Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Nov 29, 2022
NATIONAL: Why oil companies are not running out of fresh shale fields to frack; Study explores top causes of driving-related deaths in O&G; Nabors automates existing rig with robotics module; INTERNATIONAL: Europe’s LNG import capacity set to expand by one-third by end of 2024; Chevron oil drilling efforts in Venezuela blasted as ‘stupidity,’ nonsensical; $60 billion LNG mega deal marks Chinese influence in Middle East.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Nov 29, 2022”
According to insiders in the D.C. swamp, the deal that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (from West Virginia) made with Sen. Chuck Schumer (from New York) to get a “permitting reform” bill passed that would, among other things, allow the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), currently 94% built and in the ground, is on “life support.” The bill proposed by Manchin would bypass the clown judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals who are blocking it. The bill supposedly would allow MVP to finish and go online. However, Republicans are being falsely accused of blocking it.
In April, the New York State Assembly passed Assembly Bill A7389C. In June, the New York State Senate passed the same bill, sending it to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for a signature (see 
European political leaders have been hell bent for leather to kill off fossil fuel energy used in their respective countries. And they have pretty much done it. They’ve been successful–at least with reducing the production of fossil energy. Europe has restricted new investment in fossil energy and is now paying the price. According to François-Régis Mouton, regional director for Europe at the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, Europe has “killed fossil energy.” European manufacturers that depend on fossil energy–either for heat and electricity or as an input into their processes (like fertilizer plants using natural gas), are shutting down. Some are relocating to the U.S.
The silly fools behind the “divest from fossil energy companies” movement are doing the exact opposite of what they had hoped to do. The diverstors are trying to force publicly traded fossil energy companies out of business by bullying investors to divest (refuse to own) stock in fossil fuel companies. The theory is that if enough investors refuse to buy the stock, the stock price will crash and burn, and the company will be forced out of business. But the EXACT OPPOSITE is happening!
The same three radicalized environmental groups that previously attacked the Renovo Energy Center (REC), a Marcellus gas-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA, are at it again. On November 22, the Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and the Center for Biological Diversity (all completely radicalized fossil fuel bigots) announced they had appealed an extension of time for an air pollution permit granted to REC by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Last week the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted to approve the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and its Environmental Quality Board’s (EQB) rammed-through (in a rush) regulation to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and by extension methane, for conventional drilling sites throughout the state (see 
While tracking the active rig count week by week can give you a little sugar high, we think tracking the count month by month is more illustrative of where the count (and drilling activity) is heading. Baker Hughes is the grandaddy of rig counts, having tracked rigs since 1944. You need a rig to drill a new well, so counting active rigs gives you an idea of overall drilling activity. What do the rig counts look like for Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia over the past two years? Is drilling activity going up, or down, in our region? We have the answer.
From time to time, it’s helpful to revisit our longstanding relationship with Canada with respect to natural gas flowing across the border–both ways. It sounds strange on the surface to say that there are dozens of pipelines that cross our joint border–some flowing gas to Canada (exports), others flowing gas from our neighbors to the north (imports). Why don’t we both just keep our own gas to ourselves instead of swapping? Because in some areas, it makes sense for Canada to produce the gas and ship it to us, and in other areas, the reverse makes sense. Truth be told, Canada’s flows of gas to the U.S. help us maintain supply reliability during the winter months. So says the EIA.
Last week (Nov. 14-20) saw a total of 31 new shale permits issued across the Marcellus/Utica, up slightly from 26 permits the week before. Pennsylvania received the most permits, with 26 new permits issued. Ohio received five new permits, and West Virginia got skunked with no new permits last week.