Adding Hydrogen to Interstate NatGas Pipelines Opens a Can of Worms
Getting hydrogen from point A to point B by mixing it with and flowing it through existing interstate natural gas pipelines sounds easy. Just hook up to a handy source of hydrogen and let the molecules flow and mingle with methane molecules, right? However, adding hydrogen (H2) to existing methane (CH4) pipelines is NOT a simple thing. There are major roadblocks to flowing H2 through CH4 pipes.
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When we say “natural gas exports,” what do you think about? Likely big LNG cargo ships and big LNG liquefaction plants that sit along our coastlines, right? Did you know that until roughly 2020, more natural gas was exported from the United States via pipelines than by LNG cargo ships? LNG exports are a relatively new phenomenon for the U.S. Yet in a short span of time LNG exports have eclipsed pipeline exports and will continue to do so, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), for the foreseeable future.
In January 2020, President Trump announced a list of proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in an effort to strip away some of the governmental red tape that has built up over the years like plaque in an artery, preventing important infrastructure projects like pipelines, dams, bridges, and roads from getting built (see 
In early March MDN brought you information from the Toronto Financial Post that said the Ukrainian crisis has put East Coast Canada LNG export facilities “back on the map” (see 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Atlanta Gas Light to expand liquified natural gas facility; NATIONAL: Energy transition still means billions in fossil fuel investment; Shale inflation grows as Halliburton flags drilling-budget jumps; INTERNATIONAL: As Germany joins LNG import race, a long and crowded track awaits; Hydrogen is not the new LNG.
It’s not often a new product announcement catches our attention. Enverus, previously known as Drillinginfo, sent MDN a product announcement for the company’s first consumer-facing product. It’s called 
Pipeline giant Williams announced yesterday that it will collaborate with Cheniere Energy, the largest LNG exporter in the U.S., as well as other natural gas midstream companies, methane detection technology providers, and several academic institutions to implement measuring and tracking of so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at natural gas gathering, processing, transmission, and storage systems. Williams will include the mighty Transco pipeline system in this project, a 10,000-mile pipeline system that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast (to Cheniere’s LNG export facilities).
Last Wednesday four federal government agencies, including the Department of Energy (DOE), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), issued a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) bulletin to warn about the discovery of a highly sophisticated and effective system to attack industrial facilities. The computer malware, called Pipedream, includes the ability to cause explosions at plants, specifically including (targeted at) LNG facilities. While the four agencies don’t finger a likely suspect for creating and propagating the malware, private security experts say it likely came from Russia.
The leftists who have taken over the International Energy Agency (IEA) told the world last year that new oil and gas exploration should immediately stop worldwide in order to save Planet Earth from Global Warming monsters (see 
Last week Pennsylvania issued 12 new shale well permits, down three from the prior week. Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) had the most permits with four, all on the same pad in Susquehanna County. Southwestern had three permits all on the same pad in Susquehanna County. Chesapeake Energy also had a permit in Susquehanna County, making that county the top spot for new permits with eight last week. Ohio had no new shale permits issued last week. Bummer. West Virginia had just two permits, one for Southwestern Energy in Ohio County, and one for Antero Resources in Tyler County.
New modern era records continue to be broken. The Henry Hub “front month” NYMEX futures price for natural gas briefly traded over $8/MMBtu yesterday before closing at $7.82/MMBtu (up $0.52 for the day). It certainly looks as if soon, possibly today, the NYMEX price will fly by and close at a price higher than $8/MMBtu. The rapid rise in price, now closing in on the highest in 14 years, is really quite breathtaking. However, some analysts are warning of a correction.
In a court case that stretches back to 2019, Antero Resources, the biggest driller in West Virginia, challenged how its wells had been valued for tax purposes in Doddridge and Richie counties for 2016 and 2017. Antero said the combined value of its wells for those years should have been $1.488 billion. The state tax commissioner reckoned the value to be $1.513 billion. The controversy of well valuations not only for Antero but other drillers led to a reworking of how the state law values shale wells (see