PLUTO Isn’t Just a Planet, It’s a Robot to Repair NatGas Pipes
General Electric (GE) is a really big company with many different divisions, including divisions that service the oil and gas industry. GE Research, in cooperation with epoxy manufacturer Warren Environmental and engineering services firm Garver, has created a pipeline-fixing robot called PLUTO. Which stands for PipeLine Underground Trenchless Overhaul system. Traditionally when fixing pipelines with cracks or corrosion, a pipeline is dug up, and the affected portion is replaced or repaired. PLUTO whizzes through natural gas pipelines and can both diagnose and fix the problems it encounters. All done from the inside.
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Did you watch the Big Game on Sunday? We watched until half-time (routing for the Eagles, because they’re a PA team). However, you have to admit that Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the Chiefs, was truly impressive. The Chiefs deserved to win. Mahomes was named the MVP (most valuable player) of the game. We’d like to suggest there was another MVP, the real MVP, of Sunday night’s game in Phoenix, Arizona: natural gas.
NATIONAL: The Henry Hub natural gas spot price declined 41% in January; INTERNATIONAL: Natural gas futures contracts suggest Europe’s energy crisis isn’t over; Moscow’s decades-old gas ties with Europe lie in ruins.
We suppose you can file this story under the category of “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.” We’re referring to hedging–the practice of locking in prices to sell gas you will produce in the future for a specific price now. Last year natural gas producers, including most (if not all) of Marcellus/Utica producers, were caught flat-footed when the price of natgas skyrocketed and their hedges were locked in for much lower prices. So as the hedges “rolled off,” many producers either elected not to hedge again, or hedged very little of their future production. And now prices have crashed again, meaning those producers are not protected and must sell most (if not all) of their production at very low market prices.
A financial analyst writing on the Seeking Alpha investors’ website wrote a detailed post outlining his thesis on why the price of natural gas is likely at the bottom now and will only go higher. He says that since natural gas prices are at or below breakeven levels for drillers, they are reducing their drilling rate. A negative shift in weather, falling rig counts, and the potential boost from Freeport exports may push natural gas back into a shortage over the coming months.
This post is kind of “in the weeds” with respect to reducing methane emissions from drilling, pipelines, and transportation. But we ask that you stick with us. As we have covered for more than a year, there are three main certification standards now in use by Marcellus/Utica (and other shale play) producers that want to prove the gas they produce is responsible, with low methane emissions. The three are: (1) Project Canary’s TrustWell Certification, (2) Equitable Origin’s EO100, and (3) The MiQ Standard (see 
The Biden EPA plans to allow private citizens to police oil wells and pipelines for methane leaks. Most of the time, that means Big Green groups will do the “policing.” And here’s how it will work: A radicalized group like the Sierra Club or Earthworks or NRDC or some other odious bad actor will set up equipment near oil and gas well sites or pipeline operations to report suspected “super emitter” leaks of at least 100 kilograms per hour. Once reported (likely a false report), the company involved would be required to perform a root-cause analysis within five days and take corrective actions within 10 days. All based on an accusation by an anti-fossil fueler. Methane snitches.
Yesterday we reported the surprising news that a load of LNG had left the Freeport facility, even though the facility has not been fully blessed to restart operations (see 
Evolution Well Services, headquartered in Houston with a regional office in Pittsburgh, specializes in “electric” fracking–using natural gas from the well pad (instead of diesel fuel) to power turbines to create electricity that drives fracking pumps. In September 2020, three former Evolution employees who worked at remote sites in the Marcellus/Utica filed a lawsuit against the company claiming Evolution failed to pay them for their commute to and from job sites. The lawsuit was turned into a class action in February of last year (see 
It hasn’t been a problem-free startup for the mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, now called the Shell Polymers Monaca facility. We’ve noted some of the more prominent issues as we’ve spotted them in the news. Things like the plant exceeding allowed air emissions (see