Diversified Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia
Some M-U Companies Like Manchin-Schumer High Methane Tax
Make no mistake: The Manchin-Schumer “Soar Inflation Higher” bill is bad for the country in EVERY way, including bad for the fossil energy industry via an industry-killing methane tax (see Joe Manchin’s Green New Deal Cave Slaps O&G with Big Methane Tax). Yet some oil and gas companies, including Diversified Energy (which operates in Appalachia), are supporting the methane tax that is part of the bill. We simply don’t understand it.
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As we point out in a companion story today, some in the oil and gas industry have sold out and are supporting the Manchin-Schumer methane tax. It’s sad (and angering). As we point out in that post, those companies believe they are insulated from the effects of the methane tax because they have already deployed technology to reduce methane emissions from their operations. But what happens when the federal government changes the rules by telling them their technology is junk and they have to replace it with new government-blessed technology? Right on cue, the Dept. of Energy announced it will spend $32 million on “research” to figure out what kind of technology can lower methane emissions.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: DEP invites stakeholders to participate in well plugging workgroups; NATIONAL: Statement on the public health impacts of blue hydrogen production; How Republicans are ‘weaponizing’ public office against climate action; U.S. propane spot prices have declined from multiyear highs.
Earlier this week, Energy Transfer (ET), the builder of the mighty Mariner East pipelines and owner/expander of the Marcus Hook refinery, issued its second quarter update. The company had plenty of positive news to report, including net income of $1.33 billion, a $700 million increase from the same period last year. In July, the company hit a new record high for the amount of NGLs flowing through the Mariner East pipeline system. It has also found a way to squeeze another roughly 10,000 barrels per day of NGL exports out of Marcus Hook.
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021 with a new board and new top management. By September of last year, the rumors began circulating that the company was shopping itself for sale (see 
While drilling in Chester County in August 2020 in the Marsh Creek State Park area, Energy Transfer’s (ET) Mariner East 2X pipeline experienced an “inadvertent return”–nontoxic drilling mud coming up out of the ground where it’s not supposed to (see 
The radicalized environmental left has opened up a new front in its disgusting (and insane) war against fossil energy. Three hard-left groups–U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Environment America Research & Policy Center, and ClientEarth–announced yesterday they have filed a lawsuit (i.e. fundraiser) against natural gas utility company Washington Gas in the District of Columbia Superior Court. The faux claims in the lawsuit say Washington Gas “misled” customers about the environmental impacts of using natural gas. This is a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in the United States, claiming a gas utility has violated consumer protection laws (i.e. “greenwashing”).
Enverus, a leading global energy data analytics and SaaS technology company, earlier this week released Macro Forecaster, a new report that assesses the continued impact of COVID-19, the Ukraine war, and the weakening global economy on near-term oil and gas balances. Enverus predicts the price of oil will be somewhere in the range of $80s or $90s per barrel by the end of this year. The company also predicts natural gas will slump to about $4.50/MMBtu by next summer.
We have spit and sputtered daily since Traitor Joe Manchin announced his treachery last week–that he will sacrifice the entire country and its economic future in return for finishing one pipeline (see 
For the week of July 25-31, the three Marcellus/Utica states issued 24 permits to drill new shale wells, up from 16 the prior week. However, in a major turnaround, Pennsylvania only issued two new permits, one to Chesapeake Energy and the other to Olympus Energy. Ohio had the lion’s share of new permits, issuing 14. Eight of Ohio’s permits went to Encino Energy, and four to Utica Resources Operating. West Virginia issued eight new permits, with seven of them going to Antero Resources.
Chesapeake Energy issued its 2Q22 update on Tuesday and held a conference call with analysts yesterday. The big news is that Chesapeake has come full circle, back to its natural gas roots. Chessy CEO Nick Dell’Osso said the company will focus more on drilling for natural gas in both the Marcellus and Haynesville shale plays, and less on drilling in the company’s oil-focused Eagle Ford play. In fact, Chesapeake now views the Eagle Ford as “non-core” and will (soon) stop investing in drilling new wells there. Our take is that you can look for a sale of the EF assets soon.
Coterra Energy, formed last October when Cabot Oil & Gas merged with Cimarex Energy, issued its second quarter update yesterday. The company made $1.2 billion in profit last quarter, versus making just $30 million a year ago. Natural gas production in the Marcellus stayed pretty much even at 2.22 Bcf/d. The company generated over $1 billion in free cash flowing during 2Q–one of the highest, if not the highest, we’ve seen. Coterra uses its free cash flow to issue dividends, buy back shares, and retire debt sooner.
Here’s some of the best news we’ve heard in a month! Freeport LNG, offline due to an explosion and fire in June, issued an announcement yesterday to say it has signed a deal with the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) that will allow the export facility to restart in October–at or near full strength of exporting 2 Bcf/d of natural gas.
In July 2018, a group of 100+ southwestern Pennsylvania landowners sued EQT for failure to pay them rental fees for storing natural gas under their properties (see 
Two days ago, MDN mused over the issue of whether or not there will EVER be fracking in New York State (see