Mergers & Acquisitions Active in O&G in 2022, but Not in the M-U
Shale energy mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been quite active for the first half of 2022. According to powerhouse energy data company Enverus, the first quarter saw $14.7 billion worth of M&As. The second quarter saw $12 billion in M&As. However, almost all of it happened outside of the Marcellus/Utica. There was $2.8 billion worth of M&A in the M-U during 1Q22, and $0 in 2Q22. One of the main reasons our play hasn’t seen more M&A? Lack of pipelines to move natural gas out of the northeast.
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We were excited to see a Reuters article with the headline, “U.S. pipeline companies eye nat gas infrastructure for growth.” Cool. More pipelines means more opportunity to sell product. And maybe it means there’s a change in attitude coming to allow more pipelines, right? Wrong–at least for the Marcellus/Utica. The article (below) does talk about some of the largest pipeline companies in the U.S., including Kinder Morgan, refocusing on LNG and exports. However, as the article points out, anywhere outside of Texas and possibly Louisiana, *nobody* is planning new pipeline projects. Why? Due to extreme resistance from the left and the current administration in Washington, D.C.
Last year the U.S. remained the #3 exporter of LNG in the world, just behind Australia and Qatar. However, during the first half of 2022, the U.S. became the #1 exporter of LNG in the world. Capacity expanded since late last year by an extra 1.9 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day), to hit an average of 11.4 Bcf/d, with gusts up to 13.9 Bcf/d. But then there was an explosion and fire at Freeport LNG in Texas in early June, which immediately took 2 Bcf/d offline until further notice (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Volunteer fire companies receive Act 13 grants; NATIONAL: Elitists feeling the power: The revolution comes closer!; FERC must regulate small-scale LNG export projects, green groups say; INTERNATIONAL: Russian gas supply uncertainty sends Asia LNG prices surging; Russia’s Gazprom tightens squeeze on gas flow to Europe; LNG outages and Russian aggression send global gas prices soaring – again.
Bad old ideas become bad new ideas for those on the left. In June 2018, MDN exclusively brought our readers the news that Diversified Gas & Oil (now called Diversified Energy) had purchased EQT Corporation’s Huron Shale assets, with a bunch of conventional wells, in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia for $575 million (see 
Anti-fossil fuel activists are agitating in Pennsylvania to get the state Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to drop a $5,000 initial (and subsequent $500 annual) fee to access what is called the Exploration and Development Well Information Network (EDWIN) database. The EDWIN database contains details about oil and gas wells throughout the state, including data on the location, ownership status, construction information, and completion reports. DCNR uses the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s database as a starting point and cleans it up, making it more useful.
New England’s gas supply is precarious and has been for years. The region eliminated all of its coal-fired power plants and now relies on natural gas-fired power plants for much of its electricity generation (and oil when the natgas runs low). Yet the region and its governors, along with New York’s governors, block any and all new natural gas pipeline projects from the Pennsylvania Marcellus just a few hundred miles away. New England wants and needs the gas, yet they block the mechanism that will deliver it. Just another day in a socialist paradise. So what happens is predictable: When there is a supply disruption or a tick up in demand (like a cold winter), and supplies run short, prices go through the roof. Looking ahead to December and January, the NYMEX futures contracts are doing that right now, with prices exceeding a whopping $40/MMBtu.
Increasingly ours is a world run by computers. Even in-the-ground pipelines are monitored and controlled by computers. The ransomware attack last year against Colonial Pipeline, a pipeline that flows a significant amount of refined products (gasoline and diesel fuel) from the Gulf Coast where it’s refined as far north as New Jersey, was a wake-up call for all pipelines. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) heard the call and responded. Last July, the TSA issued an initial “security directive” requiring pipelines, including natural gas pipelines, to do certain things to protect themselves and the public they serve (see 
Some on the left (not all) get starry-eyed about the potential future of using hydrogen as the world’s key energy source. They believe hydrogen can and should replace both oil and natural gas. Hydrogen as a fuel source got off on a bad foot with the 
There is a very dangerous thing happening across the country. If you happen to have an opinion, a viewpoint, that’s different from the socialist left–and if you want to express that opinion in social media, via paid ads, etc., the left wants it shut down, calling it “dangerous.” You see, the socialist left can’t compete in the marketplace of free and open ideas and tolerance. Leftists are the most intolerant among us. Case in point: the group Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future (founded in 2010) promotes information about the useful role of natural gas and the pipelines that flow it–and those ads target (among others) black and Latino voters. The ads are effective, so the socialist left is attempting to shut them down–kill free speech.
The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) is a volunteer-led, member-based, nonprofit organization established in 1980 to help U.S. mineral owners. The mission of NARO is to support, advocate, and educate for the empowerment of mineral and royalty owners. There are ten active chapters serving 18 states, including NARO-Pennsylvania and NARO-Appalachia for West Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. A relatively new chapter (for us anyway) is 
Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan (KM) issued its second quarter update and held a conference call on Wednesday with analysts. Kinder’s upper management had some VERY interesting things to say about LNG and how LNG is driving Kinder’s expansion plans in the coming years. Here’s a fascinating statistic we didn’t know before reading comments by Kinder’s muckety mucks: Roughly half of all the natural gas delivered to the U.S.’s LNG export plants is delivered via Kinder Morgan pipelines.
There’s something of a mystery brewing–something nobody seems to be able to explain. Since January, the U.S. rig count has added 150 rigs–hitting the highest level of rigs active in the field since late 2019. In addition, new well counts are up, and more completions are happening. More rigs and more wells getting drilled and completed. Yet natural gas production this summer has evened out and is not increasing. Why?