NYMEX NatGas Futures Break Thru $6/MMBtu Once Again
Yesterday the NYMEX Henry Hub futures price (front month) contract rose $0.32 (5.3%) to close at $6.03/MMBtu. That’s the first time since January the price has broken $6. Why the bump in price now? Is it because of the war (everything is blamed on the Ukraine war these days)? Nope. At least, mostly not because of the war. As always, the factors that drive the price of natural gas here in the U.S. are complex. A number of things together are responsible, but mostly (as is usual) it is the weather driving the higher price.
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MiQ, one of three major certification authorities that puts its stamp of approval on “responsible gas” production (i.e. low methane leakage), announced two bits of news yesterday that caught our attention. First is that MiQ’s Digital Registry of Independently Certified Gas currently has 350 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of “responsibly produced gas” ready for buying and selling. Second is that MiQ has launched a new certification service called the Certified Supply Chain.
For years (more than a decade) we’ve heard the left criticize shale companies as a “Ponzi scheme” that’s not profitable–drilling new wells to make up for declining production in old wells–all the while bilking investors. People like Ian Urbina of the New York Times tried to paint shale companies as fraudsters, going back more than ten years (see 
Last week Pennsylvania issued 14 new shale well permits, with EQT Corp. grabbing eight (seven of them on a single pad in Fayette County), and Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) receiving three (all on the same pad in Susquehanna County). Ohio issued ten new permits last week, with three going to a relative newcomer, Utica Resource Operating (same pad in Guernsey Count) and three for Encino Energy (same pad in Harrison County). West Virginia got skunked and shows no new shale permits issued last week. Pity.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Shale Academy keeps adding services; Keystone Clearwater Solutions invests in solar and renewable energy; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas will be the first energy crisis signal, there’s no SPR for that; These three LNG plays are worthy investments, Jim Cramer says; Winter not quite done as US gas storage activity flips back to withdrawals; U.S. wants more oil from Canada but not a new pipeline to bring it; Energy producers aren’t causing gas prices to spike; INTERNATIONAL: ‘Now or never’: Only severe emissions cuts will avoid climate extremes; Why Germany can’t just pull the plug on Russian energy.
New York’s corrupt Governor, Kathy Hochul, learned well from her mentor, sexual predator (and extremely corrupt) Gov. Andrew Cuomo, when it comes to forcing her will on the citizens of New York. Cuomo snuck a permanent fracking ban into the state budget two years ago (see 
In March the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corrupted by the Bidenistas, said it will begin to force all publicly traded companies to disclose their so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the imaginary climate risks their businesses face (see 
We keep hearing how much Joe Biden now loves natural gas. He promised Europe the U.S. would send the Continent an extra 15 bcm (billion cubic meters) of natural gas this year (see 
Yesterday the Pennsylvania State Senate failed to override a veto of Gov. Tom Wolf of a resolution that would have stopped PA from entering the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene carbon tax scheme. The override failed by a single vote. Wolf’s patsy, Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary Pat McDonnell, gushed that he was “pleased” with the failure of the override. What happens now? A lawsuit lingers that can still block RGGI, but if that doesn’t work, PA residents will begin paying MUCH higher rates (a new tax) for their electricity beginning July 1st.
We keep hearing how the Bidenistas have softened their hardcore opposition to natural gas (and all fossil energy) given the war in Ukraine. We hear words mouthed by the administration, and Biden himself, that seems to indicate maybe, just maybe, the administration will stop its targeting of natural gas–at least for a while. And yet the actual actions we see coming from the administration, like the actions of the Bidenistas at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), say otherwise. Example: Biden’s FERC recently released a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Commonwealth LNG export facility located in Louisiana (full copy below). The draft EIS says the facility will have “significant impacts” on so-called “environmental justice communities.” That’s a loud and clear signal that this much-needed LNG project will have trouble getting approved by the hardcore leftists at Biden’s FERC.
You can’t escape mainstream media, and even many in the oil and gas industry, talking about hydrogen. The word is whispered in hallowed tones like a magic talisman. The “future of energy” is (shhhh) hydrogen, we are told. Even anti-fossil fuel cultists love hydrogen, albeit they are prejudiced–they only like certain colors of hydrogen (see 
In January a new bill was introduced in the West Virginia Senate requiring the entire state government, all of the various state agencies and governmental departments, to stop doing business with any bank or investment firm that refuses to support coal, oil, and natural gas companies (see 
RBN Energy took the opportunity of Joe Biden’s big announcement last week (that he will release 1 million gallons of oil per day for the next 180 days) to revisit plans by 40+ crude and natural gas producers for 2022. How much will they spend on drilling this year? And how much will they produce this year? The RBN analysis, especially for the gas-focused sector (largely Marcellus/Utica companies) sees a rise in capital expenditures for drilling this year, but production itself is not predicted to rise all that much. For M-U companies, capex is predicted to increase by 32%, but production only by 10%. However, both of those numbers are somewhat misleading and overestimated.