Gas-Fired Power 70% of PJM Electric Outage During Winter Storm
PJM is the largest electric grid operator in the U.S. It serves 65 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including PA, OH, and WV). PJM came under withering criticism for an almost blackout during the Christmas cold snap last Dec. 23-25. If not for certain gas-fired peaker plants, like that in the Little Town of Bethlehem, the lights would have gone out during a brutal cold snap (see Bethlehem Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Kept PA Lights on During Xmas). Some 24% of the electricity supplied to PJM was not available during the cold snap due to equipment failures and lack of supply, including natural gas frozen off at well pads. PJM issued a report on Monday analyzing what happened, with an eye on how to prevent it from happening again.
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As we point out in another story today about Olympus Energy selling its “responsible gas” via a deal with Tenaska, what the left means by ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) and what the shale industry means by ESG, are two different things. When companies like BlackRock talk about forcing the companies they invest in to toe the line with respect to ESG, it means forcing those companies to divest from fossil energy. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing back hard against investor ESG nonsense because it threatens the retirement funds of this country’s massive middle class.
Yesterday, Japan’s JERA Co. Inc. and Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) announced a new initiative called the Coalition for LNG Emission Abatement toward Net-zero (“CLEAN”). The private-public initiative has the support of the governments of Japan, South Korea, Australia, the U.S., and Europe, whose representatives signed a framework agreement for creating a mechanism to monitor methane emissions. “To support the Coalition, Japan and the European Commission expressed their vision to create a globally aligned methane emission assessment of LNG projects and to incentivize methane mitigation by LNG producers by facilitating the information collection process of methane leakage counter measures and methane reduction targets,” a joint statement by the allies said.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: An export terminal for natural gas is essential in southeast PA; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Disney heiress arrested for chaining herself in front of Hamptons airport; NATIONAL: Natural gas post largest one-day gain in a month; It’s supply, stupid.
The latest monthly U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) for July issued yesterday (below) shows the EIA believes shale gas production across the seven major plays tracked in the monthly DPR for August will *decrease* production from the prior month of July. This is the first month-over-month decrease prediction for the combined seven plays since December. EIA says combined natgas production will slide by 100 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day). The Marcellus/Utica, called “Appalachia” in the report, is predicted to slump by 16 MMcf/d in August from July.
Last summer, MDN brought you the news about a lawsuit against Diversified Energy and EQT over the issue of old and “abandoned” wells in West Virginia (see 
Two years ago, Chesapeake Energy announced that it would seek responsible gas certification from two organizations–Equitable Origin (EO) and MiQ–to certify the production of its natural gas produced in both its Marcellus and Haynesville operations (see 
Even with much of the nation in an extreme heat event making record demands on gas-fired power plants, demand for natural gas appears to be nominal at best, and consequently, the price of natural gas, at least the Henry Hub NYMEX futures price, remains mired in the mid-$2 range. The NYMEX price was down again yesterday, closing at $2.51/MMBtu. That’s the fourth day in a row the price has decreased, hitting the lowest closing price in almost a month–since June 20th.
One of the factors in the price of natural gas is supply. Gas is about as pure a commodity market as you will find worldwide. Higher demand with the same or less supply will drive prices higher. And the reverse is true. Higher supplies with the same or less demand lead to lower prices. Last summer, the world was still coming to terms with the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Europe and many countries worldwide pledged to stop buying Russian natural gas, putting an extreme demand on other sources for gas, including here in the U.S. The situation led to a deficit in available natgas and lower storage. This summer the situation is far different.
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) is warning of a shortfall in electric generating capacity for New York City in 2025 when peaker plants–on-demand electric-generating plants that use fossil energy–are due to retire. Each quarter NYISO issues a short-term assessment of reliability. In April, the NYISO quarterly report warned about coming blackouts in 2025 (see 
In early June, shale drillers could, for the first time, begin to apply for permits to drill under (not on top of) Ohio state lands and state parks under newly formulated rules established by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management (OGLM) Commission (see 
The yo-yo behavior of the national rig count continues. Two weeks ago, the U.S. rig count broke a nine-week-straight decline by adding six rigs (see 