Massachusetts Commits Energy Hari-kari – Plans to Ban NatGas
After more than three years of “study,” the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) issued an order yesterday meant to signal gas utilities that they don’t have a long-term future in the state. With Order 20-80, the DPU aims to “guide the evolution of the natural gas distribution industry to clean energy” with an eye towards the state’s goal of getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while supposedly protecting ratepayers and ensuring energy reliability. The 20-80 order accomplishes neither goal but instead sentences Massachusetts to a cold and dismal future without natural gas.
Read More “Massachusetts Commits Energy Hari-kari – Plans to Ban NatGas”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Associated natgas tripled since 2018 in top three Permian oil plays; Upstream Texas O&G sector grows by additional 2,200 jobs; NATIONAL: U.S. natgas sinks to three-month lows on mild weather outlook; Analysts see US gas storage surplus narrowing in bullish EIA report; No amount of subsidies will make a wind/solar electric system feasible.
A small group of uppity Virginia landowners don’t want Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) crossing their horse pastures, leaving a mark. So they conspired with Big Green lawyers in a lawsuit challenging the right of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to use eminent domain to build pipelines across private land. In October, the landowners filed an “emergency” request with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to block MVP construction while the eminent domain lawsuit grinds on. The D.C. Circuit judges rejected that request in October (see 
Dominion Energy wants 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 (see 
Earlier this year, Roulette Oil & Gas LLC received approval from the federal EPA to build a shale wastewater injection well in Clara Township in Potter County, PA (see 
On August 17, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) posted an Interim Final Environmental Justice Policy to guide DEP’s permit application reviews and outreach efforts in environmental justice areas throughout the Commonwealth (see 
There’s been a lot of news coming from the UN COP28 climate event in Dubai. In some respects, we feel like it’s a firehose of news about leftists targeting fossil energy (even though the event is being hosted by the CEO of a fossil fuel company). COP28 runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, so we will bring you important news from the event in due course. Today, we focus on one bit of news: Some 50 oil and gas companies from around the world, representing 40% of global oil production, launched a new initiative called the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC). EQT Corporation is one of the 50 participants.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan used a considerable amount of fossil energy and emitted billows of carbon dioxide to jet over to Dubai to participate in the COP28 confab. On Friday, Regan released his agency’s latest attempt to illegally regulate the oil and gas industry (something Constitutionally left to the individual states to regulate). Regan released a final rule that was “two years in the making” to force the U.S. oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions by using budget-busting new technologies and onerous (frequent) inspections. A long-time energy attorney says the new regulations are likely to be challenged in court.
Crescent Petroleum is based in the United Arab Emirates. Crescent’s CEO, Majid Jafar (who is attending the UN COP28 event), spoke to a CNBC reporter yesterday. Jafar *unloaded* on anti-fossil fuel U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. Among some of Jafar’s choice comments: “Blaming the producers of oil and gas for climate change is like blaming farmers for obesity. It’s our societal consumption that is the issue.” He also said if Guterres is serious about ending fossil energy, perhaps he should have traveled to the COP28 meeting in a wooden boat powered with sails and oars. Boom!
NATIONAL: WVU research helps power plants recycle water using O&G wastewater; USA oil supply now exceeding high expectations; U.S. push to decarbonize plays out differently from state to state; INTERNATIONAL: John Kerry emits loud fart during speech at climate panel.
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) released production numbers for the third quarter of 2023 late last week, and nobody noticed…except MDN (thanks to a tip from a good friend). ODNR no longer issues a press release to summarize the results as they once did. We’ve got the full spreadsheet with oil and gas production details for all 3,281 active shale wells in the Buckeye State. We’ve sliced and diced the numbers and have our usual Top 25 lists for natural gas and oil wells. We’ve included a couple of charts summarizing the data, showing the total production by driller (gas and oil) and the total production for the quarter by county. You’re gonna love it!
Chesapeake Energy is a stellar turnaround story. Years of mountainous debt pushed the company into bankruptcy in June 2020 (see 
Yet another top-notch speaker at Hart Energy’s DUG Appalachia event in Pittsburgh was leading energy trader Dennis Kissler from BOK Financial. During his talk, Kissler said, “New England has dodged a bullet because they’ve actually seen mild winter followed by mild summer and a mild winter to the start of this year.” And, says Kissler, if we get a cold snap, New England is in for a nasty surprise: brownouts. “They’re going to realize they’re going to need another source of power.” And that source of power is natural gas.
Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) is a natural gas pipeline that initially brought gas from the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to deliver gas to the New Jersey and New York City area. It is owned and operated by Williams. With the advent of the shale revolution, Transco was converted to be bidirectional, flowing Marcellus/Utica gas south to as far as Texas. Transco now transports approximately 15% of the nation’s natural gas! It is a massive and vital pipeline. With the imminent start of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and an extra 2 Bcf/d flowing from the Marcellus to Transco’s Station 165 in Pittsylvania County, VA, how will Transco handle the extra volumes?