Kentucky PSC Votes to Retire 2 Coal Plants, Replace w/Gas-Fired
Last December, PPL Corporation subsidiaries Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU) announced a plan to replace 1,500 megawatts of aging coal-fired generation (nearly one-third of Kentucky’s coal fleet!) with two 621-megawatt (MW) natural gas combined-cycle units along with several unreliable, intermittent solar projects (see PPL Replacing Coal-Fired Power Plants with NatGas in Louisville, KY). The state Public Service Commission (PSC) issued its decision on the request Monday. LG&E/KU got some, but nowhere near all of what they requested.
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We’ve written plenty about so-called certified natural gas, which is “responsibly produced” (as opposed to irresponsibly produced?) gas. The way a driller proves the gas they are selling is certified as responsible is to use a third-party verification vendor — typically either Project Canary or MiQ (see 
U.S. exported 110 cargoes of LNG in October, which is up from September and ties the all-time high number of cargoes exported in March and April this year. In October, nearly 70% of all U.S. cargoes landed in Europe, a huge jump from September. Which European countries received the most U.S. LNG in October? Germany? The U.K.? Nope, not even close. The country receiving the most LNG from the U.S. in October was…
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.
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 
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 
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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