NATIONAL: The clear and present danger in the electric transition; INTERNATIONAL: With years of high prices ahead, LNG buyers covet long-term deals; Will Asia start pulling large volumes of LNG away from Europe?
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Feb 9, 2023”
Once a month, the analysts at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months or so. We sometimes poke good-natured fun at the EIA because one month, their predictions go up, the next month, down, etc. What about the latest STEO dart board, published yesterday? EIA slashed the price of natural gas at the Henry Hub another 30% from the previous monthly STEO, saying natgas will average $3.40/MMBut in 2023, down from a forecast of $4.90 the month before. EIA’s new average price, if it holds, would be 50% lower than 2022’s average of $6.42/MMBtu.
Read More “February STEO Slashes 2023 Henry Hub by Another 30% to $3.40/MMBtu”
Tuesday of last week, Freeport LNG, which has been out of operation since an explosion and fire in June 2022, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to begin re-introducing feedgas back into one of three liquefaction “trains” (units) at the facility. A day later, FERC agreed, and small amounts of gas began to flow (see FERC Approves Freeport LNG Request to Reintro Feedgas to 1st Train). Last Wednesday (a day later), Freeport said it was ready to begin loading ships with the LNG it’s producing and asked FERC for permission to do so (see Freeport Asks FERC for Permission to Load LNG onto Waiting Ships). So far (now a week later), FERC has not responded and has not granted permission to load the ships. As of yesterday, Reuters is reporting gas flows to Freeport have stopped.
Read More “Natural Gas Starts, Then Stops Flowing to Freeport LNG Plant”
The radicals of the odious Sierra Club and its sycophants at the Big Green-funded group Appalachian Voices are attempting to use scare tactics against the neighbors and landowners who live along the route of a 32-mile long, 30-inch wide natural gas pipeline that Kinder Morgan needs to build to feed a new gas-fired power plant near Cumberland City, Tennessee. Hyping up “blast zones” and other nonsense, the neighbors are understandably nervous. The good news is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a draft environmental impact statement (dEIS) last week for the project, indicating the project can get built and operated safely.
Read More “FERC Issues Draft EIS for Cumberland Pipeline to TN Power Plant”
The supposedly non-partisan U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which increasingly appears to be influenced (if not corrupted) by the Bidenistas, published a post yesterday on the agency’s daily Today in Energy website with this headline: “Coal and natural gas plants will account for 98% of U.S. capacity retirements in 2023.” The thrust of the article is that dirty fossil energy is being phased out of electricity production in favor of unreliable, intermittent so-called renewables (like solar and wind). EIA says operators plan to retire 15.6 gigawatts (GW) of electric-generating capacity in the U.S. this year, mostly natural gas-fired (6.2 GW) and coal-fired (8.9 GW) power plants. But as usual with the Biden administration, key facts are left out of the article. We have the rest of the story…
Read More “U.S. to Retire 6.2 Gigawatts of Old Gas-Fired Power Plants in 2023”
“May the odds be ever in your favor.” – Hunger Games. For more than a year, we have covered the topic of the Bidenistas’ Hunger Games contest to award $7 billion to some 6-10 “hydrogen hubs” across the country. Each winning hub will receive $500 million to $1 billion of government largesse to help build a hub in a given region. The money for the hub projects was allocated as part of the so-called Infrastructure bill, passed in November 2021 (see Biden So-Called $1.2T Infrastructure Bill Passes Thanks to RINOs). Some 79 “concept papers,” which is a pre-application, were received by the Dept. of Energy. Of the 79, only 33 were given “encouragement” (i.e. permission) by the DOE to advance to the next stage of the Hydrogen Hunger Games (see 33 of 79 Hydrogen Hub Teams Encouraged to Submit Full Applications). How can those 33 turn the odds in their favor of being selected to receive the money? We have some insights on that, from RBN Energy.
Read More “How Hydrogen Hub Applicants Can Turn the Odds in Their Favor”
Joe Biden has big plans to force you to change the way you get (and consume) your energy. He wants you to use hydrogen, electricity (generated by unreliable renewable sources like wind and solar), force you to capture your carbon dioxide (the stuff you breathe out with every breath you take), and in general, use anything other than fossil energy. Joe is happy to export LNG (a nasty fossil fuel), but only because other people will use it and not you. There’s one big problem with making Joe’s dystopian future a reality: The government bureaucracy and red tape that it spins, is preventing his preferred sources of energy from getting built and used. Isn’t it delicious? The very bureaucracy the left loves and adores is strangling the left’s attempts at the forced conversion of society to alternative energy.
Read More “LNG, Hydrogen, CCS, Renewables Delayed by Gov’t Red Tape”
You’ve heard of investment firms like BlackRock, and Vanguard Group, and Fidelity. But have you heard of VanEck? It’s much smaller than the biggies like BlackRock, but important all the same. VanEck is a global asset manager that offers active and passive investment portfolios in hard assets, emerging markets equity and debt, precious metals, fixed income, and other alternative asset classes. The CEO of the company, Jan van Eck, recently published a provocative post on the company’s website called, “ESG Died in 2022.” He takes on the issue of big investors (like BlackRock) throwing their weight around with proxy voting–a default way of running a company, making it bow to your whims.
Read More “Wall St Investment Firm VanEck Proclaims “ESG Died in 2022””
The most recent day of active trading was Tue., Feb. 7, 2023. The numbers below reflect yesterday’s closing numbers.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Fetterman tries to straddle Democratic energy divide; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: LNG developer NextDecade blasts inaction by U.S. energy regulator; NATIONAL: Can an anti-fracking Republican compete with Trump?; Analysts tear up predictions for higher natural-gas prices; Retirees driving oil demand is an important new trend; INTERNATIONAL: Fitch solutions reveals latest oil price forecast; Why O&G players are on the brink of a super cycle.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Feb 8, 2023”
On Dec. 22, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) published a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that allows the nearly-completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish up construction through 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest straddling West Virginia and Virginia (see US Forest Service Floats New Plan to Allow MVP Thur Natl Forest). This is the THIRD time the Forest Service has issued the same permit. Two previous attempts were overturned by three clown judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The public had until Feb. 6th (yesterday) to file official comments on this latest plan. That is, until the bleating radicals moaned and groaned, asking for more time. So USFS extended the comment period another two weeks, until Feb. 21st.
Read More “Forest Service Caves to Radicals, Extends Comment Period for MVP”
The Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee held a hearing yesterday in Harrisburg on the increasing energy costs that affect large and small businesses as well as homeowners. Several energy advocates, including Marcellus Shale Coalition President Dave Callahan, shared their thoughts and insights. High on the list of issues creating higher energy prices in the Keystone State are (1) the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, an obscene carbon tax), and (2) the ongoing issue of red tape from government bureaucracies like the Dept. of Environmental Protection.
Read More “PA House Ctte Hearing – RGGI & Red Tape Cause High Energy Prices”
Baker Hughes reported the rig count for last week saw the deepest cuts in rigs for any single week since June 2020 (just as the COVID pandemic and lockdowns were taking hold). The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by 12 to 759 in the week ending Feb. 3. That is the lowest overall rig count number since September of last year. All of which sounds rather ominous. So we grabbed the numbers and updated our own spreadsheet/chart, and found the rig count across the three Marcellus/Utica states–Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia–remained a constant 52 active rigs over the past three months. Whew.
Read More “National Oil & Gas Rig Count Tumbles, M-U Rig Count Holds Steady”
New analysis from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows the world will bring online the least amount of new LNG exports this year than it has in the past ten years. The world will, if the predicted four new projects come online, add another 1 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of LNG export capacity, which is piddly. But that’s not even the worst news. The worst news is that NONE of that new capacity will come from the U.S.
Read More “EIA Says Only 1 Bcf of LNG Exports Coming Online in 2023 – All Non-US”
Last week, the oil and gas industry gathered in Houston for the NAPE Expo Summit (North American Prospect Expo). Among those attending were the CEOs of big shale drillers, including Rick Muncrief of Devon Energy and Nick Dell’Osso of Chesapeake Energy. One of the hot topics of discussion by shale drillers is the desired ability to get “greater exposure” to international markets by selling molecules for LNG exports. Some, like Chesapeake’s Dell’Osso, want to carve out a bigger piece of the export pie. Others, like Devon’s Muncrief, are just looking for some exposure–a smaller piece of the pie.
Read More “U.S. Shale Drillers Looking for a Piece of the LNG Export Pie”
Sigh. The Bidenistas are at it again–targeting the fossil fuel industry for extinction. The latest attempt came on January 9th when the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which serves as the White House’s environmental policy arm, issued “interim guidance” to assist federal agencies in analyzing so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) and climate change effects of their proposed actions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). One of the agencies affected by this guidance is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). However, FERC is an independent agency and does not necessarily march to the White House drummer. The question is, how much will the new CEQ guidance affect FERC’s policies as the agency evaluates oil and gas pipelines?
Read More “New Bidenista Enviro Policy to Have Limited Effect on FERC”
