MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Ohio’s Tim Ryan only supports natgas when he’s in a close race; NATIONAL: You can’t eat without natural gas; INTERNATIONAL: Taliban sign deal with Russia to buy cheap oil and gas; CIA warned Germany about a possible attack on Nord Stream pipes.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Sep 29, 2022”
Some sad news to share with you that had escaped our notice until today. A 39-year-old man from Sayre, PA, Jeremy Lanzo, died from burns that he received in an accident at Eureka Resources’ shale wastewater treatment plant in Wysox Township (Bradford County, PA) on Tuesday morning, Sept. 13. Initial media accounts report there was an explosion at the plant. However, Eureka CEO Dan Ertel says flatly, “There was no explosion.” Eureka treats and recycles wastewater (brine) from Marcellus Shale wells.
Read More “Worker Dies After Accident at Eureka Resources Plant in Wysox, PA”
We’ll say it right up front: We told you so. From the beginning, when U.S. Senator Joe Manchin announced he had sold out the country and would vote in favor of the horrible (misnamed) Inflation Reduction Act in return for a promise from Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to pass a “permitting reform” bill that guarantees to finish the stalled (95% complete) Mountain Valley Pipeline, we told you it was a bad deal (see Joe Manchin Cuts MVP “Deal” in Return for Selling Out Country). We also told you Manchin got rolled, that such a vote would never happen (see Joe Manchin’s Save MVP Bill is Crashing & Burning, Rs & Ds Oppose). Yesterday Manchin pulled his permitting reform bill from a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating, because his own party would not support it. Yes, we were right.
Read More ““Save MVP” Permitting Bill is Dead – Manchin Pulls it From CR”
In early 2017, pipeline and midstream giant Kinder Morgan (KM), the builder and operator of the Elba Island, Georgia LNG export facility, sold 49% of the (not then finished) Elba project to investment firm EIG Global Energy Partners for $555 million (see Kinder Morgan Sells 49% Stake in Elba Island LNG to EIG for $555M). In December 2019, Elba Island shipped its first commercial cargo of LNG (see Elba Island Finally Exported First Marcellus LNG Cargo on Friday). Yesterday KM announced it had sold half of its half, or 25.5%, of the Elba project to an undisclosed financial buyer for approximately $565 million.
Read More “Kinder Morgan Sells 25% Stake in Elba Island LNG for $565 Million”
The price of natural gas here in the U.S. has roughly quadrupled in price over the past two years. If you are a landowner or rights owner, you’ve certainly noticed a nice increase in royalty revenue. As we have reported about publicly traded drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, profits and free cash flow over the past couple of quarters have gone through the roof–because of the high price of natgas. The question is, why have prices for natural gas gone so high? And relatedly, will they stay high?
Read More “Reasons Why Natural Gas Prices Quadrupled in Just Two Years”
In a clear sign the Democrat Party is desperate with a national election (national referendum on Biden) just 44 days away, our beneficent Dictator in Chief, Joe Biden, has demanded that companies running gas stations, “Bring down the prices you’re charging at the pump to reflect the cost you pay for the product. Do it now. Do it now. Not a month from now — do it now.” He sounded like a raging lunatic when he said it. High prices at the pump are the result of Biden’s own socialist, very misguided policies. Yet he attempts to scapegoat and blame it on the thousands of individual companies that vend gasoline in a free-and-open market.
Read More “Biden Tells Gasoline Vendors to Lower Prices NOW, Before Election”
Americans, indeed just about every human on the planet alive today, have been so thoroughly brainwashed that burning fossil fuels is causing catastrophic global warming and is “bad” or “evil,” that when someone comes along to say, “Wait a minute, what if more carbon dioxide is a good thing,” that person is considered a crackpot. Let us ask that question. What if more carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is actually helping Mom Earth, not hurting Mom Earth? Is it possible?
Read More “Contrarian View: Fossil Fuels are the Greenest of Energy Sources”
NATIONAL: Save Puerto Rico and repeal the Jones Act now; INTERNATIONAL: Oil rises on news of Russia urging OPEC to cut production; Germany suspects sabotage hit Nord Stream pipelines; How natgas storage works and why Europe faces a tough winter.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Sep 28, 2022”
A small group of landowners in southwestern Virginia who have lost all of their previous attempts to block Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from crossing their property have made one last-ditch effort to fundamentally change the laws of the entire country to prevent this one pipeline. The landowners, obviously using Big Green money, have appealed their losing case to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to hear their case against FERC’s (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) right to delegate its eminent domain power to a private pipeline company–in this case to MVP.
Read More “Virginia Landowners Petition SCOTUS to Block MVP Eminent Domain”
In February 2020, EQT Corporation’s credit rating (for company-issued bonds) was designated at the “junk” (i.e. non-investment grade) level. In March of this year, two of the three top credit rating agencies–Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings–upgraded EQT’s credit rating, returning it to investment grade (see EQT Finally Boosts Credit Rating from Junk to Investment Grade). S&P is clearly impressed with the performance of the company. Beginning Oct. 3, one of the stocks listed in the S&P 500 Index is disappearing (merging with another company), freeing up one position. S&P has chosen EQT to fill the slot and become one of the elite 500 stocks in the Index.
Read More “EQT Stock Joins the Big Boys on S&P 500 Index Beginning Oct. 3”
Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) is one of four natural gas distribution companies owned by Southern Company. VNG provides natural gas service to more than 300,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in southeast Virginia. Since 2012, VNG has replaced nearly 500 miles of the aging pipeline, resulting in a 27% reduction in methane emissions. VNG is a little over halfway through spending $360 million on infrastructure upgrades.
Read More “Virginia NatGas Pipe Upgrades Result in 27% Emissions Reduction”
Last Friday, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) released a report of the results of mixing so-called “green” hydrogen with natural gas and using the fuel to generate electricity with reduced emissions from a retrofitted General Electric combustion turbine. The experiment was conducted at NYPA’s Brentwood Power Station on Long Island. NYPA experimented with fuel blends from 5% to 44% hydrogen. The study found CO2 mass emission rates were reduced by approximately 14% by mixing in a 35% blend of hydrogen.
Read More “NYPA Uses Up to 44% Hydrogen Mix in Long Island Power Plant Test”
We are equal parts excited and repulsed by hydrogen as an energy source. We’re excited because, seemingly overnight, everybody and his brother (and sister) are jazzed about converting to hydrogen energy. Mountains of money are being poured into hydrogen research and infrastructure. The federal government is spending $8 billion (out of $1.2 trillion) to establish regional hydrogen hubs. Even companies in the Marcellus/Utica are jazzed because hydrogen production offers a huge new customer for M-U molecules. On the other hand, we’re repulsed because hydrogen is a “poor” fuel that faces “major obstacles” to its widespread adoption. We’re concerned about chasing after the wind–sinking a LOT of money into something that ultimately won’t pan out. Let’s have a hard and honest look at some of the downsides to hydrogen energy.
Read More “The Downsides to Using Hydrogen as Zero-Carbon Energy Source”
Every now and again, the editorial board at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a far-left-leaning newspaper, surprises us. Yesterday’s editorial is one such day. We brought you the news yesterday that the uber-arrogant billionaire Mike Bloomberg is spending $85 million to try and shut down or block petrochemical plants like the Shell ethane cracker in the Pittsburgh region (see Mike Bloomberg Spends $85M to Stop Petchem Plants in M-U, Gulf Coast). Bloomberg’s efforts don’t sit well with the Post-Gazette editors, who are telling Bloomberg to “butt out” of interfering with petrochemicals in the Ohio Valley.
Read More “Shocker: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Tells Mike Bloomberg to “Butt Out””
A few years ago, a trader could buy an LNG cargo for $15-$20 million. Today? It’s an order of magnitude higher. A single “spot” LNG cargo now fetches $175-$200 million! Given the money involved, only a handful of international energy majors and top global trading houses are currently in the game of buying and selling such cargoes. And it appears it will stay that way–in the hands of the big players–at least until 2026. That’s the analysis according to Reuters.
Read More “Big LNG Traders to Retain Control of LNG Flows Until 2026”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EQT named one of Pittsburgh’s top 2022 workplaces; Fredonia alum to give talk on Upper Devonian Shale of western NY; NATIONAL: Fitch Solutions raises Henry Hub gas price forecast; INTERNATIONAL: More than 20 countries agree to boost low-emission hydrogen output by 2030.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Sep 27, 2022”