NATIONAL: Lawsuit against Big Oil alleges price-fixing in 2020; Biden orders record oil release from USA reserve; Biden oil relief plan seen backfiring; US weekly LNG exports and Henry Hub price go up; The future of electric trucks will begin with natural gas; INTERNATIONAL: Cuadrilla’s shale gas wells given a reprieve ahead of new UK strategy.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Apr 1, 2022”
PTT Global Chemical has reimbursed JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development office, $20 million for failing to make a final investment decision (FID) to build a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, OH. JobsOhio paid Bechtel Corp. $20 million in 2019 to complete site engineering and site preparation for the project, with a promise from PTT that it would soon make an FID and move forward with construction. That never happened, so PTT is paying up because it didn’t live up to its end of the bargain. Interestingly, PTT maintains it is “committed to building the multi-billion dollar project.” Right.
Read More “PTT Pays JobsOhio $20M for Failing to Build OH Cracker Plant”
Pennsylvania Senate Republican leaders have asked the state’s Commonwealth Court to block Gov. Wolf’s plan to force the state to join the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a $2.6 billion carbon tax on PA residents. The Senators want the court to temporarily block the publication of final RGGI regulations in the Pennsylvania Bulletin until the Senators’ full case against RGGI can be heard in court.
Read More “PA Legislators File Court Challenge to Block $2.6B RGGI Carbon Tax”
Democrats are SO predictable. They use the same playbook they’ve used for the past 50+ years. The minute they can’t defend their indefensible, nonsensical ideologies, they resort to calling their opponents bigots and sexists. It happened again Tuesday when northeastern Pennsylvania State Senator John Yukichak, an Independent who used to be a Democrat (but couldn’t stomach the extremism in the party anymore), called out PA Democrats and their environmental “hysteria” for defeating both the PennEast Pipeline project and the New Fortress Energy LNG export plant (both located in northeastern PA). Two PA Senators who happen to be women from the Philadelphia area trotted out the “he’s attacking the girls, he’s a misogynist and sexist” false claim. Typical.
Read More “PA Sen. Yudichak Calls Out Hysterical Dems at Hearing”
It’s about to get a lot harder to drill a well or build any kind of pipeline in Pennsylvania, if the swamp dwellers at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) get their way. The DEP recently released a draft Environmental Justice Policy set of regulations that will empower the radical left to block new drilling and new pipelines by using claims of racism.
Read More “PA DEP Goes Hard Left with New “Enviro Justice” Policy Revisions”
Since Russia illegally and immorally invaded Ukraine on February 24, the stock price for Marcellus/Utica natural gas drillers has skyrocketed based on the fear that Russia will cut off natural gas to Europe in response to their response to the war (sanctions on Russia). The Russia/Ukraine war has stoked concerns that Europe will need much more natgas from the U.S. and therefore the U.S. will have to drill and pump more gas to supply it, making gas drillers an attractive investment.
Read More “M-U Driller Stock Prices Soar Over Past Month Based on LNG Exports”
The Appalachian Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Conference, being held in Pittsburgh on Thursday, April 21, is hosted by MDN’s good friend Joe Barone from ShaleDirectories.com. We have a couple of late-breaking announcements of topics and speakers for the event. Monolith will discuss how it uses natural gas and 100% renewable electricity in a process known as methane pyrolysis to produce carbon black and hydrogen. Westinghouse Electric will discuss its nuclear mini-reactor that can be deployed to off-the-grid sites like remote well pads to provide electricity for drilling.
Read More “Methane Pyrolysis, Nuke Micro-Reactors Coming to M-U Hydrogen Conf”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: New Fortress working on new Fast LNG terminal offshore Louisiana; NATIONAL: Shale drillers foresee ‘world of hurt’ in Biden’s green economy; Human flourishing – the case for using more oil, coal and natural gas; INTERNATIONAL: UK faces importing 80 percent of its gas; PTTEP joins net-zero 2050 club; Germany girds for gas rationing, Europe on edge in Russian standoff; Are the environmental impacts and human atrocities worth an EV battery?
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Mar 31, 2022”
Last December the Democrats who sit on the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board rejected issuing an air permit for a compressor station in southern Virginia for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate extension that will run 75 miles from Virginia into North Carolina (see Va. Board Rejects Air Permit for “Racist” MVP Southgate Pipeline). The permit would allow a compressor station to be built in the Virginia town of Chatham (Pittsylvania County). And according to critics of the pipeline, that’s just plain racist. (Who knew an inanimate object could be racist? We sure didn’t.) MVP appealed the rejected air permit with the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. However, MVP has now withdrawn its appeal.
Read More “Equitrans Withdraws Appeal of Rejected Air Permit for MVP Southgate”
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus Shale 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. Epsilon issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2021 update last week. The company’s Marcellus net gas production was 2.6 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in 4Q21. The company generated revenues of $13.8 million during 4Q21, compared to $5.9 million for 4Q20. Realized natural gas prices averaged $3.65/Mcf including hedges, and $4.36/Mcf excluding hedges.
Read More “Epsilon Energy 2021 – Production Down 10%, Revenue Up 174%”
Radical green groups, including the Sierra Club (rumored to receive funding from Russia) continue to try and kill the already-staggering Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. The Clubbers and their colluding friends at West Virginia Rivers Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Indian Creek Watershed Association, Appalachian Voices, and Chesapeake Climate Action Network, have sued the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) claiming the DEP issued a key federal water permit that allows the 94% completed MVP to finish up while ignoring previous water quality violations by the builder.
Read More “Vicious Green Groups Continue to Attack MVP in 4th Circus”
Pipeline giant Energy Transfer (builder of the Rover and Mariner East pipelines here in the M-U) is planning a large-scale LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana located on the Calcasieu ship channel. The project will convert Energy Transfer’s existing Lake Charles LNG import and regasification terminal to become an LNG export facility. Yesterday ET announced it has signed a pair of 20-year deals with ENN, a Chinese company, to deliver a total of 2.7 million tonnes (mt) per year to the ChiComms (Chinese Communists).
Read More “Energy Transfer Signs 20-Yr LNG Export Deal with ChiComms”
For nearly 10 years MDN has tracked a Canadian LNG export project in Nova Scotia planned by Pieridae Energy. The project is called Goldboro LNG. Last May the company said a final investment decision (FID) would happen no later than June 30, 2021 (see Goldboro LNG Predicts FID Coming by June 30 – Some 9 Yrs Later). But in July 2021, the deadline had passed and the CFO of the company resigned (see Goldboro LNG FID Deadline Passes, Pieridae CFO Resigns). At the time, Pieridae said it would rework the project to be “more compatible with the current environment.” The Goldboro project has been on pause ever since. What would it take to resuscitate the Goldboro plan? We have the answer.
Read More “Pieridae Outlines Plan to Resuscitate Nova Scotia Goldboro LNG”
There is a practice called “sue and settle” used by swamp dwellers in the federal government, financed by taxpayers (you) that will make your blood boil. It’s not new. It’s been going on for years. Sue and settle was frequently used during the bad Obama years. When Donald J. Trump took over at the White House he brought in Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where sue and settle was the normal routine. Scott drained the swamp and stopped the practice. Guess what? Like a bad yeast infection, the swamp dwellers are back and they’re bringing back sue and settle to the EPA. Surprised? We aren’t.
Read More “Biden EPA Restarts Corrupt Practice of Sue & Settle with Big Green”
Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 new shale well permits, with Snyder Brothers grabbing seven, PennEnergy Resources getting six, and Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) receiving five. In each case, the permits for each company were for a single well pad. Ohio issued just three new permits last week, two for Ascent Resources and one for Southwestern Energy. West Virginia finally came back to life, issuing seven new shale permits last week. Six of the WV permits were for Antero Resources, one for Southwestern Energy.
Read More “31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 21-27”
NATIONAL: Oil executives refuse Democrat request; Biden, again, proposes eliminating tax breaks for oil, gas production; Higher prices spark fresh investor interest in oil and gas; Biden’s plan to starve America of fossil fuels; Biden’s budget proposal is proof Democrats have forsaken American values; Surging WTI crude price brightens outlook for US associated gas production; INTERNATIONAL: Crude oil exports from other countries may pass through Russian infrastructure.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Mar 30, 2022”