MVP Completion in 2023 Gives New Hope for MVP Southgate in NC
It took an Act of Congress, but the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which stretches from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, will be, according to the builder and primary owner, Equitrans, completed and online by the end of this year (see Equitrans Announces Mountain Valley Pipe to Get Completed in 2023). Equitrans had big plans to expand MVP an extra 75 miles from Pittsylvania County to Alamance County, NC, a project called MVP Southgate. However, given the pushback and obstacles in completing the original MVP, Equitrans appeared to give up on Southgate last October (see Equitrans Signals Giving Up on MVP Southgate – Pulls Eminent Domain).
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In May, the Bidenistas at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a hellscape of new regulations aimed at forcing coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to close (see 
Two major Marcellus/Utica drillers–Seneca Resources and Northeast Natural Energy (NNE)–have joined the CG Hub, the world’s first commodities trading platform focused exclusively on certified natural gas and certified natural gas certificates. Seneca and Northeast now provide access to a combined 1+ billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of certified natural gas to traders via the CG Hub.
Is shale energy beginning to peter out? We’re beginning to see stories in oil and gas publications about how the best locations to drill for shale oil and gas are gone, and the less desirable, less productive locations are now left. We don’t know if that’s true, but it seems people whose multi-billion-dollar businesses depend on it believe it–people like the CEO of Exxon Mobil, Darren Woods. The general attitude that we’re running out has led to two notable strategies to keep the good times rolling: (1) refracing existing wells, and (2) researching new technologies and techniques to get more oil and gas from existing and new wells.
In January, the hard-left Bidenistas who control the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) floated a trial balloon that they want to ban natural gas stoves, forcing you (if you have one) to replace it with an electric stove at the cost of around $1,400 (see 
An energy analyst and trader writing on the Seeking Alpha investor’s website published an intriguing post this morning that claims we are a few months away from the “potential start of a global energy crisis.” He predicts a massive energy price spike starting this fall and into next year, with both oil and gas prices potentially setting new all-time highs. He cites cuts in OPEC+ oil production, the big drop in U.S. shale drilling, and Europe’s “precarious” natural gas situation will combine to spike energy prices. Is he right?
NATIONAL: Duke Energy to sell Commercial Renewables unit in $2.8 bln deal; Carbon capture, CO2 removal to play key decarbonization role; U.S. ethane exports set a monthly record in March 2023; Biden’s next climate coup: taxpayer-funded “green banks”; INTERNATIONAL: Apache halts UK North Sea oil, gas drilling on ‘burdensome’ regime; Britain’s green energy disaster should be a warning to Americans.
Last Thursday around 30-40 environmental activists (anti-fossil fuelers), along with a handful of local residents, rallied in Beaver, PA, before showing up for the Beaver County Commission regular meeting. The protesters, who want the Shell ethane cracker plant shut down, vented their concerns about the plant to county commissioners. The three county commissioners listened while antis vented for more than an hour (they should receive hazard pay). The problem is, the protesters were in the wrong venue.
According to Baker Hughes, which has tracked rig counts since 1944, drillers cut the rig count once again last week (overall by a single rig), the sixth week in a row when the rig count has gone down. This is the first time the U.S. oil & gas rig count has gone down six weeks in a row since July 2020–nearly three years ago. Oil rigs rose by one last week to 556. Gas rigs fell two to 135, the lowest since March 2022. According to oil and gas expert David Blackmon (who writes for Forbes), a rig count slumping for six weeks in a row is a trend and cannot be ignored. What about the Marcellus/Utica?
Last June (one year ago), the story broke that Penn LNG, headed by Franc James, a native of Philadelphia, had “quietly lined up support to build a $6.4 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal near Philly.” Not wanting this golden opportunity to die from opposition by radicalized environmentalists, Pennsylvania State Rep. Marina White (Republican from Philadelphia, a true rarity) sponsored House Bill (HB) 2458, which passed and was subsequently signed into law by then-Gov. Tom Wolf (see 
Researchers with Ohio Northern University recently published a study that finds that fracking for Utica Shale sometimes (“episodically”) reduces small Eastern Ohio River basin stream levels. The fluctuations in those stream levels “could” (but not necessarily do) negatively impact aquatic life (ecosystems) in those areas. The situation should, according to the researchers, be confirmed by more studies and monitoring.
We spotted a press release from an energy company that works in New York State called 
Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shared some information that, strangely, has not been written about by mainstream media. Not a mention, not a peep. EIA found that U.S. electricity generation from natural gas was the highest it has ever been this past winter, 2022-23. U.S. electricity generation from natural gas reached a record-high 619 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) during the most recent winter heating season (November 1-March 31), averaging more than 120 BkWh per month and accounting for 38% of the country’s electricity generation mix.
Looks like Shell’s new CEO, Wael Sawan, is capable of rational thought, unlike his predecessor, Ben van Beurden. Previous CEO van Beurden had set the company on the suicidal path of reducing oil and gas drilling in favor of investing in renewable energy. It turns out that’s not making any money for the company. So at an investor meeting this week, Sawan is going to unveil a new strategy–back to more drilling for oil and gas and less dithering with renewables, according to Reuters. In addition, super-secret sources whispering to Bloomberg say that Sawan is trying to cut more deals with China and India to sell more LNG. Sawan “sees a long-term role for natural gas in the world’s energy mix” and Shell is going to help meet that need.