Utility Cos. Selling NatGas Divisions, Use $ to Invest in Electric
We were shocked last December when Consolidated Edison, one of the top natural gas utilities in New York City (in the entire country), threw its support behind a plan to eventually ban the use of natural gas in all of NYC’s buildings (see ConEd Turns Traitor – Supports Natural Gas Ban in NYC Buildings). Their support helped in the passage of a new regulation that outlaws new natgas hookups in NYC beginning in 2023 (see New York City Commits Energy Suicide – Mass Exodus Begins). It seems that Con Ed is not alone among major utilities abandoning their gas divisions. Why in the world would a company favor ending its own business model?
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We chalk this one up to the “With friends like this, who needs enemies?” department. The American Petroleum Institute (API) is receiving high praise from leftists for its open support of a plan to enact a so-called tax on carbon dioxide. The very products API’s members make, oil and natural gas, are made from carbon and when burned, create carbon dioxide. (In fact, when all mammals exhale, they breathe out CO2. Don’t get us started.) It’s no secret that Big Oil–companies like Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and others–have sold out to the environmental left in a deal with the devil which they think will keep them in business a few more years. In reality, they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction by embracing a carbon tax.
In September 2016, MDN editor Jim Willis had the good fortune and pleasure of hearing a keynote address from philosopher and author Alex Epstein at the Shale Insight conference in Pittsburgh (see 
INTERNATIONAL: Oil fell with talks of OPEC excluding Russia from oil production deal; Fear of failure crippling oil and gas workers.
Last week the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for January through March 2022 (full copy below). There was 136 new horizontal wells spud (drilled) in 1Q22, an increase of nine wells (7.1%) compared to 1Q21. However, natural gas production volume was 1,851 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 1Q22, a slight decrease (-0.6%) from 1Q21. It is the first quarterly decrease in production in over a year.
The largest private investment in the state of West Virginia in history, not to mention the largest investment for the company making it, Nucor Steel, is happening because of abundant, cheap, Marcellus/Utica natural gas. Nucor is building a $2.7 billion new sheet steel mill in Mason County, WV, largely due to locally sourced and affordable energy.
The Bidenistas at the Dept. of Interior breathlessly announced the agency is (finally) releasing $33 million to plug 277 orphaned oil and gas wells across the country located on federal lands. The average price per plugging is $119,000. Spending $33 million to plug wells on federal lands is chump change compared to the $4.7 billion allocated for plugging old wells under the so-called Biden infrastructure bill. Why is the government paying $119K to plug wells that normally cost maybe $50,000 to plug? We’ll answer that question with another question. Why does the government pay $400 for a hammer it could buy at Lowes for $18?
In his first two days in office, Joe Biden declared war on the oil and gas industry. One of the first things he did was to revive an interagency working group on the “social cost” of greenhouse gas emissions and directed the issuance of an “interim” cost (see 
Fighting back against the campaign by the left to defund fossil energy companies is winning. It is the divestors, companies like BlackRock, that now face the ash heap of history as states like Texas and West Virginia are pulling investments with banks and hedge funds that advocate divesting from fossil energy. Companies like BlackRock are trying to have it both ways, claiming they still invest in fossil energy. But their words (and actions) expose them as frauds. They don’t fool TX and WV and others who have decided to divest from the divestors. The result is that so-called ESG investing (investing in companies that pledge allegiance to the flag of ESG over profits) is beginning to crash and burn.
MDN will not publish on Friday, May 27, nor on Monday, May 31. Jim is taking Friday off in preparation for a wedding happening in his family. Monday is, of course, the Memorial Day holiday. A shout out to all of our currently serving and former veterans, and remembrance for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. They are not forgotten.
We are on the cusp of seeing the NYMEX Henry Hub futures price close above $9/MMBtu. Yesterday it closed at $8.97/MMBtu. Will today be the day it goes above $9? Probably. The price hit $9.40 during intraday trading yesterday but slid back down the hill just a bit before the closing bell. We are now at 14-year highs for the NYMEX price of gas. We’re still nowhere near the all-time high of close to $15.78 hit in December 2005. The scary thought is that we may well exceed the old record at some point in the next six months (see 
We spotted a story on The Motley Fool investor’s website yesterday noting that several Marcellus/Utica publicly-traded drillers saw “double-digit” increases in their share price just yesterday, for a single day. The article highlights both Range Resources and Southwestern Energy. We started nosing around to see how the stock price for all of the big publicly-traded M-U drillers has performed this year, from the beginning of the year. It was an eye-opener. ALL of them are up from the beginning of the year. Most are up at least 75% in value since Jan. 1. A few have doubled in value, now up more than 100% since Jan. 1. We have the list below for how each one performed. Welcome to the bull market in oil and gas!