Judge Refuses Emergency Request to Stop MVP Construction
In a second victory for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) over the past week, a federal judge rejected a request by a Virginia landowner for emergency power to block construction of MVP across the landowner’s property on Bent Mountain. Last week we told you the landowner claimed blasting and construction for the pipeline on his property could “explode the headwaters of Bottom Creek.” We noted the same landowner has been suing to block MVP on his property since at least early 2019. The judge told him that her court was not the proper jurisdiction to resolve the dispute.
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In February of this year, PTT Global Chemical adamantly claimed a final investment decision (FID) to build the $10 billion ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, OH would happen by “middle of 2021” (see 
When CNX Resources issued its second quarter update in July, the company revealed that it is not only “net carbon zero” right now, it has been that way–actually net carbon negative, pulling more CO2 out of the atmosphere than it puts in–since 2016 (see 
A new report (full copy below) commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found the oil and natural gas industries directly or indirectly supported over 188,000 jobs in Pennsylvania in 2019, or 6.1% of the total share of commonwealth employment. Furthermore, the oil and gas industries produced $14.2 billion in labor income, which was 7.9% of the state total share, and had a statewide economic impact of $31.9 billion, for 9.7% of the state total share. The percentages for the impact of oil and gas on the West Virginia economy are similar.
In February 2020 we told you about a mob of anti-fossil fuelers attempting to block the final few feet of construction for a 6.8-mile natural gas pipeline stretching from Brownsville to North Brooklyn in New York City (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Cabot, Cimarex set shareholder meeting date on merger; Klaber’s Viewpoint: Pipeline issues not being addressed; Justice defends coal, gas industry appointees to revamped Public Energy Authority; NATIONAL: Natural gas futures fall to $3.86 as near-term cooldown trumps supply concerns; Oil ends lower Friday on demand concerns from delta variant spread; Offshore Technology Conference set to open today; An energy and political crisis of Biden’s own making; INTERNATIONAL: Cheap USA oil snapped up in Asia; Entirety of Europe could face a staggering natural gas crisis this winter.
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its second quarter 2021 update earlier this week. The company produced 1.95 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 2Q (91% natural gas). Ascent generated $38 million of free cash flow, but like other M-U drillers, hedging bets on derivatives resulted in a big loss of $617 million for the quarter.
In an effort to flow more Marcellus natural gas to a starving New York City, Kinder Morgan cut a deal with utility company Consolidated Edison in 2019 to provide more gas by beefing up capacity along its Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) that feeds NYC, allowing Con Ed to avoid cutting customers off from natgas hookups (see 
Somehow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) thinks it can tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) what it can and can’t do with respect to evaluating pipeline projects. EPA is “advising” FERC to begin incorporating the “social cost of carbon” into its environmental reviews, taking an added look at the climate change impacts of natural gas infrastructure projects. Who the heck does the EPA think it is? Climate God?
The latest weekly Enverus U.S. rig count shows total rigs in use hitting a new post-pandemic high. For the week ending August 12, the rig count stood at 617, up 14 rigs from the previous week. That’s the highest rig count since April 2020. The Marcellus play lost another rig from the previous week (second week in a row), while the Utica stayed even. Collectively the M-U is currently running 44 rigs, down one rig from the previous week.
The price of gasoline at the pump in the U.S. is up a full dollar over the past year. Even half-with-it politicians like Joe Biden knows high pump prices equal rebellion at the ballot box. Biden killed the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office. Then he blocked new drilling on federal lands. Biden’s disastrous picks to run Interior, Energy, EPA, and FERC are killing the fossil fuel industry here at home. Oil production is tanking. So how does old dementia Joe propose to “fix” high prices at the pump? How will he fix the mess he’s made? Biden goes begging, hat in hand, to the vicious tyrants that run OPEC+ (America’s enemies), begging them to pump more oil to drive down gas prices. What a pathetic dope. Not even the weak, genuflecting American Petroleum Institute (API) can stomach Biden’s OPEC+ begging.
Chesapeake announced yesterday it will buy Haynesville driller Vine Energy for $2.2 billion–mostly by trading or issuing shares of stock (payment will be 92% in stock, 8% in cash). The Reuters rumors were right: interim CEO Mike Wichterich will either go big or go bust with his mission to expand Chesapeake. We hope it’s not the latter since Chesapeake still owns a huge amount of assets in the northeastern PA Marcellus. Is Chesapeake making the same mistake it made under the leadership of Doug Lawler when Lawler got a wandering eye and purchased WildHorse Resource Development Corp in the Eagle Ford Shale (see 
Two days ago Chesapeake Energy issued its second quarter 2021 update. Yesterday the company held a conference call with analysts to discuss financial and operational performance during 2Q. As you can imagine, most of the talk was about a surprise announcement (from yesterday) that Chesapeake is buying Haynesville driller Vine Energy for $2.2 billion (see today’s lead story). During 2Q the company lost $439 million, versus losing $276 million for the same quarter last year. However, Chessy generated $300 million in free cash flow. The company produced 433,000 boe (barrels of oil equivalent) per day, of which 77% was natural gas and 23% liquids. It plans to significantly increase production.
Some disturbing news out of Pennsylvania. You may recall that PennEast Pipeline, a 120-mile, primarily 36-inch pipeline that will cost $1 billion to build and run from Dallas, Luzerne County, in northeastern Pennsylvania, and terminate at Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington, Mercer County, New Jersey, won a huge and important victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in June (see