Big Green Torqued with Maryland Gov Over Appointing Gas Official
This past November, the uber-leftist state of Maryland elected a true-blue Democrat as its governor, instead of the previous governor, Larry Hogan, who was a Democrat-lite (Republican in Name Only). The new governor, Wes Moore, made all sorts of campaign promises about forcing Maryland to dump reliable fossil fuel energy and switch to unreliable renewables like wind and solar instead. A month into his term, Gov. Moore has just nominated the senior director of energy analysis at the American Gas Association to be a member of the state Public Service Commission. Predictably, the lunatic left is having a cow.
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NATIONAL: Biden’s offshore wind dreams face rising controversy, opposition; INTERNATIONAL: Germany plans world’s fourth largest LNG import capacity by 2030.
The rumor mill kicked into overdrive on Friday when Bloomberg published an article saying Pioneer Natural Resources Co., one the largest independent oil producers in the U.S., is considering (negotiating for) an acquisition of Marcellus driller Range Resources Corp., according to “people familiar with the matter.” Range was the very first company to drill a Marcellus shale well back in 2004 in western Pennsylvania. By the end of Friday, Pioneer issued an abrupt statement saying it “is not contemplating a significant business combination or other acquisition transaction.” It wasn’t an outright denial that such talks are taking place. Range could not be reached for comment.
Southwestern Energy used to be a pure-play Marcellus/Utica driller until it picked up leases and wells in the Louisiana Haynesville play in 2021. Last Friday, the company issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 update. The update shows Southwestern now gives more love (i.e., money) to Haynesville drilling than it does to Marcellus/Utica drilling, even though the M-U produces more gas than the company’s Haynesville assets.
Isn’t it typical for Democrats to try and use a crisis that has nothing whatsoever to do with shale and natural gas to block shale and natural gas? Seven members of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation, every single one of them a Democrat, sent a letter (copy below) to another Democrat, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (an incompetent nincompoop), asking him to permanently delete a rule adopted during the Trump administration that allows LNG to be safely transported by special rail cars. The reason cited for banning LNG by rail? The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio–an event that has nothing whatsoever to do with shale energy.
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal, owned and operated by Cheniere Energy, is spread over an 853-acre site in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The facility is the largest receiving and regasifying terminal in the world with a total send-out capacity of 4 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) and a storage capacity of 16.8 Bcf. The “nameplate” capacity of the facility with six trains operating is roughly 30 mtpa (million tons per annum). Last Thursday, Cheniere announced it has pre-filed to expand its Sabine Pass operation significantly, by another 66% to around 50 mtpa. This is good news for the Marcellus/Utica.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, along with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and John Kennedy (R-La.), reintroduced the Natural Gas Export Expansion Act, which would expedite the federal approval process for exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) and increase free trade, particularly as European countries are looking for new sources of clean, reliable energy.
Robert Bryce is a Texas-based author, journalist, film producer, and public speaker. Over the past three decades, his articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Review, Field & Stream, and Austin Chronicle. Bryce recently published an article on his own Substack website that exposes the $4.5 billion-per-year NGO-corporate-industrial-climate complex. You think Big Green groups like the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, and National Resources Defense Council are virtuous defenders of the environment? Think again. They’re in it for the money. Follow the money.
A University of Alberta (Canada) mechanical engineer and his team published a study last month in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews on the greenhouse gas reduction potential of blending natural gas with hydrogen in Alberta, Canada (full copy below). Albertans can replace 15-20% of the natural gas in their pipes and furnaces with hydrogen using current technology and current pipeline infrastructure. The team found that a 15% hydrogen/methane blend would cut–at most–5% off of Alberta’s carbon footprint by 2050. A nothingburger. But here’s the kicker: Blending hydrogen with methane results in higher average energy prices. Higher prices, no environmental advantages. Tell us again why we want to blend explosive hydrogen with methane in our pipelines?
Coterra Energy, the new name for the former Cabot Oil & Gas that merged with oil driller Cimarex Energy, issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 update yesterday. Coterra’s natgas program is focused on drilling in Susquehanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania. A couple of things stood out for us from the update. First, Coterra’s Marcellus production dropped in 2022. During 4Q21, Coterra produced an average of 2.5 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of natural gas in the Marcellus, versus producing 2.1 Bcf/d in 4Q22–down 14%. For the full year, Coterra produced an average of 2.3 Bcf/d in 2021 and 2.2 Bcf/d in 2022–down 6%.
On February 15, 2023, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania agreed to hear the case Dressler Family, LP v. PennEnergy Resources, LLC, a case addressing the question of whether Pennsylvania is an “at-the-well” jurisdiction, or a “first-marketable product” jurisdiction. The case may have profound implications for Pennsylvania landowners and drillers. The issue in this case revolves around whether or not a driller is allowed to deduct expenses from royalty payments for transporting and cleaning up natural gas between the well and the point of sale. Can a driller claim post-production deductions even if there are clauses that prohibit them?
We have a second article today dealing with post-production deductions in Pennsylvania oil and gas leases. Although this is an “in the weeds” legal article, it’s worth your time and attention (if you are a PA landowner or driller) to read it and understand it. The lawyers at Houston Harbaugh, P.C. have discovered an ingenious way of exposing “net back pricing” and claiming post-production deductions under market enhancement royalty clauses as being hypocritical–by using a clause found in some leases that allows “free gas.”