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DC Fed Court Hears Anti Lawsuit to Block 2.1 Miles Gas Pipe in MA
Food & Water Watch, the virulent, leftist anti-fossil fuel group, will get its day in court today in the organization’s bid to block a tiny 2.1-mile pipeline looping project in western Massachusetts. But lest you think the lawsuit being argued today before the liberal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is just about a small pipe project in liberal Massachusetts, think again. FWW is attempting to use this case to shut down all future pipeline projects too. Is the fix in with this case?
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Yesterday we told you that natural gas spot (i.e. cash) prices at various pipeline trading hubs had hit fresh, one-year highs, including here in the Marcellus/Utica (see 
Over the past several weeks the Enverus U.S. rig count had rocketed skyward, making gains of more than a dozen rigs added each week. Over the past week that torrid pace slowed. In the past seven days, the active rig count added just one new rig to the national total. The Marcellus lost two rigs, one each in the dry gas northeast and wet gas southwest. The Utica gained one rig, for a net loss of -1 in the M-U region (now at 42 active rigs).
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Moody and Associates is yet another Marcellus shale success story; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Gas processing build-out continues in Permian’s Delaware basin; NATIONAL: Cheniere asks to put Corpus Christi LNG train 3 in service; EIA’s AEO2021 shows U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions rising after the mid-2030s; Chesapeake Energy emerges from bankruptcy, with a return to its roots in natural gas; Despite Covid-19, US oil and natural gas exports hitting record levels; Alternative debt universe for oil and gas; A startup using a new tech to make hydrogen extracts cash from Bill Gates’ climate tech fund; INTERNATIONAL: Qatar ramps up pressure on U.S. LNG producers with major expansion.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is once again spinning an error by a major Marcellus driller, Range Resources, as some sort of evil plot to avoid and defraud the DEP. Due to a mistake by a former employee, Range misclassified 42 old conventional wells on acreage it owns and did not plug the wells in a timely (for DEP) fashion. The DEP has just clipped the company $294,000 for the mistake.
A new attack against the Marcellus Shale industry in Pennsylvania comes from fossil fuel haters attempting to dispute permits reissued for existing (NOT new) shale wastewater storage and recycling facilities scattered across the state. Antis seek to shut down pipelines, rail shipments, recycling facilities, injection wells–anything they can to stop to prevent drillers from extracting natural gas from shale in the Keystone State. Sick people.
Last June MDN told you about a plan by McCandless, a township in Allegheny County, PA (near Pittsburgh), to block any and all shale drilling within its borders by getting creative (see 
In late 2018 the final two segments of the already-operational Rover Pipeline went online, making the project 100% complete (see 
The spot price (cash paid for immediate delivery) of natural gas at trading hubs across the country, including in the Marcellus/Utica, continues to hit new highs not seen in over a year. Even though the longer-range NYMEX futures price isn’t moving all that much. Pay no attention to the futures price! Look at the spot price. In the Henry Hub (Louisiana), the benchmark for all natgas prices, the spot price yesterday closed at $3.83/MMBtu, up $0.48 in one day. Dominion South closed at roughly $3.30/MMBtu, up $0.36 from the day before. And Tennessee Gas Zone 4 Marcellus closed at roughly $3.20/MMBtu, up $0.39 from the day before.
You can’t miss it if you look at energy headlines. The word “hydrogen” is everywhere, being touted as THE energy fuel of the future. Right behind it is “carbon capture.” The two work together in many cases. Our friend Joe Barone is dedicating an entire conference to these topics. The 
Yesterday the mighty Chesapeake Energy emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy having hosed previous stockholders (making their shares of stock worthless), and making the company’s debtors the new shareholder/owners. The company dumped $7.8 billion worth of debt and emerges with $1.27 billion in debt on the books. As we told you last week, everything old is new again: the company will focus on natural gas drilling and downplay oil drilling (see 
Two weeks ago CNX Resources issued its 4Q and full-year 2020 update, except at the time they didn’t issue the usual press release with a summary overview (see 
As we reported two weeks ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (Democrat) has, for the seventh year in a row, introduced a Marcellus-killing severance tax proposal as part of his annual budget proposal (see