Hydrogen 101: Main Ways Hydrogen Gets Produced & Role of NatGas
You simply can’t miss the irrational exuberance of energy companies and investors proclaiming that hydrogen (H2) is the next big thing in energy. H2 is going to replace natural gas and cure the problem of man-caused global warming (which doesn’t exist, by the way). You can’t attend an oil and gas conference today without hearing at least one keynote or panel discussion about H2. (By the way, the Hindenburg blimp used H2 to make it float. Just sayin’.) Where does H2 come from? How is it produced? Is natgas really on the way out?
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Antero Resources announces appointment of Brenda R. Schroer to the Board of Directors; Peregrine acquires additional royalties in Appalachian Basin; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Port of Corpus Christi to offer liquefied natural gas to incoming refueling ships; NATIONAL: Biden’s climate goal to require radical shifts in economy; The U.S. will need a lot of land for a zero-carbon economy; U.S. LNG club could get more exclusive; Biden’s First 100 Days: Interior sends ‘clear signal’ promoting wind, targeting oil, gas.
You could see this one coming from about 303 miles away: Equitrans Midstream (formerly EQT Midstream), the builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), and a related 75-mile project called MVP Southgate, announced during its quarterly update yesterday that both projects have, once again, been delayed. The delay is thanks to the Sierra Club and other rabidly anti-fossil fuel, tax-free nonprofits (which shouldn’t be) and their incessant, repeated lawsuits backed with foreign money. MVP (already 92% complete) is now projected to be done and online next summer, and MVP Southgate will be done in 2023.
Pipeline giant Williams released its 1Q21 update on Monday, but it wasn’t until a conference call with analysts yesterday that CEO Alan Armstrong shared the big news that Williams has purchased Southern Company’s natural gas energy trading unit Sequent Energy Management for $50 million. The deal vastly expands Williams’ capability to market natural gas (i.e. find new customers).
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. The company also invests in other M-U drilling programs. Equinor is reporting production from both its operated (drilled) and nonoperated (invested-in) wells increased in 1Q21, helping to offset an overall drop in oil and gas production.
Jim Snell, Business Manager at Steamfitters Local 420 (Philadelphia area) has written a powerful editorial appearing in the Delaware Valley Journal. Snell begins his article by saying President Biden’s “build back better” proposal overlooks the backbone of America’s energy system: pipelines. Snell goes on to make an irrefutable case for how Marcellus Shale drilling in northeastern and southwestern PA benefits Philadelphia and southeastern PA.
An interesting turn of events for our weekly permit report. In querying the Pennsylvania database, it reports no new permits issued for the past week. We can’t recall that ever happening. Pennsylvania almost always has the most permits issued of the three M-U states. West Virginia, which typically has the second-highest number of permits issued each week, also issued no new shale drilling permits last week. Only Ohio, which lately has issued very few permits for Utica drilling, had a bumper week, issuing 8 new permits!
Anecdotally it seems as though there has been less drilling activity in the Marcellus/Utica over the past year. Some say it’s due to the coronavirus pandemic. Others say there’s more to it than that. If you’ve tracked public announcements by drilling companies, they claim to have pulled back on drilling and won’t increase current levels of drilling even when/if the price of natural gas increases. Why? They must turn a profit, or investors leaving for greener pastures (pun intended). But is there really less drilling happening in the M-U today than say one year ago?
An important issue we don’t often think about is pipeline maintenance. Natural gas pipelines have to be inspected and sometimes repaired. When that happens, it takes a portion of the pipeline out of service. When pipelines are taken out of service, natural gas doesn’t have a way to get to the same markets it was flowing to, meaning it begins to pile up in the location where it’s extracted. Further meaning too much supply in a given location, which leads to lower prices. That’s what appears to be happening in northeastern Pennsylvania right now.
On July 18, 2019, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act). It is among the craziest and stupidest climate laws in the world, requiring NY to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and by 85% by 2050 (from 1990 levels). The law creates a Climate Action Council charged with developing a scoping plan of recommendations to meet these targets. The Council has multiple “panels” to assist. One of the panels is the Power Generation Advisory Panel, filled with far-left, Big Green people. That panel is about to recommend NY State prohibit the construction of any new natural gas-fired power plants–beginning now.
Somebody’s head is gonna roll at liberal Columbia University (big lib university located in the heart of New York City). Somehow the truth has just leaked out of Columbia about the necessity and benefits of natural gas pipelines and how they are helping to LOWER the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (if you happen to care about such things–which we don’t). How did this happen? Researchers who care about telling the truth and how doing so enhances one’s reputation, have authored the study “Investing in the US Natural Gas Pipeline System to Support Net-Zero Targets” (full copy below).
A new so-called study has appeared sponsored by the radicals at Heinz Endowments. It is bought-and-paid-for “research” that claims the Act 13 law passed in Pennsylvania in 2012 hasn’t done a darned thing to prevent shale wells from being drilled closer than 500 feet from houses and schools. Duke University, Harvard University, and Boston Children’s Hospital took money from Heinz and prostituted themselves, putting their names to this filthy propaganda. Heinz then instructed one of their own, StateImpact Pennsylvania (which Heinz also funds) to publish a “news story” about the study, hoping to catch the interest of leftist, lazy “reporters” (like those at Bloomberg, AP, etc.) to pick up the story and repeat it. This is how news gets manufactured in today’s world.