PA Orphan Well Plugging Contracts Will Go to Conventional Drillers
Pennsylvania has already received the first $25 million payment from the so-called infrastructure bill, a down payment on what will eventually be $330.6 million (see PA Receives First $25M (Out of $104M) to Plug Orphaned Wells). The money is to be used to plug old abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells across the state. PA has perhaps more orphaned wells than any other state (we’ve seen estimates as high as 200,000 old wells). The good news is that PA’s small mom-and-pop conventional drillers will likely get many of the jobs to do the plugging. The bad news (for drillers) is that if a driller has any outstanding violations not yet resolved (business- or environmental-related), it won’t get any of the well-plugging work.
Read More “PA Orphan Well Plugging Contracts Will Go to Conventional Drillers”
According to S&P Global Platts, spot gas prices across the northeast and Appalachia were “trading sharply lower Feb. 7.” It is, says Platts, “a dynamic that could continue into the second week of February, as stronger regional gas production and higher temperature forecasts loosen supply and demand fundamentals.” How much lower are prices trading? The Eastern Gas South trading hub (formerly Dominion South) fell by almost $1/MMBtu yesterday. The Columbia Gas, Appalachia trading hub fell more than $1.
According to numbers published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2020 Pennsylvania generated and sent more electricity to neighboring states than any other state in the union. More than 230 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity was generated in Pennsylvania during 2020, and nearly 78 million MWh of that electricity was delivered to neighboring states. If PA Gov. Wolf’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme is adopted, much of that electric production will disappear. PA’s neighbors should be VERY concerned.
Venture Global LNG expects to load the inaugural cargo at its Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana on or after February 9. This is fantastic news! In addition, Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export facility (a competitor with Calcasieu Pass) received FERC clearance to start commercial production on its sixth processing train. The best part for both bits of news? Marcellus/Utica molecules flow to Sabine Pass and either already do, or will flow to Calcasieu Pass in the future. New markets for our gas!
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Utica Shale Academy to fall short of funding expectations; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Bechtel to start construction of $30B Driftwood LNG plant in April; Vermont gas utility has a new service helping electrify homes; NATIONAL: Growing U.S. LNG output has influenced global logistics, pricing; Biden is disconnected from American’s reluctance to be regulated out of fossil fuel prosperity.
The Pennsylvania State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has engaged in some questionable activities in the past, but this time they’ve stepped WAY across the line. Last Thursday the PA DEP filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court to force the state to adopt the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a blatant tax on carbon dioxide produced by gas- and coal-fired power plants. Thing is, it’s illegal for the state to adopt RGGI right now while the state legislature still has a window of time to vote on overriding Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of a resolution that would have stopped RGGI. Constitutionally, legally, statutorily, the legislature has a certain number of days to attempt an override. The DEP’s Secretary Pat McDonnell, Gov. Wolf’s patsy, is trying to circumvent the law by forcing RGGI through now.
Some good news to report for Olympus Energy. The supervisors for Upper Burrell Township (in Westmoreland County, PA) voted last week to approve a new compressor station that will flow natural gas from multiple wells on 3-4 nearby Olympus well pads.
In late 2015 MPLX (i.e. Marathon Petroleum) bought out and merged in the Utica Shale’s premier midstream company, MarkWest Energy, for $15 billion (see 
