Natural Gas the #1 Source of New Electricity in Latest PJM Auction
Yesterday, the PJM Interconnection announced the results of its latest electricity capacity auction (for 2024/2025). PJM is the largest electric grid operator in the U.S. It serves 65 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including PA, OH, and WV). PJM reported prices for electricity in most areas were down, but prices were up in areas with local constraints (i.e., lack of natural gas pipelines). Of keen interest for us is which energy sources will increase their contributions to the grid, and which will decrease, in the coming years. Would it surprise you to learn that despite the hype and lies of mainstream media about solar and wind taking over, that new electricity from natural gas sources will increase the most?
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It’s full speed ahead in the U.S. House of Representatives, now controlled (thank God!) by Republicans. Today and tomorrow, three different House committees will hold hearings and markups on 20 distinct measures related to energy and permitting reform. The permitting reform measures, in particular, may help save the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project in the Marcellus/Utica region.
With liberal leftist Democrats like NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, popular opinion only matters during an election year, when getting elected (or reelected). After that, Dems like Hochul govern any darned well way they please. It doesn’t matter if a majority of the state’s residents oppose her cockamamie, screwed-up plans to commit energy suicide by banning natural gas across the entire state. She’s moving forward full-speed ahead with her energy suicide plan anyway.
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.
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?