Abuse of Justice System by PA AG Shapiro in Prosecuting Coterra
In June 2020, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (Democrat) announced an indictment of Cabot Oil & Gas for allegations of methane migration going back more than a decade, long before he was elected as AG (see PA AG Charges Cabot with Enviro Crimes for Long-Settled Dimock). Shapiro’s indictment is a bogus charge, an attempt to turn a long-settled accident into a crime–all for political gain. Shapiro is running for governor this November and bashing the Marcellus industry gives him credibility with the wacko left in his own political party. A few weeks after Shapiro’s shameless and bogus indictment, Cabot (now Coterra Energy) signaled it would fight him tooth and nail in court (see Cabot Signals They Will Fight PA AG Sham Dimock Indictment).
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Last week saw a flurry of sniping back and forth between Pennsylvania House Republicans and Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf over the issue of whether Wolf should be doing more to promote PA natural gas production as a solution to help Europe out of its current pickle with Vlad Putin. Russia keeps jerking Europe’s chain by slowing and even stopping natural gas flows to the Continent in retaliation for Europe engaging in sanctions against Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Apparently, the House Republicans got under Wolf’s skin, as he retorted with some rather testy language of his own.
Sort of a mixed bag with respect to recent prices for natural gas. While the spot cash price as a national average has slipped a bit, down 83 cents over the past week to $4.84, the NYMEX futures contract price for the “front month” of April soared past $5. In fact, if you look at the NYMEX contracts for each month over the next one year, they are ALL closing above $5/MMBtu.
Each week MDN brings you a report of new permits to drill shale wells issued during the previous week for Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Last Wednesday MDN noticed a problem with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection’s reporting website that prevented us from harvesting data and delivering our weekly report. We alerted the DEP to the issue. Their problem is much larger than just oil and gas reporting. It extends to several other systems as well, including the ability for drillers to upload required reports. When will it be fixed?
NATIONAL: What do U.S. refineries import from Russia…and what if they stop?; Biden admin. gave Putin ‘leverage’ by blocking American pipelines and drilling; Investigate Russia’s covert funding of US anti-fossil fuel groups; INTERNATIONAL: USA and EU look at Russian oil ban; Hitting Putin where it hurts by sanctioning Russia’s oil exports; Oil traders bet prices will pass $200 in March.
One week ago MDN told you about the fast track for West Virginia Senate Bill (SB) 694, a bill that will, after nearly a decade, provide for forced pooling for shale wells in the state (see 
An interesting conversation was held on Tuesday during the Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the budget for PA in 2022. Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation & Natural Resources (DCNR) Cindy Dunn was there to talk about her agency’s financial needs in the coming year. Also there was PA Sen. Gene Yaw and PA Sen. Joe Pittman, both Republicans. Yaw and Pittman asked Dunn why her agency doesn’t lease another 22,000 acres of state land for natural gas drilling as a form of “self help” to help fund DCNR’s budget. Great question…
According to S&P Global, shale gas producers behaved themselves during the fourth quarter of 2021 and didn’t, even as the price of gas went sky high, do anything more than maintain current production. Gas drillers kept spending in check, didn’t do any more drilling than was necessary to maintain production, and plowed free cash flow back into dividends and stock buybacks. The result? Investors loved it and share prices soared.
In Sept. 2021 Seneca Resources, the drilling arm of National Fuel Gas Company, announced it would certify as responsibly sourced gas (RSG) about 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of its production–roughly one-third of all Seneca production (see 
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), released its “Annual Energy Outlook 2022.” One of the main findings of this latest look forward is that the use of oil and natural gas will grow steadily and gradually from now until 2050–over the next 30 years. Renewables (solar and wind) will grow too, but fossil energy will remain completely dominant for the next generation (and likely longer). Surprised? We’re not.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, is in a grumpy mood. The cause? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Manchin is meeting with FERC commissioners tomorrow and he plans to take them to the proverbial woodshed for a good thrashing. Two things are on Manchin’s mind: FERC’s new rules that use global warming as a standard for reviewing pipeline projects, and ongoing delays with finishing the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project.
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 fourth quarter and full-year 2021 update. The company’s Marcellus/Utica segment (now called Northeast) continued to be the star performer. Flows through the company’s pipeline system are down for both 4Q and 2021 versus the prior year. Revenues were down from the same period a year ago as well.