Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Sep 14, 2021
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Columbiana County still on oil and gas drillers’ radar; Developer joins climate advocates in pushing gas-hookup ban; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California’s request to burn natural gas OK’d by DOE as supply risks imminent; NATIONAL: As oil-well backlog shrinks, U.S. shale may upset investors and drill more; The natural gas market is a great precursor for the oil market; INTERNATIONAL: Researchers toilet-trained cows in hopes of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Sep 14, 2021”
In May MDN told you that Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) had won Kentucky state approval to build a new 12-inch, 12-mile pipeline near Louisville to supply gas to 62 homes and businesses that can’t connect to LG&E’s local natgas utility system (see 
Some 130 energy, manufacturing, business, and labor trade organizations, led by the American Petroleum Institute, are sounding the alarm about Democrats’ plan to tax methane emissions into oblivion, a back-door way of attacking natural gas and forcing Americans to quit using it. The coalition of groups sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (headed by WV Sen. Joe Manchin) opposing a plan by Democrats to include the Methane Emissions Reduction Act of 2021 in the $3.5 trillion so-called budget reconciliation bill.
Europe has plenty of its own natural gas (and oil) that can readily be tapped–but they refuse to do so because they hew to the popular mythology that using fossil fuels is destroying the planet. Yet Europe must also face reality: Without burning fossil fuels, like natural gas, the continent will go dark and people will freeze to death this winter. What’s a psychotic continent and its “leaders” supposed to do? We’ll tell you what they are doing–they’re buying up LNG as fast as they can. They won’t make the natural gas themselves, but they’ll buy it from others, including the U.S.
Here’s a paradox for you that we can’t explain. Last week we reported the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) predicts natural gas production in the U.S. will hit an all-time high in 2022 (see 
The Route 2 | I-68 Authority in West Virginia wants to expand Route 2 to four lanes from Parkersburg, WV to Chester, WV, and to extend Interstate 68 from I-79 near Morgantown, WV westward to WV Route 2 along the Ohio River Valley, some 73 miles (see 
EnergyNet is an online marketplace for buying and selling oil and gas working interests (operated and non-operated), overrides, royalties, mineral interests, leaseholds, and other contracts. From time to time we spot auctions on EnergyNet from Marcellus/Utica drillers. EnerVest Energy is currently auctioning a package of 146,053 acres of leases for non-operated and overriding royalty interests (ORRI) in the Utica Shale scattered across Ohio and Pennsylvania. The EnerVest auction ends Oct 7. We have the details below.
Another great company succumbs to the siren call of ESG (environmental, social, governance). A week ago we told you that Seneca Resources, the drilling arm of utility giant National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), had signed up with Project Canary to certify its natural gas as responsibly sourced (see 
During a meeting of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board yesterday, DEP staffers said they are still evaluating whether or not it is appropriate to develop a regulation covering road dumping of conventional oil and gas drilling wastewater. The staffers noted there is currently a ban on giving permission for road dumping from the Oil and Gas Program. However, the same staffers, namely Scott Perry, DEP Deputy for Oil and Gas Management, neglected to say that wastewater is still used to treat PA’s dusty rural roads through a program under the DEP’s Bureau of Waste Management. Antis are hopping mad.
Lately, we’ve brought you a number of articles about the price of natural gas, both the financial NYMEX futures price (from the Henry Hub), and the spot price gas fetches at various trading hubs around the Marcellus/Utica region. The price of gas matters. It drives higher royalties for landowners, higher profits for drillers, and ultimately whether or not there is an increase (or decrease) in drilling new wells. Yesterday was another historic milestone. The NYMEX futures price for the “front month” (October) closed over $5 per MMBtu. That’s the first time the closing price for the current NYMEX contract has been over $5 in seven years (since 2014).
Natural gas drillers, particularly in the Marcellus/Utica, are finally financially healthy. Some are healthy for the first time ever, some for the first time in years, since the severe 2018 and 2019 downturn when natgas prices collapsed. Things are going well in the M-U with most companies focused on fiscal discipline and producing free cash flow. However, there’s a big, black cloud on the horizon–the Joe Biden administration. A number of people in the administration have signaled their disdain, even outright hatred for natural gas, because it’s a “fossil fuel.” The Biden administration aims to cripple the use of natural gas nationwide.
Just two days ago MDN told you about whispers that the NYMEX price of natural gas may actually hit or surpass $5/MMBtu (see