OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Oil and gas job growth continued in March, production could expand; INTERNATIONAL: U.S. energy companies could help Ukraine win energy freedom; Concerns grow re European gas storage levels and US LNG cargoes.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Apr 25, 2023”
Last August, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of 49 miles of existing pipeline (see Columbia Files w/FERC to Replace 48 Miles of Pipe in Southeast Va.). VRP will add 100 MMcf/d of incremental capacity on Columbia’s system to service delivery points in southeast Virginia, namely Virginia Natural Gas. The project rolls on. A few weeks ago, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a draft Environmental Impact State (dEIS) that finds the project won’t hurt Mom Nature.
Read More “Columbia Virginia Reliability Pipe Project Gets Favorable dEIS”
S&P Global Commodity Insights reports that natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica has fallen this month, in April, by some 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) from the average production seen during the first quarter. The most notable declines are in eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania. Why is production down? Falling demand (from mild weather) and high rates of storage (extra supply) are crashing the spot price for natural gas traded at the region’s defacto benchmark trading hub–Eastern Gas South.
Read More “M-U April NatGas Production Falls 400 MMcf/d in Ohio, SW Pa.”
Last November, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County (in Pennsylvania) began to leak. The well leaked roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see Equitrans Gas Storage Well in Cambria County, PA is Leaking). It took two weeks (14 days) for the leak to get fixed, after it had leaked roughly 1.4 billion cubic feet into the air (see Storage Well Leak Fix in Cambria County Failed, Leaked 1.4 Bcf). Both the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) investigated (see Feds Investigate Equitrans Storage Well Leak in Cambria County, PA). The PA DEP is still trying to figure out what role it can legally play in that disaster, and what role it can play in the regulation of similar storage fields (some 50 of them) across the state.
Read More “PA DEP Still Figuring Out How (or If) It Can Regulate Gas Storage”
If you want to know what’s going on inside the far-left Biden administration, just read one of its many propaganda manure spreaders–in this case, CNN. A recent CNN article outlines, in black and white, how the EPA is “responding to” (i.e. colluding and working with) “environmental groups” (Big Green) to target clean-burning natural gas-fired power plants for obscene new regulations aimed at driving them out of business, to be replaced by more favored “renewable” forms of electric power generation.
Read More “Biden EPA Colludes with Big Green to Target NatGas Power Plants”
We read with some amusement a column by the CEO of Qamar Energy (an OPEC-tied consultancy based in Dubai, UAE) that says yep, American shale oil output has hit its zenith. It’s all downhill from here. The Big Oil companies have taken over all of the good shale assets in the States and they plan to drill less in places like the Permian Basin (in West Texas and eastern New Mexico). This latest prediction makes us laugh out loud. How many times before have we heard the same thing uttered from noobs, both domestic and (in this case) foreign. They consistently underestimate American ingenuity. Just when everyone predicts “peak oil” and declares shale production is all over, a new discovery is made. A new piece of technology is introduced. A new shale layer is explored. A new technique is adopted. This is the American way. And it confounds the “experts” every single time. Such is the power of free enterprise and capitalism.
Read More “Another False Prediction of “The End of American Shale Revolution””
Marcellus Drilling News is proud to have been selected for Feedspot’s list of “30 Best Drilling Rig Blogs and Websites” out of the thousands of such blogs and websites available. Not only that, MDN appears at the #2 position in the list!
Read More “MDN Recognized as Top 30 Drilling Rig Blog Site by Feedspot”
The most recent day of active trading was Fri., Apr. 21, 2023. The numbers below reflect Friday’s closing numbers.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: M2X Energy makes methanol out of flared gas; NATIONAL: Biden signs order prioritizing ‘environmental justice’; For LNG developers and sponsors, it’s a tricky path to FID; INTERNATIONAL: Putin and Saudi crown prince discuss OPEC+ cooperation; Russia to boost China pipeline gas supplies by almost 50%.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Apr 24, 2023”
Yesterday the Bidenistas at the Dept. of (In)Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a “settlement” (i.e. bullying) with three pipeline companies–Williams, MPLX, and Kerr-McGee Gathering. The settlement requires the three to pay a combined $9.25 million in civil penalties and make improvements at 25 gas processing plants and 91 compressor stations in 12 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, worth another $16 million. The two federal agencies claimed the pipeline companies were violating federal and state clean air laws related to leak detection and repair (LDAR) requirements for natural gas processing plants at various facilities they own and operate across the country.
Read More “Biden DOJ, EPA Announce $25M “Settlement” with Williams, Others”
We appear to finally be at the end of an eight-year road with respect to new shale drilling regulations in Pennsylvania adopted back in 2016. Two days ago, the PA Supreme Court overturned a Commonwealth Court decision that blocked the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) ability to control shale drilling near schools and public playgrounds. In October 2016, after five years in the making, PA adopted new shale drilling regulations called Chapter 78 (see PA’s New Chapter 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8).
Read More “PA Supremes Invent New DEP Power to Block Drilling Near Schools”
We sometimes ponder (and despair) over this question: Does the truth matter anymore? Do people actually care whether or not they are being lied to–by the government, by the media, by so-called experts? The trigger for our dark reflection on metaphysics comes from the news that the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) yesterday approved, by a vote of 3 to 2, a new regulation controlling volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and by extension, methane emissions, for Pennsylvania’s conventional oil and gas drillers. How is that news event related to truth and lies? We will explain.
UPDATE added below.
Read More “PA IRRC Approves Onerous New VOC Regulation for Conventional Drillers”
Some 16 so-called “climate activists” (i.e., far-left extremists) were arrested Wednesday at the headquarters of investment giant Vanguard in Chester County, PA (near Philadelphia) for blocking the entrance to the facility. They were there to pressure and bully Vanguard to stop investing in anything remotely connected to fossil energy. Earth Quaker Action Team, a group of “non-violent” Quakers and “people of diverse beliefs” based in Philly, was behind the action.
Read More “Extremists Arrested for Blocking Vanguard HQ Near Philadelphia”
For years, going back to the time when MDN editor Jim Willis worked in Washington, D.C. during his youth (mid-1980s), the joke circulating around D.C. was, “The most dangerous place to be in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a camera.” And that was back when Chuck was just a lowly Congressman! These days, the most dangerous place to be anywhere in the country is between an anti-fossil fuel zealot and a microphone at a public hearing. Antis DEMAND to have access to microphones anywhere and everywhere in order to spew their fossil fuel hate speech. And God help you if you deny them that “right”! Antis got denied yesterday in Philadelphia, and they are hopping mad about it.
Read More “Antis Mad They Couldn’t Bloviate at Philly LNG Task Force Meeting”
New shale permits issued for Apr. 10-16 in the Marcellus/Utica picked up two from the prior week. There were 20 new permits issued in total last week, up from 18 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Coterra Energy, with 6 new permits issued in Susquehanna County, PA. EQT was number two with 5 new permits, all of them issued in Greene County, PA.
Read More “20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 10-16”
Tomorrow is the annual day when environmental wackos demand fealty to Mother Earth. You WILL bow down and worship the creation (instead of the Creator), or risk being excommunicated from polite company. We thumb our noses at Earth Day worshipers and declare our love for the miracle of fossil energy on this Earth Day. We invite you to join us in celebrating the greatest invention of mankind–fossil fuels.
Read More “We Celebrate Fossil Fuels on ‘Worship the Earth Day’ – April 22”
