MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: The false assumptions behind climate regulations in Pennsylvania; NATIONAL: Report says to expect a return of $100 oil in 2023; Chevron lifts 2023 capital spending amid Biden pressure; Biden seeks fossil fuel-free federal buildings in hit to gas; INTERNATIONAL: German utility signs 25-year deal to import gas via new terminal.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 8, 2022”
Once again, a permitting reform bill floated by U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (from West Virginia) with a provision to complete the 94% completed 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has flamed out. Manchin made a deal with the devil–his own Democrat Party–to vote for the misnamed and terrible Inflation Reduction Act (a warmed-over version of the Green New Deal) in return for HIS party’s support to pass a so-called permitting reform bill that would, among other things, allow MVP to finish up without court interference (see Joe Manchin Cuts MVP “Deal” in Return for Selling Out Country).
Read More “Manchin’s “Save MVP” Permitting Reform Bill Flames Out Again”
How new laws get proposed and passed is fascinating, isn’t it? Especially when the forces of good (conservatives) use the same tactics as the forces of evil (leftists) against them. The Ohio Senate may vote as soon as today on House Bill (HB) 507, which would expand natural gas drilling in state parks. HB 507 began life as a bill to “revise the number of poultry chicks that may be sold in lots.” The bill ostensibly addresses poultry sales and food safety. Yet somewhere along the way (in the dark of night), the bill was amended with another bill that “forces” state agencies to lease public lands for oil and gas drilling.
Read More “Ohio Senate Bill Would Expand Shale Drilling on State-Owned Land”
A lawsuit brought by two West Virginia landowners seeking to overturn the state’s newly enacted forced pooling (i.e. unitization) law was put on pause by a federal judge on Dec. 1. The same two landowners had a previous version of the same lawsuit tossed by the judge back in September (see Lawsuit to Block West Virginia’s New Forced Pooling Law Tossed Out). The previous lawsuit sued the wrong people, according to the federal judge. This newer version sued the right people (mostly), but certain parts of it are more properly handled by state (and not federal) courts, according to the judge’s Dec. 1 ruling.
Read More “WV Landowner Lawsuit to Block Forced Pooling Law Dealt Another Blow”
There are advantages and disadvantages to being publicly or privately owned. In the oil and gas sector, most large companies are publicly owned–meaning they have a board of directors, and the “owners” hold shares of stock in the company, shares traded on public exchanges. In the Marcellus/Utica, most of the top drillers are publicly owned: Range Resources, Coterra Energy, CNX Resources, EQT Corporation, Antero Resources, Southwestern Energy, Repsol, National Fuel Gas Company (i.e. Seneca Resources), and Gulfport Energy. Several others are privately owned, including Ascent Resources (Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S.), Greylock Energy (based in West Virginia), and Olympus Energy (which drills in the Pittsburgh suburbs).
Read More “Private Cos. Now Operate 55% of M-U Rigs, Drill 25% of New Wells”
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that employment in the U.S. oilfield services (OFS) and equipment sector rose by an estimated 2,346 jobs to 645,486 in November. The November increases make OFS employment the highest since numbers started to drop in March 2020. We still haven’t fully recovered to the all-time pre-covid high of 706,528 reached in February 2020–but we’re working in the right direction. This is very good news.
Read More “U.S. Oilfield Services Jobs Increase, Recover to March 2020 Level”
Is Vanguard the next BlackRock–i.e, a pariah due to its extreme anti-fossil energy positions? YES. The Attorneys General from 13 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, have filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking to block Vanguard, a MAJOR investor (with $7.2 trillion of assets under management, second largest after BlackRock with $10 trillion) from buying stocks in electric utility companies. Why? Because Vanguard, like BlackRock, is trying to force the companies it invests in to abandon the use of fossil energy. If you own Vanguard investments–it’s time to dump them. Let’s hit them where it counts–in the pocketbook.
Read More “13 States Seek to Block Vanguard from Buying Electric Utility Stocks”
We’re encouraged to see the American Petroleum Institute (API) finally find its voice and begin to push back against the lunatics in the Biden administration. Recently, the API refused to support the reappointment of FERC Chairman Richard Glick (see Energy Industry Groups Refuse to Support Glick FERC Reappointment). Earlier this week, API CEO Mike Sommers went on Fox Business to rip the Bidenistas and their incoherent energy policies (see Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Dec 5, 2022). And now, the API is lighting into the Bidenistas at the Dept. of Energy over its draft National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap.
Read More “API Tells Biden DOE Clean Hydrogen Plan is Defective Without NatGas”
We spotted a story about comments from the New England electric grid manager, ISO New England (ISO-NE), that made us do a double-take. Bloomberg reports the grid manager’s comments under this headline: “New England May Ask Residents to Curb Energy in Extreme Cold.” The article keys on comments made by ISO-NE that say if there is a bad cold snap, or an extended cold spell, residents in New England will be asked to reduce their energy use so as to keep natural gas flowing to electric generating power plants. Otherwise, the grid will crash, and there will be blackouts. Is anyone else scratching their head at this one?
Read More “New England Grid Warns Residents to Curb Energy Use in Extreme Cold”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Sempra announces deal with ENGIE for LNG from Port Arthur; NATIONAL: Weather data sends Nymex natgas futures tumbling below $5.50; Why did the frac spread collapse, and what’s next?; Energy groups sue Biden admin for failing to hold oil, gas lease sales again; INTERNATIONAL: US will double amount of natural gas it sends to UK; World will face shortage of LNG through 2026, says Exxon CEO.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Dec 7, 2022”
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that as of Friday, a new regulation controlling volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, and by extension methane emissions, for Pennsylvania’s conventional oil and gas drillers went into effect (see PA DEP Decrees Onerous VOC Reg for Conventional O&G in Effect Now). We said in that post, “We’re guessing the conventional industry, which warned the DEP and EQB not to adopt the regulation, will end up suing to challenge it.” Turns out to be a prophetic statement. The three statewide organizations that represent PA’s conventional drillers filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Environmental Quality Board (EQB), challenging the legality and legitimacy of the new VOC regulation for conventional drillers.
Read More “3 Groups Sue PA DEP, EQB to Block New VOC Conventional Regulation”
The front-month NYMEX futures contract (based on the price of gas trading at the Henry Hub) dropped like a rock yesterday–down 70 cents (-12.6%) to $5.58/MMBtu. The price has dropped for the past four trading days in a row. Some say it’s free fallin’. In total, the price has lost $1.66 (-22.9%) over the last four sessions. NYMEX trading during the day yesterday hit its lowest point since March of this year. Why? Mainly a warm short-term weather forecast, coupled with the continuing outage at the Freeport LNG export facility.
Read More “Natural Gas Prices in “Freefall” with Warm Weather, LNG Delay”
And just like that, the horse everyone thought was dead has come back to life and is leading the race. We’re talking about U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s so-called permitting reform bill to help save the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The bill proposed by Manchin would bypass the clown judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals who are blocking it. Manchin got a pledge from his buddy Chuck Schumer to allow a vote on permitting reform in return for Manchin selling out the country by voting to pass the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (see Joe Manchin Cuts MVP “Deal” in Return for Selling Out Country). The promised vote never happened because Manchin’s own party reneged (see “Save MVP” Permitting Bill is Dead – Manchin Pulls it From CR). But it’s baaaaack!
Read More “Democrat Last-Minute Attempt to Revive Manchin “Save MVP” Bill”
We’re sure this post will not make some of our industry readers/friends happy. But we think it’s time to rip the scab off the festering ESG/Next Generation/Responsible Gas wound and expose it. As Joan Rivers used to say, Can we talk? What got us thinking about responsible gas certification was an announcement from Virginia Natural Gas that the company has entered into a deal with BP to buy “Next Generation Natural Gas” for resale to its customers. VNG will buy it from wells in the Louisiana Haynesville Shale. We asked ourselves these questions: What’s the likelihood that molecules of so-called responsible gas from Louisiana will actually travel all the way to Virginia? And if they do, what happens to those molecules once there?
Read More “Is “Next Generation Natural Gas” Just Virtue Signaling?”
We spotted an article about the left’s war on fossil energy, and how that war is causing economic chaos around the world. We disagree 100% with the premise of the article, which begins this way: “Climate change is a real and urgent problem. More than a century of carbon emissions is warming the planet and causing floods, droughts, fires and other cataclysmic events that are killing people, threatening livelihoods and upending economies.” However, the author goes on to say that the war on fossil fuels (which are, according to the author, the source of carbon emissions) is causing its own form of chaos. He makes some great points about the chaos that comes from not having a good transition plan in place to get us from fossil energy to so-called renewables.
Read More “The Radical Left’s War on Fossil Fuels Causing Economic Chaos”
In October, MDN brought you the news that the company created and backed by Dan Rice (and his brothers), called Archaea Energy, is selling itself to BP for $4.1 billion (see Dan Rice’s Renewable Energy Company Sells to BP for $4.1 Billion). Depending on the source you read, the Rice boys will pocket either $975 million or $720 million from the deal (see Rice Boys’ Paycheck for Selling Renewable Energy Co? $975 Million). How did they do it?
Read More “Dan Rice’s Landfill NatGas & How He Made $975M Flipping Co.”