U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Spire STL Pipe Request to Block Shutdown
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. The pipeline began flowing gas in late 2019 (see Spire Pipeline Ready to Flow Marcellus/Utica Gas to St. Louis). In June of this year, three Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the certificate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued for building Spire STL, meaning the pipeline must now shut down unless FERC intercedes (see Fed Court Overturns Marcellus to St. Louis Pipe – Shutdown Coming?). Earlier this month the parent company Spire asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the order that shuts down the pipeline (see Spire Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Block Shutdown of STL Pipeline). On Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts (a Republican-In-Name-Only) turned Spire down with no explanation.
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Hedging, in the case of natural gas produced by big drillers like EQT Corporation, is when the company presells the production it will make (in the future) under contract at a specific price. Typically companies like EQT will hedge production for up to a year, sometimes more, in advance. It’s a way of protecting revenue from production in case prices sink below a certain level. The problem with hedging is you are locked in when the price goes up and stays up, like the price for natgas has done over the past several months. According to Bloomberg, EQT’s hedges could cost the company “more than $5 billion through the end of next year.” Ouch. CEO Toby Rice openly admits the company guessed wrong on its hedges.
A group of hardened leftist Democrat Pennsylvania legislators, in a coordinated attack with the state’s horrible Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, are making a play to shut down the fully operational Mariner East pipeline system. Two weeks ago Shapiro, who is running for governor next year, indicted Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project with 48 so-called environmental crimes (see 
Last Friday the owner of the Glen Riddle Station Apartment complex in Delaware County, PA convinced a weak county judge to order the release of emails between officials in Middletown Township and Energy Transfer, owner of the Mariner East pipeline system. The Glen Riddle apartment complex owner is hoping he can find some minor, obscure statement in the letters to reignite opposition to finishing the third and last Mariner East pipeline that runs across his property. How selfish.
What’s the best way to defeat an enemy? Without ever firing a shot, of course. Convince your enemy to bow to and obey your commands. That’s what comes to mind with one of this country’s enemies, Saudi Arabia, and a recent “technical workshop” they held via videoconference with some 100 oil and gas companies around the world. The Saudis (i.e. OPEC) were essentially telling these other oil companies, with a big smile plastered across their faces, just how much oil and gas these other companies will be permitted to produce, and when they can produce it. And these other companies, some of them in this country, obsequiously bowed to their Saudi overlords. Sickening, no?
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California scrambles to find electricity to offset plant closures; NATIONAL: Biden’s power over energy; The climate mob is coming for LNG exports; ‘Crazy’ bets on $200 oil invade the options market; INTERNATIONAL: Energy crisis: fossil fuel investment drops, renewables aren’t ready; The global energy crisis has 4 possible paths through early 2022.
In October 2020 the Sisters of the Corn (our name for a group of leftist nuns in Lancaster County, PA) filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Williams over a pipeline that crosses their land–a pipeline (Atlantic Sunrise) that has been up and running safely for years (see 
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.
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 
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 
“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?
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.