OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Chesapeake Utilities receives approval to expand natgas in Nassau County, FL; Gas utility’s Minnesota hydrogen pilot ‘good news’ so far, but questions remain; NATIONAL: There has not been a bullish USA data release for 16 weeks; Control of the lives of others is the root of all evil ideas; Republican govs call on Biden to delay implementation of WOTUS.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Jan 31, 2023”
Marcellus drillers who have drilled new wells over the past three years in Pennsylvania are going to get hit hard by an increase in the state’s impact fee. Drillers must pay the impact fee (i.e. PA’s equivalent of a severance tax) once per year, based on the wells they drilled or operated during the previous year. The fee is a complex calculation based on (a) how long a well has been drilled, (b) the average NYMEX Henry Hub price for natural gas from the previous year, and (c) a cost adjustment for inflation. The fees PA drillers will pay this year, depending on how long a well has been drilled, range from 6.4% higher to as much as 77% higher. Wells drilled in the past three years will see the most dramatic increases, from 28% – 77%.
Read More “PA PUC Publishes Marcellus Impact Tax Hike – Up as Much as 77% in 2023”
We love West Virginia. The state continues to fight the good fight against those who insist on trying to defund fossil energy companies. WV’s latest target is the two proxy advisory services, Glass Lewis and International Shareholder Services (ISS), that control some 90% of all corporate proxy voting in the U.S. WV is advancing a new bill, at the prompting of State Treasurer Riley Moore, that the state (including its massive pension fund) will not do business with proxy services that use ESG (environment, social, governance) as a litmus test for how to invest. States like WV (and Florida, and Texas) are changing the game–having an impact.
Read More “WV Continues to Fight ESG Madness – Targets Proxy Voting/Advisors”
We simply don’t understand the disturbed minds of the environmental left. Take the recent actions by the leftists at Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS), which is suing the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) after the DRBC adopted most of the rules sought by DCS to permanently block fracking and anything to do with fracking from the Delaware River Basin region. The radicals got 95% of what they wanted, but because it’s not 100%, they are suing in federal court to force the DRBC to start over and achieve 100% of their demands. This is seriously, pathologically, disturbed. We will explain.
Read More “Radical Damascus Citizens Sue DRBC re Frack Wastewater Regs”
Natural gas is a booming industry in West Virginia and the United States, accounting for more than 38% of the nation’s total energy consumption. One West Virginia University researcher is hoping to capitalize on valuable untapped chemicals that come from shale gas, commonly found throughout the Marcellus/Utica region. Madelyn Ball, an assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at WVU’s Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, received $110,000 in funding from the American Chemical Society to conduct research that will convert ethane and propane from shale gas into olefins, a class of chemicals made up of hydrogen and carbon such as ethylene and propylene, that can be used in the production of plastics and other complex chemicals.
Read More “WVU Researcher Looks for Way to Convert Shale Ethane to Olefins”
Last week Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed will “stick to its knitting” and will NOT wander off the trail into political issues like man-made global warming (i.e. climate change). The purpose and focus of the Federal Reserve is to control inflation via interest rates, thereby strengthening the economy and creating jobs. Powell will not allow the Fed to get caught up in global warming policymaking by forcing banks to require the companies to which they make loans to bow down before the ESG gods. Frankly, we’re surprised and delighted at Powell’s steel backbone on this issue.
Read More “Powell Says Federal Reserve Will Not be a “Climate Policymaker””
There are a fair number of MDN subscribers who read our stories looking for opportunities to find a job in the great Marcellus/Utica industry. We spotted an article that may help. Rigzone talked with several top headhunters that specialize in the energy space. We’ll say right up front we’re not talking about roustabouts and field hands, but scientists and engineers. How do you catch the interest of a potential employer with a resume? How do you impress someone during an interview? And what bad habits should you avoid during your search process?
Read More “Job Seekers: Good Tips for Interviewing for a Shale O&G Job”
The most recent day of active trading was Fri., Jan. 27, 2023. The numbers below reflect Friday’s closing numbers.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Manufacturers ask legislators for help in building jobs in Pittsburgh region; NATIONAL: Former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan joins Landrieu at pro-natural gas group; Yes, chefs, the government is coming for your gas stoves; Energy sector predictions for 2023; INTERNATIONAL: $1 trillion green investment matches fossil fuels for first time; Biden and Sunak — the energy policy odd couple.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Jan 30, 2023”
And so begins the quarterly earnings report season. Yesterday CNX Resources issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 update. The company doubled its profits in 4Q22, making $1.2 billion, versus a profit of $630 million in 4Q21. However, as big as the profit was in 4Q, CNX still lost $142 million for the entire year–mainly due to $2.6 billion in losses on derivatives for the year. CNX generated $270 million in free cash flow for 4Q and cumulatively generated $707 million of free cash flow for the entire year. Production took a hit, down to 1.53 MMcfe/d (million cubic feet equivalent per day), compared to 1.72 MMcfe/d in 4Q21. The stated reason for the drop in production was a bad well and the cold snap (freeze-offs) during 4Q.
Read More “CNX Update: Production Slipped in 2022, Better Days Ahead in 2023”
In February 2022, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Equitrans Files New $160M Pipe Expansion Project with FERC). Called the Ohio Valley Connector Expansion Project (or OVCX), the $160 million project will add compression along Equitrans pipelines in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that allow the company to flow an extra 350 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of natural gas. It appears OVCX is Equitrans’ “plan B” if the ultimate horror happens and Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) can’t be completed. Just coming to light now, FERC issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS) last week, signaling the agency will soon vote to issue a certificate for the project to get built.
Read More “FERC Issues Positive Final EIS for OVCX Pipe Project in PA-WV-OH”
Freeport LNG, which has been offline since an explosion and fire in June 2022, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to begin the restart procedure this past Sunday (see Freeport LNG Asks FERC for Permission to Begin Restart Work). Freeport requested that FERC approve the request no later than January 24 (Tuesday). FERC will act when it is good and ready to act. The 24th came and went. So did the 25th. FERC finally responded on Jan. 26, granting the requested permission to begin the restart process.
Read More “FERC Gives Freeport LNG Green Light to Begin Work on Restart”
The Ohio Court of Appeals recently issued a decision in a case involving lease language about a “depth severance clause” that is very important for both landowners and drillers to know about. In Tera LLC v. Rice Drilling D LLC, et al., a landowner in Belmont County, OH, signed a lease with language that leases both the Marcellus and Utica shale layers, but all other formations were “reserved to the lessor” (i.e. the landowner). However, the driller, Rice (now EQT), drilled into and produced hydrocarbons from the Point Pleasant layer that sits immediately below the Utica. According to the lease (and the decision by the court), that was a no-no.
Read More “Ohio Court of Appeals Upholds Depth Severance Clause in Shale Lease”
Last April, MDN introduced readers to the developing issue of landowners being approached to lease “pore space” rights (see M-U Landowners May be Asked to Lease “Pore” Rights for CO2 Capture). Pore space is the underground space where carbon dioxide that’s captured from various processes can be injected and stored, keeping it locked away underground where it theoretically won’t damage Mom Earth. Leasing pore rights may be the next big thing for landowners and mineral rights owners in the Marcellus/Utica region as (if) carbon capture and storage takes off. In a newly passed bill in WV, legislators grant the right to lease WV state-owned land for pore space storage of CO2 to the head of the WV Division of Natural Resources (DNR).
Read More “WV Bill Passes Expanding DNR Power to Lease State-Owned Pore Space”
It’s brutal out there–with respect to the price of the NYMEX Henry Hub futures price. Yesterday the HH dropped below, and stayed below, $3/MMBtu. The price “settled” at $2.94, down 12 cents (4%) for the day. That is the lowest settlement price for the HH in 20 months–since May 2021. Not even the good news that Freeport LNG received permission from FERC to begin some restart operations (see our companion story today) was enough to lift the price. So why did the price crash further yesterday?
Read More “NYMEX HH Price Crashes Again, Closes Below $3 First Time 20 Mos.”
What a difference 20 years can make. In 2001, natural gas was used to produce 2% of the electricity produced in Pennsylvania, and coal produced 57% of the state’s electricity. Then the Marcellus Shale miracle happened–the first Marcellus well was drilled in PA in 2004. By 2021, 52% of PA’s electricity was produced by natural gas, and 12% was produced by coal. A complete reversal. Most of that change came over just eight years–from 2008 to 2016. There are multiple reasons for the change, including regulations (against coal), low cost (for newfound supplies of gas), and emissions (more for coal, less for gas).
Read More “Just 8 Yrs for Marcellus Gas to Surpass Coal-Fired Electric in PA”
