MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Schumer and Pelosi could have helped; NATIONAL: U.S. oil execs fear recession, nagging supply shortages; INTERNATIONAL: Oil posts first quarterly loss in two years as recession fears grow; Well done everyone, we’ve let China become the real energy superpower.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Oct 3, 2022”
Chesapeake Energy is interested in new LNG export projects–but not just LNG exported along the Gulf Coast near its new Haynesville assets. Chessy is jazzed about the possibilities of exporting LNG along the East Coast. The company has its eye on a project announced for the Philadelphia area, on the Delaware River (see Philadelphia LNG Export Project Still Very Much Alive & Advancing). But here’s the new news: Chesapeake says, “There are a couple of companies that are trying to get [LNG] plants operational in Maryland” as well as on the Delaware River. Holy smokes! This is the first we’re hearing about potential new LNG plants along the Maryland coastline.
Read More “Multiple New East Coast LNG Export Plants Under Consideration”
An oil and gas mineral lease is a critical part of the process for extracting and selling hydrocarbon molecules. MDN editor Jim Willis will present at next week’s POGLA (Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Landowner Alliance) meeting in State College. One of the key topics we’re sure to hear discussed is leases. We spotted an excellent post on the RBN Energy website from yesterday dealing with leases. RBN does a deep dive into leases and leasing as part of its “energy 101” primer series.
Read More “The Critical Role of Oil & Gas Mineral Leases – A Short Primer”
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company announced in May 2021 that it would pursue certification of its natural gas (see Ascent Resources 1Q21: Hops on Bandwagon of Certifying Shale Gas). An announcement yesterday from one of the vendors Ascent uses to achieve certification, Bridger Photonics, says that Ascent has achieved MiQ certification of its natural gas production using Bridger’s methane-imaging lasers.
Read More “Ascent Achieves MiQ Cert Using Methane-Imaging Lasers for Emissions”
It was an interesting day yesterday for the final day of the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Insight event, being held in Erie, PA. Shell outlined its vision for a regional hydrogen hub with Shell itself at the center of the action (guess we can’t blame them for trying, although we wish they were working with a broader coalition). More interesting, for us, were the addresses of four key politicians. Republicans Dr. Mehmet Oz, running for U.S. Senate in PA, and Doug Mastriano, running for governor in PA, addressed the event in person. Their counterparts, Democrats John Fetterman (running for Senate) and Josh Shapiro (running for governor), aired recorded messages and didn’t bother to show up in person–a MAJOR insult to the shale industry.
Read More “Shale Insight Day 2: Shell Vision for H2 Hub; Dr. Oz, Doug Mastriano”
Some 225 hypocritical nutters were whipped into a frenzy by Big Green and its so-called Beyond Plastics campaign during a Zoom call Tuesday night to “prepare” for the startup of Shell’s mighty ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA. It was really quite hilarious. There was talk of nurdle patrols, “sacrifice zones,” and celebrations over defeating Joe Manchin’s permitting reform bill. Why hypocritical? Because every single person on the call was using a computer or phone made out of (wait for it)….plastics. The clothes on their bodies and shoes on their feet are made largely from plastics. The cars and boats and paraphernalia they use to hunt down evidence of environmental plastics pollution from the cracker plant–all made from plastics. We wonder, Do they know how stupid they look?
Read More “Enviro Hypocrites Gather Online to Prepare for Shell Cracker Launch”
There is a growing chorus of executives in the C-suite of large (and small) companies standing up to say so-called ESG (environment, social, governance) investing and proposed regulations is a bunch of hokum. A large majority (75%) of CFOs recently surveyed by left-leaning CNBC do NOT support the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed ESG regulations (see SEC Votes to Force Public Companies to Disclose Mythical GHG Risks). It seems that common sense is returning, and pushing back against the leftist dribble of ESG investing.
Read More “CFOs at Large Companies Don’t Support ESG Investment Philosophy”
Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 30 new drilling permits, up from the 21 permits issued the week before. It was a reversal of what we typically see. Last week PA only issued four new permits, while WV issued 17 permits and OH issued nine permits. Usually, PA issues the most permits.
Read More “30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 19-25”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Exxon orders shale stand-down over rash of oilfield worker injuries; NATIONAL: Labor, supply-chain woes dog US projects; Surging hydrogen economy that O&G companies are tiptoeing into; Permitting – what happened to Manchin bill?; Natural gas can’t be replaced by green sources, industry argues; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ discusses cutting oil output; RWE readying three brown coal plants for restart from early October; Russia’s sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline marks a point of no return.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Sep 30, 2022”
In something of a shocker, EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country with its headquarters (and most major drilling operations) in Pennsylvania, is throwing its weight and support behind a coalition in West Virginia to attract one of the so-called regional hydrogen hubs (worth $1 billion or more in taxpayer investment) to the Mountain State, not to the Keystone State. EQT is one of the main players in forming a new coalition called the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). Other big energy companies supporting ARCH2 include Williams, Dominion Energy, CNX Resources, and New Fortress Energy (among many more).
Read More “EQT, Williams, Dominion Back WV in Race to Get Hydrogen Hub”
Here’s a challenge to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pipeline certificate we don’t fully comprehend. In 2018 the Panda Hummel Marcellus-fired power plant in Snyder County, PA roared to life (see Marcellus-Fired Panda Hummel Electric Plant Roars to Life in PA). Panda Hummel is one of the largest coal-to-gas conversion projects in the country, constructing a large 1,124-megawatt Marcellus gas-fired electric plant on the site of a retired coal-fired plant near Shamokin Dam in Snyder County. The plant is fed by a 34.4-mile pipeline built and maintained by UGI, called the Sunbury Pipeline (see UGI Ready to Begin Flowing Gas via $150M Sunbury Pipeline in PA). The Sunbury Pipeline was permitted under and is overseen by FERC. Yet now Panda Hummel is trying to rescind FERC’s authority over the pipeline, seeking to get the pipeline’s certificate to operate revoked. Why?
Read More “Panda Hummel Power Plant Loses FERC Appeal re UGI Sunbury Pipeline”
One of the unfortunate side effects of Joe Manchin’s so-called permitting reform bill crashing and burning (see “Save MVP” Permitting Bill is Dead – Manchin Pulls it From CR), is how it affects one of the intended beneficiaries–Equitrans Midstream, builder of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Since prospects for passing the bill began to unravel two weeks ago, Equitrans’ stock price is down over 20%, hitting a low of $7.59 per share yesterday. Although the news of permitting reform going down the toilet is not good for MVP, Equitrans maintains the pipeline is still expected to be up and running by the end of next year.
Read More “Equitrans Stock Tumbles Following Manchin ‘Save MVP’ Bill Failure”
Yesterday was the first day of the two-day Shale Insight conference being held in Erie, PA. By all accounts, it was a great day. Among the all-stars presenting were Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation, Nick Dell’Osso, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, Greg Floerke, COO of MPLX, and Neil Chatterjee, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman. The important role of LNG, pipelines, regulations, and more were discussed. One of the themes of the day: Natural gas is not a bridge fuel, but the destination.
Read More “Shale Insight Day 1: Toby Rice, Nick Dell’Osso, Neal Chatterjee, More”
After the shocking news that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin had sold out his state and the entire country by agreeing to support the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) bill, the details began to come out about just how bad this bill really is for the oil and gas industry. First and foremost, it slaps a new tax on oil and gas activities (see Joe Manchin’s Green New Deal Cave Slaps O&G with Big Methane Tax). We’ve shared a couple of articles touching on how this onerous and harmful new tax will work (see Confusion Over How to Implement New Methane Tax in Inflation Bill and A Closer Look at New Manchin Methane Tax – Part of IRA). We have a much better, deeper, more comprehensive explanation of the new tax from RBN Energy.
Read More “How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Onerous New Methane Tax Works”
In all of the hullabaloo over hydrogen energy and the claims that hydrogen will replace natural gas and we will all live in renewable energy paradise–you might want to consider the findings from the leading energy analysts at Cornwall Insight, an energy market intelligence and analysis consultancy located across the pond in the United Kingdom. According to Cornwall analysts, “current and forecast costs all show it is simply uneconomical to use 100% hydrogen fuel for heating our homes.” Attempting to force people to convert to using hydrogen for heating instead of natural gas would “nearly double” the cost of heating a home.
Read More “Hydrogen Will Cost 2X More than NatGas for Home Heating”
Last month OPEC’s oil production fell short by 3.58 million barrels per day (bpd), which is 3.5% of global oil demand. The U.S. continues to sell oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, nearing the end of what can be sold off. And Russia’s oil exports could fall by some 2.4 million bpd after the EU embargo enters into effect in December. Add to that mix the observation by Saudi Aramco’s CEO, who said last week that years of underinvestment in oil drilling infrastructure have damaged the balance between supply and demand in the oil market, and what do you get? According to OilPrice.com’s Irina Slav, “a [oil] supply shortfall on a global level is imminent.” In other words, an oil supply shock and skyrocketing prices for oil are on the way.
Read More “Oil Supply Shock, Soaring Prices Coming in Next Few Months”