OOGEEP Renames & Rebrands Itself as Ohio Natural Energy Institute
The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), which has long been a defender and educator working to get the truth out about oil and gas in the Buckeye State, is dropping oil and gas from its name. OOGEEP is rebranding itself as the Ohio Natural Energy Institute. We have to wonder, why are they dropping oil and gas from the name? What does natural energy actually mean?
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We find this story kind of funny–and sad. The left and the Bidenistas are panicked over methane leaks. They claim methane leaks into the atmosphere are 70X more potent in causing man-made global warming than plain old carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It’s all a hoax, but, whatever. Let’s assume it’s a worthy thing to try and reduce the amount of methane leaks coming from oil and gas operations (ignoring, for the moment, the fact there are two other sources of methane leaks much larger than oil and gas–nature itself and agriculture). The Biden administration, which just released a $6.6 TRILLION budget (an incomprehensible number), is going to fund research on how best to detect and stop methane leaks for O&G. Guess how much the Bidenistas will spend on this critical work? (Please don’t laugh…) A grand total of $47 million.
NATIONAL: Oil sinks as bank collapse heightens uncertainty; North America loses 26 rigs; Facebook extends its legacy of science denial; INTERNATIONAL: EU prepares to import more LNG with boost in capacity; The World Bank may return to financing natgas projects.
In something of a mystery for us, the radical left continues to try and pound more nails in the coffin of the already-dead New Fortress Energy (NFE) Wyalusing LNG export plant. In March 2022 (one year ago), NFE withdrew a request to build an onshore LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA, a plant that would have transported its LNG to NFE’s Repauno Port and Rail Terminal on the shoreline of the Delaware River in Gibbstown, N.J. (see 
Here’s the sad end of a sad chapter in Ohio’s history–a conclusion (of sorts) to the largest bribery scandal in the state’s history. We’re referring to Ohio House Bill (HB) 6, a law granting billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including former Speaker of the House, Larry Householder (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 ten days. Companies will be required to jump through hoops based on an accusation by an anti-fossil fueler. We call it “methane snitches” (see 
Make no mistake–the United States is in trouble because of the vote of West Virginia U.S. Senator Joe Manchin to pass Joe Biden’s Green New Deal bill renamed (misnamed) to the Inflation Reduction Act (see 
With all the hubbub over LNG exports in recent years, you would be forgiven for perhaps not knowing that until recently, pipelines (to Canada and Mexico) were the dominant, primary way natural gas was exported from the U.S. Only with the rise of the first LNG export facility in 2016 (just seven years ago) has our ability to transport our natural gas to distant shores been a reality. And wow! What a reality it has become! The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that U.S. natural gas exports will grow over the next few years–but not because of an increase in pipeline capacity. Natural gas exports will grow, continue to grow, because of LNG exports. Which makes sense. There’s only so much natgas either Canada or Mexico can use from us. The rest of the world is still a blank canvas.
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer (352,000 leased acres) and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 update yesterday. Ascent net production averaged 2.2 Bcfe/d (billion cubic feet equivalent per day) during 4Q, and averaged 2.1 Bcfe/d for the year. The company made $1.6 billion in profit during 4Q, and $361 million in profit for the entire year (versus losing $806 million in 2021).
New shale permits issued for Feb. 27 through Mar. 5 in the Marcellus/Utica stayed the same as the prior week. There were 29 new permits issued in total last week, including 7 new permits for Pennsylvania, 20 new permits for Ohio, and 2 new permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Hilcorp Energy with 8 new permits–all of them in Columbiana County, OH. The second highest number of permits went to Encino Energy, with 4 permits in Carroll County and 2 in Columbiana County. EOG Resources also received 4 permits in Carroll County. It seems the northern part of the Ohio Utica saw a lot of love last week.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), in collaboration with Carbon Mapper, Inc. and the U.S. Climate Alliance, conducted a research study in May 2021. The study looked at four different areas across Pennsylvania to measure leaking methane using a specially-outfitted airplane. The study wasn’t so much about who was leaking methane as it was about whether the airborne detection technology was accurate. However, the results (the who) was interesting. The study (see an overview below) chronicles the discovery of 153 total methane plumes detected from 91 individual sources, including oil and gas facilities (63 sources), coal mines (18 sources), and landfills (9 facilities).