block Wolf’s plan (see PA Legislators File Court Challenge to Block $2.6B RGGI Carbon Tax). Yesterday, they won that lawsuit in Commonwealth Court, blocking PA from participating in RGGI without legislative approval. Why is this decision a “near-fatal” blow for RGGI in PA and not just fatal?
Read More “Near-Fatal Blow for PA Carbon Tax – Commonwealth Court Blocks 4-1”
The Pennsylvania State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) should prepare to cough up some of the money it receives from the steep charges it assesses for Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation and Chapter 105 Water Obstructions and Encroachments permits. For YEARS, we’ve told you about these permits sometimes taking two, three, even six to eight months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits (see PA Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Allow 3rd Party Review of Erosion Permits). One of Josh Shapiro’s pledges was to fix the permitting delay mess. In August, he promised a money-back guarantee (see Gov. Shapiro Says Fix Coming for Late Permits: Money-Back Guarantee). He made good on his promise yesterday.
Read More “PA Shale Drillers Now Have Money-Back Guarantee for Permit Delays”
Chesapeake Energy Corporation, the country’s third largest publicly-traded natural gas producer, issued its third quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company reports a profit of $70 million in net income during 3Q23, down from $883 million in 3Q22. The drop was due to lower gas prices and less production. Second quarter net production was 3,495 MMcfe per day (or 3.5 Bcfe/d, 97% natural gas and 3% total liquids), down 15% from 4,108 MMcfe per day in 3Q22. The company used an average of nine rigs to drill 35 wells, down from 53 in the second quarter, and placed 34 wells on production, which includes 16 wells in the South Texas Rich Eagle Ford asset (which is in the process of being sold).
Read More “Chesapeake 3Q Production Down, Continued Focus on LNG Exports”
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021 with a new board and top management. In January of this year, the company appointed a new CEO, John Reinhart, the former President and CEO of M-U driller Montage Resources Corporation before Southwestern Energy gobbled up that company (see Marcellus Veteran John Reinhart Joins Gulfport Energy as CEO). Yesterday, Gulfport issued its third quarter 2023 update. The company made a whopping $608 million in net income during 3Q23 versus losing $18 million in 3Q22. Gulfport’s net income was orders of magnitude higher than Chesapeake Energy’s, which is a much larger company!
Read More “Gulfport 3Q – Huge Profit, Focused on Utica, No SCOOP Drilling”
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions (like the Haynesville). DTM issued its third quarter 2023 update yesterday. Items related to the M-U of note is that construction of the Ohio Utica System, a new greenfield gathering system in the Ohio Utica for EOG Resources, is progressing ahead of schedule with an expected in-service date of 1Q24. DTM also announced the NEXUS Pipeline added approximately 50 MMcf/d of additional leased capacity in 3Q.
Read More “DT Midstream 3Q: Ohio Utica Sys Almost Done, NEXUS Adds 50 MMcf/d”
A problem plaguing the entire country is old conventional oil and gas wells that were never adequately plugged and capped, called orphaned wells, because (supposedly) nobody knows who owns them. In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the help of turncoat Republicans (see Biden So-Called $1.2T Infrastructure Bill Passes Thanks to RINOs). Only a tiny portion (9%) of the money is going for infrastructure, things like roads and bridges and plugging orphaned wells. Some $4.7 billion was set aside in the bill specifically to help states plug orphaned wells. Roughly half a billion has been distributed so far, including $76 million or so to Pennsylvania (see Bidenistas Dispense $163 Million to Plug Old O&G Wells in OH-PA-WV).
Read More “PA DEP Tries to Track Down & Make Deadbeats Pay to Plug Wells”
Of the dozens of projects spread across the seven regional hydrogen hub projects selected by the Bidenistas to receive $7 billion in taxpayer largesse, there is only one project (part of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project) that actually brings hydrogen into people’s homes. That project is, according to Hope Gas CEO Morgan O’Brien, the project by Hope to distribute up to 5,300 WATT Fuel Cells to Hope Gas customers in West Virginia.
Read More “Only One Project of $7B Hydrogen Hunger Games Brings H2 into Homes”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: XTO agrees to pay $16M to resolve natgas royalty underpayments; NATIONAL: Students file complaints against six universities over fossil fuel investments; US oil output hits record as producers boost drilling efficiency; Turquoise hydrogen producers could capture flourishing graphite market; Hydrogen hubs: without huge subsidies the math doesn’t work; INTERNATIONAL: Shell announces commencement of a share buyback programme.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Nov 2, 2023”