Ongoing Low NatGas Prices Affecting Production, M&A, Everything
According to a recent Reuters article, “A 46% drop in natural gas prices this year is rippling across the U.S. shale patch, threatening to slow drilling and chill deal-making in a move unthinkable six months ago as global demand soared.” Although the Henry Hub price for natgas rose over the past few days with the changeover to the NYMEX April contract, the price is still well below $3/Mcf. At that price, natgas drillers (in the Marcellus/Utica and elsewhere) are dialing back their drilling programs–essentially maintaining the status quo with production volumes. And at current low prices, mergers and acquisitions activity has pretty much dried up.
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Two Houston, Texas-based headhunting firms specializing in the oil and gas space are saying the same thing: Don’t look for a hiring boom in the oil and gas sector in 2023. That doesn’t mean there’s a total hiring freeze or that there aren’t good jobs to be had. It just means don’t look for bidding wars to attract new employees to the O&G sector. Not gonna happen this year, say the experts. Why?
That was fast. Yesterday we told you that newly-elected Maryland Gov. Wes Moore had nominated someone who actually knows something about the energy industry, from the American Gas Association, to be a member of the Maryland Public Service Commission (see 
Looks like the rumors were true. Last December, we told you that oil giant BP (formerly British Petroleum) was considering axing its annual Statistical Review of World Energy publication, which the company has published since 1952. Why stop publishing it? Because being honest about the data was exposing the so-called transition to green energy as the hoax that it is (see 
Consulting giant Deloitte’s new report “Oil and Gas M&A Outlook 2023: Pivoting for Change” examines the shift in the industry and the strategic pivots expected to shape the future. The report says so-called “clean energy” is now a “substantial driver” of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the oil and gas industry and signals big changes in the M&A playbook.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: “Made in America” to “Made in Appalachia”; NATIONAL: Cummins shows off X15N natural gas, X10 diesel engines; INTERNATIONAL: BofA Global Research reveals latest oil price forecasts; European natgas prices post longest monthly losing streak since 2020; Enel head raises doubts about Europe’s ability to end energy ties with Russia; Gazprom’s daily gas exports to Europe rise 16% in February.
Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) currently operates a gas-fired power plant in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, NJ. The plant currently generates power for about 700,000 homes. In 2018, CPV proposed adding a second power plant at the same location (see 
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.
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.