Using Math to Mix Hydrogen into Existing NatGas Pipeline Networks
Hydrogen energy continues to interest those of us in the Marcellus/Utica (and elsewhere). Why? Billions of dollars are being thrown at companies as an incentive to make hydrogen energy the next BIG THING that can potentially replace evil, vile fossil energy. Thing is, 95% of all hydrogen comes from cracking methane (natural gas), a fact that drives the left crazy, and the reason why we love it (a huge new customer for M-U gas). Widespread use of hydrogen energy will only happen by mixing hydrogen with natural gas in existing pipelines. Except that’s a problem. Existing equipment can’t flow hydrogen–at least not over a 10% or so mix of hydrogen. But, maybe it can! A researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory says math can solve the problem. Math to the rescue!
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OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Commonwealth LNG inks deal with BH, funding from Kimmeridge; NATIONAL: Prices, higher well productivity drive up U.S. crude production forecast; INTERNATIONAL: Oil falls as us stockpiles drop to lowest level this year; Money manager sees $120 oil surprising bears; Unions reach deal at Australian LNG facility, workers meet to ratify.
Nearly one year after EQT announced a deal to buy privately-owned Tug Hill Operating’s West Virginia shale assets for roughly $5.2 billion (see 
Using data from several government agencies, the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia, Inc. (GO-WV) published its annual Gas Facts report last week. According to the report (copy below), West Virginia natural gas production increased 6% to 2.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2022. WV has moved up from fifth to now fourth largest natural gas producer in the country, providing 10% of the entire country’s natural gas supply! Combined severance tax revenue from natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids contributed 70% (nearly $714 million) of the over $1 billion allocated to the State General Revenue Fund for fiscal year-end June 30, 2023. The O&G sector in WV employs more than 17,000 direct jobs in the state, with an average salary of $93,739. According to a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, indirect jobs in WV related to the O&G industry number over 73,000 and contribute nearly $13 billion to the state’s economy.
Let’s face it: Josh Shapiro has been a major disappointment as Governor of Pennsylvania. He promised the moon to voters–that he would be both pro-gas and anti-gas at the same time. Some believed him, but we didn’t. Each week, new information comes along that reveals Shapiro’s true nature as a radical leftist Democrat. Shapiro said during the campaign he didn’t like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax that forces coal- and gas-fired power plants to close (see 
This is deeply disturbing and angering. The State of New Jersey passed a law in 2020 (signed into law by Phil Murphy) that requires forced teaching (i.e., brainwashing) of so-called climate change (man-made catastrophic global warming and fossil fuels are evil) to the state’s children in grades kindergarten through 12th. We have descended into full Communism. The brainwashing even happens in (of all places) ceramics class! How do you work the fairy tale of global warming into ceramics? By sculpting a crayfish on a clay tile, a species supposedly endangered by global warming. No wonder the students in other countries routinely do better than our students. This is true insanity.
The casual reader of energy-related stories can’t miss the meme spread by “mainstream” media day in and day out. That meme is that renewable energy (wind and solar) is taking over. The world is on the cusp of electrifying everything. Nasty and polluting oil and gas are yesterday. O&G’s day is over and any company that continues to invest in O&G is heading for insolvency. Except it’s all a lie. A new study by powerhouse consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) finds “US hydrocarbons to be a viable core asset amid the energy transition.” Translation: Oil and gas aren’t going anywhere.
The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research is spending $750,000 in precious grant money, giving it to Penn State University Distinguished Professor of Dairy Nutrition Alexander Hristov to see if he can figure out how to make cows burp less. When cows burp, they burp methane, like fire-breathing dragons do. That methane (called enteric methane) escapes, like a fugitive, into the atmosphere where supposedly it toasts Mom Earth into a cinder. No, we’re not joking. That’s what the left believes. Some nonprofit is spending three-quarters of a MILLION dollars to try and figure out how to make cows burp less. It would be funny if not so tragic.
With the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) now in construction high gear to finish the final 6% of the project, the question becomes can and how will an extra 2 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of Marcellus/Utica gas make it to the end of the pipeline, and from there, onward to other destinations in the Southeast? The short answer is yes; there’s certainly enough demand for an extra 2 Bcf/d of gas. The longer answer is that it will take time to ramp up to the point a full 2 Bcf/d is being transported and sold. If MVP comes online by the end of this year, it’s doubtful a full 2 Bcf/d will flow. Not because of supply issues–there are plenty of customers, and the pipeline has contracts to fill it to capacity. And not because of technical issues–the pipeline is rated for a full 2 Bcf/d. More gas won’t flow initially because connecting pipelines on the other end currently can’t handle the extra 2 Bcf/d that will come at them. Right now, there’s not enough capacity on other pipelines, which means when MVP begins to flow, it may be flowing only one-third of its rated capacity of 2 Bcf/d.
One year ago, in July 2022, MDN brought you news of a possible frac-out, or “inadvertent return” that happens when drilling mud pops out of places where it’s not supposed to–places outside the borehole being drilled (see 
It’s really sad, and sick, and twisted to watch what’s happening after University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) researchers released three deeply flawed “studies” that don’t prove anything (see 
It will be lights-out in Times Square if New York insists on forcing peaker plants to close in 2025. That’s according to Rich Dewey, president and CEO of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the nonprofit that oversees the state’s electricity system. Dewey has warned the state for YEARS of coming blackouts if peaker plants in New York City are forced to close in 2025. NY Dems, who irrationally hate fossil energy, are forcing the closure of NYC’s peakers, believing unreliable renewables and a big, fat power line from Canada will be enough to keep the lights on. Good luck with that.
Last week, the heaviest of the heavy hitters representing U.S. pipelines, including the American Gas Association (AGA), filed comments opposing the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) new methane rules for all pipelines. The gas associations said extensive changes need to be made to PHMSA’s proposal for it to be technically and economically feasible. Will the tone-deaf Bidenistas at PHMSA listen? Probably not.
The left is always full of good intentions. They declare if we hit so-called “net-zero” carbon dioxide emissions (holding carbon emissions to levels from years ago, even though there are more mammals on earth breathing out CO2 with every breath), we’ll save Mom Earth from toasting herself to death. And they set a target date 30 years into the future (2050). It’s always “do this by that date or we all die” with the left. Those dates come and go and…we don’t die. But being wrong every single time doesn’t bother them. Let’s assume for a moment we do need to reach net-zero (however you define it) by 2050. What would that look like here in the U.S.? In a word, it’s a nightmare.