Warm Temps, Lack of Pipes Drive High Gas Price in Eastern U.S.
Here’s something you don’t often see: The price that natural gas is fetching in the eastern part of the country is significantly higher than the price gas fetches at the benchmark Henry Hub in southern Louisiana. The heat wave hitting the country’s middle section and points east is the main driver, but so is a lack of natural gas pipelines from the Marcellus/Utica to southern states.
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EQT announces 20 percent increase to quarterly cash dividend; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: PetroChina to buy LNG from Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG terminal; New England gas prices top $20 on AGT system restrictions, demand spike; NATIONAL: Natural gas futures spike above $8; Putin has shown us: American voters must choose fossil fuels; Even ESG funds are now buying big oil stocks; INTERNATIONAL: Will European energy crisis intensify?; Russia restarts Nord Stream, Europe breathes sigh of relief.
Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the vandalism and theft of copper from a Coterra Energy well pad on Stockholm Road in Rush Township in Susquehanna County, PA, sometime between July 8 and 14. The case appears to be your garden-variety case of lowlifes stealing copper to resell it (a “crime of opportunity”), and not some sort of statement by environmental wackos. But, one never knows with wackos…
The leftist members of the Allegheny, PA County Council have proven just how leftward they have lurched (and how unhinged they have become). Last night the Council voted to overturn the veto of a ban on drilling for natural gas under (never on top of) county parks. The Council’s action denies taxpayers millions of dollars in revenue to fix and repair and expand county parks. County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, a Democrat himself, vetoed the idiotic ban, but the Democrats of the County Council just couldn’t help themselves. They voted to override Fitzgerald’s veto. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Welcome to the People’s Republic of Allegheny County.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, did the country (and his own party) a huge favor when he pushed the temporary pause button on committing trillions of dollars of new inflationary spending on Big Green programs called the Biden Build Back Better bill (see 
Given the record of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with blocking new natural gas pipeline projects (and harassing already-built pipelines), Congressional Republicans are questioning the role FERC should play in approving hydrogen pipelines. The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing yesterday, and Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming expressed concerns that FERC may use blending hydrogen with natgas in pipelines as an excuse to impose new restrictions on existing natgas pipelines.
In a March 3rd Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) asked Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick this question: “Has anyone higher up in the [Biden] administration ever spoken to you in regards to somehow slow-walking or otherwise impeding or otherwise accentuating policy that would have the effect of impeding the development of natural gas pipelines?” Chairman Glick responded with an unambiguous “no.” Yet FERC refuses to release records of communications and meetings with the White House to back up Glick’s statement. FERC has just been sued to force the release of those records.
In the most recent U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA predicted that by the end of this year, the United States will produce an average of 96.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas (see 
Last week MDN reported that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, in a final act of thumbing his nose at the prolific Marcellus industry in his own state, vetoed a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 275, that would have prohibited municipalities from banning the use of natural gas (see 
The number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration once again overestimated natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica in the agency’s monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). Last month the EIA predicted total production in the Marcellus/Utica region (which they call Appalachia in the report) would be 35.39 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) during July. In the monthly DPR issued yesterday, EIA revised the July number down to 35.12 Bcf/d. Not a huge difference. It translates to 270 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) less in production–roughly 1/4 Bcf/d.
Trying to follow the ups and downs of natural gas prices–predicting where prices will go–will drive you crazy. A little over one month ago, the NYMEX front-month futures price for natgas was hitting new modern highs, closing in on $10/MMBtu (see 
Natural gas-fired power plants have become a very important customer and user for Marcellus/Utica (and other shale play) natural gas. This week may set a new record for power plant usage of natgas. Temperatures across the south and Midwest (and northeast) are set to break records. Consecutive days of 100+ degrees Fahrenheit are forecast for Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and others. According to S&P, this Thursday (July 21), U.S. power burn is forecast to use an average of 48.6 Bcf/d of natgas in what would be a new single-day demand record.
If you monitor the oil and gas industry long enough, you’ll come to discover cycles, trends, and the old saying, “Everything old is new again.” That’s what is happening with the LNG market. For years (several decades), LNG was sold on long-term contracts of 10 to 20 years. Buyers would agree to purchase X amount of LNG for Y amount of cash for long periods of time. Long-term contracts offer price stability and guaranteed availability. But then came shale…