M-U Drillers Modify/Replace Pneumatic Devices to Lower Emissions
Shale operators are rolling out programs to replace natural gas-fired pneumatic devices on oil-field equipment with air-driven devices. The change comes as companies seek to lower so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The change also allows drillers to claim they’re getting greener. EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the country (solely working in the Marcellus/Utica), is one such company. According to EQT, replacing all of its pneumatic devices will cut the company’s GHG emissions by more than half.
Read More “M-U Drillers Modify/Replace Pneumatic Devices to Lower Emissions”
On Friday, Paul Cicio, CEO of Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA), representing America’s largest manufacturing companies, sent a letter to Congress making the case that federal agencies (FERC and NERC) should have the responsibility to secure reliable and affordable access to natural gas, mainly through dramatic growth in pipeline infrastructure. The letter says FERC should be required to address any reliability concerns by expediting pipeline permits and promoting (not restricting) construction–potentially by asking for Presidential emergency powers!
We spotted an interesting article by Reuters that says big investment firms with a collective $39 trillion in assets under management are “urging” governments to phase out the use of fossil fuels. We know, it’s ludicrous and insane. You can’t phase out fossil fuels without essentially killing off humanity. But rational thought rarely enters the picture when political power is at stake. The entire global warming hoax is about political power. At any rate, the reason the article interests us is because the largest investment firms in the U.S. are NOT on the list of signatories!
A new Bank of America Global Research report calls the so-called Biden Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) the most important, and largest, federal green energy and climate package in U.S. history. It also says rather than reduce inflation, the IRA will increase inflation because government spending will increase, regulations will restrict supply chains, and the result is that prices, especially for energy, will soar. The IRA is another sterling example of why the free market (capitalism) is preferred over government command-and-control (Communistic) intervention.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EQT shares hit 52-week high after $5.2B deal reached last week; INTERNATIONAL: China sells non-Russian LNG to Europe, restocks via Russia.
Yesterday both Antero Midstream (the pipeline subsidiary of Antero Resources), and Crestwood Equity Partners announced a deal to sell Crestwood’s remaining Marcellus assets to Antero for $205 million. The assets include 72 miles of dry gas gathering pipelines and nine compressor stations with approximately 700 MMcf/d of compression capacity located in Doddridge County and Harrison County in West Virginia.
Pat McDonnell, who was Tom Wolf’s Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) until July 2nd, has just become the President and CEO of a major PA anti-shale environmental group–PennFuture. McDonnell’s appointment at PennFuture raises disturbing questions about some of the decisions he made during his tenure at DEP. That McDonnell immediately became employed by one of the biggest detractors of and litigators against the DEP indicates McDonnell may have had an anti-drilling agenda and deep conflicts of interest while he served at the DEP. Was McDonnell a wolf in sheep’s clothing (no pun intended)? Was McDonnell Big Green’s inside man at DEP? Will there be an investigation of McDonnell and the decisions he made as head of the DEP? We certainly hope so.
Last week EQT Corporation confirmed it is buying Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia operation with major assets in West Virginia for $5.2 billion (see 
Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia (now wildly unpopular in his home state) continues to have a tough time sealing the deal on a permitting reform bill that will help the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) get done. Manchin traded his integrity away by voting to approve the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (a Big Green giveaway) in return for a vote on a bill to streamline the permitting of oil and gas projects like (and including) MVP. The Dems snookered Manchin into voting for the IRA with big promises, but now they don’t want to vote for his permitting bill, breaking those promises. Manchin needs help, and he’s turning to the oil and gas industry, hoping we will pressure Republican House and Senate members into helping him out. Don’t hold your breath, Joe.
Olympus Energy wants to drill six wells on a single pad in rural Elizabeth Township, a borough in Allegheny County on the east bank of the Monongahela River. The pad would sit about 1,700 feet (one-third of a mile) away from Elizabeth Forward High School. Some of the parents of students, and some of the administration, are pushing back against Olympus’ drilling plan, using the kiddies as an excuse (see 
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me every time, shame on me. This is the trap that trade unions have fallen into by backing Democrat candidates like Josh Shapiro for Governor in Pennsylvania. On one level, it makes no sense. Why would unions back someone who will, as soon as he takes office, begin to enact policies that kill union jobs (pipeline workers, construction workers, welders, plumbers, etc.)? Shapiro has done nothing but attack the shale industry since he took office as Attorney General. Yet a number of trade unions whose members work on shale jobs have backed Shapiro–to the tune of $3 million. Why?
Quick…grab the paddles! The patient is still alive and needs to be shocked and revived! The patient we’re talking about is New Fortress Energy’s (NFE) Repauno Port and Rail Terminal on the shoreline of the Delaware River in Gibbstown, N.J. We thought the project to build a new dock for cargo ships to load and export LNG from the facility was pretty much dead after NFE withdrew a request to build an onshore LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA, earlier this year–a plant that would have fed the export operation on the Delaware River (see 
Back in March, MDN told you about a bill passed by the West Virginia legislature, Senate Bill (SB) 694, which finally brings forced pooling for shale wells to the Mountain States after eight years of trying (see 
The so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from coal and natural gas-fired power plants aimed at killing off those two sources of energy, held its latest tax auction on Friday. The result was pricing close to an all-time high, although the average price came down just a smidgen from the previous auction. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is trying to force PA to join the RGGI cabal of 11 states (most of them in the northeast), a move endorsed by the man who wants to replace him in November, PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro (see