Latest on M-U NatGas Production & Prices – Inventory + Prices Go Up
Typically when more natural gas gets stored–socked away in large underground salt caverns so it can be used during the winter months–the price for gas in that region falls. High inventory availability means more supply chases the same or even less demand. The end result, usually, is that prices go down. However, in the northeast (Marcellus/Utica) where inventory has been building over the past two months, prices continue to go up, not down. Why?
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The Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia (GO-WV) released a new report yesterday called “Gas Facts” (full copy below). The report chronicles the impact oil and gas has had on the Mountain State over the past five years. According to Charlie Burd, GO-WV executive director, “Natural gas is the state’s top-paying sector, supporting more than 82,000 jobs and contributing roughly $5.2 billion in wages each year. Clean, abundant natural gas will continue to drive economic growth and opportunities for generations of West Virginians.” It’s an interesting report. One thing in the report caught our eye immediately: Two “top 10” lists for gas and oil production. We’re suckers for a good top 10 list…
Terry Etam, an energy writer with over two decades in the business, has a short but brilliant take on what’s causing the mayhem currently happening in the energy world. Writing on the Watts Up With That? blog site (the world’s most viewed site on global warming and climate change), Etam makes the case that within a few months, the “divest fossil fuels” campaign is going to look like the dumbest movement in history…
ExxonMobil, which has a sizable presence in the Marcellus/Utica via subsidiary XTO Energy, has a rapidly growing cancer from within–it’s called the Exxon board of directors. Yes, the board of directors can and does change an entire company’s culture and future. In May, Big Green pushed and pressured and pouted and demanded–and finally won the right to appoint three of Exxon’s board members. A real tragedy. Those three members along with two other new board members are forcing the company to push for a carbon tax and abandon huge international projects that would make the company money for years to come. This is how the left defeats their opponents–eating them alive from within.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Best Lawyers in America names WV oil and gas lawyer Allison Farrell to 2022 list; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Enbridge briefly shut Line 5 after protesters tampered with pipeline; NATIONAL: E&Ps start hoarding cash from rapidly rising inflows; Why bad climate legislation is worse than no climate legislation; INTERNATIONAL: Saudi Arabia believes OPEC+ can’t decrease natural gas prices; EIA projects non-OECD Asia to become the largest importers of natural gas by 2050.
For whatever reason, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) is behaving like a child with its heels dug in, refusing to do what it’s supposed to do. In July 2019 MDN told you about New Jersey-based Omni Energy Group and their application to build two new injection wells near St. Clairsville (see 
Yesterday we told you about a recent bankruptcy hearing for Pennsylvania shale driller Rockdale Marcellus, a hearing in which UGI Energy Services sought to gain access to details about Rockdale’s assets that are now up for sale (see 
Six of the seven largest shale plays in the U.S. will see a slight increase in both natural gas and oil production in November according to the latest monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The Marcellus/Utica, collectively lumped together as “Appalachia” in the report, will see an estimated increase of 41 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) in production next month–something of a disappointment. The M-U’s chief rival, the Haynesville, will see explosive growth, an increase of 135 MMcf/d. The oil-based Permian will see an increase in natgas production of 78 MMcf/d.
The Democrat mainstream media was striking out by using the trite phrase of “blast zone” to try and scare people who happen to live near the path of a simple, safe natural gas pipeline, like that proposed in Hanover County, Virginia. As the lefty libs so often do, they’ve changed their language in an effort to change how people perceive such a project. It’s no longer a blast zone, now (drum roll please)…it’s an INCINERATION zone! Yeah baby! You’ll be fried to a crisp if you live near a pipeline and that pipeline experiences a leak and explodes. So pathetic.
As Joe Biden and his inept White House cast about for someone or something to blame for his policies that are causing a spike in energy prices here in the U.S., one of the potential targets is LNG exports. Some lefties in Washington are making noises that if we limit or even cancel LNG exports, that would bring down natural gas prices here at home. According to the Executive Director of the Center for LNG (CLNG), that’s just not true.
Last week Pennsylvania issued 14 permits to drill new shale wells scattered around the state. The permits were issued to Chesapeake Energy, EQT, EXCO Resources, Chief Oil & Gas, and Southwestern Energy. Ohio issued five new permits in two counties, but all of them were issued to Ascent Resources. West Virginia issued just one new permit in a county we don’t often see in the list: Marion. The single WV permit was issued to EQT.