Equinor Looks to Sell Operations in Utica Shale, Grow Non-op M-U
Oil and gas drilling giant Equinor (formerly called Statoil) is owned by the Norwegian government. Equinor/Statoil has drilled in the Marcellus/Utica for years. It looks like that may be coming to an end–at least the active drilling part. Equinor officials say they are evaluating their U.S. shale holdings, including their active drilling on 27,000 acres in the Utica Shale, with an eye toward selling.
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Once you sort through all of the subsidiaries of subsidiaries of subsidiaries, you’ll find this news from a press release we spotted this morning: PennEnergy Resources has sold a gathering pipeline system in western Pennsylvania, called Pine Run Midstream, to a joint venture partnership between venture capital firm Energy Spectrum Partners (based in Texas) and utility/pipeline company UGI (based in Pennsylvania). Sale price: $205 million.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy has just released its annual LNG report (full copy below) detailing every single shipment of LNG exported via tanker ship, identifying where it shipped from (which facility), who bought it, which country it sailed to, etc. Among the gems in the report: in December Cove Point LNG, now operated by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company, saw the highest prices for LNG exports during the month, averaging $7.11 per MMBtu. Cove Point was also the first LNG export facility to load a ship sailing to Croatia with American LNG.
Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published the monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The latest DPR, which shows estimates for oil and gas production from the seven largest shale plays in the U.S., shows a drop in shale gas production across all plays (including the Marcellus/Utica) coming in March–except for an increase in gas production in the M-U’s primary competitor, the Haynesville.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently issued its Annual Energy Outlook for 2021 (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Rep. Balderson calls report stating decline of oil, gas industry “misleading”; Fetterman signs no fossil fuel money pledge; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Washington State Republicans speak out against natural gas bill; NATIONAL: Some U.S. ethanol producers reduce production to sell natural gas for a profit; Natural gas shortage forces feedyards to reformulate feed, packing plants pause production; Auctioning Blackouts (video); INTERNATIONAL: LNG import terminals in India, Europe to add capacity as demand grows; Japan’s LNG imports up in January.
Supply and demand, that’s what it’s all about in a pure commodity market like natural gas. Supply and demand just about came off the rails last Friday in Oklahoma as the price of natural gas selling along Oneok Gas Transmission’s (OGT) 23 interstate and 20 intrastate pipeline connections entered the stratosphere. At one point the cash price for natgas in OK was fetching $600/MMBtu! No, this is not a joke. That’s the highest price paid for natgas…ever.
Danger, Will Robinson! One of the leading lights in the Pennsylvania legislature against Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s idiotic (and dangerous) carbon tax plan, called RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative), has been Republican House Rep. Jim Struzzi (from Indiana County). Struzzi sponsored House Bill (HB) 2025 last year giving PA residents a say in whether or not the state should join RGGI (see 
The so-called peak oil theorists have been positively giddy with excitement over predictions about the death of oil. “Just look at how much oil production demand AND supply has decreased since the outbreak of the pandemic. It’s NEVER coming back!” Those are the kinds of things the peakers tell themselves and anyone else who will listen. Mainstream media laps it up and repeats it. But when real researchers delve into the topic of whether or not oil has reached its zenith, the facts tell a far different story.
Believe it or not, today is a New York Stock Exchange holiday (i.e. bank) holiday. MDN rarely takes a day off, so we tend to track with those holidays observed by the NYSE. Have no fear, we are monitoring the news and if anything earth-shattering happens, we’ll bring you the latest. Otherwise, look for full-strength MDN to return tomorrow. In the meantime, we have updated the 
For the past week or so we’ve spotted stories in the Democrat press (i.e. mainstream news) about a so-called “research report” issued by a front organization for the Heinz Endowments called the Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI). The ORVI recently released a report that purports to show the fracking miracle in the Marcellus/Utica hasn’t actually created all that many jobs or economic benefits. Here’s the first tip this report is a scam and a sham: The lead researcher from the so-called ORVI doesn’t live in the Ohio River Valley nor anywhere near the M-U, he’s a playwright who lives thousands of miles away on the Left Coast, in Washington State. In other words, the report is fiction.