Without Fossil Fuels, Half the World’s Population Will Starve
Vaclav Smil is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. Smil is the author of over forty books on topics including energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy. His newest book, titled How the World Really Works, contains some startling information. Modern societies would be impossible without mass-scale production of many man-made materials. Four materials rank highest on the scale of necessity, forming what Smil calls the four pillars of modern civilization: cement, steel, plastics, and ammonia. All four require fossil fuels or the don’t exist.
Read More “Without Fossil Fuels, Half the World’s Population Will Starve”
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells in Susquehanna County, PA. Epsilon doesn’t typically do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Usually. Epsilon issued its first quarter 2022 update earlier this week. The company’s Marcellus net gas production was 2.4 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in 1Q22.
We don’t normally recommend books to read–especially those we haven’t read yet ourselves. Today we’re making an exception. Last week we received an email about a new book published on Amazon by Chris Bentley, the former President and CEO of Bellatorum Resources, an investment management firm that formerly specialized in Texas oil and gas royalties and mineral rights. Bentley recently published a book called 
Every “game” comes to an end when play must stop and a winner, and a loser, are declared. If you watch basketball you know that the final couple of minutes can last what seems like a lifetime. One team, up by 2 or 3 points, gains possession of the ball and they are in the lead. What do they do? Play keep-away. Run the clock down so the opponent can’t score to tie or pull ahead. What does the opponent do? Try to foul the person with the ball, or call for a time-out, in order to stop the clock and (hopefully) when the ball is thrown in and play resumes, regain possession and score. In a sense, that’s what is happening with the 94% complete Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia. Right now anti-American Big Green groups have possession of the ball (having co-opted leftist judges) and they are ahead by one point, hoping to end the game by running out the clock. Will they succeed?
Despite screaming and howling at the moon by leftist Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club and Public Citizen, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week issued orders allowing two huge new LNG export facilities extra time to complete building those projects. On May 6, FERC issued a 31-month time extension to Cheniere Energy to build its third train (“Stage 3”) project at the existing Corpus Christi Liquefaction facility. FERC issued a three-year time extension to Energy Transfer’s Lake Charles LNG project. Both facilities have the potential to be fed, in part, by Marcellus/Utica molecules.
For how many years now have we had to suffer through insufferable “reporting” that tells us the day of Big Oil is over. That woke investors have turned their backs on oil and gas companies and that no new investment in O&G will happen ever again. Now that oil and natgas prices are through the roof and oil and gas companies are turning in record profits with gobs of free cash flow, buying back shares and issuing dividends–guess what has happened? Wall Street investors have turned their backs on high-flying, woke Big Tech companies and instead are investing where the money is–in oil and gas. We love it!
The Enverus rig count, as of Wednesday, stood at 806, up by three from the week before. We are only 32 rigs away from the pre-pandemic high of 838 rigs. Last week the Marcellus operated 45 rigs (up by one), while the Utica operated 11 rigs (same as the week before), for a total of 56 active rigs in the M-U. Our chief rival, the Louisiana and Texas Haynesville, operated 71 rigs last week, picking up two rigs from the week before.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Oil, gas education program recognized for excellence; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: ExxonMobil books 2 MTPA of LNG from Venture Global; NATIONAL: US weekly LNG exports decrease by four LNGCs; Natural gas consumed by U.S. electric power sector sets January record in 2022; Democrats are playing politics on oil and gas prices; Environmental group targets Biden energy diplomat over ties to gas industry; INTERNATIONAL: Historic price spikes lead to record LNG imports into Europe.
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its first quarter update earlier this week. Ascent averaged production of 2.0 Bcfe/d for the quarter, a 9% increase over 1Q21. Nearly all of Ascent’s production (93%) was natural gas, while the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated -$2 million of free cash flow (yes, negative free cash flow) and lost $1.5 billion during 1Q based on bad bets on derivatives/hedging.
Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. Last week Summit issued its first quarter 2022 update. The company’s Marcellus/Utica segment (now called Northeast) continued to be the star performer. Flows through the company’s pipeline system were down versus the prior year, with the exception of its Ohio Gathering unit where volumes increased. Revenues were down from the same period a year ago, but not by much.
The Natural Gas Supply Association’s (NGSA) 2022 Summer Outlook projects “upward pressure” on the natural gas market compared to last summer because of robust industrial demand, lower storage inventories, and the ripple effect on energy commodities caused by Europe’s energy crisis as it struggles for independence from Russian oil and gas. The NGSA Summer Outlook predicts a summer-over-summer increase of 3.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in average daily production (supply). NGSA says the supply increase (4% higher than last summer) is actually 1 Bcf/d more than demand for natgas will grow this summer. Oops.
Last year the Bidenistas initiated a massive power grab of transferring the right of individual states to regulate local natural gas gathering pipelines to the federal government, which is set to happen on May 16 of this year (see 
From the beginning of Richard “Dick” Glick’s tenure at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), we’ve pointed out that he votes against every single new pipeline project that comes before him based on cockamamie global warming excuses. Glick, a former wind lobbyist, took over as Chairman of FERC under Joe Biden. However, Glick’s tenure may be coming to an end. His five-year term on FERC will expire on June 30 and the Bidenistas have not yet renominated him for another term. Even if he leaves, which would leave an evenly divided 2-2 Democrat/Republican FERC, he still has until the end of this year to exit stage left.