Marcellus Drilling News

Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Platts Predicts Henry Hub Price Could Reach $12-$14 This Winter
October 15, 2021October 15, 2021

Although the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is forecasting an average Henry Hub NYMEX price of $5.80 for the fourth quarter of this year, and a slightly higher average of $5.90 for January 2022 (see today’s companion story), Platts analysts are out with a shocking forecast of their own. Platts says if natural gas drillers don’t return to more drilling soon, the price of natgas at Henry Hub will spike up to $12-$14/MMBtu this winter.
Read More “Platts Predicts Henry Hub Price Could Reach $12-$14 This Winter”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA Predicts Henry Hub Spot Price Avg $5.80 in 4Q21, $4.01 in 2022
October 15, 2021October 15, 2021

Each month the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issues a Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). In the latest STEO update, released two days ago, EIA predicts the Henry Hub spot price will average $5.80/MMBtu in 4Q21, which is $1.80/MMBtu higher than EIA forecasted in their September STEO (see EIA Predicts U.S. Natural Gas Consumption Declines This Yr & Next). In the current forecast, Henry Hub prices reach a monthly average peak of $5.90/MMBtu in January and generally decline through 2022, averaging $4.01/MMBtu for the year amid rising U.S. natural gas production and slowing growth in LNG exports.
Read More “EIA Predicts Henry Hub Spot Price Avg $5.80 in 4Q21, $4.01 in 2022”
Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates Avoid Pledging Support for MVP
October 15, 2021October 15, 2021

McAuliffe (left) and Youngkin

In three weeks the state of Virginia will elect its next governor. In Virginia, the same person cannot hold the office of governor for more than one consecutive term. However, the same person can come back in future years and run again, which is what Terry McAuliffe (far-left Democrat) is doing. Four years ago when McAuliffe was governor in Virginia he supported the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. This time around? Silence, except for statements by his campaign that he is “promising to push for Virginia to have 100% clean energy by 2035.” What about the Republican candidate, Glenn Youngkin? Does he support MVP?
Read More “Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates Avoid Pledging Support for MVP”
Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Gulfport Energy’s Line of Credit Increases from $580M to $700M
October 15, 2021October 15, 2021

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 (see Gulfport Energy Emerges from Bankruptcy w/New Board, CEO/CFO Gone). Since that time the company has worked hard to better its financial position and its image. Yesterday Gulfport announced its “credit facility” (the amount it can borrow, what we call a line of credit) has increased by another $160 million.
Read More “Gulfport Energy’s Line of Credit Increases from $580M to $700M”
ESG | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Midstream Companies Hop on Board the Responsibly Sourced Gas Train
October 15, 2021November 2, 2021

“All aboard! Next stop, responsibly sourced gas.” Both the Marcellus/Utica and the Haynesville shale plays have emerged as the major shale basins for so-called certified natural gas. Certified for what? Certified that the companies extracting it and (now) the companies flowing it through pipelines (i.e. the midstream) are doing so “responsibly.” We guess they did so irresponsibly before, right? What exactly is responsibly sourced gas (RSG) and how is the midstream (and upstream) tackling certification?
Read More “Midstream Companies Hop on Board the Responsibly Sourced Gas Train”
Carbon Capture | Industrywide Issues

Occidental & Worley Bet the Ranch on Illusion of Carbon Capture
October 15, 2021October 15, 2021

If we were an investor in either Occidental Petroleum or Worley, we’d be very worried. In a conversation with Daniel Yergin, vice chairman, IHS Markit, both Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental Petroleum, and Chris Ashton, CEO and managing director of Worley discuss their partnership to build a large-scale direct air carbon capture facility in the Permian Basin (expected to startup in 2024) and the potential to scale the technology further. Hollub and Ashton are gambling the future of their companies on so-called carbon capture.
Read More “Occidental & Worley Bet the Ranch on Illusion of Carbon Capture”
Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Oct 15, 2021
October 15, 2021October 15, 2021

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: DEP reg requires 22% of car sales in PA zero emission in 2025; Marcellus cools off in 3Q shale M&A; Man sentenced for damaging Greene County natural gas drilling site; NATIONAL: Jim Cramer thinks Tellurian is a great speculative play; US weekly LNG exports fall from last week; As gasoline prices surge, Biden admin shifts blame to ‘anticompetitive practices’; INTERNATIONAL: Europe’s self-inflicted energy crisis.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Oct 15, 2021”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

PA Construction Co. Glenn Hawbaker Pays $20M for “Stolen Wages”
October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc., long known for providing stone quarries and asphalt plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio, also provides civil construction services for shale well sites. In early August Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro, an anti-drilling partisan hack, announced a plea deal with Hawbaker to pay back $20 million in alleged “stolen wages” from over 1,000 Hawbaker employees. After the plea deal, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation (PennDOT) moved to deny any new construction contracts to Hawbaker for the next three years–contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Read More “PA Construction Co. Glenn Hawbaker Pays $20M for “Stolen Wages””
Diversified Energy | Energy Companies

Diversified Continues to Expand Outside M-U…in Mid-Continent
October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

Diversified Energy (née Diversified Gas & Oil) continues to expand *outside* of the Marcellus/Utica region. In April the company announced it had purchased ~780 net operated wells and leases in the Cotton Valley/Haynesville region of Lousiana for $135 million (see Diversified Expands Beyond Appalachia First Time, Buys La. Assets). Barely a month later and they bought assets in the Barnett Shale for $180 million (see Diversified Expands Outside M-U Again, Buys Blackbeard in Barnett). A little over a month after that, they did it again, with another purchase in the Haynesville play for $308 million (see Diversified Expands in Haynesville, Buys Tanos Assets for $308M). Diversified’s fourth expansion, for $419 million, is located in the Mid-Continent.
Read More “Diversified Continues to Expand Outside M-U…in Mid-Continent”
Berkshire Hathaway | CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland

Marcellus Feedgas Flowing to Cove Point LNG After Maintenance
October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

Whew, it’s now reopened for business. It’s been 21 days since Warren Buffett’s Cove Point LNG export facility closed all the way down for annual maintenance (see Warren Buffett’s Cove Point LNG Closing for 3 Wks of Maintenance). Feedgas flows to the Cove Point terminal returned to their pre-work levels on Tuesday. Overall, U.S. feed gas deliveries were nominated at 11.2 Bcf early Wednesday, up by roughly 1 Bcf from the prior day. Let the Marcellus molecules flow!
Read More “Marcellus Feedgas Flowing to Cove Point LNG After Maintenance”
Statewide WV | West Virginia

95% of All West Virginia Oil & Gas Comes from Fracked Wells
October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

Charlie Burd, executive director of the Gas & Oil Association of West Virginia, gave an update on the state’s oil and gas industry to the members of the West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Energy on Tuesday. Burd (a Democrat) sang the praises of hydraulic fracturing. In 2020, more than 95% of the 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas produced in West Virginia came from horizontal drilling, according to Burd. We discovered some interesting statistics from Burd on the state’s oil and gas industry…
Read More “95% of All West Virginia Oil & Gas Comes from Fracked Wells”
Antero Resources | Chesapeake Energy | CNX Resources | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Gulfport Energy | Range Resources Corp | Southwestern Energy

Opportunity: Big Investors Commit Financial Suicide by Avoiding O&G
October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

Small investors have a golden opportunity. Oil and gas companies (drillers in particular) are more profitable than ever, yet many large investors are avoiding and will not invest in them. Why? Because they’re idiots? Well, yes, that’s one reason. But the root cause is they have been cowed by loud-mouthed environmental extremists. Threatened by them. Oil and gas companies are still here, still providing a critical service to the world, and still need investors. That’s a great opportunity for small investors–like you.
Read More “Opportunity: Big Investors Commit Financial Suicide by Avoiding O&G”
CNG/LNG | Crude Oil | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

American Energy Gives Biden “Middle Finger” on More Production
October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

Joe Biden is completely inept. Everyone can see it, whether they publicly admit it or not. He’s blown it. For any given decision he’s made, he’s made the wrong decision 100% of the time. Yesterday we told you about Biden’s preference for OPEC oil over American oil (see Biden Favors OPEC Oil, Gives “Middle Finger” to American Energy). Now that his policies of blocking pipelines and blocking new drilling on federal lands have contributed to (the primary factor in) a worldwide crisis and oil shortage, Biden is asking American oil companies to increase production. Their response? “Here’s the middle finger right back at ya, big guy…”
Read More “American Energy Gives Biden “Middle Finger” on More Production”
Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Oct 14, 2021
October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Commissioners approve natural gas pipeline extension; NATIONAL: USA consumers to pay more for energy this winter; Totalitarianism ascends as civil society withers on the vine; The U.S. shale industry desperately needs to drill; INTERNATIONAL: IEA says anti-gas climate policies didn’t cause Europe’s gas crisis; Putin: US partly to blame for European gas shortages.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Oct 14, 2021”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Antis Try to Block Marcellus Drilling with Unrealistic Setbacks
October 13, 2021October 13, 2021

The same small group of leftwing radicals is at it again. Big Green is bankrolling yet another group trying to stamp out all (and we mean ALL) Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania. The tactic they’re using now is one of their favorites they return to from time to time: Increase setbacks from well pads from the current 500 feet to between 2,500-5,000 feet (half a mile to a mile). That is, any kind of structure–house, barn, treehouse, shed–must be at least half a mile from a proposed well pad or you can’t drill. The net effect would be to prohibit 95% of all new Marcellus drilling in the state.
Read More “PA Antis Try to Block Marcellus Drilling with Unrealistic Setbacks”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Springfield, MA City Council Still Resisting 2.1 Mile Loop Pipe
October 13, 2021October 13, 2021

click for larger version

Over the past two years, MDN has told you about a tiny 2.1-mile looping pipeline segment proposed by Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), to be buried next to the existing TGP, to connect regions around Springfield, Massachusetts to receive more natural gas supplies. Springfield neighborhoods like Holyoke have an ongoing moratorium on hooking up new natgas customers unless/until more supply is provided (see Holyoke, Mass. Gas Moratorium Continues Due to No New Pipelines). And yet the dunderheads on the Springfield City Council still don’t get it. They’re “seeking additional details and answers to concerns” about this tiny pipeline project.
Read More “Springfield, MA City Council Still Resisting 2.1 Mile Loop Pipe”