Spot Price for NatGas in Marcellus/Utica Soars, Up 209% in May
Although the NYMEX price for natural gas took a plunge yesterday due to news that the country’s second-largest LNG export facility, Freeport, is offline for three weeks (see today’s lead story), the price of physically traded “day-ahead” natural gas (the spot price) in the Marcellus/Utica region continues to soar. In May, the average price of natural gas for day-ahead delivery in the M-U region soared, up 209% over May 2021. The price of spot gas everywhere is up–across the entire country. But it was up the most in the M-U in May.
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We’re always on the lookout for indicators and trends that tell us whether or not there will be more or less drilling (and leasing) in the Marcellus/Utica. Lately, we’ve seen a couple of mentions of new leases signed, at least in the Ohio Utica (see 
The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) partially dismissed a challenge brought by Philly-area State Senator Katie Muth. She seeks to block Eureka Resources from moving forward with the construction of a new shale wastewater recycling facility in Dimock, PA–a location hours away from her own district. The EHB ruled that Muth has no standing under the PA Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA) to bring a challenge. The proposed facility is not in her district and there’s nothing that ties her to that location.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are all scrambling to form working groups or other alliances in an attempt to be THE state chosen for one of four regional hydrogen hubs funded by the so-called Biden infrastructure bill (see 
Last month MDN brought you the news that Joe Biden is renominating Richard “Dick” Glick to serve yet another undistinguished term at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: State trade groups among coalition calling on Biden to increase O&G; NATIONAL: Walmart expands electric, hydrogen, natural-gas truck testing; Warning signs for the next oil price crash; INTERNATIONAL: Oil tops $122 with global supply crunch concerns.
EQT CEO Toby Rice is and has been on a mission–to spread the gospel of LNG (see 
Each month the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issues a monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Last month, in May, the STEO made the startling prediction that the average Henry Hub price for natural gas (the national benchmark) would hit $8.13 for 3Q22 and $8.59 for the entire second half of this year (see 
The number-crunchers at our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, published their analysis of LNG exports for the first four months of 2022. Unsurprisingly, because of the Ukraine war, EIA found that 74% of the LNG exported from the U.S. during that time has gone to Europe. It’s pretty much a reversal of last year when 34% of our LNG went to Europe. Last year most of our LNG went to Asia–China and South Korea. The percentages of how much U.S. LNG goes to Europe and how much goes to Asia have changed places over the past year.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” (Quote attributed to Joseph Goebbels, the head of Nazi Germany’s Ministry of Propaganda) The left so often adopts the attitude if you keep repeating the same lie over and over–preferably the bigger the lie the better–the lie will become accepted as the truth. State Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee, and Sen. Jim Brewster, D-Allegheny, are expert practitioners of this strategy with respect to lying about the Marcellus Shale and fracking. They were at it again last week holding a public (i.e. propaganda) hearing at the Community College of Allegheny County.
A group of international scientists has discovered a fourth type of natural gas. Wait, there are different “types” of natgas? Yes, at least different types of origins for natural gas. To date, three main sources of natural gas had been identified–microbial, thermogenic, and abiotic. Scientists have discovered a fourth type or origin for natural gas–natgas generated by radiolysis, which is the dissociation of molecules by ionizing radiation of the organic matter in shale rock. Yeah, it’s science and it’s complicated. Let us bottom line this for you right here: The presence of natural gas with a “thermogenic” signature (i.e. fingerprint), which indicates gas coming from a drilled shale well, has been blamed for contaminating water supplies in places like Dimock, PA. It’s quite possible thermogenic gas has been misidentified as radiolysis gas, and that leaky wells are not the cause of gas in water.
Engineers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering are developing a new way to reduce the environmental impact of drilling and fracking by cleaning produced water for reuse. Produced water is the water that comes out of the hole long after drilling and fracking is done. It is “water from the depths”–far below the water table–and it’s full of minerals, which is why it’s often called brine (or salt). Pitt engineers have researched membrane distillation (MD) to treat this salty wastewater. Pitt has discovered how to use MD to economically recycle and reuse produced water from shale.
On May 24, Cleveland State University researchers quietly published the “Shale Investment Dashboard in Ohio Q1 and Q2 2021” (full copy below). The new report details shale-related investment in Ohio, looking at upstream, midstream, and downstream activities. The investment estimates are from January through June of 2021–the first half of last year. The report shows investment in the Ohio Utica continued to increase last year, during the height of the pandemic. It also shows just two companies drilled 73% of Ohio’s new shale wells and 69% of the money invested in drilling new shale wells in the Buckeye State in 1H21. Which two companies?