MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Climate litigation would close Pennsylvania for business; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere Energy cuts intake at 2 US LNG plants by 1 bln cubic feet/day; NATIONAL: NYT’s monstrous misrepresentation of U.S. fracking operations; INTERNATIONAL: World’s top shareholder urges systemic change to rein in oil emissions; Demand for coal, oil and natural gas to peak within 10 years.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Sep 27, 2023”
Did the Democrats running the Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) just receive a consolation prize from the Democrats who run the federal Dept. of Energy (DOE)? That’s the question swirling in our heads as we read about the PA DCNR receiving a $1 million grant from the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) to do some CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration) work. Is the DOE about to bypass PA and award a $1 BILLION grand prize to West Virginia for a hydrogen hub (that includes CCUS), and is this $1 million grant the Biden way of preempting sore feelings in PA by throwing them a bone?
Read More “Consolation Prize? PA DCNR Gets $1M from Biden DOE for CCUS Work”
In August 2022, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of existing pipeline (see Columbia Files w/FERC to Replace 48 Miles of Pipe in Southeast Va.). VRP will add 100 MMcf/d of incremental capacity on Columbia’s system to service delivery points in southeast Virginia, namely for Virginia Natural Gas. The Columbia project works hand-in-glove with another project by a different company. Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) asked FERC if it could add new pipeline in an existing right-of-way and one new compressor station (see Transco Pipe Seeks to Build New Compressor Boosting Flows in Va.). The Commonwealth Energy Connector Project, as it is called, will build six miles of new pipeline within Transco’s existing right-of-way in Virginia, expand a meter station, and build a 30,500 hp electric motor-drive compressor. Both projects (considered together by FERC) recently received a favorable final environmental impact statement (EIS).
Read More “Columbia, Williams SE Va. Pipeline Projects Get FERC Favorable EIS”
According to analysts writing for S&P Global Commodity Insights, the long-range forecast from the U.S. National Weather Service calls for milder temperatures in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region this winter. Warm temps equal less natural gas usage. Williams’ Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project will partially come online in October, flowing an initial 450 MMcf/d (out of 829 MMcf/d) of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. More supply with less demand is a classic economic prescription for lower prices in New York, New Jersey, and the Mid-Atlantic region. So says the S&P analysts.
Read More “Transco REAE, Warm Winter Portend Low Winter Gas Price in NY-NJ”
Last September, MDN told you about a new 53-mile pipeline project in Western Kentucky — a 16-inch natural gas pipeline to feed natgas to the southern Pennyrile Region (see Kentucky Spending $30M on New NatGas Pipe to Expand Biz Growth). The $115 million project is partly being underwritten by a $30 million grant from the State of Kentucky. Half of the state money ($15 million) was distributed last year, and the other half was distributed this year (see W. Kentucky 53-Mile NatGas Pipe Moving Forward with State Funding). Officials report that more than 80% of the land needed for the project is now leased and ready to go.
Read More “Land Purchases Wrapping Up for W. Kentucky 53-Mile NatGas Pipe”
Folks new to the Marcellus/Utica may not know this, but Chesapeake Energy’s then-CEO Aubrey McClendon first “discovered” the Ohio Utica about 15 years ago. Under McClendon, Chesapeake spent over $2 billion acquiring rights to drill 1.3 million acres in Ohio — or roughly 5% of the state’s land area. McClendon pegged the value of the Utica for Ohio at half a trillion dollars. He famously said the Ohio Utica is “the biggest thing economically to hit Ohio, since maybe the plow.” While McClendon rightly deserves credit for launching the development of the Utica, he guessed wrong on the best places to drill in the Utica.
Read More “When Will Shale Drilling Come Back to Mahoning County, OH?”
As far back as July 2021, MDN began to cover the issue of geothermal energy, which uses the same technology (drilling rigs, horizontal drilling) to drill holes in the ground to circulate and warm (or cool) water underground as a “green” energy source. Geothermal is an area of interest for Marcellus/Utica shale drillers as a potential new source of revenue (see our geothermal stories here). More recently, we’ve reported on an experiment by West Virginia University and Northeast Natural Energy drilling an experimental geothermal well in WV (see WVU & NNE Drilling Test Well for CCS, Geothermal Energy). Pennsylvania is also sniffing around the geothermal concept (see Penn State Suggests Reusing Old O&G Wells for Geothermal Energy). Now comes word of a nonprofit called Project InnerSpace attempting to convince PA drillers to leave drilling for natural gas behind and enter the new nirvana of geothermal drilling instead.
Read More “Siren Song of Geothermal Calls to PA Conventional & Shale Drillers”
In May, the Bidenistas at the EPA released a hellscape of new regulations (681 pages) aimed at forcing coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to close (see New Biden EPA Regs a “Death Sentence” for Fossil-Fuel Power Plants). The editors of the Wall Street Journal called the new EPA regulations “An EPA Death Sentence for Fossil-Fuel Power Plants,” with the subtitle “The Biden agency’s new rule means the end of natural gas-fueled electricity.” Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down a far less onerous set of EPA regs attempting to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants (see West Virginia Wins Supreme Court Case Against EPA re Power Plants). According to Mario Loyola, a professor at Florida International University and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, EPA’s newest version of those regs (from May) will certainly get challenged and almost certainly will be thrown out, as was the case last year.
Read More “Why EPA’s New Gas Power Reg Will Get Struck Down by Court”
NATIONAL: The air’s gone out of the climate-crisis balloon; Oil headed for $150 without US support for more drilling; Big Green law firm getting probed by U.S. Senate; INTERNATIONAL: Winter gas price rally unlikely despite recent volatility; Uniper secures LNG until late 2030s to feed European demand; India seeks more natural gas amid emergency measures to end blackouts.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Sep 26, 2023”
The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d through 1,131 miles of pipeline. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. Enbridge is conducting an open season to gauge interest in expanding Algonquin’s capacity to flow more gas into New England–mainly from the Marcellus/Utica–called Project Maple.
Read More “Enbridge Open Season to Expand Algonquin Pipe in New England”
Penneco Environmental Solutions wants to site a second injection well in Plum Boro, next to an existing one. Penneco’s first wastewater injection well in Plum finally opened for business in mid-2021, overcoming all sorts of smears, slanders, and lawsuits by the enviro-left (see Plum Boro Injection Well in SWPA Now Open for Business!). In September 2021, Penneco announced plans to build a second wastewater injection well in Plum, located next to the first one (see 2nd Shale Wastewater Injection Well Planned for Plum Boro in SWPA). It didn’t long for Big Green to begin colluding and coordinating the attack to block the second well (see Big Green Mounts Big Effort to Stop 2nd Plum, PA Injection Well). Last Thursday, the federal EPA issued a final permit to Penneco for its Sedat #4A wastewater injection well located in Plum.
Read More “Federal EPA Approves 2nd Injection Well in Plum Borough, PA”
Braskem, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America (headquartered in Brazil), and its parent company Odebrecht were, at one time, hot-to-trot to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker near Parkersburg, WV. Back in 2015, Braskem purchased the 374-acre site that was formerly the SABIC/GE property from Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise for $10.9 million. Then things went on hold when Odebrecht got mired in a scandal in Brazil (see Odebrecht Pushes the Pause Button on WV Ethane Cracker). In 2016, it appeared the project might be rekindled (see A Pulse! WV Ethane Cracker Project Comes Back from the Dead). But by 2019, it was clear Braskem had given up on the cracker plant project and was shopping the site it had purchased (see Braskem Gives Up on WV Cracker – Parkersburg Site for Sale).
Read More “Now-Dead Parkersburg Cracker Site Finally Records Deed Transfer”
Two weeks ago, the U.S. rotary rig count rose nine after rising by one the week before that (see Hit Bottom? U.S. Rig Count Up 9 at 641, M-U Stays Even at 39). We’re suggesting those two weeks of increases were, perhaps, the proverbial “dead cat bounce,” meaning even a dead cat will bounce a little when hitting the ground after falling from a great height. Why our pessimism and sarcasm? Last week, the U.S. rig count erased all of those gains, dropping 11 rigs from the total, sinking to 630 active rigs — the lowest count since February of 2022 (19 months). The active count in the Marcellus/Utica remained at 39 last week (for three weeks running), which is the lowest count in the M-U this year.
Read More “Dead Cat Bounce? U.S. Rig Count Cut 11 @ 630, M-U Stays Even @ 39”
In August, the Executive Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) approved 34 water-use permits for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. We’re just learning of the action via an official notice published in the Sept. 23 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The approvals, which are NOT subject to public review according to SRBC regulations, are general water permits. Each site will be required to receive a specific water withdrawal approval at a later date.
Read More “SRBC Approves Water Permits for 34 Shale Well Pads in NE Pa.”
The CEO of EQT Corporation, Toby Rice, spoke at a recent University of Texas symposium hosted at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center. EQT is the U.S.’s number one natural gas producer, with current production hovering around 5.5 Bcf/d. Among Rice’s comments and predictions: The world is “still one event away” from another energy event. Volatility is still a reality “until we get more infrastructure built.” Rice said while adding solar and wind to the grid is “not a problem,” it needs a backup. Without natural gas, solar and wind are unreliable energy sources.
Read More “Toby Rice Still in Love with LNG, Wants New East Coast Exports”
Diana Irey Vaughan has been a Washington County, PA commissioner for almost 30 years. She’s learned a thing or two about anticipating economic trends and understanding what’s likely to happen in the future. Vaughan was an early supporter of the Marcellus industry in her county, the county with THE most Marcellus wells drilled in the state. Something new is appearing on Vaughan’s radar: carbon capture and storage. She thinks now is the time for Washington County (and for Gov. Shapiro and the legislature) to pursue landing new CCS projects for the Keystone State.
Read More “Washington County, PA, Makes a Play to Attract Carbon Capture”