Ascent Achieves MiQ Cert Using Methane-Imaging Lasers for Emissions
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 and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company announced in May 2021 that it would pursue certification of its natural gas (see Ascent Resources 1Q21: Hops on Bandwagon of Certifying Shale Gas). An announcement yesterday from one of the vendors Ascent uses to achieve certification, Bridger Photonics, says that Ascent has achieved MiQ certification of its natural gas production using Bridger’s methane-imaging lasers.
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It was an interesting day yesterday for the final day of the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Insight event, being held in Erie, PA. Shell outlined its vision for a regional hydrogen hub with Shell itself at the center of the action (guess we can’t blame them for trying, although we wish they were working with a broader coalition). More interesting, for us, were the addresses of four key politicians. Republicans Dr. Mehmet Oz, running for U.S. Senate in PA, and Doug Mastriano, running for governor in PA, addressed the event in person. Their counterparts, Democrats John Fetterman (running for Senate) and Josh Shapiro (running for governor), aired recorded messages and didn’t bother to show up in person–a MAJOR insult to the shale industry.
Some 225 hypocritical nutters were whipped into a frenzy by Big Green and its so-called Beyond Plastics campaign during a Zoom call Tuesday night to “prepare” for the startup of Shell’s mighty ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA. It was really quite hilarious. There was talk of nurdle patrols, “sacrifice zones,” and celebrations over defeating Joe Manchin’s permitting reform bill. Why hypocritical? Because every single person on the call was using a computer or phone made out of (wait for it)….plastics. The clothes on their bodies and shoes on their feet are made largely from plastics. The cars and boats and paraphernalia they use to hunt down evidence of environmental plastics pollution from the cracker plant–all made from plastics. We wonder, Do they know how stupid they look?
There is a growing chorus of executives in the C-suite of large (and small) companies standing up to say so-called ESG (environment, social, governance) investing and proposed regulations is a bunch of hokum. A large majority (75%) of CFOs recently surveyed by left-leaning CNBC do NOT support the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed ESG regulations (see 
Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 30 new drilling permits, up from the 21 permits issued the week before. It was a reversal of what we typically see. Last week PA only issued four new permits, while WV issued 17 permits and OH issued nine permits. Usually, PA issues the most permits.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Exxon orders shale stand-down over rash of oilfield worker injuries; NATIONAL: Labor, supply-chain woes dog US projects; Surging hydrogen economy that O&G companies are tiptoeing into; Permitting – what happened to Manchin bill?; Natural gas can’t be replaced by green sources, industry argues; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ discusses cutting oil output; RWE readying three brown coal plants for restart from early October; Russia’s sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline marks a point of no return.
In something of a shocker, EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country with its headquarters (and most major drilling operations) in Pennsylvania, is throwing its weight and support behind a coalition in West Virginia to attract one of the so-called regional hydrogen hubs (worth $1 billion or more in taxpayer investment) to the Mountain State, not to the Keystone State. EQT is one of the main players in forming a new coalition called the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). Other big energy companies supporting ARCH2 include Williams, Dominion Energy, CNX Resources, and New Fortress Energy (among many more).
Here’s a challenge to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pipeline certificate we don’t fully comprehend. In 2018 the Panda Hummel Marcellus-fired power plant in Snyder County, PA roared to life (see 
After the shocking news that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin had sold out his state and the entire country by agreeing to support the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) bill, the details began to come out about just how bad this bill really is for the oil and gas industry. First and foremost, it slaps a new tax on oil and gas activities (see 
In all of the hullabaloo over hydrogen energy and the claims that hydrogen will replace natural gas and we will all live in renewable energy paradise–you might want to consider the findings from the leading energy analysts at Cornwall Insight, an energy market intelligence and analysis consultancy located across the pond in the United Kingdom. According to Cornwall analysts, “current and forecast costs all show it is simply uneconomical to use 100% hydrogen fuel for heating our homes.” Attempting to force people to convert to using hydrogen for heating instead of natural gas would “nearly double” the cost of heating a home.
Last month OPEC’s oil production fell short by 3.58 million barrels per day (bpd), which is 3.5% of global oil demand. The U.S. continues to sell oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, nearing the end of what can be sold off. And Russia’s oil exports could fall by some 2.4 million bpd after the EU embargo enters into effect in December. Add to that mix the observation by Saudi Aramco’s CEO, who 
We’ll say it right up front: We told you so. From the beginning, when U.S. Senator Joe Manchin announced he had sold out the country and would vote in favor of the horrible (misnamed) Inflation Reduction Act in return for a promise from Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to pass a “permitting reform” bill that guarantees to finish the stalled (95% complete) Mountain Valley Pipeline, we told you it was a bad deal (see