Leftwing Media Continues to Blame the Victim – Spire STL Pipe
We are stupified watching how the biased, leftwing mainstream media is treating utility company Spire (located in St. Louis) over the company’s recent statements warning natural gas customers their gas may run out if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does not act to extend an emergency certificate authorizing the operation of a pipeline that’s been up and running for the past two years–Spire STL. Yesterday we told you about vicious attacks against Spire for simply speaking the truth (see Spire Exercises Free Speech by Sending Warning Email re Pipe Closure). Those attacks continue…
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Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see 
A coalition of upstream (drilling), midstream (pipeline), and downstream (utility) companies formed an industry group called ONE Future back in 2014. The aim of the group is to lower methane emissions across all aspects of the natural gas infrastructure system nationwide and to emit (lose into the atmosphere) no more than 1% by 2025. A number of Marcellus/Utica companies have joined (
In September MDN brought you a fantastic column by Paul Driessen, a senior policy advisor for CFACT (Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, a Washington, D.C. think tank), taking aim at so-called ESG, or environment, social, and governance programs, that are all the rage these days (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: TV’s Dr. Oz is a potential candidate in U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania; Keith Coyle receives shale gas advocate award; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California joins the “we love OPEC” alliance; NATIONAL: SPR should not be used to manipulate oil market; US weekly LNG exports increase, Henry Hub spot price falls; INTERNATIONAL: The vilification of oil producers continues apace at COP26; SOS OPEC+ – suddenly, the Western world needs Russian energy amid sanctions; Belarus leader threatens to shut off natural gas to Europe.
Has it really come to this? If a utility company that’s being attacked by anti-drilling zealots (Environmental Defense Fund) with help from a colluding federal court (U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit) dares to warn its customers they may experience an outage this winter because of the government closing down a critical natural gas pipeline, the utility company is put on the hot seat and made out to be the villain! Blame the victim!! Free speech is now under attack everywhere.
We are happy to blow the trumpet and support a brand new organization called the 
Last week the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched what we consider a full-on attack against the oil and gas industry when it unveiled new methane regulations (see 
For years Canadian company Questerre Energy patiently waited to begin drilling on their extensive Utica Shale acreage in the St. Lawrence Lowlands of Quebec, Canada. Quebec has been like New York–completely closed to the oil and gas industry, particularly shale and fracking (see 
If you have even the most basic education in economics (Econ 101) you will have come across the concept of commodities–things like gold, silver, corn, soybeans, oil, and (yes) natural gas. A commodity is something that no matter who produces it, the product itself is the same. A molecule of methane (CH4) is a molecule of methane, no matter who or how it gets produced. Consequently, the only factors that drive price for a commodity are availability and whoever has the lowest cost. Efforts to pretty up a commodity like natgas by claiming it is “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG), or it comes from the butt holes of cows and pigs and chickens (RNG), or is carbon-neutral LNG, are efforts to (in our opinion) snooker people into paying more for what is a garden-variety commodity. Are there people/companies willing to pay more if natgas is produced in a certain way or from a certain source?
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 third quarter 2021 update yesterday. The company produced 1.98 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q–nearly all of it, 1.83 MMcf/d–was natural gas, the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated $28 million of free cash flow, but like other M-U drillers, hedging bets on derivatives resulted in a huge loss of $1.3 billion for the quarter.
In April of this year, Northeast Natural Energy (NNE), a West Virginia driller, announced it had enrolled itself in both the Equitable Origin and MiQ certification programs to prove the natural gas it produces is “responsibly sourced gas” (see 
The current futures contract for NYMEX natural gas priced at the Henry Hub trading location, called the “front month” (of December), was down for the third trading day in a row yesterday. The December contract fell 45 cents (8.26%) to $4.98 per MMBtu–the first time it has slipped under $5 since October 21. Where might the price be heading next?