NYMEX Gas Price Drops $1.76/MMBtu in 2 Days to $7.03
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.
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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 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Caterpillar Inc. purchases Pennsylvania energy service company; NATIONAL: Democrats split with Biden and push for quick offshore leasing program approval; INTERNATIONAL: Oil prices tumble as EU curtails proposed sanctions; Value of energy trade between the U.S. and Canada rose in 2021; India is shamefully buying LNG from Russia.
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the only fully integrated energy company operating in the Marcellus/Utica, by which we mean NFG is a driller (Seneca Resources), a midstream/pipeline company (Empire Pipeline), and a downstream end-user via its local distribution company (LDC), otherwise known as the local gas utility company (National Fuel). Little known fact: NFG’s Seneca Resources subsidiary owns an oil drilling operation in California. But not for much longer…
An interesting case recently decided by Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals has a significant impact for both surface landowners and drillers. The case is Zimmerview Dairy Farms, LLC v. Protégé Energy III LLC and establishes, under Ohio law, that a general release of damages contract (typically signed by landowners when they lease land for drilling or pipelines) does not release a driller or pipeline company from its ongoing obligation to remediate (fix) and restore damage to a landowner’s property.
As we told you last week, Energy Transfer, during its first quarter update, spoke about the now-completed Mariner East pipeline system that flows NGLs, including ethane, propane, and butane, from eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania all the way to southeastern PA and the Marcus Hook terminal (see 
In December, Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, filed a proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to implement a “responsibly sourced natural gas (RSG) supply aggregation pooling service” at select locations across the TGP system (see 
LNG seems to be the word on everyone’s lips these days–everyone in the oil and gas space, that is. Two weeks ago TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), a huge midstream/pipeline company, issued its first quarter update and held a conference call with analysts. We’re just now learning about some of the chatter coming from that update–very interesting chatter. LNG was a hot topic–flowing more molecules, especially Marcellus/Utica molecules–to LNG export facilities along the Gulf Coast. TC Energy CEO Francois Poirier said during a conference call that roughly one-quarter (25%) of all the molecules that flow to U.S. LNG export facilities get to those facilities by traveling through TC’s pipelines.
Sometimes U.S. Joe Manchin from West Virginia makes us nervous. He’s done great work in blocking Joe Biden’s radicalized agenda to destroy fossil energy by blocking the Build Back Worse program Biden and the Dems desperately wanted (saving the country from complete ruin with runaway hyperinflation). But then we read about Manchin tinkering with the idea to assess a tariff on foreign imported goods, like steel and cement, that are made in countries (like China) that don’t give a flip about environmental controls. Supposedly such a tariff would encourage those countries to use more natural gas, or encourage more American manufacturing of those goods (because our plants use clean natgas). We’re not sure what to make of Manchin’s efforts.