Group Monitoring Centre Co. Streams Finds No Impact from Marcellus
A volunteer water monitoring project in Centre County, PA, began in 2010 with an aim to produce a baseline for the health of local streams and waterways in the county (see Increase in Marcellus Shale Drilling in Centre County, PA – Volunteers Keep an Eye on Local Streams). For the past 13 years, the volunteers have kept an eye on the streams because of the upswing in Marcellus Shale drilling activity in the county. If there should be accidents, or if fracking fluid should somehow find its way into local waterways, the data collected by the volunteers would prove a valuable resource for evaluating the environmental impact. What have the dedicated volunteers found? Not one darned thing.
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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.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pittsburgh to get $1.5M for electric vehicles, natural gas trucks; Attempts to ban natural gas in budget will hurt New Yorkers; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Natgas flows to Freeport LNG export plant in Texas rise – Refinitiv; NATIONAL: Expiring April natgas futures fall below $2 on downward price pressure; Which president had the biggest impact on US oil production?; Activity stalls in top U.S. oilfields, outlook sours – Fed survey; INTERNATIONAL: US has replaced Russia as Europe’s top crude oil supplier.
We consider $2/MMBtu to be “the basement” when it comes to the price of natural gas trading at the nation’s benchmark Henry Hub in southern Louisiana. Yesterday we almost hit the bottom of the basement, with gas closing at $2.03. What happens if gas (gasp) closes below $2? Do we call that the sub-basement? Are we breaking through the barrier and right down into hell? Whatever you call it, prepare yourself. Why did gas tumble again yesterday to a new 30-month low? And will it go lower?
The past 18 months have been a wild ride for natural gas prices. We’ve gone from years of low prices to spiking near $10/MMBtu. In just the past few months, prices have dropped like a rock. The price dropped to a fresh 30-month low yesterday (see today’s lead story). The NYMEX price now threatens to dip below $2/MMBtu. Crazy! According to analysts speaking with Argus Media, we can expect continued wild gyrations in the price of natural gas “for the foreseeable future.” Some analysts say that volatility (sudden spikes up and down) in the price of natgas “could be here to stay.” As in permanently.
In a case initially filed last summer in Ohio, a Belmont County mineral rights owner alleges that Rice Drilling (now owned by EQT) drained natural gas from a rock layer it did not have the right to access according to the signed lease. Golden Eagle Resources says the lease allowed Rice to drill down only as far as the Utica Shale layer, which Rice did. However, Golden Eagle says fractures from Rice’s fracking of the Utica layer reached down into the adjacent Point Pleasant layer and drained some of the gas from the Point Pleasant too–and that’s a no-no according to the lease.
As we reported yesterday, New York legislators are pushing back against a truly crazy plan by NY Gov. Kathy Hochul to ban natural gas (and fuel oil) in all homes and businesses across the Empire State (see 
For over 10 years, MDN has tracked a Canadian LNG export project in Nova Scotia planned by Pieridae Energy. The project is called Goldboro LNG. In May 2021, the company said a final investment decision (FID) would happen no later than June 30, 2021. It never happened. One year ago, we told you of Pieridae’s plan to resuscitate the project and move it forward (see 
There is a revolving door in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, between PennFuture and Democrat governors. Pat McDonnell, the former Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), charged with overseeing shale drilling in the state, was a closet radical working against the shale industry in the Gov. Tom Wolf administration. How do we know? As soon as he left the DEP last year, McDonnell became president of the uber-left, anti-shale PennFuture organization (see 
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells in Susquehanna County, PA. 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 fourth quarter and full-year 2022 update last week. The company’s net gas production was 2.49 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in total, not per day, during 4Q22. That number is down 3% from 2.58 Bcf in 3Q21. Epsilon generated revenues of $15.2 million for 4Q22, compared to $13.8 million in 4Q21–up 10%.