MDN Upstream Index (MUI) – Jun 1, 2023
The most recent day of active trading was Wed., May 31, 2023. The numbers below reflect yesterday’s closing numbers.
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Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Jun 1, 2023
NATIONAL: Which generation is most in demand in oil, gas right now?; Students, climate activists push universities to fully cut ties from fossil fuel industry; INTERNATIONAL: U.S. oil enters world’s most important benchmark.
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BKV/Banpu | Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Diversified Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Inflection Energy | Keystone Clearwater Solutions | Lackawanna County | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Regulation | Repsol | Seneca Resources | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County | Tioga County (PA) | Wyoming County (PA)
SRBC Water Withdrawal Restrictions Hit 42 PA Oil & Gas Operators
The weather has been fantastic for those of us living in the northeastern U.S. over the past few weeks. Clear blue skies (when they aren’t clouded with wildfire smoke from Canada), really warm temperatures, and absolutely no rain to spoil outdoor activities. Here in the Binghamton, NY area, we went from a surplus of rain and swollen rivers and lakes just a month ago to a rain deficit today. Lawns and fields and beginning to turn brown. Hey, we’re not complaining! But we do need some rain. The lack of rain in the Susquehanna River Basin has triggered water withdrawal restrictions for 42 oil and gas drillers and four other large water users (46 in all) by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC). In many cases, the SRBC order is to “cease withdrawal.”
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If Debt Bill Passes, All 4th Circuit Lawsuits re MVP Dismissed
Although U.S. Senator Joe Manchin “absolutely thinks” that Congress will pass the debt ceiling bill negotiated by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, it’s still an open question as to whether or not it will pass. There are plenty of people on both ends of the political spectrum who are more than unhappy with the bill and plan to vote against it. At least, that’s what they say now. Today will be the acid test when a finalized bill appears and gets a vote in the House of Representatives. The billed, called the “Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023,” contains language that forces the completion of the 303-mile Marcellus/Utica Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Manchin says if the bill passes, all currently open and pending lawsuits against MVP in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will be immediately dismissed.
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Equitrans Midstream Stock Soars 42% Thanks to MVP in Debt Bill
click for larger version Although the debt ceiling bill (“Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023”) is far from being voted on and passed, the investor world thinks it’s a done deal based on how *they* vote–with their money. The debt bill contains a provision that forces the completion of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA. The pipeline is 94% completed but has been snared in delays brought on by Big Green lawsuits and a complicit and colluding 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. If the debt ceiling bill passes and it retains the language about MVP, the company building it, Equitrans Midstream, will benefit. Equitrans’ (ETRN) stock price has soared, up over 41% this week on the news about MVP in the debt bill.
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Jury Still Out on Debt Bill’s Ability to Deliver Permitting Reform
Will the debt ceiling bill, the “Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023,” actually get passed? And, will it retain the sections that deal with completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and so-called permitting reform? That’s the gazillion-dollar question. We should know within the next day or so whether the bill, largely as written, will survive. Let’s assume, for the moment, that it does survive and gets adopted. We brought you the preliminary language of the 99-page bill yesterday (see Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Deal Includes Finishing MVP PDQ). Section 107 in the bill, called “Timely and Unified Federal Reviews,” provides for permitting reform that speeds up fossil energy and renewable energy projects. Here’s another gazillion-dollar question: Will Section 107 do what it advertises?
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Delaware County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | LDCs | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation
PECO NatGas Reliability Stn Near Philly Still on Hold 2 Mos Later
An updated (2023) architect’s rendering of PECO’s gas reliability station (click for larger version) In the autumn of 2020, utility company PECO (headquartered in Philadelphia) floated a plan to build a natural gas reliability station in Marple Township (Delaware County, PA) to allow the company to distribute more natural gas into Delaware County through 11.5 miles of new natural gas main lines. The PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) granted PECO’s request to build the station, and the PUC’s decision was promptly challenged in court. In March, Commonwealth Court ruled against the PUC decision, instructing the agency to take another look before granting permission to build the reliability station (see Court Overturns PUC Decision Allowing PECO NatGas Reliability Stn). Since that time, the project has been on hold.
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Pittsburgh Utilities Experiment with Hydrogen Blend for Customers
We have nothing against using hydrogen as an energy source, other than it will never be able to power your home (see Why 100% Hydrogen Will Never Power Your Home; Why Antis Hate H2). But physics isn’t stopping a couple of utility companies in the Pittsburgh area from trying. NiSource, the parent company of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, and Peoples Natural Gas are working on experiments to introduce hydrogen into existing pipelines and use the blend in existing furnaces and gas stoves.
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Antero Resources | Chesapeake Energy | CNX Resources | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Gulfport Energy | Range Resources Corp | Seneca Resources | Southwestern Energy
M-U Earnings Down 50% from 2022 Due to Low Price of NatGas
It’s been a wild ride for shale energy companies from the beginning of the shale revolution around 20 years ago. Here in the Marcellus/Utica, the very first Marcellus well was sunk by Range Resources in 2004. Until a few years ago, most shale drillers were not profitable, eating through investors’ money like candy. Just before the beginning of the pandemic, shale drillers got the “free cash flow” religion and began to pull back on new drilling in favor of profitability for shareholders. The pandemic, followed by Russia’s war against Ukraine, added new market gyrations. Bottom line: Last year, shale oil and gas drillers saw historic revenues and profitability. This year, the bottom is dropping out once again…
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MDN Upstream Index (MUI) – May 31, 2023
The most recent day of active trading was Tue., May 30, 2023. The numbers below reflect yesterday’s closing numbers.
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Other Stories of Interest: Wed, May 31, 2023
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Six natural gas units installed at Martin Drake Plant; NATIONAL: Oil plummets as physical market shows copious supplies; The $200 billion electric school bus bust; 150 ways Biden & Dems have made it harder to produce oil & gas; INTERNATIONAL: Plunging LNG prices have traders bracing for US export cancellations; Poorer nations snap up cheap LNG in economic boost.
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Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia
Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Deal Includes Finishing MVP PDQ
Big news over the weekend. President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to a compromise deal to raise the debt ceiling–into the stratosphere. Part of the deal is a provision in the 99-page “Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023” called Section 324, which expedites the completion of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. MVP will flow 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica gas from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA. Needless to say, anti-fossil fuel nutters began howling at the moon and clawing at their faces upon hearing the MVP news.
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Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia
DC Circuit Deals MVP Another Gut Punch in Friday Decision
Today’s lead story shares the good news that Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is finally getting a literal “act of Congress” to force its completion (see Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Deal Includes Finishing MVP PDQ). One of the provisions in the “Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023” (debt ceiling bill) removes jurisdiction to hear court cases brought against MVP away from the corrupt U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and gives it to the D.C. Circuit instead. Which may not be the panacea we were hoping for. On Friday, the D.C. Circuit ruled in a case concerning MVP that has the potential to delay the project further. So much for the D.C. Circuit being MVP’s savior…
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Desperate Joe Manchin Predicts WV Will Win Fed Hydrogen Hub Project
Last Friday, Form Energy, a Boston-based firm building a utility-scale battery factory just across the Pennsylvania border in Weirton, West Virginia, held a groundbreaking ceremony on the site of a former steel plant. On hand for the ceremony were Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE), and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, from WV. We don’t care a fig about the battery factory. It was comments about a potential Appalachian hydrogen hub, made during interviews at the event, that caught our attention. Granholm all but guaranteed a hydrogen hub is coming to our region. Hello, $1 billion! Joe Manchin went even further and said, “I think West Virginia is going to be awarded a hydrogen hub.” What does Joe know that we don’t?
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Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Regulation
Residents Pressure Elizabeth Twp to Reconsider Well Pad Near School
Olympus Energy wants to drill six wells on a single pad in rural Elizabeth Township, a borough in Allegheny County on the east bank of the Monongahela River. The pad would sit about 2,400 feet (nearly half a mile) away from Elizabeth Forward High School. Some of the parents of students, and some of the administration, pushed back against Olympus’ drilling plan, using the kiddies as an excuse (see School Near Pittsburgh Pushes Back Against Olympus Plan to Drill). However, Elizabeth Township’s board of commissioners voted in January to approve the plan by a 5-2 margin (see Olympus Plan to Drill Wells Near Elizabeth High School Approved). Construction has not yet begun, and residents who oppose the plan are pressuring the town board to reconsider its approval.
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Jacksonville’s Eagle LNG Export Waiting for Final FERC OK to Build
In September 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave its blessing to Eagle LNG to build a small LNG export facility project at a site on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida (see FERC Grants Final Approval to Jacksonville, FL LNG Export Plant). According to our research, at least some of the gas that will feed it will come from the Marcellus/Utica. Last summer, Florida approved a lease for what is known as “sovereign submerged lands” controlled by the state–in essence, an easement related to a docking facility and permission for dredging (see Eagle LNG Export Close to Building in Jacksonville? FL Easement). Yet construction has still not started. Why?
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