Anchors Aweigh! EQT Leases LNG Tankers Named Marcellus and Utica
Here’s a story that made us smile this morning. EQT, about to become the country’s biggest natural gas producer once its ~$12.8 billion takeover of Range Resources closes, is leasing two brand-new LNG tankers. And EQT is naming them… wait for it… the Marcellus and the Utica! The ships arrive in 2028. Meanwhile, EQT plans to start trading LNG cargoes as soon as next year, open offices in London and Singapore, and possibly lease up to 10 more ships. Appalachian gas, on EQT-leased ships, with the names of our two great shale plays painted on the side. What’s not to love? Read More “Anchors Aweigh! EQT Leases LNG Tankers Named Marcellus and Utica”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Freeport LNG feedgas cuts knock US demand from recent highs; Vermont families who electrified say they are trapped as utilities keep raising rates; Distributed Energy Infrastructure constructs 3.37 MW solar on bedrock in Upstate NY; RGGI allowance resales – ratepayer costs that don’t fund NY state benefits; Rural North Carolina county residents fight gas pipeline; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures settle higher; Constellation secures conditional DOE loan of up to $5B for nuclear; EPA’s carbon repeal saves billions, protects energy supplies; LA Times recycles “industry knew” playbook against plastics; Energy on edge ahead of USA midterms; INTERNATIONAL: Oil slips as Iran diplomacy picks up; GHG Protocol to push back stricter Scope 2 reporting rules after corporate objections; ICE TTF options hit record open interest as buyers hedge gas prices. 
Last week, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said “no thanks” to Williams’ request to reconsider its September ruling that tossed out New Jersey’s water permit for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project. The October 22 order (embedded below) means NESE’s New Jersey water quality certification (WQC) stays vacated (i.e., canceled), and the whole matter goes back to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for a do-over. And here’s what caught our eye: Williams no longer says the ruling won’t affect its schedule. In its rehearing petition, the company admitted the loss “will delay construction” in New Jersey and could jeopardize NESE’s November 1, 2027 in-service date. So what happens now? Let’s walk through it. 
It’s late October, and somebody forgot to tell the weather. Forecasters say heating demand over the next 15 days will be among the lowest in 50 years, with temps in the 60s to 80s across much of the country. That should be bad news for gas prices, right? Not on Monday, at least not in our neck of the woods. Spot (cash) natural gas prices across the Northeast and Appalachia jumped big time. Transco-Leidy, a key pricing point for Marcellus gas in northeastern Pennsylvania, shot up 61 cents to $1.740 per MMBtu — a 54% one-day gain (MDN calc). Algonquin Citygate (New England) surged 71.5 cents to $2.085. Meanwhile, the NYMEX futures price fell to its lowest settlement in six months. What gives? Less gas flowing, mostly. 
National Fuel Gas (NFG) is laying more pipe in Tioga County. Its gathering subsidiary, NFG Midstream Covington, has asked the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a stream-and-wetland crossing permit for two natural gas pipelines, 24-inch and 20-inch, running side by side through Farmington, Deerfield, and Chatham townships. The notice also mentions a 16-inch water line. The filing comes just 10 days after NFG’s board approved splitting the company in two, and it strongly suggests NFG’s Seneca Resources drilling arm is gearing up for more Utica production in Tioga County. 
Every Saturday, the Pennsylvania Bulletin publishes pages of DEP permit notices that almost nobody reads. We read them so you don’t have to. Taken one at a time, most look routine: an erosion permit here, an air permit there. Lined up side by side, they tell you which drillers are building, and where. Last weekend’s edition (Oct. 24) shows Expand Energy busy across the Northern Tier, Repsol and Seneca/NFG working in Tioga County, Devon still building in Susquehanna County, and XTO getting a new pad ready in Butler County. 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use requests for responsible, safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the October 24th Pennsylvania Bulletin that the SRBC approved and/or renewed 33 general water use permits in September for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Lycoming, McKean, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. 
Last Thursday, Google announced it will pay a San Francisco company called Voltus to round up as much as 1,070 megawatts (MW) of electricity “capacity” on the PJM Interconnection grid, the 13-state (plus D.C.) grid that includes Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Google, Voltus, and nearly every news outlet covering the story call it a “virtual power plant.” Pardon us, but there is no such thing. No turbine spins. No Marcellus gas burns. What Google is actually doing is paying homes and businesses to use less electricity when the grid gets tight, so that Google’s power-hungry data centers can use more. Let’s call it what it is and quit with the euphemisms. 
Twenty-two years ago today, Range Resources’ Renz #1 well in Washington County, PA, unlocked the Marcellus Shale and kicked off the shale revolution here in the Northeast. This morning, on that very anniversary, Range agreed to sell itself to EQT Corporation in an all-stock deal that creates the largest natural gas producer in the country, period. MDN has been writing about the Marcellus/Utica since Jan. 2009, and we can’t think of a bigger piece of news to hit the region. The company that started it all is being folded into the company that turned it into an industrial powerhouse. Below we give you the deal numbers, then the best stuff from this morning’s 8 a.m. conference call with analysts—including what this means (for now) for landowners and the midstream. 
Eight weeks. Same number. The Marcellus/Utica held at 33 rigs yet again for the week ended October 23, and this time the national count joined the party, holding at 603 for a third straight week. Underneath that flat national total, oil rigs added one and gas rigs lost one. Frac spreads slipped by five, a second straight weekly drop. On the price board, the gap between oil and gas went from wide to ridiculous: WTI climbed to settle at $103.27 a barrel, while natural gas tumbled 15% for the week to roughly $2.64 per MMBtu. And new this week: MDN’s Marcellus/Utica Rigs by County, a county-by-county map in table form showing exactly where all 33 of our rigs are drilling, which will now be a regular part of this weekly update. (Spoiler: Susquehanna County is at zero.) Plus: Antero takes over the top spot on the Enverus permit list, and National Fuel Gas shows up on the rig list. 
State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23), who has chaired the Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee since 2013, wants Pennsylvania’s data centers to pay their own version of the shale impact fee. On Thursday (Oct. 23), Yaw sent a co-sponsorship memo to all Senate members announcing plans for an annual, statewide “data center impact fee” modeled on Act 13 of 2012, the law that created the impact fee drillers have paid every year since. Yaw says the fee would be based on each facility’s size and electricity demand, and would be paid every year a data center operates. That’s different from today’s system, where towns rely on one-time deals negotiated with developers. The money would go to host communities and statewide programs, just like the shale fee. What’s not in the memo? Any dollar figures. Here’s the memo, followed by what it means (and what it doesn’t say). 
Early last week, we told you Europe blinked on its crazy methane import rules, with the European Commission (the EU’s executive branch) proposing a one-year delay (see