THE Delaware Riverkeeper Continues to Sue Dead PennEast Pipe
PennEast Pipeline, a 120-mile, primarily 36-inch pipeline that would have cost $1 billion to build and run from Dallas, Luzerne County, in northeastern Pennsylvania, and terminate at Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington, Mercer County, New Jersey, is as dead as a doornail (see PennEast Pipeline Throws in the Towel – Project Won’t Get Built). In late September the partners in the project announced “PennEast has ceased all further development of the Project.” And yet THE (deluded) Delaware Riverkeeper is convinced PennEast will rise from the dead like Jesus Christ. So Riverkeeper is suing to keep on suing–to keep PennEast dead and buried. We’ll explain.
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We were encouraged in September when the Connecticut State Supreme Court upheld the Connecticut Siting Council’s approval for NTE Energy’s proposed project to build a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly, CT (see 
Democrats, who are truly desperate and hoping that massive theft of some people’s money to use in bribing other people to vote for them, finally passed a $1.2 trillion so-called infrastructure bill last Friday. It’s a “Hail, Mary” move aimed at trying to retain some of their power, which they will certainly lose in the 2022 election. Here’s what to know about the bill, which tries (but ultimately fails) to reduce the use of fossil fuels: Of the $1.2 trillion allocated over the next five-plus years, only $110 billion (or 9%) of it will actually be used for infrastructure–roads, bridges, etc.
NATIONAL: Oil has staying power for years to come; Biden admin considering shutting down another pipeline; More climate finance, less coal could send US natural gas exports skyrocketing; Midstream conundrum threatens gas production growth long term; INTERNATIONAL: Russian gas flows via Yamal-Europe pipeline to Germany halted again.
Nearly two weeks ago MDN brought you the news that Southwestern Energy was in talks to buy a second (for them) Haynesville driller, GeoSouthern, for $1.7 billion (see 
While yesterday’s news that Southwestern Energy has brokered a deal to purchase a second Haynesville driller (see today’s lead story), Southwestern also issued its third quarter update yesterday. Let’s not overlook that important news! While Southwestern’s natural gas production continues to increase due to acquisitions, the big news (for us) is the drubbing the company took on hedges/derivatives. Southwestern lost $2 BILLION on bad hedges, leading to a quarterly net loss for shareholders of $1.86 billion. The company reported total production of 310 Bcfe (billion cubic feet), averaging 3.4 Bcfe per day.
In September a cabal of virulent anti-fossil fuel groups, including the Sierra Club, Clean Air Council, PennFuture, Earthworks, and Mountain Watershed Association (all of which hate oil and natural gas), launched their latest attack against the Pennsylvania oil and gas industry. The groups sent a request to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) lobbying for a dramatic increase in the amount of money drillers must post as a bond when drilling a new well. Unfortunately, the DEP listened and is acting on that request.
What the heck is going on? First, the EPA under Biden is making a massive power grab to control oil and gas drilling (in contravention to the U.S. Constitution) by issuing methane regulations and the oil and gas industry is just laying down and taking it, after opposing the very same thing under Obama in 2016 (see 
Two out-of-state Members of Congress, Rep. Dan Newhouse (Washington-04) and Rep. Yvette Herrell (New Mexico-02), both members of the Congressional Western Caucus, recently took a field trip to northeastern Pennsylvania to get a firsthand look at how Marcellus drillers and midstream companies get the job done. They came away thoroughly impressed, to the point they penned an editorial for a local newspaper that begins with this sentence: “Pennsylvania’s natural gas producers are providing safe, reliable, and affordable energy for the United States and setting an example for states across the country.”
Conservatives (including MDN) eagerly watch election results as they came in this past Tuesday night. Conservatives rightly anticipated the Virginia governor’s race would go to the Republican, Glenn Youngkin. Conservatives had hoped for a good showing in deeply blue New Jersey, with 1.1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. We got much more than that! The odious leftist Democrat Phil Murphy ran for reelection for another four years in the Garden State. The unknown Republican running against him, Jack Ciattarelli, came within (under) 1% of the same number of votes as Murphy. Hopefully, Ciattarelli will demand a recount. The question is, did energy have anything to do with NJ’s vote, and if Ciattarelli pulls off an upset, what might that mean for pipeline projects canceled under Murphy?
Chesapeake Energy released its third quarter update yesterday. The company has newfound energy (pun intended) since emerging from bankruptcy earlier this year and ejecting most (but not all) of its top management along with an entire refresh of the board. The company reports a net loss of $345 million during 3Q21, which is better than the $745 million net loss in 3Q20. There’s no one big reason for the loss. Revenues were down a bit ($890 million in 3Q21 vs. $960 million the year before), marketing costs were up a bit ($625 million vs. $450 million), etc. The financial loss didn’t phase investors as the stock price popped up by 3.3% from the day before.
Coterra Energy, the new name for the two merged companies that were Cabot Oil & Gas and Cimarex Energy (a Permian driller), issued its third quarter update yesterday. Cabot has been and remains one of our favorite Marcellus/Utica drillers. According to Tom Jorden, CEO of Cimarex and now CEO of the combined company, the integration of the two companies is “well underway” and has been “a full court press” since May. In the aggregate, Coterra brought 61 wells online during 3Q and plans to operate seven rigs and four completion crews during 4Q. Five of the rigs are in the Delaware Basin (in the Texas Permian), and two of the rigs are in Susquehanna County in northeast Pennsylvania. What about details for Marcellus operations during 3Q?
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May with a new board and new top management. The company issued its third quarter update yesterday. Unfortunately, the company got hosed on hedges, losing $622 million during 3Q21 on hedges which resulted in an overall loss of $463 million for the quarter. The company produced 973 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) during 3Q21, down slightly from an average 992 MMcf/d a year ago. That production is across both shale plays where Gulfport drills: the Ohio Utica and Oklahoma SCOOP.