MDN Upstream Index (MUI) – Apr 28, 2023
The most recent day of active trading was Thu., Apr. 27, 2023. The numbers below reflect yesterday’s closing numbers.
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Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Apr 28, 2023
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pennsylvania’s energy future, hidden behind a locked door; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Venture Global 20-year LNG sales & purchase agreement for CP2; US natural gas gets a boost with FERC ruling on Rio Grande LNG; NATIONAL: OFS giants post sparking set of results; Natural-gas producers aren’t letting up; Federal incentives, rising demand spur a slew of clean ammonia projects.
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Accidents | Air Quality | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Shell
Air Monitors Detect Benzene at Fenceline of Shell Cracker in Monaca
Air monitors at Shell’s ethane cracker plant detected elevated levels of benzene (which can cause cancer in humans) following an April 11 malfunction. However, an industrial hygienist told attendees at Tuesday night’s webinar session with local residents that the levels of benzene detected at the cracker’s community-adjacent fenceline during and after the release were too low to cause “even transient discomfort or irritation.” The highest concentrations found outside the fenceline were “in the parts per billion range.”
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WV Gov. Jim Justice to Announce Senate Run Against Joe Manchin
WV Gov. Jim Justice The rumors have been swirling for weeks that West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice will run for the U.S. Senate office now occupied by traitor Joe Manchin–the guy who sold out and voted for Biden’s Green New Deal boondoggle, laughably renamed the Inflation Reduction Act (see Tragedy: Joe Manchin Caves & Agrees to Big Green Build Back Better). Manchin sold out WV voters, and he sold out the nation. Manchin must now pay the price by losing his seat in the 2024 election. This afternoon Gov. Jim Justice is set to announce he will run to do just that.
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This Winter’s NatGas Withdrawals from Storage Lowest in 7 Years
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says less natural gas was withdrawn from storage this past winter (Nov. 1 through Mar. 31) than in the past seven years. We entered the heating season with about 3% less natural gas in storage than the average, but because of mild temps during the winter, we used far less than is typical during the wintertime. Hence the low withdrawals.
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7 O&G Associations Join Lawsuit Against EPA’s Forced EV Rule
Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced new proposed federal vehicle emissions standards that will force Americans to give up driving gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles and instead switch to electric vehicles (see Biden EPA Plan Forces People to Buy Expensive Electric Vehicles). The Biden EPA said the new standards will “accelerate the ongoing transition to a clean vehicles future and tackle the climate crisis.” The Bidenistas intentionally use inflammatory language, calling EVs “clean” vehicles, as opposed to fossil energy vehicles which, by inference, are “dirty.” They also claim the new standards will tackle the “climate crisis”–perpetuating an unproven theory that mankind is causing the earth to catastrophically warm. Seven major oil and gas associations from three states–Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana–have joined a lawsuit to fight this illegal move by the EPA and NHTSA.
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Bloomberg: Shale in Midlife Crisis, Big Oil Rides in to Save Day
Credit: MY21 Photography. FLFBS. We spotted an article by a Bloomberg opinion columnist that says American shale energy is in a “midlife crisis.” The article pictures Big Oil (companies like Exxon and ConocoPhillips) as riding in on Harley Davidson motorcycles to save shale. It’s something of a twisted and mixed metaphor (old guys with money in a midlife crisis ride Harleys), but humorous nonetheless. The larger point of the article, which IS worth pondering, is whether or not the era of independent shale drillers is drawing to a close. The author offers evidence and analysis that such is the case–or should be.
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Environmental “Baptists and Bootleggers” Seek to End Fossil Energy
When we saw the headline “Environmental Bootleggers and Baptists Fleece Consumers,” we just couldn’t resist. An article in RealClearEnergy written by Gordon Tomb, a Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based free-market think tank, compares an interesting time in our history with what is happening today. Once upon a time, Baptists advocated for a ban on alcohol sales Sundays. They were supported by…Bootleggers! Take about strange bedfellows! Today, the Baptists are environmentalists who insist we must dump fossil energy in order to save the planet (definite religious overtones in the environmental movement). And the Bootleggers are…
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Radicals Still Trying to Force Name Change Away from “Natural” Gas
Despots and dictators the world over are the same, whether it’s Vladimir Putin relabeling his naked aggression of outright war against Ukraine as a “military operation,” or New York State’s so-called Climate Action Council relabeling natural gas as “fossil gas” (see NY’s Anti-Fossil Fuel Wackos Rename Natural Gas to “Fossil Gas”). Tyrants seek to relabel those things they can’t control in an attempt to pressure, hoodwink, and manipulate the masses–to force others into doing what they (the tyrants) want done. The left is in a Holy War to relabel natural gas as something else (see The Left’s Holy War to Separate the Word “Natural” from “Gas”). We hadn’t heard much lately about this silly effort at relabeling, but like a dog with bone, the left never gives up. Radicals are now pressuring the Bidenistas to purge “natural” from “gas” at the federal government level.
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MDN Upstream Index (MUI) – Apr 27, 2023
The most recent day of active trading was Wed., Apr. 26, 2023. The numbers below reflect yesterday’s closing numbers.
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Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Apr 27, 2023
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Equitrans shareholders approve board, executive compensation; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Pioneer’s founder and CEO Sheffield to retire; NATIONAL: U.S. coal shipments increased in 2022 due to power plants; The bullish case for natural gas prices; INTERNATIONAL: Oil tumbles rescinding OPEC gains; IEA warns OPEC should be very careful about boosting oil price; Four scenarios that could send oil prices to $200.
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Bradford County | CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | New Fortress Energy | Pennsylvania
Bad Guys Win: Biden DOT Won’t Renew PA-to-NJ LNG Rail Permit
On December 5, 2019, the PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) granted a special permit to Energy Transport Solutions, LLC (i.e. New Fortress Energy) to transport LNG in DOT-113C120 rail tanker cars between Wyalusing, PA and Gibbstown, NJ (see U.S. Gov’t Grants New Fortress Permit to Ship NEPA LNG by Rail!). At the time, New Fortress was working on plans to build an LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA, aimed at liquefying locally-produced Chesapeake Energy Marcellus gas, shipping it (via rail and truck) to a port facility on the banks of the Delaware River and exporting it from there.
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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell
Shell Hosts Virtual Meeting with Community re Cracker Problems
Last night, Shell hosted a virtual community meeting to address air monitoring and recent problems experienced at the company’s ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA. Executives answered questions about the plant’s environmental record over the past six months, including a recent odor event earlier this month (see PA DEP Investigates Bad Odor Coming from Shell Cracker Plant). Christopher Kuhlman, a senior toxicologist hired by Shell to review air data and assess exposure, told attendees that any inadvertent air releases from the plant have been safe for nearby residents. Not everyone agreed.
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US Methanol Plant in Institute, WV Up and Running at 95% Capacity
US Methanol plant – Institute, WV (click for larger version) Happy Day! US Methanol broke ground in September 2017 in Institute (Kanawha County), WV, to build its very first methanol production plant (see US Methanol Breaks Ground on First Plant in West Virginia). Methanol plants convert natural gas into methanol, used as a chemical feedstock (raw material) to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze, plastic bottles–even LED and LCD screens. Methanol plants use a LOT of natural gas. On Monday, a group of high-level politicians from West Virginia, including Gov. Jim Justice, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, and Sen. Joe Manchin, joined US Methanol officials to celebrate the official opening of the Institute methanol plant.
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Range Resources 1Q Update – The Marcellus Future is Very Bright
Yesterday Range Resources Corporation issued its first quarter 2023 update and held a conference call with analysts. On the call, retiring (as of May 10th) CEO Jeff Ventura proclaimed Range sits at the best spot it’s been in history. Ventura said, “For the Marcellus, the future is very bright.” Incoming CEO (currently COO) Dennis Degner echoed Ventura’s remarks and pledged to “stay the course” and continue to “block and tackle” in the months and years ahead.
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Calif. Hotel Liberal Pressures CNX to Report on Loony Paris Goals
click for larger version The owner of two hotels in California–the Handerly Hotels in San Francisco and San Diego–who happens to own 19,185 shares of CNX Resources, is attempting to bully CNX into providing an annual report on the company’s “efforts” to comply with the nonsensical “Paris Agreement” to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions. Jon Handerly picked the wrong guy in CNX CEO Nick DeIuliis to pick a fight with. We suspect it’s all a PR stunt by Handerly to boost the market visibility of his hotels–to sell a few more rooms. After all, the nutballs who live in Cali like this sort of environmental grandstanding.
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