OTHER U.S. REGIONS: NextDecade announces FID on Rio Grande LNG Phase 1; NATIONAL: Maximum extraction – shale development enters a new era; ExxonMobil sees LNG as a growth business into the future; INTERNATIONAL: Oil breaks out of trading range closing above $80; Shell says cutting oil and gas production “dangerous and irresponsible.”
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Jul 13, 2023”
Roughly 450 people within a one-mile radius of a Hilcorp Energy well pad in Fairfield Township (Columbiana County, OH) were evacuated following a mishap at the pad. Hilcorp says a third-party contractor “struck a well head” on the pad around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, causing natural gas to leak into the air. What does that mean, that someone struck a well head?
Read More “Columbiana County, OH Evacuates 450 After Hilcorp Gas Well Accident”
Yesterday MDN told you that on Monday, the clown judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e., the 4th Circus) illegally stayed a THIRD permit issued by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to traverse a piddly 3.5 miles of the federally-owned Jefferson National Forest (see Colluding 4th Circuit Judges Do It Again – MVP Halted in Jeff Forest). No sooner had we delivered that news than the clowns returned (cue Judy Collins, Send in the Clowns). Yesterday the 4th Circus judges slapped a stay on a second permit, a THIRD permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) concerning endangered species. Both stays, which are blocking new construction, are illegal according to the recently adopted law known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023 (see Equitrans Announces Mountain Valley Pipe to Get Completed in 2023).
Read More “All Construction of MVP Stopped as 4th Circuit Stays Second Permit”
MDN has covered news about wastewater injection well company Buckeye Brine for more than a decade (see our Buckeye Brine stories here). Over the years, the company has drilled and safely operated three injection wells at the same location in Coshocton County, OH. Buckeye recently filed an application with the Ohio EPA to drill and operate a fourth wastewater injection well at the Coshocton location. The OEPA recently held a hearing, and as before, a group of activists and local residents turned up to oppose the plan.
Read More “Buckeye Brine Seeks Permit for 4th Injection Well in Coshocton, OH”
What a disappointment Rich Negrin has turned out to be as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. During a DEP Citizens Advisory Council meeting held yesterday in Harrisburg (and remotely, via teleconference), several virulent anti-fossil fuelers addressed the council, making wild claims against the DEP. Negrin simply accepted their babbling and told them he agreed with them and would investigate any perceived problems. It was a shameful performance.
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Negrin Sucks Up to Radical Anti-Drillers on Conf Call”
Once a month, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysts issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. Last month the EIA predicted an average price at the Henry Hub of $2.66/MMBtu for 2023, and $3.42/MMBtu for 2024 (see EIA Slashes 2023/24 NatGas Price Prediction in June STEO Report). The July STEO, released yesterday, lowers both of those projections once again.
Read More “EIA Predicts NatGas Prices Going Higher in 2H23 – July STEO”
Last week the Bidenistas at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new proposal to amend reporting requirements for petroleum and natural gas systems under EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The proposed revisions would “improve the accuracy of reported emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), including methane, one of the primary drivers of the climate crisis [which doesn’t exist], from applicable petroleum and natural gas facilities.” The EPA is using the so-called Inflation Reduction Act as the excuse to ratchet up new reporting requirements so high it makes life miserable for the oil and gas industry. And that’s the point.
Read More “EPA Attacks O&G Again – New Reporting Updates for Methane Emissions”
Hydrogen is thought by some to be the great energy savior, able to fill an important gap in liquid fuels that batteries and electricity cannot. Hydrogen, a very flammable and ignitable substance (and the most common molecule in the universe), burns clean when it burns, producing only water as a byproduct. A major area of focus for those pushing hydrogen energy is using it to generate electricity. Wouldn’t it be great, they say, if we could swap out hydrogen for nasty old methane? The problem has been nobody has figured out how to mix more than perhaps 40% hydrogen with 60% methane in a standard gas-burning turbine. A company with operations in the U.S. and South Korea has just announced it has successfully performed a test of burning 60% hydrogen in a standard (refitted) gas turbine. That’s a really important breakthrough.
Read More “World First: Power Plant Burns 60% Hydrogen Using Flordia Co. Tech”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Shell, BP pursue arbitration claims against Venture Global LNG; Eugene natural gas ban removed from upcoming ballot; Cheniere shunning Panama Canal for longer LNG routes to Asia; NATIONAL: US climate envoy John Kerry criticises big oil for backtracking; INTERNATIONAL: Oil rises on signs of declining supply surplus; Crude oil and natgas proved reserves fell slightly in 2022; U.K. gas giant reaches $8 billion deal to import U.S. LNG; Cummins’ Darlington Engine Plant celebrates first natgas engine.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Jul 12, 2023”
Three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e., clown judges from 4th Circus) yesterday Congress, the President, and the entire country the judicial equivalent of the double-barrel middle finger by illegally ruling to block the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) through 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest–for a fourth time. The three judges–Judge Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, Judge James Wynn, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, and Chief Judge Roger Gregory, appointed by William Jefferson Clinton–are (in our opinion) corrupt and should immediately be impeached and removed from the bench. Their malfeasance has gone on long enough.
Read More “Colluding 4th Circuit Judges Do It Again – MVP Halted in Jeff Forest”
In July 2020, Dominion Energy announced it had decided to exit the natural gas pipeline business by selling it to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy (see Dominion Cancels Atlantic Coast Pipe, Sells Pipe Biz for $9.7B). Part of the deal involved selling a 25% interest in the Cove Point LNG export facility to Berkshire Hathaway, transferring responsibility for operations to Berkshire (see Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Now Runs Cove Point LNG!). Yesterday both Dominion and Berkshire announced a deal for Berkshire to buy out Dominion’s remaining 50% share in Cove Point for $3.3 billion.
Read More “Dominion Sells Remaining 50% Share in Cove Point LNG to Buffett”
Although Shell maintains flaring and accidental emissions from its new multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, have not violated state and federal air standards, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they have–on numerous occasions. Shell didn’t argue the point, and in May, the company agreed to pay nearly $10 million in fines and “contributions” to benefit local communities (see Shell Cracker Agrees to $10M Shakedown from PA, Restarting Now). The DEP announced yesterday that it had appointed a 17-member committee to figure out how to dole out $5 million to fund local community projects near the cracker.
Read More “PA DEP Forms Ctte to Dole Out $5M in Shell Cracker Shakedown Cash”
In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Infrastructure bill, 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 about 9% of the $1.2 trillion will go to actual infrastructure projects like roads and bridges. One of the line items in the bill (so small it’s a rounding error) is money to plug orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells. A small amount of money was distributed last fall, a year after the bill became law (see PA DEP Solicits Bids to Plug First 50 Orphaned Wells Using Fed $$). The Bidenistas are now issuing the next round–some $660 million in total, of which $163 million (or 25%) will go to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
Read More “Bidenistas Dispense $163 Million to Plug Old O&G Wells in OH-PA-WV”
In April, Williams filed a formal application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to upgrade Transco pipeline’s capacity in Alabama and Georgia. The Alabama Georgia Connector Project involves upgrades to five compressor stations that will increase capacity in the region by an extra 63.8 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). The mighty Transco pipeline is a 10,200-mile natural gas transportation system that extends from south Texas to New York City. Transco is the nation’s largest-volume natural gas pipeline system, transporting about 15% of the natural gas consumed in the United States. Williams reversed the flow on Transco years ago to flow Marcellus/Utica gas to the south.
Read More “Transco Seeks FERC OK to Expand Capacity in Alabama and Georgia”
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility corporation in the U.S. TVA’s service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the country. In 2021, MDN told you that TVA is spending over $1 billion to replace six coal-fired plants with natgas-fired turbines (see TVA Investing $1B to Build New Natgas-Fired Electric Plants). Late last year, TVA recommended moving forward with replacing one of the six–a coal-fired plant located near Cumberland City–with a natural gas combined-cycle power plant (see TVA Recommends Replacing Cumberland Coal Plant w/Natural Gas). On June 30, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a favorable, final environmental impact statement (EIS) for a pipeline to connect the plant to bountiful M-U molecules.
Read More “FERC Issues Final EIS for Cumberland Pipeline to TN Power Plant”
Just before heading out the door on vacation last week, MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jason Spiess of The Crude Life podcast. This is the third time Jason has asked Jim to be on the podcast. The topics of discussion this time around: Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Shell PA ethane cracker.
Read More “MDN Interviewed by Crude Life Podcast re MVP & Shell Cracker”