MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Casey Boyd named Steel Nation VP of Business Development; NATIONAL: Natural gas up 5%, after more than 50% tumble over 3 weeks; Goldman Sachs says warm winter weather a risk to gas price view; Why U.S. natural gas liquids production is surging; INTERNATIONAL: Canada adds 100+ rigs.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Jan 10, 2023”
In 2015, MDN told you about five injection wells in Trumbull County, OH, that had been shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) following a finding that some of the frack wastewater intended for the wells had been found in a local wetland and nearby pond (see ODNR Shuts Down 5 Injection Wells in Vienna, OH After Spill). As it turned out, the injection wells themselves were not to blame, but a salvage yard located at the same facility was the source (see Trumbull Injection Wells NOT the Source of Wetland Contamination). Fast forward seven years, and it appears the wells (or well, not sure if it’s just one well or multiple wells) are now operating again. Finally.
Read More “Trumbull County Injection Wells Resume Operation After 2015 Shutdown”
We love this story because it’s driving the left NUTS! In December, we told you about Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 (subsequently passed), a bill that expands drilling in Ohio state parks AND officially designates natural gas as a “green” form of energy (see Ohio Senate Bill Would Expand Shale Drilling on State-Owned Land). Last week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a so-so (RINO) Republican, actually signed HB 507 into law. Which is sending the enviro-nuts into orbit. Love it!
Read More “OH Gov. Signs Bill Expanding Drilling in State Parks, NatGas “Green””
Last November, the state of Pennsylvania decided to endorse a private industry application (by Shell and Equinor) instead of doing the hard work of submitting its own official application to attract a $1 billion hydrogen hub (see PA Decides to Back Shell/Equinor Application for $1B Hydrogen Hub). The Shell/Equinor project is called DNA H2Hub (Decarbonization Network of Appalachia). Although most applicants vying for one of the 6 to 10 regional hydrogen hubs have released their applications (their “concept papers”) making them public, the DNA H2Hub has not. The PA project is keeping it secret–at least for now (see PA Officials Keep Secret Details of State Hydrogen Hub Application). Even though it’s secret to the public, the federal government likes what it sees in the concept paper and has given DNA H2Hub its blessing to continue on to the next step.
Read More “PA-Backed Blue Hydrogen Hub Effort Passes First Hurdle with DOE”
West Virginia is taking the lead in a coalition to apply for (and build) a regional hydrogen hub, funded by taxpayers as provided for in the so-called Biden infrastructure bill. Some 200 organizations (universities, businesses, trade associations, etc.) have joined the WV effort, called Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), including the State of Ohio (see Finally! Ohio Joins Effort to Locate Hydrogen Hub in West Virginia). Pennyslvania has stubbornly gone its own way (see PA Decides to Back Shell/Equinor Application for $1B Hydrogen Hub). Good news! Another Appalachian state, Kentucky, is now supporting the WV ARCH2 effort to attract the hydrogen hub.
Read More “Kentucky Joins Multi-State, West Virginia-Led Hydrogen Hub Coalition”
Given our stories today about hydrogen hubs, it seems like a good time to revisit the topic of “what is a hydrogen hub,” a “clean hub,” and what do all of the supposed colors of hydrogen that are thrown around really mean? Energywire recently published an article that answers five questions about “clean” hydrogen. The author says hydrogen’s uses, merits, and drawbacks as a climate tool remain “opaque” to some, including much of the public. Let’s clear up some of the opaqueness, shall we?
Read More ““Clean” Hydrogen, H2 Hubs, and a Rainbow of Colors”
As we told you last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a new “acting” Chairman, Willie Phillips (see Willie Phillips Takes Over as Acting FERC Chairman, Dick Glick Gone). Phillips, a lawyer, is a D.C. apparatchik–growing up and getting his college education in the D.C. swamp. Prior to joining FERC in November 2021, Phillips was chairman of the Public Service Commission for the District of Columbia. Those who watch FERC and its commissioners say Phillips is not nearly as caustic and confrontational as Glick was–that he is more of a consensus builder.
Read More “Analysts Say New FERC Chair a Consensus Builder, Won’t Attack Pipes”
The most recent day of active trading was Fri., Jan. 6, 2023. The numbers below reflect Friday’s closing numbers.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Coterra Energy has strong FCF generation and LNG opportunity; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Louisiana, Texas to gain thousands of energy jobs at start of 2023; NATIONAL: Shale worker pay growth slows; Oil posts steep weekly loss amid demand uncertainty; Wood Mackenzie: 2023 could be CCUS breakout year; 2022 saw the second highest oil production in U.S. history.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Jan 9, 2023”
A group of landowners in Harrison and Doddridge counties (in West Virginia) sued Antero Resources, claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. Last year, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled mostly in favor of the landowners. Antero appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit). Yesterday, the judges of the 4th Circuit issued their ruling (full copy below). Nobody got everything they wanted–we’d call it a split decision. However, Antero did win the right to make deductions in certain circumstances.
1/10/23 UPDATE: We’ve added some expert commentary on this case from the legal beagles of Babst Calland. See below.
Read More “4th Circuit Rules Antero CAN Deduct Some Royalty Expenses in WV”
Antero Midstream hired Veolia Water Technologies to build and operate a state-of-the-art frack wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, WV, which began operations in 2017 (see Antero’s $275M WV Wastewater Recycling Facility Ready to Launch). The Clearwater Treatment Facility can process up to 60,000 barrels of wastewater per day, separating water, salt, and radioactive particles. Less than two years after it began operation, Antero suddenly shuttered the plant (see Antero Idles WV Frack Wastewater Plant Launched 2 Years Ago). What we didn’t know until now is that a lawsuit ensued between Antero Midstream and Veolia over the shuttered plant.
Read More “Antero Midstream Wins $248M Lawsuit Against Veolia re WV Plant”
The “front month” (Feb. 2023) NYMEX Henry Hub price for natural gas took another nosedive yesterday, hitting its lowest price ($3.72/MMBtu) since Jan. 4, 2022. Why the drop? Weather, or course. But also expectations. Natural gas commodities trading is a strange art. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported yesterday that withdrawal from underground gas inventories was 221 billion cubic feet (Bcf) over the past week. The five-year average for the same period is 98 Bcf. Holy smokes! That’s a HUGE drawdown. And yet the market went the other way and crashed the price–because traders expected the drawdown to be even bigger–around 240 Bcf.
Read More “NYMEX Natural Gas Price Nosedives – Price Hits New One-Year Low”
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility corporation in the U.S. TVA’s service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the country. In December 2021, MDN told you that TVA is spending over $1 billion to replace six coal-fired plants with natgas-fired turbines (see TVA Investing $1B to Build New Natgas-Fired Electric Plants). In December 2022, TVA recommended moving forward with replacing one of the six–a coal-fired plant located near Cumberland City, Tennessee–with a natural gas combined-cycle power plant (see TVA Recommends Replacing Cumberland Coal Plant w/Natural Gas). Right on cue, a group of rabid radicals is pressuring the Bidenistas to shut down TVA’s plan to build gas-fired power plants.
Read More “Leftist Radicals Mount Attack to Block TVA’s Planned Gas Plants”
Most of the public and many of the private companies that drill in the Marcellus and Utica for natural gas either already have been, or are pursuing, certification of their operations as being “responsible.” Three primary standards authorities currently exist–MiQ, Project Canary, and Equitable Origin–to certify that a company’s natural gas was extracted and pipelined with low methane emissions. There’s even a fourth certification scheme underway by Williams, Coterra Energy, and Dominion Energy (see Williams, Coterra, Dominion Partner on Certified Low-Emission Gas). Here’s a question: With all of this certified responsible gas being produced, is there actually a market for it?
Read More “Market for Certified Responsible Natural Gas is Not a Slam Dunk”
We’re catching up the permit report for the past two weeks (since we were off all of last week). Permits issued for Dec. 19 through Jan. 1 in the Marcellus/Utica included 19 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and 12 new permits in West Virginia.
Read More “38 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 19-Jan 1”
The most recent day of active trading was Thurs., Jan. 5, 2023. The numbers below reflect yesterday’s closing numbers.
This daily post contains a series of charts representing a stock index composed of 10 publicly-traded drilling companies with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. The MDN Upstream Index (MUI) reflects the combined value for one share of stock each for Antero Resources (AR); Chesapeake Energy (CHK); CNX Resources (CNX); Coterra Energy (CTRA); Epsilon Energy (EPSN); EQT Corp (EQT); Gulfport Energy (GPOR); National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG); Range Resources (RRC); and Southwestern Energy (SWN). The chart above shows performance over the past 30 days. Charts for other time periods and a listing for the most recent daily performance of each stock are listed below.
Read More “MDN Upstream Index (MUI) – Jan 6, 2023”
