EQT Launches $75M Fund to Investigate Hydrogen, CO2 Storage
Last week MDN told you that EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas driller in the U.S., had released its 2020 ESG report and announced the company would be “net carbon zero” by 2025 or sooner (see EQT Issues 2020 ESG Report, Claims Net Zero by 2025 “or Sooner”). In a follow-up conference call with analysts, EQT CEO Toby Rice announced he believes EQT could become THE lowest-cost producer of hydrogen in the U.S.–using EQT’s fracked natural gas, of course. In addition, when shale wells run dry, Rice plans to pump carbon dioxide down into the empty wells, something called carbon sequestration.
Read More “EQT Launches $75M Fund to Investigate Hydrogen, CO2 Storage”
The tinpot dictators who run the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia (OPEC+) can’t agree on increasing overall production levels of oil. What a surprise. Meanwhile, America’s own shale frackers refuse to increase their own drilling to meet the increase in world demand, having been cowed by woke leftists into “behaving” themselves. And so the world’s oil production (not supplies, but actual production) continues to decline at a time when more oil is needed. Lack of supply is driving the price of oil higher.
The Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA), a trade association representing the companies and people that provide contractor services, equipment, materials, and labor to shale oil and gas exploration and production, infrastructure, transportation and processing, has just published its Spring/Summer 2021 Energy Logistics & Distribution Report (full copy below). The report features more than 75 individual charts and graphs tracking price and volume metrics for energy including crude oil, natural gas, NGLs, drilling activities, renewables, consumption, logistics, and financial data. It is the single best source of charts and graphs to understand what’s happening in the energy markets.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Permian oil patch faces economic conundrum as efficiencies reduce workforce; NATIONAL: Rigs added in Permian, Marcellus as U.S. drilling count continues uptrend; President Biden’s climate plan is more revolution than transition; Will crude oil hit $100 a barrel?; As U.S. temperatures spike, so does the need for natural gas; ExxonMobil employs lobbyists? Who knew?; INTERNATIONAL: Energy inflation gathers pace in Europe; Slave labor builds solar panels to signal your virtues.
Is our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, being corrupted by the Biden White House? Maybe. The EIA published a post on their Today in Energy website yesterday to trumpet the fact that “nonfossil fuel sources” accounted for 21% of all energy consumed in the U.S. in 2020. The post should have had the headline that fossil energy provided 79% of all energy consumed in the U.S. last year. Yes, that was a new low for fossil energy (and a new high for nonfossil fuels) in the modern age, but not by much. We dug into the numbers and discovered a startling revelation: natural gas was the #1 source of energy consumed in the U.S. last year–even more than oil!
The Supreme Court decision from earlier this week allowing PennEast Pipeline to use the federally delegated power of eminent domain to cross tiny pieces of land owned (or controlled by) New Jersey is still reverberating across the country (see 
As encouraging (indeed critical) as this week’s Supreme Court decision was and is for the PennEast Pipeline, a 120-mile 1.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) pipeline from northeastern Pennsylvania to New Jersey, the court victory does not automatically mean the pipeline will get built. Not one square inch of pipe has been laid yet. What are the potential obstacles that could derail the project?
In April, CNX Resources Corp. announced instead of just blowing smoke about ESG (environmental, social, governance) with pretty slide shows and hoopla, they would donate $30 million to local, underserved communities and populations in the tri-state region (see 
With all of this blather about ESG (environmental, social, governance) and net zero and so-called “renewable” natural gas (RNG), has anyone stepped back to ask the question, Will utility companies (and their ratepayers) actually pay more for green gas? Reuters has asked the question and it seems that right now, the answer is a resounding NO!
More details have emerged from what has to be one of the oddest combinations in recent memory–the merger of Permian driller Cimarex Energy with Marcellus driller Cabot Oil & Gas (see 
Earlier this month MDN brought you the sad news that Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline is being flow-restricted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). Some 40% of the Marcellus/Utica molecules that flow through TETCO’s pipeline to destinations in the southeastern U.S. have disappeared and will stay that way until the end of September (see 
Yesterday, National Grid issued its Natural Gas Long-Term Capacity Second Supplemental Report (full copy below). The report reaffirms the company’s commitment to achieving a mythical so-called “net zero carbon” future. Whatever. The report provides an update on the short- and long-term energy needs of downstate New York customers, reviews the status of targeted solutions identified by the company in 2020, and emphasizes the importance of ensuring that no customer is left behind during the transition to a magical net zero future. How will they accomplish it? According to this updated report, with *more* natural gas.
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that the U.S. Supreme Court decided that yes, the PennEast Pipeline *can* use federally-delegated eminent domain in order to install a pipeline across New Jersey state-owned land after all (see