Biden DOE Names New Minister of Low-Paying Renewable Jobs
The Bidenistas have appointed a global warming true-believer to head up the Dept. of Energy’s Office of Energy Jobs. But not just any type of energy jobs. They must be “renewable” jobs, or they’re just no good and won’t be supported. Betony Jones, previously the Senior Advisor on Workforce in the Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, will become the Director of the new program. We call her the minister of low-paying renewable energy jobs–because that’s exactly what these jobs are. Low-paying. Her job is to convince labor unions that trading in high-paying fossil energy jobs for low-paying renewable energy jobs is magical and desirable. Good luck with that.
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Global research firm Wood Mackenzie recently published an analysis of where investors are putting their money in the energy sector. Unsurprisingly (for us), WoodMac found investors are plowing money like crazy into “pure play” (meaning single focus) oil and natural gas companies instead of into companies that dabble in “low-carbon diversification” (i.e. renewables). Fossil energy companies that stick to their knitting (stay focused on fossil energy) are outperforming renewable-focused companies big time.
In what appears to be a regular occurrence, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s online database of oil and gas permit information is offline once again, throwing an error. Very frustrating. We checked Ohio’s numbers and found only a single new permit issued for last week. West Virginia issued five new permits last week. Given that PA typically issues the most new permits, we’ve decided to hold back the report until we can complete it with PA data, hopefully early next week. We’ll keep you posted.
NATIONAL: Oil rises as IEA growth forecast eases demand fears; US LNG exports lower than last week; Natural gas futures surge near $9 – cash mounts big gains too; To understand the hydrocarbon value chain, start with the basics; Goldman sees USA gasoline prices climbing back to $5; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC sees global oil market tipping into surplus; Big Oil to go deep into trillion-dollar offshore wind industry.
In June, a Shell executive told the Appalachian Energy Innovation Collaborative conference that the company’s Pennsylvania ethane cracker project was 98% done and would be fully online within “a couple of months” (see 
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 (337,000 leased acres) and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its second quarter update yesterday. Ascent averaged production of 2.0 Bcfe/d for the quarter, the same as 1Q22 and virtually the same as 2Q21. By the end of June, Ascent was producing 2.2 Bcfe/d. Nearly all of Ascent’s production (93%) was natural gas, while the rest was oil and NGLs.
Last week two Ohio state House members, Reps. Jon Cross, R-Kenton, and Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, introduced House Bill (HB) 685 to promote the use of the state’s natural gas energy resource. The bill would create “ENERGIZEOhio Zones” to attract new investment in areas that are disadvantaged due to lack of energy resources. The designation allows natural gas infrastructure projects (like pipelines) to receive tax abatements and speed up depreciation to lower the overall cost of development.
Earlier this week MDN told you that some Marcellus/Utica operators were singing the praises of the Manchin-Schumer Keep Inflation High bill (see 
Yesterday MDN poked fun at the gyrating up-and-down predictions from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) with respect to the spot price of natural gas at the benchmark Henry Hub (see 
Select Energy Services (SES) continues to expand with mergers and acquisitions. Earlier this year, SES bought out and merged in Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) for $45 million (see 
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced it will issue a payout (the equivalent of a dividend) to unitholders of 17.6 cents for 2Q22. That is the highest payout we’ve seen since we’ve been actively tracing it quarter by quarter. The company continues to hold back some of the profits it makes to build a $3.8 million cash reserve.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s (BHE) GT&S subsidiary announced that the Cove Point LNG export facility, which BHE GT&S operates, reached a major milestone at the end of July. Cove Point has loaded its 300th commercial LNG export cargo. All of the molecules that Cove Point liquefies come from the Marcellus Shale. MDN was there from the beginning, chronicling the journey from idea to construction to (now) loading 300 cargo ships full of Marcellus LNG. What a journey!