Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Feb 3, 2022
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Jim Cramer sees promise in natural gas firm Coterra Energy; NATIONAL: USA oil production surge goes unnoticed; U.S. propane prices fell from multiyear highs after a mild start to the winter; Energy is the most important issue in the world; INTERNATIONAL: Oil unmoved by OPEC+ decision; Cyberattack hits German fuel distribution system; Europe remains top destination for U.S. LNG for second month running.
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A month ago MDN brought you the news that UGI Corporation, one of Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas utility companies, had cut a deal to buy the Stonehenge Appalachia Midstream natural gas gathering system in Butler County, PA, for $190 million (see 
National Grid is desperately trying not to run out of natural gas for its customers in Brooklyn and Queens (on Long Island). For several years the company has fought a battle to run a tiny pipeline to its Greenpoint, Brooklyn facility, to provide extra natural gas. That project is being investigated by the Biden administration on charges of racism (see 
On Monday Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced PA has been awarded its initial allocation of $25 million, and will receive a total of $104 million, from Biden’s so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to plug orphaned and abandoned wells in the state. Which is fine. It’s good to have them plugged, good that companies in our industry will get paid to do it, good that it will create a few jobs. However, we’d like to know where the other $4.596 BILLION allocated for plugging old wells is going…
In recent weeks and months, MDN has beat the drum about the high price of natural gas and electricity (generated by burning natural gas) in New England (
Last year the state of Texas passed a new law that says the state government and its agencies will not do business with banks and investment firms that refuse to fund or do business with fossil fuel companies. A few weeks ago MDN told you the West Virginia State Senate is rapidly advancing a similar bill (see 
This one doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for us. Late last year utility giant Consolidated Edison (ConEd) colluded with and supported the efforts of radicalized leftists in New York City to vote through a ban on new natural gas hookups starting next year (see 
The world’s (and North America’s) largest oilfield services companies, including Schlumberger, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes, are all saying the same thing: Drillers are getting ready to drill more this year. Some sub-sectors of the drilling market, like completions, are already “sold out” according to Halliburton. Good luck to drillers who want to add more completions crews right now. Prices are going up for fracking fleets and other services offered by OFS companies.
New York State has become aggressively hostile to any business remotely connected to fossil fuels. NY is openly prejudiced and discriminates against oil and natural gas companies. Increasingly the state is rejecting “bitcoin miners” that use natural gas (or God forbid, coal) to produce electricity to power some serious computers (see 
Last Thursday the NYMEX Henry Hub futures contract for natural gas went on a wild ride, closing up $1.99 (46%) from the previous day (see 
Full-scale war in Eastern Europe, with Russia set to invade and annex Ukraine, seems closer now than at any time since the breakup of Yugoslavia and, before that, World War II. One very important key NATO member is resisting calls from Joe Biden to send troops and threaten sanctions against Russia if it invades: Germany. Why? Because Germany sucks on Russia’s oil and natural gas teat for a significant portion of its energy. Is there a connection between the global crisis half a world away and the Marcellus/Utica?
A new study out of Harvard University purports to link fracking with early deaths of senior citizens. It is fake research. Here’s the main finding of the study: Senior citizens who lived closest to fracked shale wells (including seniors in the PA Marcellus) had an early death risk 2.5% higher than people who did not live close to the wells. If it were an opinion poll we would say it’s within the margin of statistical error. In other words, these “researchers” didn’t find a darned thing. And yet the headlines have already begun in fake news media…