Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Oct 1, 2021
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Shooting for careers – natural gas is a land of opportunity; NATIONAL: US weekly LNG exports lower this week; Natgas generated a larger share of revenue for selected U.S. oil producers in ’21; Exxon sees $700 million windfall from gas rally; Manchin says natural gas ‘has to be’ part of clean energy program; US natural gas storage fields post largest weekly injection since June; Joe Biden’s energy policies hurt my family; INTERNATIONAL: Someone is betting oil will hit $200; Boris Johnson bets on wind.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Oct 1, 2021”
Yesterday two Pennsylvania residents filed what they hope will turn into a class action lawsuit against EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The lawsuit claims EQT has not made required royalty payments to the two residents nor to many (hundreds? thousands?) others. The lawsuit claims, among other things, a violation of PA’s Minimum Royalty Act that guarantees payments to all rights owners of at least 12.5% of the value of the produced gas.
Imagine Hershey Park getting fined for smelling like a Hershey’s chocolate bar. Or Starbucks getting fined because the businesses next door can smell the coffee. The Shell cracker plant is getting fined for smelling like…maple syrup? Last week residents in several Beaver County, PA municipalities neighboring the Shell ethane cracker complex reported smelling something like a strong whiff of maple syrup. Shell immediately hired a third-party investigator and believes they now know what caused the smell.
In May MDN told you about one of the oddest combinations in recent memory–the merger of Permian oil driller Cimarex Energy with Marcellus gas driller Cabot Oil & Gas (see 
Reuters is reporting Chesapeake Energy has decided to elevate Domenic Dell’Osso Jr., the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), to become the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Dom has been with the company, as its CFO, since 2008 when Aubrey McClendon was CEO. As near as we can tell Dom is the only surviving senior management person left in the company from the McClendon and follow-on Doug Lawler years.
In August the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a draft Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act permit that would approve plans to let the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) finish its work in the state (see 
Yet another entrant in what is becoming a crowded field of programs aimed at reducing methane leaks from natural gas systems. A coalition of major U.S. natural gas operators, including Devon Energy, EQT, Sempra, Southern Company, and Williams, have signed on to something called the Veritas project, created by research firm GTI. How will Veritas reduce methane emissions and how is it different from Project Canary and other similar programs?
You knew the NYMEX (and spot) price for natural gas couldn’t go up forever. There will be days when it falls, or “corrects.” Yesterday was a big correction as the NYMEX futures price dropped 7.36% (down $0.40)–the biggest single-day drop in the NYMEX price in nine months. Despite the big drop, most experts we’ve read believe this is a temporary correction and the price will continue to climb.
For years anti-fossil fuelers have sought to make confidential safety information about the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline public. Specifically, they want to reveal “blast radius” information in hopes of inflaming opposition against the pipeline in their near-religious effort to get the pipeline permanently shut down (see 
Everyone wants to be perceived as “responsible” these days, as in “responsibly sourced gas.” How to do it? Project Canary is a Denver-based firm that developed its own methane measurement technology and third-party verification called TrustWell™. A number of Marcellus/Utica drillers, including EQT, Chesapeake Energy, Southwestern Energy, Range Resources, and Seneca Resources have all joined the Project Canary program. Tallgrass Energy’s Rockies Express (REX) Pipeline aims to be the first interstate pipeline system that is Project Canary certified end-to-end, flowing Marcellus/Utica gas responsibly.
For years we have pointed out the botched strategy of New England politicians in blocking new pipelines to the region from the Marcellus. In the past during cold weather events, New England, which relies heavily on natural gas to generate electricity, has imported natural gas from our enemies in Russia in order to keep the lights on (see 
The price of natural gas, both the futures price at the Henry Hub NYMEX, and the spot price at hundreds of trading hubs across the country, continues to rise. The commodity price of natural gas has been the focus for a number of MDN posts in recent weeks. The question we’re often asked is, What will the price do over the next year or so? Will it stay this high? Will it decrease? We have two articles to share predicting what the NYMEX price of natural gas will be in the spring (and beyond). We think you’ll find both articles interesting. Let’s haul out the crystal ball…
A healthy number of permits were issued to drill new shale wells across the Marcellus/Utica region last week. Pennsylvania issued 19 new permits in both southwest and northeast PA. Ohio issued 8 new permits, all of them to a single driller (Ascent Resources) for two well pads in two different counties. West Virginia issued 9 new permits–all but 2 of them were issued to Antero Resources in Tyler County.