OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Maine voters reject $950 million power line for hydro imports; INTERNATIONAL: China made mistake skipping G-20 and COP26 summits, Biden says; Russia looks to capitalize on the global energy crisis; Brazil tops importers of US LNG cargoes in October as Spanish deliveries climb.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Nov 4, 2021”
You can add a shortage of Budweiser Beer to the list of dire consequences if the Spire STL pipeline in the St. Louis region shuts down permanently one month from now due to a lawsuit brought by the uber-left radicals of the Environmental Defense Fund. Spire STL is a 65-mile pipeline that connects to and flows Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to residents and businesses in the St. Louis, MO area. Parent company Spire has been warning (for months) of extreme consequences, including no heat and potential death for some residents, if natgas supplies on the pipeline are forced to stop. Now businesses in the region, including Anheuser-Busch, are adding their very loud voice to Spire’s voice.
Read More “Budweiser Beer Warns of Dire Consequences if Spire STL Pipe Closes”
We suppose it takes a lot to surprise the CEO of one of the world’s biggest pipeline companies. Yet yesterday Williams CEO Alan Armstrong expressed his surprise that even with the dramatic increase in the price of natural gas during the third quarter, demand for natural gas was “inelastic” and remained high. Translation: Williams had all it could do to keep up with flowing natural gas through it’s extensive pipeline system, even with super-high prices. Much of the demand to flow gas came from the Marcellus/Utica.
Read More “Williams Surprised by “Inelastic” Demand for NatGas, M-U Expanding”
Equitrans Midstream, formerly known as EQT Midstream, issued its third quarter update yesterday. The main focus (for us) of the update is new or updated information related to the company’s all-important Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project and those projects connected to MVP–including Hammerhead and Southgate. Yesterday we learned Equitrans still believes MVP, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia, is on track to start up in “summer 2022.” The company plans to begin construction of a related extension of MVP, called Southgate (from Virginia into North Carolina) in 2022 and bring it online in early 2023.
Read More “Equitrans Says Mountain Valley Pipe Goes Online in Mid-2022”
The price of natural gas, both the NYMEX Henry Hub futures price and the physical spot price at various locations across the country, is always a fascinating and key metric to keep an eye on. Why? Because higher prices have the power to drive more drilling, and conversely lower prices have the power to result in less drilling. At least in theory. Lately, the high price of natural gas has not given rise to floods of extra drilling as companies are pressured by investors to hold the line on new spending and instead pay down debt and boost dividends. But price remains important. Where is the price heading in the near term? Up, more or less. That’s what we gather from traders and other experts who monitor these things.
Read More “After Falling Last Week, NatGas Price Rises Again – Hit $6 Soon?”
America was founded as a free country on the principles and ideals that a free citizenry that is free to work and invest and spend as they see fit, with a minimum of interference by the government, is the best way to run a country. The current Democrat Party no longer holds to those principles and ideals. Joe Biden is attempting to put the government in control of all energy production and choices across the country, something they call climate progressivism. As Biden and the Dems attempt to remake the energy industry in our country, they are destroying the country economically. We’re not the only ones who think so. Dan Eberhart, CEO of Canary, LLC (oilfield services company), thinks so too.
Read More “Biden’s “Revised” $1.75T Budget Bill Still Targets Oil & Gas”
American Petroleum Institute (API) president and CEO, Mike Sommers, recently testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform to discuss the natural gas and oil industry’s priorities and API’s ludicrous support for so-called pricing carbon (i.e. a huge carbon tax), support for regulating methane (into oblivion), all while still trying to reliably produce American energy. Those priorities are irreconcilably impossible, but, whatever. The thing that really irked us was that Sommers obsequiously genuflected to the global warming gods during the hearing.
Read More “API President Bows Down to Global Warming Gods in Congress Talk”
It was a pretty paltry week for new shale drilling permits in the Marcellus/Utica. Two weeks ago Pennsylvania issued 21 permits to drill new shale wells. They must have shot their wad because last week PA issued just two new permits–the lowest number in PA we’ve seen in…we can’t remember how long. Ohio issued no new permits for Utica drilling last week…zero…goose egg. Only West Virginia held out some promise, issuing seven new permits for shale drilling last week.
Read More “9 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 25-31”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EQT donates $220,000 to local first responders; NATIONAL: U.S. consumption and production of natural gas decreased while exports grew in 2020; Top-of-the-line U.S. drilling equipment ‘essentially sold out,’ says Patterson-UTI; Sorry, President Biden, this is not OPEC’s fault; Top U.S. oil firms crank up shale output after cashing gains; INTERNATIONAL: BlackRock draws $673M to fund climate infrastructure projects; Russia says it’s not weaponizing its gas exports. Really?; China binges on U.S. gas to manage energy shortage, carbon footprint.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Nov 3, 2021”
Here we go again. Early this year the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) issued a permit to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to run through 3.5 miles of woodlands, and under the Appalachian Trail, in the Jefferson National Forest in Monroe County in West Virginia, in and Giles and Montgomery counties in Virginia (see US Forest Service Issues Approval for MVP Thru Jefferson Forest). Not long after, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) endorsed USFS’s plan by issuing a right-of-way grant and its own permit to MVP, saying pipeline construction along the path won’t kill too many bats and other critters (see BLM Approves MVP Request to Build in Jefferson Natl Forest). It didn’t take long for radicalized groups including the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, and Wild Virginia to sue.
Read More “Radical Green Groups Challenge MVP in 4th Circus Court – Again”
Last week the Pennsylvania Senate passed a concurrent resolution that would block the state from joining the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced “Reggie”), a carbon tax that aims to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of coal and natural gas to generate electricity in the state. PA will join RGGI next year if the Republican-controlled legislature can’t derail it. Unfortunately, the bipartisan Senate vote (with several Democrats joining Republicans) was 32-18, one vote short of a two-thirds majority needed to override the inevitable veto from leftist Gov. Tom Wolf.
Read More “PA Senate Passes Resolution to Block State Joining RGGI Carbon Tax”
The federal Environmental Protection Agency, the left’s favorite tool to undermine the U.S. Constitution, is attempting to do just that–undermine the Constitution. Today the EPA is floating a massive new regulation that seizes control of oil and gas drilling (and pipelines) away from the individual states, as provided for under the Constitution, and centralizes control in Washington, D.C. under the EPA. How? By forcing a one-size-fits-all regulation on so-called fugitive methane emissions that all states must comply with.
Read More “EPA Launches Massive Power Grab, Targets O&G Methane Emissions”
Seems like everybody is getting “responsible” all of a sudden. Over the past year, we went from nobody hearing of “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG) to now almost everyone clamoring to hop onto the RSG bandwagon. At least that seems to be the case here in the Marcellus/Utica. The nascent RSG movement is rapidly developing. By our count, there are four independent organizations/programs that certify parts of the natural gas industry and provide a certification that gas is responsibly produced and/or sourced. So far there have been at least seven (maybe more) major M-U drillers and several M-U pipeline companies to sign on for RSG certification. We try to make sense of the RSG landscape below…
Read More “Who Certifies Responsibly Sourced Gas (RSG) & How Does it Work?”
Last week six U.S. Senators (five of whom from major energy-producing states) introduced a series of three bipartisan bills aimed at encouraging the development of hydrogen energy infrastructure. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, was one of the sponsors and promoters. So too was Chris Coons, far-left Democrat from Delaware. That shows the range of support for efforts to help goose hydrogen use in this country.
Read More “Bipartisan Bill in Congress Aims to Boost Hydrogen Infrastructure”
As the COP26 climate change conference wraps up, complete with Joe Biden caught dozing off during one particularly interesting session (watch the video), the worldwide left media machine is in overdrive pumping out end-of-the-world horror story predictions if mankind doesn’t stop using fossil fuels and manufacturing plastics today. You know, the same fossil fuels and plastics every darned one of COP26 delegates used to get to that idiotic conference. We spotted an incredibly lucid and blunt assessment of the role of fossil fuels and plastics, and how they aren’t going anywhere.
Read More “COP26 Must Face Reality: Living Without O&G, Plastics Impossible”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Chesapeake Energy completes acquisition of Vine Energy; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ heads for Biden clash; LNG carriers drive Panama Canal’s growth in FY21; Global oil, natural gas demand strong into ‘foreseeable future,’ says Aramco; Europe’s energy crisis deepens as Russia cuts gas exports.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Nov 2, 2021”