Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

American Gas Assoc. Sues to Block Biden Reg Against Gas Furnaces
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

At the end of September, the Biden Dept. of Energy (DOE) published a new rule that cracks down on gas furnaces in homes, essentially phasing out many existing models and requiring new ones to meet onerous new standards (see Bidenistas Attack Your Gas Furnace with New DOE Regulations). The DOE now requires a 95% annual fuel efficiency standard, up from the 80% that was on the books before the new rule was published. On Monday, the American Gas Association, several other trade groups, and a manufacturer filed a legal challenge to the rule.
Read More “American Gas Assoc. Sues to Block Biden Reg Against Gas Furnaces”
Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Dec 20, 2023
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Chesapeake Utilities Corp. expands propane services in NC; Consumers Energy continues billion-dollar natural gas investment; NATIONAL: Bridger Photonics partners with CSU on methane emissions measurement; It’s increasingly difficult to get U.S. LNG to Asia; The era of flat power demand is over.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Dec 20, 2023”
CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

CNX Delivers on Promise to Shapiro re Chemicals List, Air Results
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

In early November, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis 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 CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes). Gov. Shapiro’s office yesterday blew the trumpet to announce that CNX has begun to deliver by providing a list of the chemicals used in fracking and by posting air monitoring results in real-time for two of its well pads, with plans to expand the program across its operations statewide.
Read More “CNX Delivers on Promise to Shapiro re Chemicals List, Air Results”
Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

PTT Working on Plan to Build Petchem Plant…in Thailand, Not Ohio
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

This is your friendly (somewhat snarky) semi-annual reminder from MDN that the PTT ethane cracker project in Ohio is dead (see Facing Reality – PTT Ohio Cracker Plant Project is Dead). We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. Local and state leaders in Ohio sometimes pop their heads up to tell us to have hope; it will still happen. BUNKUM. Earlier today, PTT Global Chemical Public Company, the parent that would build an ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH, announced a deal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries “to explore the utilization of hydrogen, ammonia and CCS technology to develop a large-scale petrochemical plant to achieve Net Zero.” However, the location of the plant will be in Thailand, PTT’s home country, and NOT in Ohio. We’ve pointed out for years that PTT has all sorts of money to work on big, multi-billion-dollar petrochemical plant projects elsewhere, but apparently there is not enough money for the Belmont ethane cracker. Why?
Read More “PTT Working on Plan to Build Petchem Plant…in Thailand, Not Ohio”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

U.S. Customs Decision re Jones Act Makes Exporting LNG Harder
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

Bureaucratic incompetence? Or yet another attack by the Bidenistas against the American fossil energy industry? It’s hard to say. We’re speaking of a new policy decision by the Biden Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency that prohibits LNG tankers from partially filling up at one U.S. export plant and moving up the coast to finish filling up at another U.S. plant. The CBP says doing so violates the 103-year-old Jones Act. We’ll explain.
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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Gas Trader’s Prediction for Henry Hub NYMEX Price in 2024 – LFL
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

It seems like everybody and his brother (and sister) are making predictions about where the price of natural gas will go in 2024. We’ve covered predictions from a number of sources, including the venerable U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). But what do the people who actually trade in natural gas say? What’s their take on the price in 2024? After all, they are the ones with the most “skin in the game.” We spotted a post on FXEmpire by the website’s chief analyst with his prediction for natgas prices next year…
Read More “Gas Trader’s Prediction for Henry Hub NYMEX Price in 2024 – LFL”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

IEA Rushes to Change Absurd Peak Oil Prediction 24 Hrs After COP28
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

How many times has MDN told you that the International Energy Agency (IEA) (and its executive director, Fatih Birol) is an anti-fossil fuel front organization for Big Green? Countless! The IEA and its so-called predictions of “peak oil” and “peak gas” (in either demand or supply) are nothing more than environmental propaganda. Why anyone believes a word coming from Birol and the IEA is beyond us. Mainstream media loves to report the IEA’s latest vomit, whatever it is. David Blackmon, a 40-year veteran of the oil and gas business, is out with a column on the Daily Caller that skewers Birol and the IEA. Blackmon points out the ink wasn’t even dry on the final communique from the COP28 climate confab before Birol was “adjusting” his previous preposterous predictions about peak oil.
Read More “IEA Rushes to Change Absurd Peak Oil Prediction 24 Hrs After COP28”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | ESG | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Tennessee Sues BlackRock for Misleading Investors re Aggressive ESG
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

BlackRock is the largest investment firm in the world, with around $9 trillion of investments under management. Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, has pushed the so-called ESG (environment, social, governance) agenda for years. What the left and people like Fink mean by ESG is don’t invest in or use fossil fuel energy (E), everything is racist (S), and the government is always right when Democrats are in charge (G). Fink said earlier this year he would stop using the ESG term, although he continues to push the ESG agenda of divesting from fossil fuel companies (see Unrepentant BlackRock Won’t Use ESG Term, Still Forces Divestment). A number of states and even Republicans in Congress have pushed back against BlackRock’s ESG agenda, causing it to lose money. Now the company has a new concern: The State of Tennessee is suing BlackRock for violating consumer protection laws.
Read More “Tennessee Sues BlackRock for Misleading Investors re Aggressive ESG”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

5 Presents MSC Wants to See Under the Christmas Tree
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” Whoops. Not that tune! “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth…” Not that one either! “This is my grown-up Christmas list…” Yeah, that tune fits the best. We’re talking about a “grown-up Christmas list” from the Pennsylvania natural gas industry via the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC). Yesterday, the MSC published its Christmas wish list for 2024 (and beyond) with five “presents” they would like to see under the Christmas tree. We couldn’t agree more…
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Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Dec 19, 2023
December 19, 2023January 24, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Chicago’s natural gas pipeline project halted; INTERNATIONAL: Elon Musk says don’t ‘demonise’ O&G, hits out at environmentalists; LNG vessels avoid Red Sea as tension rises; We must have more natural gas pipelines to avoid freezing.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Dec 19, 2023”
Ammonia | CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Hydrogen | Industrywide Issues | Mingo County | Taxation | West Virginia

CNX Pulls Out of West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Ammonia Plant Project
December 18, 2023December 18, 2023

Friday afternoon, CNX Resources issued a press release to announce it is officially pulling out of the previously announced multi-billion-dollar clean ammonia manufacturing facility in southern West Virginia, part of the ARCH2 (Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub) project. Adams Fork Energy, Haldor Topsoe, and CNX announced the project in April with much fanfare (see CNX to Provide NatGas for WV Hydrogen Hub Clean Ammonia Plant). CNX was supposed to provide natural gas to the plant, tentatively scheduled to begin construction in 2024 in Mingo County, WV. CNX said it was pulling out for two reasons…
Read More “CNX Pulls Out of West Virginia Hydrogen Hub Ammonia Plant Project”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Negotiating Better O&G Contracts: Tips from 60K PA Shale Leases
December 18, 2023December 18, 2023

This is one of those little gems we delight in unearthing for MDN readers — especially for our landowner/rights owner readers. Researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of Pittsburgh assembled a dataset of lease deals used in the Pennsylvania Marcellus (some 60,000 of them!) and analyzed the leases for compensation and clauses that may protect landowner health and the enjoyment of their properties. The researchers used the data to produce three main findings…
Read More “Negotiating Better O&G Contracts: Tips from 60K PA Shale Leases”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Dead Cat Bounce Over: U.S. Rig Count Loses 3 @ 623, M-U Even @ 41
December 18, 2023December 18, 2023

The slight rise in the national rig count, with the count going up by one or two rigs a week over the past five weeks (what we call a “dead cat bounce”), is over. The Baker Hughes U.S. rig count lost ground again last week. The count went from 626 active rigs two weeks ago down to 623 last week. The Marcellus/Utica stayed even at 41 active rigs last week.
Read More “Dead Cat Bounce Over: U.S. Rig Count Loses 3 @ 623, M-U Even @ 41”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Biden Dept. of Agriculture Approves Wisconsin Gas-Fired Power Plant
December 18, 2023December 18, 2023

In September 2022, MDN told you about a relatively modest-sized gas-fired power plant planned for Superior, Wisconsin, called the Nemadji Trail Energy Center (see Midwest Elec Grid Roasted for Supporting New Gas-Fired Power Plant). As we pointed out in that post, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) supports the project, which earned it scorn from climate cultists. The left is doing everything they can to stop the plant, including the Biden EPA. In November 2022, the EPA said a review of the project failed to take into account how much mythical global warming it would create (see Biden EPA Attacks, Blocks Work on Wisconsin Gas-Fired Power Plant). However, it appears the Biden Dept. of Agriculture didn’t get the memo from the EPA, issuing a finding of “no significant impact” to the environment from the project.
Read More “Biden Dept. of Agriculture Approves Wisconsin Gas-Fired Power Plant”
ESG | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Will New Biden EPA Methane Rule Kill Responsible Gas Certifications?
December 18, 2023December 18, 2023

click for larger version

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 where he 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 (see Bidenistas Unleash Hellscape of U.S. Methane Regs at COP28). Here’s a question: If the feds require every producer to phase out flaring, install new equipment, and meet new, aggressive standards for emissions monitoring and leak detection and repair, will there still be a need for entities like MiQ, Equitable Origin, and Project Canary (which together certify most M-U production) to score or assess the lower-emissions natural gas produced by E&Ps?
Read More “Will New Biden EPA Methane Rule Kill Responsible Gas Certifications?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | ESG | Industrywide Issues

Two Opposite Perspectives on COP28 “Phase-Out” of Fossil Fuels
December 18, 2023December 18, 2023

Do you see an old hag or a beautiful young woman?

OPEC+ single-handedly changed the language in a final communique issued by the UN COP28 delegates that was supposed to call for the phase-out of fossil fuels worldwide (see Enemy of My Enemy – OPEC Successfully Blocks Anti-FF Text at COP28). Instead of using language about a “phase-out” of fossil fuels, the language was modified to say, “reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.” The reaction since the conclusion of the jet-setting affair has been interesting. Some see fossil energy’s coming (rapid) destruction in the agreed-to statement. Others read it and declare the planet will now burn to a cinder because fossil fuels are allowed to live on, at least for the foreseeable future. The same statement, two wildly different reactions.
Read More “Two Opposite Perspectives on COP28 “Phase-Out” of Fossil Fuels”