Williams 1Q: Expansion Projects Adding 1.9 Bcf/d, Mainly in M-U
Pipeline giant Williams issued its first quarter 2022 update earlier this week. Among the bits of news coming from the update is that Williams has reached an agreement on two new gathering expansions for the “rich” Utica and Marcellus regions. Also newsworthy: the company has signed customers on the dotted line for its Texas to Louisiana Energy Pathway Project, a 364 MMcf/d Transco expansion project to serve the growing LNG export market along the Gulf Coast.
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Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Equitrans Midstream, builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has decided to roll the dice for a third time with the radical judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by applying for a new permit to cross 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest (see 
MAX Environmental has operated the Bulger hazardous waste landfill in Smith Township (Washington County), PA since 1958. MAX has operated a second site, the Yukon hazardous waste landfill in South Huntingdon Township (Westmoreland County), PA since 1964. One of the primary customers for both landfills over the past 15 years has been the Marcellus industry–dumping drill cuttings (leftover dirt and rock from drilling). In 2019 MAX filed a request with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to “delist” both sites as hazardous landfills, given what they accept is not hazardous. Some of the neighbors along with various Big Green groups object to the change in classification.
Another day, another deal from Energy Transfer (ET) in signing up customers to accept shipments of LNG produced by ET’s yet-to-be-constructed LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana located on the Calcasieu ship channel. Yesterday we told you ET had signed up Singapore’s Gunvor to accept 2.0 million tonnes (MT) per year (see 
Natural gas traders’ nerves have gotten the better of them. Yesterday the NYMEX “front month” futures contract price for natural gas hit $8.14/MMBtu before falling back to close at $7.95. That is the highest price NYMEX gas has traded for in the past 14 years–since 2008. The main reason for this most recent spike up seems to be chatter about European countries imposing tighter sanctions on Russia, and the very real possibility Russia may retaliate by cutting off gas supplies to European countries beyond Poland and Bulgaria. A contributing factor is a temporary decrease in pipeline flows in both the Bakken and the Marcellus/Utica.
Last week Pennsylvania issued 16 new shale well permits. EQT led the way with ten permits, all of them for wells in Greene County. You just HAVE to read the names of the wells (below). After getting skunked for two weeks in a row, Ohio finally issued permits once again last week–ten of them. Ascent Resources scored six permits, mostly in Belmont County. Encino Energy had four permits, all in Carroll County. Finally, West Virginia had nine permits. Antero Resources scored seven of the nine (six in Wetzel County), and Southwestern took the remaining two permits (both in Marshall County).
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: OTC is back in earnest, the surest sign of a renewed energy industry; NATIONAL: Shale producers face $42 billion in hedging losses; Chaotic markets re-emphasize the need for a balanced energy policy; U.S. gas production slows at the worst possible time; INTERNATIONAL: Shell expands solar portfolio with Sprng Energy buy; USA – EU energy security task force meets; Qatar reclaims crown from US as world’s top LNG exporter.
Coterra Energy, the new name for the merged Cabot Oil & Gas and Cimarex Energy, issued its first quarter 2022 update yesterday. Like other large Marcellus/Utica drillers, Coterra lost a bunch of money on derivatives (bad bets on the future price of oil and gas). However, unlike other large M-U drillers, Coterra still made money in 1Q22–a LOT of money. The company made $608 million in 1Q22 vs. making $126 million in 1Q21–nearly 5X as much. How? The price of natgas nearly doubled over the past year, that’s how. Coterra generated a massive $961 million in free cash flow, returning most of it to shareholders via dividends ($0.60 per share) and stock buybacks.
With all due respect, Equitrans Midstream, builder of the 94% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), is making a big mistake, in our humble opinion. Equitrans issued its first quarter 2022 update this morning. The big announcement from the update is that the company plans to file for new permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to allow MVP to build through 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest. The radically left U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit) has ruled against MVP and those same permits twice before. Equitrans CEO Thomas F. Karam says he thinks the third time will be the charm. We say, don’t hold your breath.
JobsOhio, a private nonprofit largely funded by the profits from state liquor sales, is dedicated to attracting new jobs and investments to the state. JobsOhio has been a big part of the plan to get an ethane cracker built in the state, a project currently on hold. JobsOhio still believes there will be an ethane cracker plant built on a site prepared for that purpose in Belmont County, Ohio. PTT Global Chemical is supposed to be the one building the plant. However, a stray comment by the President and CEO of JobsOhio, JP Nauseef, confirms what we’ve thought for a long time…
Pipeline giant Energy Transfer (builder of the Rover and Mariner East pipelines here in the M-U) is planning a large-scale LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana located on the Calcasieu ship channel. The project will convert Energy Transfer’s existing Lake Charles LNG import and regasification terminal to become an LNG export facility. In March, ET announced it had signed a pair of 20-year deals with ENN, a Chinese company, to deliver a total of 2.7 million tonnes (MT) per year to the Chinese Communists (see 
As a way of avoiding the pain of worldwide sanctions against his country over the invasion of Ukraine, murdering thug dictator Vladimir Putin has demanded that countries he sells natural gas to (namely in Europe) pay him in roubles. Most countries have refused his demand, so last week Putin began cutting off natgas shipments–so far to Poland and Bulgaria. However, more European countries are in Putin’s crosshairs to cut off supplies. If that happens, you can expect the price of natural gas worldwide to skyrocket, says an analyst with Rystad Energy.
There’s no question that Southwestern Energy, a pure-play Marcellus/Utica driller as recently as last year, is now giving more love to the Haynesville Shale in Lousiana than to the M-U. In 1Q22 Southwestern spent 57% of its $544 million in capital expenditures on drilling in the Haynesville, versus spending 43% of capex on M-U drilling. During 1Q, Southwestern brought 21 Haynesville wells online to sales, and only 11 Marcellus wells online to sales.