PA DEP Tries to Track Down & Make Deadbeats Pay to Plug Wells
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).
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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.
Equitrans Midstream issued its third quarter update yesterday. As you might expect, there was much talk about completing the nearly-done Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. Near the top of Equitrans’ 3Q official update is this comment from CEO Thomas Karam: “Once in-service, there is little doubt MVP will be one of the most valuable pipelines in the U.S., directly connecting our country’s largest and lowest-cost natural gas resource and the rapidly growing demand of the mid-Atlantic and southeast markets.” MVP remains on track to be completed and online in 1Q24. We learned a few new details about MVP from the update. However, MVP wasn’t the only hot topic during yesterday’s update. We have new info about the Rager Mountain Natural Gas Storage Field incident, Ohio Valley Connector Expansion Project, and MVP Southgate.
In 2018, a man in Clarksville (Green County), PA, turned on his gas stove, and it exploded, catching fire and leveling the entire house (see 
Have you noticed the nice rise in the price of gas? Yesterday, the NYMEX Henry Hub price rose $0.22 to close at $3.58/MMBtu (up 6.24% in a single day). Cool! Better yet, the spot price of natural gas in the Marcellus/Utica region is on the march, too. According to Argus Media, spot natural gas prices across the northeastern U.S. surged to the highest levels in months. Why? Weather. Specifically, cold weather. Example: The Columbia Gas Appalachia index, a “key indicator” for the price of gas from the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania and surrounding states, more than doubled to $2.37/mmBtu on Monday, the highest since March 2nd. How high will it go?
In March, Chesapeake Energy announced a 15-year deal to provide natural gas for LNG exports to Gunvor Singapore Pte (see 
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility received Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) authorization on October 26 to place the final three liquefaction blocks (7-9) into service. The other trains, 1-6, have been online but not officially in commercial service, even though it has shipped over 200 (!) cargoes, claiming it’s still working out the kinks. Venture’s contracted customers are frustrated that they aren’t getting any shipments and have sued (see 
Last week, MDN brought you a list of the 15 proposed projects that are part of the West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) initiative (see 
Mama says, “Stupid is as stupid does.” The phrase from the modern classic Forrest Gump perfectly describes a proposal floating in the Pennsylvania legislature called House Bill (HB) 170, which would increase setback distances for shale wells from 500 feet to 2,500 feet — effectively killing any new shale well drilling anywhere in the state. In June, Democrat Party bosses shut down action on HB 170, telling the House to cancel a vote (see 
The so-called 
The Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Dept. of Energy lab, has tested the efficacy of blending hydrogen with natural gas in existing pipelines. Argonne found blending hydrogen with natgas lowers emissions due to hydrogen production and end-use combustion. However, injecting hydrogen into pipelines leads to higher transmission and distribution emissions and greater energy demand in compressor stations, wiping out the upstream and downstream benefits. In Argonne’s modeling, blending 30% hydrogen (by volume) into gas pipelines yielded a modest 6% decrease in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions — but hydrogen blending at that level doubles leakage from transmission lines.