Gas Stove Bans “Spreading Like a Virus,” The New Prohibition
Do you remember studying Prohibition in grade school? In the United States, from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional law prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. A bunch of ninny nannies thought they knew better than everyone else whether or not anyone should consume adult beverages. The ninny nannies eventually got enough politicians to vote in favor of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The 21st Amendment, passed some 13 years later, repealed the 18th Amendment. A modern-day version of the same thing is now happening, with cities (and some states, like New York) attempting to ban natural gas stoves, based on false claims that gas stoves are a health hazard. Just like alcohol was a health hazard 100 years ago?
Read More “Gas Stove Bans “Spreading Like a Virus,” The New Prohibition”
Zooming out for a broader view of issues around the world that affect the natural gas market here in the U.S. is helpful from time to time. What’s happening in Europe right now, and how will that affect our gas market in 2023? How about China? Is supply/demand in balance, and how does that affect the Henry Hub price? And what about LNG? Rigzone looks at six things the natural gas market can expect in 2023. Their insights give us an interesting view of what the year may hold for natgas.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Businesses, groups tell lawmakers PA regulatory burden, high energy costs must be lowered; NATIONAL: Investors plow into renewables, but projects aren’t getting built; INTERNATIONAL: Iran oil gushes into global market; U.S. LNG, underground storage help save Europe from another tough winter; Rhetoric from Davos dominated the week in energy; 185 global ports can bunker LNG.
New shale permits issued for Jan. 9-15 in the Marcellus/Utica included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 5 new permits in Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was PennEnergy Resources, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Butler County, PA. Right behind PennEnergy was Southwestern Energy with 5 permits total spread across all three states–3 in PA, and 1 each in OH and WV.
John Reinhart is the former President and CEO of M-U driller Montage Resources Corporation before that company was gobbled up by Southwestern Energy in 2020 (see 
For more than a year, we have covered the topic of the Bidenistas’ Hunger Games contest to award $7 billion to some 6-10 “hydrogen hubs” across the country. Each winning hub will receive $500 million to $1 billion of government largesse to help build a hub in a given region. The money for the hub projects was allocated as part of the so-called Infrastructure bill, passed in November 2021 (see 
Joe Manchin, the rather pathetic, has-been U.S. Senator from West Virginia, is sitting his bum in Davos, Switzerland, wining and dining and hobnobbing with leftist elites from around the world at the World Economic Forum. Manchin, you might recall, sold out the United States by voting for the Green New Deal, renamed to Build Back Better, and further renamed to the Inflation Reduction Act (see 
Yesterday Chesapeake Energy announced it has cut a deal to sell the majority of its Eagle Ford oil assets to WildFire Energy I LLC for $1.425 billion. The sale includes approximately 377,000 net acres and approximately 1,350 wells in the Brazos Valley region of its Eagle Ford asset, along with related property, plant, and equipment. In 2018 Chesapeake, under the direction of then-CEO Doug Lawler, purchased 420,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford shale and Austin Chalk formations in Texas from WildHorse Resource Development Corp for $4 billion (see 
We have two related lawsuits to report on involving landowners in Susquehanna County, PA, and Callon Petroleum. As most lawsuits are, these two are complicated. But, at a very high level, the concept is simple. The landowners allege that Callon Marcellus (formerly Carrizo Marcellus) shorted them on royalty payments. The landowners sued, but Callon sold its assets in northeastern PA (to BKV) and engaged in a shell game to move the proceeds of that sale ($74 million) directly to the mothership, Callon Petroleum, as a way of avoiding liability to pay, just in case they lose the royalty lawsuit.