OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Dakota oil pipeline expansion completed; NATIONAL: With climate litigation failing, Rockefellers try a different angle; Now Biden is trying to racialize energy, too; John Kerry questions long-term future of natural gas.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Aug 5, 2021”
Each quarter the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) issues an update on Utica (and Marcellus) oil and natural gas production. ODNR no longer issues a summary press release as they once did, which means we don’t automatically notice when quarterly updates appear on their website. ODNR publishes a detailed spreadsheet of all active wells showing oil and gas production by well. We make a copy of that spreadsheet, enhance it to make it more usable, and link to it. We also do our own sorting to show you the top 25 shale gas wells and top 25 shale oil wells. An astute MDN reader inquired about the report for 1Q21, which is now available. We’ve created our own version of their report and have some exciting news to share about 1Q21 results. Oil is back, in a big way, in the northern Utica!
Read More “Ohio Utica Shale Production 1Q21 – Northern Utica Oil Roars Back”
Once again the price of natural gas–both the financial futures price (the NYMEX) and even spot physical prices in many locations, like the M-U, increased dramatically. The NYMEX is back above $4/MMBtu once again. Just two months ago we longed for, prayed for, yearned for gas above $3! Why are natural gas prices moving higher and (for now) staying higher? In a nutshell, for three reasons: record exports, hot weather, and self-restrained drillers.
Read More “NatGas Becomes Summer’s Hottest Commodity – Price Above $4 Again”
Analysts are predicting natural gas prices in the northeastern U.S. market area “could hit their highest [rate] in four years or more” this coming winter. Why? Producers have not ramped up drilling to the same levels we saw prior to the COVID pandemic. Lack of new drilling is causing a storage deficit–less gas being socked away for the winter months. With “strong demand” coming this winter, futures prices for the coming winter months in the northeast is already on the climb–in some places more than $14/MMBtu!
Read More “Northeast NatGas Prices This Winter Predicted to be Highest in 4 Yrs”
Pipeline giant Williams delivered its second quarter update yesterday. It was obvious from the chatter by company executives, including CEO Alan Armstrong, that the Marcellus/Utica continues to play a key and important role in the company’s future. However, Williams is also expanding its footprint in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana. Armstrong announced a second joint venture in the Haynesville, with private producer GeoSouthern Energy Corp.
Read More “Williams: M-U Volumes Boost 2Q Profits, 2nd JV in Haynesville”
The CO2 Coalition, a nonprofit established in 2015 for the purpose of educating thought leaders, policymakers, and the general public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide to our lives and the economy, has just published a detailed analysis of Pennsylvania’s plan to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI (full copy below). In the report, more than 70 top scientists conclude that PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s justifications for the RGGI carbon tax “are invalid and its claims of environmental and economic benefits are fiction.”
Read More “New Study: PA’s RGGI Carbon Tax “Solution in Search of a Problem””
Back in June, MDN brought you insights from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) which noticed the decreasing number of drilled but uncompleted wells, or DUCs (see EIA Notices the Curious Case of Disappearing DUCs in U.S. Shale). Fewer DUCs mean more previously drilled wells are getting completed and brought online to sales. We’ve spotted another article about the decreasing number of DUCs and about a distinction that until now, we were unaware of. Did you know there’s a difference between “live” and “dead” DUCs?
Read More “‘Live’ vs. ‘Dead’ DUCs – Lowest DUC Counts Since 2013”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Analyst sees Permian basin output fully recover from COVID shutdown by 2022; FERC must redo climate analysis for Texas LNG projects – D.C. Circuit; NATIONAL: Pioneer Natural Resources warns of tepid shale growth in coming years; INTERNATIONAL: Natural gas demand to surpass 2019 levels by year’s end, says BP chief.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Aug 4, 2021”
Privately-owned Penn Production Group, LLC, which concentrates on exploration and production for oil and gas in western Pennsylvania, closed on the purchase of certain assets owned by Greylock Energy in Clearfield County, PA on July 30. The assets include 20 miles of pipeline (called Mid Stream) that feeds the gas-fired Shawville GenOn Generating Station and the Dominion pipeline.
Read More “Penn Production Buys Greylock Assets in Clearfield County, PA”
Each week when we bring you the latest rig counts for major shale plays across the country (from S&P and Enverus), and each month when we bring you the latest production numbers for the major shale plays (from the U.S. Energy Information Administration), we typically say something along the lines of this: The major competitor to the Marcellus/Utica has been and continues to be the Haynesville, located Louisiana and East Texas. Last week the Haynesville operated 56 rigs while the M-U operated a combined 45 rigs (see Enverus Rig Count @ 599 (-5); Marcellus @ 33 (+1), Utica @ 12 (-1)). Why is the Haynesville winning out over the prolific M-U?
Read More “Haynesville Shale Drilling Continues to Exceed M-U Drilling”
The radicals at the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) are not just content to block any future use of royalties from drilling on state land to fund only Big Green priorities, as they recently won the right to do (see Radical PA Group Wins Court Case to Block DCNR Drilling Budget). The radicals now want to go back more than a decade and claw back some $1.3 billion they claim was misspent, forcing the state into bankruptcy.
Read More “PEDF Tries to Bankrupt PA re State Land Drilling Revenue”
America’s natural gas and oil industry announced “a landmark partnership” in late 2017 called The Environmental Partnership, to “accelerate improvements to environmental performance in operations across the country” (see NatGas, Oil Industry Partnership to Accelerate Methane Reductions). The latest O&G company to join up and help reduce methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions is…Energy Transfer, the builder of the Mariner East and Rover pipelines.
Read More “Energy Transfer Joins Environmental Partnership to Lower Emissions”
We happen to think the oil and gas industry has sort of lost its collective mind. We’ve lost the battle over fossil fuels by conceding that carbon dioxide, the stuff you emit with every breath you take, is somehow polluting the planet. If we concede that point, it’s all downhill from there. Environmentalist wackos will not stop until all fossil fuels are permanently eliminated from the energy mix–which will be devastating to humankind. But they don’t care. Still, you can’t miss the fact that O&G is “doing its part” to reign in carbon and methane emissions, playing along with the demands of the left. ESG has become a more common phrase in the quarterly updates of O&G companies than barrels of oil and thousands of cubic feet of natural gas. What is O&G doing with respect to ESG, hydrogen, and carbon capture sequestration? And where is it all heading? Will O&G companies actually hit net carbon zero?
Read More “ESG, Hydrogen, Sequestration – O&G Efforts to Reign in Carbon”
Last week both Pennsylvania and West Virginia received permits to drill new shale wells. Ohio was left out of the permit game for a second week in a row. PA received 19 new permits, with 9 going to Range Resources, 4 going to Seneca Resources, and a smattering of others. WV received 9 new permits, all of them in Tyler County and all but 2 given to Antero Resources.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Jul 26-Aug 1”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: CEC takes over Chevron headquarters building in Pittsburgh; NATIONAL: WTI oil price to average $75 in 2022 and remain elevated for years; Natural gas futures, spot prices sink as cooler weather arrives; “DUCs down” has made shale’s post-COVID bed softer…so far; LNG seen offering upside as North American gas pipeline buildout winds down; The climate warriors are coming for your gas heater and stove; U.S. natural gas prices flying through summer 2021; INTERNATIONAL: Delta variant causes oil prices to tumble; Forget about peak oil – we haven’t even reached peak coal yet; Hydrogen in the home would be four times more dangerous than natural gas.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Aug 3, 2021”
Cabot Oil & Gas announced on Friday as part of its second quarter 2021 update the company will *increase* production during the second half of this year. Cabot CEO Dan Dinges said because the Williams Leidy South Expansion Project will be fully online in 4Q and because the gas price outlook this winter is strong, the company plans to increase production by 4% in 3Q, and by a full 10% in 4Q. Finally! Somebody willing to drill more and produce more and make a profit doing it.
Read More “Cabot Makes $30M Profit in 2Q, Increasing Production +10% in 4Q”