Constraints “Loom” re Flowing M-U Gas to the Midwest, Canada
Pipelines are necessary and critical to move supplies of natural gas (and oil) from where the product is extracted to where it’s needed. In the case of Marcellus/Utica natural gas, there is demand from four primary markets outside the northeast–Eastern Canada, the Midwest, the Gulf Coast, and the Southeast. There are six major interstate pipelines that flow our gas to the Midwest and Canadian markets. Combined, these six pipelines make up a little over 40% of the total northeast takeaway capacity for M-U gas (18.2 Bcf/d). The big question is, are we heading for full capacity and looming constraints on pipelines heading to these two important markets?
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Anti-fossil fuel zealots are certainly persistent in their holy mission to destroy the use of all fossil fuels. None more so than the extremists at the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC). The NRDC rounded up a group of 60 equally radicalized groups and sent a joint letter to a bunch of sympathetic radicals working in the Biden administration (Sec. of Interior, EPA Administrator, Sec. of Agriculture, among others) encouraging them to shut down a multi-billion natural gas pipeline that is 92% built and in the ground: Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).
State legislators in Pennsylvania are attempting to restore some sanity to overregulation inflicted by unelected bureaucracies in the state, like the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Republicans have introduced and are pushing along a couple of bills that will reign in the DEP (and other overzealous agencies) in PA. One bill requires the legislature to approve any new regulation that impacts a regulated community by more than $1 million. Another bill allows third parties to assist the DEP in reviewing and approving certain permits. The DEP can’t seem to get its act together and there are always loooong delays in approving new permits.
All three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received a whopping 17 new permits spread across various counties and drillers. Ohio received just 2 new permits last week, both for Ascent Resources on the same pad. And West Virginia received a big 12 new permits split between two drillers: Antero Resources and Tug Hill Operating.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EQT board member passes away unexpectedly; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Legendary natural gas trader sees ‘seismic shift’ in Houston’s oil patch; NATIONAL: Collins joins Democrats in bid to undo Trump methane emissions rollback; Clean Energy Fuels soars 27% on a deal with Amazon to supply renewable natural gas; Joe Biden’s EV dreams are just another government boondoggle; INTERNATIONAL: World Bank: natural gas unlikely to play leading role in cutting maritime emissions; Why natural gas won’t be replaced anytime soon.
American Energy Partners, Inc. (AEPT), based in Allentown, PA, is a small but diversified company. They have their fingers in a number of different oil and gas pies, including subsidies in drilling, remediation, water, valuation services, and education. AEPT announced a new deal today to purchase three conventional oil and gas operators with assets in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia for $10.8 million. The three operators (unnamed) come with a collective 467 conventional wells and 1,250 MMcfe/d of natural gas production.
Cue the music and begin singing: Happy Birthday to You! Energy Transfer (ET), the midstream (pipeline) giant headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is celebrating its 25th year in business. The company began as a small intrastate pipeline company with 200 miles of natural gas pipes in east Texas and 20 employees. Today it owns more than 90,000 miles of pipelines crossing 38 states and Canada with nearly 10,000 employees. All in just 25 years. Hats off to co-founders Kelcy Warren and Ray Davis. ET owns a number of important pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica region.
Utility giant Duke Energy Corp. is in the process of modifying eight of its biggest coal-fired electric generating plants in North Carolina to burn natural gas instead. The work will cost Duke roughly $283 million. Work is already complete on six of the eight plants, with the final two slated to be done later this year. There is a tie-in with the Marcellus/Utica.
We spotted an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about South Jersey Industries (owner of South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas utilities) announcing a commitment to eliminate all so-called greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations by 2040. This is what is often called net-zero carbon. Even with this major effort by SJI, the nutty Sierra Club refuses to give the company an attaboy. Instead, the Clubbers say the company should just close down all of its natural gas utility operations and…what?…let everyone freeze to death in the winter?
Terms are often thrown around that remain somewhat amorphous and undefined in our minds. Especially in a complex industry like oil and gas. What do certain terms really mean? Today we define what a “clean frac”–otherwise known as a “green completion”–actually means, and why it’s so appealing to pimple-faced, woke millennials who place a premium on ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing.
The American Energy Alliance (AEA) is raising the alarm of a conspiracy by Democrat Attorneys General from deep blue states colluding with Big Green groups to bypass Congress with a new round of sue-and-settle lawsuits. It is the equivalent of an overthrow of the legislative branch of the federal government. Here’s how the conspiracy works…
Have you ever heard the trite but true phrase, “words mean things”? Never has that been more true than in Pennsylvania and the simple word called “royalty.” Somewhere along the way the word “royalty” got watered down and changed. A new bill being introduced by PA State Rep. Eric Davanzo (Republican from Westmoreland County) will clear up the confusion and bastardization of the term royalty, making it easy for everyone to know what can and cannot be deducted from royalties with respect to oil and gas leases.
In July 2020, PA Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law House Bill (HB) 732, a bill that grants tax breaks to companies willing to build brand new petrochemical plants in the Keystone State–plants that use huge quantities of Marcellus Shale gas (see 
When you see the words “environmental justice,” that’s just another way of saying racist–or the new shorthand “woke.” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme assumes all fossil fuel-powered electric generating plants in the state are built in communities of color or in communities that are economically poor and therefore those communities can’t fight back against the injustice of being “polluted.” RGGI presumes fossil power plants are racist and sets out to correct the injustice by eliminating those power plants via taxing them out of existence.