Nacero Plan for Northeast PA Marcellus-to-Liquids Plant Still Alive
In October 2021, Nacero announced a $6 billion gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery to be built on the site of a former coal mine in Newport Township and Nanticoke in Luzerne County, PA (see NEPA Huge Deal – $6B Plant to Convert Marcellus Gas to Gasoline). The plant would convert Marcellus natural gas into zero-sulfur gasoline for use in existing cars and trucks without modification. The initial announcement was a big to-do involving politicians and local economic leaders. Antis (in typical fashion) have bashed the project (see PA Anti-Fossil Fuelers Hold Online Session to Bash Nacero GTL Plant). Since the initial announcement, there hasn’t been any apparent progress. We’ve wondered (for a while now) if this project is still alive?
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We have been closely tracking the restart of the shuttered Freeport LNG export terminal following its emergency shutdown in June 2022 after an explosion and fire. Earlier this week, we told you about the plant’s rocky restart road, with feedgas flowing to the plant averaging around 50% of total capacity (see 
In our daily perusal of press releases, we spotted an announcement from Yara and Enbridge about a joint venture to build a “world scale” low-carbon blue ammonia project along the Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi, Texas. We thought, “Hmmm, that’s interesting.” But as we read the announcement, our eyes got wide when they landed on this statement: “Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline is expected to provide the transportation service for feed gas that will be used for the production process.” Whoa! Now that’s REALLY interesting! We’ll tell you why…
If you support the Marcellus gas industry in Pennsylvania and you voted for Josh Shapiro for Governor last November, believing he doesn’t *really* want to kill the Marcellus industry via an obscene carbon tax (known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI), you were wrong. He does want to kill the industry. And a group of far-left groups are telling him he darned well better stay on the straight-and-narrow and keep RGGI alive. Or else…
Just a few days ago, we told you that Pieridae Energy was scaling back the scope of its planned Goldboro LNG export plant project in Nova Scotia, Canada (see 
Leave it to liberal Democrats to hype an issue that isn’t even an issue to try and scare folks for political gain. LibDems have introduced a bill in the Ohio House that would prohibit fracking for oil and gas underneath Lake Erie. The leftists of Lake Erie Waterkeeper appear to be behind the measure. When was the last time you heard about any drillers salivating over drilling and fracking under Lake Erie? That’s right. NEVER. And yet the left wants to plant the seed that drillers now have their sights set on fracking Lake Erie.
New shale permits issued for Mar. 20-26 in the Marcellus/Utica dropped by two from the prior week. There were 32 new permits issued in total last week, including 22 new permits for Pennsylvania, 8 new permits for Ohio, and 2 permits in West Virginia. (Note we recently updated last week’s report to include WV permits after the WVDEP fixed its database.) Last week the top receiver of new permits was CNX Resources with 10 new permits spread across two PA counties: Greene and Allegheny. Snyder Brothers received 8 permits in Armstrong County, PA.
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It’s a miracle, A true blue spectacle, A miracle come true… (Lyrics from Barry Manilow’s tune, It’s a Miracle) In a 3-2 vote taken in December 2021, the Virginia State Water Control Board granted a permit (under the Clean Water Act) for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross about 150 streams and wetlands in Southwest Virginia (see 
This is a good news/bad news article. The good news is that the Marcellus/Utica region remained the top-producing natural gas region in the U.S. in 2022, supplying some 29% of all the natural gas produced in the U.S. –averaging 34.6 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day). The bad news is that the M-U’s new growth in 2022 was minuscule–just 100 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) over 2021 volumes. The Permian Basin (oil-focused) added roughly 2.5 Bcf/d of new natgas production in 2022. The Haynesville, the M-U’s chief competitor, added nearly 2 Bcf/d of extra production last year. Even the Eagle Ford and Anadarko plays added more natgas production last year than did the M-U. Why?
Anderson King Energy Consultants, based in Dallas, Texas, advises clients in the oil and gas space on a variety of issues including acquisitions and divestitures, valuations of assets, and company strategy. AK provides its expertise to a number of companies, major companies with names you would recognize. Randy King and Jon Dormer, managing partners at AK, recently sent MDN a brief report that advises drillers to choke back their wells by 50% in order to boost the commodity price of natural gas to levels that are profitable once again.
The mighty Shell ethane cracker has had “issues” getting and staying fully up to speed. Since it officially went online last November, Shell has received three separate notices of violation (NOVs) for exceeding allowable air pollution limits, largely related to repeated flaring episodes (see 
No one with a brain would deny government spending in Washington, D.C., is completely out of control. The Biden administration is spending more money than any previous administration in history. Biden’s incompetent Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, can’t even keep track of all the spending and earlier this year (out of the blue) she announced the country has hit its debt limit and that the limit needs to be raised–so that we can spend even more! Republicans are getting smarter. Speaker McCarthy is playing political hardball with sleepy Joe, telling Biden if he wants the debt limit raised, he’s going to have to pay. The price for a higher debt limit (or risk a catastrophic default) will be to adopt pipeline permitting reform and to finish the Mountain Valley Pipeline project.
The Ohio Natural Energy Institute (ONEI), formerly the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), recently issued a press release to point out that between 2010 and 2021, Ohio’s oil and gas sector has paid a cumulative $755 million in taxes which supports local schools, municipalities, counties and other services in Ohio. Hey, how much in tax revenue have anti-fossil energy groups (like the Sierra Club) paid during that time to support the Buckeye State? That’s right: $0. Instead, anti groups have destroyed jobs and companies, resulting in less taxes paid.