There’s No Need for Renewable Electricity Without Fossil Fuels
From time to time we bring you columns written by Ronald Stein, author, engineer, and energy expert. He writes for several organizations, including his latest column appearing on The Heartland Institute website (he is an advisor for Heartland). Stein’s column points out the blazingly obvious that nobody else seems to grasp: Without fossil fuels and the products that are made from fossil fuels, there’s no reason to have so-called renewable electric energy because there won’t be any products to power with that energy! But maybe that’s exactly what the left wants?
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: New York leads America off a renewable-energy cliff; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Biden administration cancels Alaska oil and gas lease sale; NATIONAL: More oil production would hurt shareholders, Occidental CEO says; INTERNATIONAL: Germany unveils bill to accelerate the use of LNG; Insufficient investment to blame for high fuel prices.
In its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) makes a startling prediction. EIA now says it expects the Henry Hub (HH) spot price to average $7.83/MMBtu in 2Q22 and then (gasp) it will average $8.59/MMBtu during the second half of 2022. Yesterday’s HH price jumped $.036 to close at $7.39. As we told you yesterday, we are on a very volatile roller coaster (see 
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in and another name for Greylock Energy, has just moved the goalposts. After issuing a payout (the equivalent of a dividend) to unitholders of 13.6 cents for 4Q21, the company has pulled back and will only issue a payout of 9.4 cents per unit for 1Q22. Why? The company announced it is building a bigger emergency fund than previously announced.
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 
We’re holding on by a thread folks, with respect to PA’s onerous new carbon tax. Back in April, we told you about a lawsuit filed by Big Coal against the Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf administration to block Wolf’s attempt to force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants (see 
Yesterday Joe Biden delivered an address from the White House to talk about inflation. He blamed the high price of gasoline (and diesel fuel) on: (1) Vladimir Putin, (2) oil companies price gouging, and (3) Republicans who refuse to sign on to so-called renewables. He’s wrong on all three counts, but that’s another post for another time. Our point is that Biden continues to say he wants more oil production here at home to address the problem of high gasoline prices. Yet his actions disprove the words coming from his mouth (i.e. he’s lying). Biden and his administration continue to aggressively try to cut, reduce, and even block new permits and drilling on publicly-owned land. Some 25% of the oil production in the U.S. comes from wells on publicly-owned land. And yes, there is a tie-in with the Marcellus/Utica on this issue.
Last week Pennsylvania issued 11 new shale well permits, down from 16 the week before. For the second week in a row, EQT led the way, issuing five permits. Ohio got skunked–issuing no new permits for Utica drilling. West Virginia issued just one new permit–to Antero Resources. Overall a pretty paltry showing for new permits in the M-U.
A historic runup in the NYMEX futures price for natural gas is turning into a historic drop in price. Over the past two trading days, last Friday and yesterday (Monday), the NYMEX price dropped $0.74 and $1.02 respectively for a total drop of $1.74. The reason for the drop appears to be an increase in production, up one full Bcf (billion cubic feet) last week from the prior week. The bears are on the prowl, looking to “maul” natgas futures. Strap in–it’s going to continue to be a bumpy ride on this roller coaster.
Riverbend Energy Group is, according to its website, “a multi-faceted investment firm, utilizing risk-weighted deal evaluation processes to deploy capital into a variety of investment theses in the U.S. energy sector.” Which is gobbledegook for “we invest in oil and gas wells.” The company mainly invests in non-operated oil and gas wells, although it also has some operated wells in its portfolio (and investments in renewables too). Riverbend is, according to sources speaking with Reuters, working with an unnamed investment bank to shop three portfolios of non-operated oil and gas assets–with one of them containing Utica Shale assets.
How much of an effort is “enough” when a surface landowner in Ohio tries to locate the owner(s) of the belowground mineral rights under his or her land using the Dormant Mineral Act (DMA), with an eye toward reclaiming those rights? Is it enough to search the public record archive in only the county where the land is located? The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in two cases to say no, it’s not enough to run a quick search in one county when attempting to locate mineral rights owners.
RSG, or “responsibly sourced gas,” is the topic du jour these days among utility companies and other buyers of natural gas, and (because customers are demanding it) among drillers who provide the gas. The Marcellus/Utica is leading the way when it comes to RSG. At least, that has been our sense in closely monitoring news not only about the M-U but all shale plays. We now have some hard numbers to back up our suspicion that the M-U is leading RSG efforts. According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, by the end of 2022, more than 20 Bcf/d of U.S. gas production is set to undergo third-party certification. Of that, some 60% (or 12 Bcf/d) will originate in the M-U.
The editorial writers at the Wall Street Journal have taken notice of something MDN has been trumpeting for more than four years: The same three Democrat judges who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit keep killing U.S. energy projects. Specifically, they’re prejudiced against natural gas pipeline projects. We’re talking about Judge Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama; Judge James Wynn, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama; and Chief Judge Roger Gregory, appointed by William Jefferson Clinton. These three leftwing judges find the smallest, nitpicky things to use as an excuse to block the completion of the 94% completed, 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Enough!
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 recently passed so-called Biden infrastructure bill (see