EQT Partners with Project Canary on “Responsibly Sourced” NatGas
Yesterday EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., announced it is partnering with a Denver, CO company calling itself “Project Canary” to run a test on two of its shale gas pads, to prove the gas produced is “certified responsibly sourced” natural gas. The test will purportedly prove that EQT is doing a good job of producing its natgas with “high environmental and social standards.” Personally, we don’t think they have anything to prove, nor should they. But hey, it’s not our company to run.
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CNX released fourth-quarter and full-year numbers yesterday, but without the usual press release summarizing the results. CNX’s top brass did hold a conference call with analysts to discuss the update. Right out of the chute CEO Nick DeIuliis opened up the session by making four points. Nick’s very first point was that “2020 marked the most successful year we’ve seen as an E&P” as measured by free cash flow.
Well, this is a bummer. Dave Spigelmyer, someone we consider to be a friend, is retiring from the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) effective today. He will be replaced by MSC board member Dave Callahan, who officially takes over on Monday. Spigelmyer has been president (the second president of the MSC) since 2013. He took over from another terrific person, Katie Klaber, the organization’s first president. Dave Callahan has big shoes to fill, but we’re confident he’s up to the task.
Invoking the words “coronavirus” and “COVID-19” like a magical talisman, Pennsylvania’s far-left, bumbling governor, Tom Wolf, has for the seventh year in a row issued a budget proposal that won’t pass because it includes a Marcellus-killing severance tax on top of the existing severance tax (called an impact “fee”). Every year the urgent/critical reason changes for why Wolf needs to get his grubby hands on hundreds of millions of dollars. Just insert whatever is currently in the news into the blank and it’s the same tired, old appeal. This year the excuse is the coronavirus and restoring PA’s failing economy. Wolf is Johnny One-Note when it comes to proposing a severance tax every year.
Over the past week, the Enverus U.S. rig count jumped up by another 12 active rigs, making the new count 442. That’s the highest the rig count has been since April 2020 when the count began to drop like a rock as the coronavirus pandemic began to bite deeply. The count for both the Marcellus and Utica remained constant at a combined 42.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) member Neil Chatterjee during a recent webinar “laid out the business case for the GOP to get on board with the clean energy transition.” Chatterjee “urged the natural gas sector to be nimble and open to new opportunities the transition may present.” What kind of “new” opportunities and “transition” is he talking about?
It’s been an eventful (and not in a good way) week and a half since Joe Biden seized control of the White House. Or more properly, since the radicalized left took control and began ramming anti-fossil fuel Executive Orders down old senile Joe’s throat. He just keeps signing, admitting he doesn’t even know what’s he signing (
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pain of natural gas price drop spreads to Pa. agencies, communities; NATIONAL: General Motors to go all-electric by 2035; Biden makes it OK for banks to discriminate against fossil fuel companies; US natural gas in storage falls less than expected but massive draw looms; Biden administration sued for halting oil, gas leasing on federal lands; INTERNATIONAL: Global natural gas demand set to rebound after pandemic shock; Gas tycoon Charif Souki urges industry to clean up under Biden; Crude prices could surge to $80/bl in 2021.
Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) owns close to 8 million acres of leases with some 60,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. Their focus has been to acquire quality production and cash flow–regardless of the well or commodity type (gas or oil)–in the Appalachian Basin. DGO currently owns over 400 Marcellus/Utica shale wells in their portfolio too. The company just added to their inventory of shale wells, closing on the purchase of five Utica Shale wells in Monroe County, OH. The purchase price for all five? $8.4 million.
In December, the Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW), which has three members (two leftwing Democrats and RINO Gov. Larry Hogan), surprisingly approved a 10-inch, 6.83-mile pipeline for the Maryland portion of a 19+ mile project called the Del-Mar Energy Pathway Project, crossing both Delaware and Maryland (see 
U.S. pipeline companies are under no illusion of just how bad the next four years will be for their business, at least for building new pipelines. We told you last week that Williams CEO Alan Armstrong predicted there will be no new greenfield pipelines built during the Biden administration (see 
Psst. Don’t tell anti-fossil fuel nutjobs this, but Joe Biden’s “ban” on issuing new permits for drilling on federal and offshore land has loopholes. Since Biden seized power and began occupying the White House, HIS administration (not Trump’s) has issued “at least” 31 new drilling permits for federal and/or offshore drilling. It seems there are big loopholes in Biden’s federal permit moratorium that most news organizations are not reporting.
Anti-fossil fuel nutters increasingly realize that solar and wind will never, EVER, be able to provide all the energy needs of the world. There will always be a need for some sort of liquid fuel for airplanes, heavy equipment, ships, etc. So antis are now embracing hydrogen as the next Big Thing to save Mom Earth. Just one tiny thing they overlook: Some 75% of hydrogen produced comes from natural gas! Doh…