PA DEP 2020 Annual O&G Report: Highest NatGas Production Ever
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just published its 2020 Oil and Gas Annual Report. This is the fifth year in a row the DEP has published the report in an interactive, electronic (i.e.online) format ONLY. Don’t worry, we’ve turned it into a convenient PDF for MDN readers. What does the 2020 report show? While permits issued and the number of new wells drilled have both gone down (again), gas production has gone up (again)–to a new record high.
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From the “mankind has gone collectively insane” file: Some two dozen utility companies, including Dominion Energy and Sempra Energy, are experimenting/dipping their toe in the water of mixing super-explosive hydrogen with methane (natural gas) in extremely small quantities on the theory that one day, hydrogen can replace natural gas in existing pipelines and infrastructure. H2 can’t and won’t replace CH4, but hey, these companies at least have to show they’re trying or risk being sued into oblivion by woke leftists who claim mankind is burning the earth by burning fossil fuels. Yes, collectively mankind has officially gone mad…
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Trucking opportunities get a boost with Cabot funding; Ohio Oil, Gas Association honors Don and Gene Huck; Finish the MVP – it helps Franklin County; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Natural gas to gasoline; NATIONAL: Biden admin fights another Canadian oil export pipeline; Two former energy secretaries say foreign demand for U.S. LNG “simply astounding”; Natural gas markets running out of steam?; INTERNATIONAL: Exxon faces embarrassing lobbyist comments in leaked video.
As we previously predicted would happen, New Jersey lost its Supreme Court case to block PennEast Pipeline from using eminent domain to cross NJ-owned or controlled land. This was a critical case to prevent blue states like NJ, and New York, and California from blocking ALL new interstate pipelines aimed at crossing states to deliver product from other states. NJ’s lawless action was an overt attempt at blocking interstate commerce and a direct challenge to one of the purposes of the Natural Gas Act, passed in 1938. Disappointingly PennEast won by only one vote. Still, it’s a victory!
Last October MDN told you that DTE Energy, a long-time pipeline builder and operator in the Marcellus/Utica region, was considering either selling or spinning off its pipeline business (see 
Yesterday EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., released its annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, outlining the company’s 2020 operational data and initiatives aimed at improving the way EQT produces “environmentally responsible,” reliable, and low-cost energy. Additionally, EQT announced targets to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its production operations by or before 2025–less than four years away.
One of the driving forces behind the whole ESG (environmental, social, governance) push that aims to force oil and gas companies to foreswear using the very product they extract from the ground is what we called pimple-faced Millennial investors. Kids who grew up watching Captain Planet cartoons–and believing what they watched. A form of mind-control and brainwashing. A sharp investment expert has analyzed investing for ESG and proves it’s a sham. It’s a fraud. It’s the “Great Wall Street Money Heist”…
All three Marcellus/Utica states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania issued 9 new permits, all but one of them for the same well pad in Greene County. Ohio issued 3 new permits, two on a single pad in Monroe County. And West Virginia issued just 1 new permit last week–to a company we had not previously heard of.
On June 3 we published a post posing the question of whether or not the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would delay the already-years-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for yet another year (see 
The price of natural gas for the NYMEX futures contract (July) based on the price at the benchmark Henry Hub, hit a new, 30-month high yesterday closing at $3.62/MMBtu. But that’s not even the biggest news. The spot price of natural gas at multiple locations across the country (including the Marcellus/Utica) is cooking, largely due to the hot temps in both the Pacific Northwest and the East Coast. The cash price at Algonquin city-gates (Boston area) rose about $1 to trade at $4.87/MMBtu, while Transco Zone 6 NY (New York City area) was up 79 cents at $3.93/MMBtu. Cove Point LNG (exports 100% Marcellus molecules) cash prices climbed 66.5 cents to $3.845.
Earlier this month MDN told you that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), under the direction of Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick, had hit the pause button on finishing up final approvals so the agency can take the next six months to complete full environmental impact statements (EIS’s), gauging whether or not five pipeline projects will cause too much mythical, man-made global warming (see 
Politicians derive their power from touching *your* money. They love to take money out of one of your pockets, handle it (siphon some of it off for themselves and their favorite cronies), and then put some (not all) of it back into another of your pockets–all while telling you that you should enjoy the violation you’ve just received. This is the elaborate hoax Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and those who want to slap an insane, regressive carbon tax on all Pennsylvanians are attempting with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–a carbon tax aimed at eliminating coal-fired power plants and vastly reducing the number of Marcellus-fired power plants.
For the past year or more DUCs (