NATIONAL: In 2022, U.S. crude oil exports increased to a new record; Net Zero is an existential threat to our electric grid; America’s ballooning gas output needs a release valve; In quest to lower methane emissions, picking right tech is key; INTERNATIONAL: The most important oil price is about to change for good; German gas network development plan 2022-2032.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Mar 31, 2023”
It’s a miracle, A true blue spectacle, A miracle come true… (Lyrics from Barry Manilow’s tune, It’s a Miracle) In a 3-2 vote taken in December 2021, the Virginia State Water Control Board granted a permit (under the Clean Water Act) for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross about 150 streams and wetlands in Southwest Virginia (see Victory! Virginia Water Control Board Votes to Approve MVP Permit). Naturally, the foreign-backed Sierra Club and its Big Green cronies sued in federal court, claiming the permit somehow violates the Clean Water Act (see Enviro Radicals Ask 4th Circus Clowns to Toss MVP Va. Water Permit). A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (all Democrats) handed down a decision yesterday…upholding the Va. Water Board’s decision to grant the permit. It’s a miracle!
Read More “4th Circuit Judges Hand Rare Permit Victory to Mountain Valley Pipe”
This is a good news/bad news article. The good news is that the Marcellus/Utica region remained the top-producing natural gas region in the U.S. in 2022, supplying some 29% of all the natural gas produced in the U.S. –averaging 34.6 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day). The bad news is that the M-U’s new growth in 2022 was minuscule–just 100 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) over 2021 volumes. The Permian Basin (oil-focused) added roughly 2.5 Bcf/d of new natgas production in 2022. The Haynesville, the M-U’s chief competitor, added nearly 2 Bcf/d of extra production last year. Even the Eagle Ford and Anadarko plays added more natgas production last year than did the M-U. Why?
Read More “M-U #1 NatGas Producing Region in 2022, but Grew Just 100 MMcf/d”
Anderson King Energy Consultants, based in Dallas, Texas, advises clients in the oil and gas space on a variety of issues including acquisitions and divestitures, valuations of assets, and company strategy. AK provides its expertise to a number of companies, major companies with names you would recognize. Randy King and Jon Dormer, managing partners at AK, recently sent MDN a brief report that advises drillers to choke back their wells by 50% in order to boost the commodity price of natural gas to levels that are profitable once again.
Read More “Consultant Suggests Drillers Fight Low Gas Price by Choking Wells 50%”
The mighty Shell ethane cracker has had “issues” getting and staying fully up to speed. Since it officially went online last November, Shell has received three separate notices of violation (NOVs) for exceeding allowable air pollution limits, largely related to repeated flaring episodes (see Shell Cracker Flares Again, Shuts Down Part of Plant for Repairs). The facility is partially closed while Shell performs maintenance and repairs to one of the unit systems. Big Green groups plan to sue to try and get the multi-billion-dollar plant permanently closed based on the air emissions violations. Shell is fighting back and now claims, based on a new method of measuring emissions, it hasn’t violated emissions at any point–even during flaring.
Read More “Shell Claims PA Cracker Plant Did Not Exceed Air Emissions Limits”
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.
Read More “Group Monitoring Centre Co. Streams Finds No Impact from Marcellus”
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.
Read More “GOP House Offers to Trade Increased Debt Limit for Permit Reform”
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.
Read More “Ohio NatGas & Oil Supports Local Communities with $755M in Taxes”
The most recent day of active trading was Wed., Mar. 29, 2023. The numbers below reflect yesterday’s closing numbers.
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.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Mar 30, 2023”
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?
Read More “NYMEX Henry Hub Crashing and Burning – Lowest Close in 30 Months”
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.
Read More “Wild Swings in NatGas Price “Here to Stay for Foreseeable Future””
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.
Read More “OH Lawsuit Filed Against Utica Fracker Accuses Subsurface Trespass”
Researchers at West Virginia University have received a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. EPA to study methane leaks from liquid storage tanks–how they happen and ways to potentially stop leaks from happening in the future. The researchers will sample and monitor plumes from storage tanks located in the Marcellus Shale region. The study will measure methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and hazardous air pollutants emitted from liquid storage tanks located “upstream” at drilling sites as well as “midstream” at various pipeline sites along the routes that oil and gas take on their way to refining and processing facilities.
Read More “WVU Researchers Study Methane Leak Prevention in the Marcellus”
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 New York Legislators Block Hochul NatGas Ban for Existing Homes). Although Hochul wants a total ban, she won’t get it. She may, however, get a ban on new homes and businesses from connecting to natgas lines beginning in 2025. Even that plan is certifiably crazy.
Read More “NY Republican Leader Obliterates Hochul’s Idiotic Gas Stove Ban”
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 Pieridae Outlines Plan to Resuscitate Nova Scotia Goldboro LNG). Again, nothing has happened in the past year. No pulse. Now comes word that Pieridae is revising the project from a 10 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) facility down to three MTPA. The company is also changing the source of the molecules it will liquefy and export–now coming from a source you would never guess.
Read More “Pieridae’s Goldboro LNG Cancels Plan to Use Western Canada NatGas”
