Epsilon Energy Expands Beyond PA Marcellus with Permian Investment
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells in Susquehanna County, PA–that is, until now (see below). Epsilon typically does not do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Epsilon issued its first quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company’s net gas production was 2.5 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in total, not per day, during 1Q23. That amounts to 27.3 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) on average. Epsilon generated revenues of $9.4 million for 1Q23, down 39% from 4Q22.
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Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, along with 67 other business associations and local chambers of commerce, sent a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro and the PA legislature urging them to take “decisive action” in reforming the state’s “dysfunctional and unpredictable permitting system.” Among the signatories of the letter were shale groups, including the American Petroleum Institute (API) of Pennsylvania, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA).
A group of 17 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, filed a motion yesterday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking the commission to block BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, from forcing utility companies in which BlackRock invests to adopt so-called ESG policies. BlackRock buys up a significant portion of ownership in a company and then tries to force that company to stop using fossil energy via the back door of forcing it to implement ESG (environment, social, governance) policies. It is “woke” investing, plain and simple. And the Attornies General of 17 states have had enough of it.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a liberal Democrat from conservative West Virginia, is desperately trying to hold on to his job following the 2024 election. Manchin thought nobody would notice when he caved to pressure from his own party and voted to pass the devastatingly bad (and misnamed) Inflation Reduction Act (see 
NATIONAL: White House backs faster energy project permits, joining Republicans; INTERNATIONAL: Sunak says UK needs fossil fuels; Record amounts of LNG idling at sea.
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. Yesterday’s May edition predicts that U.S. natural gas production will rise to hit a new, all-time record high of 101.09 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) this year! That’s up from last year’s record-high of 98.13 Bcf/d. However, the report also predicts domestic gas consumption will fall. What about prices? More supply with less demand typically means lower prices.
In March, West Virginia Senate Bill (SB) 188, aimed at making WV’s gas-fired power generation more competitive with its neighbors in Pennsylvania and Ohio, was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice (see 
THE Delaware Riverkeeper appears to be obsessed with New Fortress Energy’s plan to liquefy natural gas in Bradford County, PA, and ship it via rail and truck to a former DuPont dynamite factory site in New Jersey along the Delaware River for export. Riverkeeper released a “report” (propaganda) bashing the LNG export plan. Riverkeeper paid a consulting firm that hires itself out to Big Green groups to produce the report.
Investors in shale oil and gas companies suffered for years with little or no returns for the money they invested. Five of eight large Marcellus/Utica drillers saw their share prices decrease by an astonishing 85% or more from 2008 to 2019 (see 
We are extremely unimpressed with New York City’s main utility company, Consolidated Edison. Con Ed supplies customers in all of New York City and Westchester County with electricity, and major portions (but not all) of NYC and Westchester with natural gas. The company has thrown in its lot (colluded with) New York’s far-left Democrats on a plan to kill off natural gas for its customers, believing it can eliminate some of its competitors. Con Ed is more than happy to build new projects, like a six-mile electric transmission line through Queens, and then pass the $275 million price to its customers to pay back. The new transmission line is meant to deliver enough extra electricity that Con Ed can shut down the gas-fired peaker plants it uses to help supply electricity on heavy usage days.
Ever hear of the term MAD–or 
Yesterday, the management of NextEra Energy announced it has officially lost its collective mind. The company is selling its two natural gas pipeline investments–one in Texas and the other right here in the heart of the Marcellus Shale–because it wants to concentrate 100% on unreliable (and government-funded) “renewable” energy projects instead. You may recall that NextEra bought Meade Pipeline Co LLC for $1.37 billion in 2019 (see 