MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: US gas midstream sale weighs down Dominion Energy 2020 results; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Black Hills CEO says ‘lethal’ if natural gas bans enacted in service territories; NATIONAL: Helmerich & Payne: clear signs of a turnaround; Is the anti-oil movement installing the next recession?; INTERNATIONAL: Oil prices hit critical threshold for OPEC+.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Feb 16, 2021”
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 calendar of events.
– Jim Willis, Editor
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.
Read More “Heinz Endowments Launches Another Fake ‘Report’ Bashing the M-U”
How cool is this? Researchers in Switzerland have figured out a way to convert different types of plastics (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) back into the natural gas they came from in the first place! It is a breakthrough in recycling, something true environmentalists (not the hacks at places like the Sierra Club, Earthworks, EDF, NRDC and other intellectually bankrupt groups) can get behind. Let’s see how fast dishonest Big Green nonprofits will bash this latest discovery to help green the planet…
Read More “Swiss Researchers Turn Different Types of Plastics Back into NatGas”
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?
Read More “DC Fed Court Hears Anti Lawsuit to Block 2.1 Miles Gas Pipe in MA”
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 NatGas Spot Price at HH, M-U Trading Hubs Hits Fresh 1-Yr Highs). Guess what? It’s happened again, and with no end in sight. Due to the cold and snowy weather blanketing much of the country, natgas prices continue to soar–everywhere.
Read More “NatGas Spot Prices Continue to Soar Across the M-U, Elsewhere”
Summit Natural Gas of Maine, a utility company, recently announced plans to extend their service territory into Maine’s Midcoast region with a $90 million pipeline project. The company’s expansion into Knox and Waldo Counties will bring natural gas to residential and commercial customers in communities along the Route 1 corridor. The question is, can even one square inch of new pipeline get built anywhere in the country, let alone liberal Maine?
Read More “Summit Natural Gas of Maine Plans Small $90M Pipe in Midcoast”
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).
Read More “Enverus U.S. Rig Count +1; Marcellus Down by 2, Utica Up by 1”
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.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Feb 12, 2021”
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.
Read More “PA DEP Shakes Down Range $294K for Unplugged Conventional Wells”
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.
Read More “PA Antis Try to Block Permit Renewals for Shale Wastewater Recycling”
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 McCandless Twp Tries to Block Shale Drilling with New Zoning Law). McCandless cooked up changes to its zoning laws that make it illegal to drill a well in land zoned for commercial development. Since towns have to allow drilling in at least one zone, McCandless will allow it only in “institutional districts”–meaning schools, hospitals, universities, and parks. Meaning zero drilling will ever happen.
Read More “McCandless Twp, PA Blocks Shale Drilling with New Zoning Law”
In late 2018 the final two segments of the already-operational Rover Pipeline went online, making the project 100% complete (see FERC OKs Final 2 Rover Pipeline Laterals – Now 100% Online). Rover is a 713-mile, 3.25 Bcf/d natural gas pipeline that transports domestically produced natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica production areas to markets across the United States as well as to the Union Gas Dawn Storage Hub in Ontario, Canada. Although completed and running for years, the pipeline still faces a few lingering lawsuits over its construction.
Read More “ET Asks Judge to Dismiss Mich. Activist Lawsuit Against Rover Pipe”
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.
Read More “NatGas Spot Price at HH, M-U Trading Hubs Hits Fresh 1-Yr Highs”
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 First Annual Appalachian Hydrogen & Carbon Capture Conference will be held April 8 in Pittsburgh. It’s a timely conference worthy of your consideration. Below we bring you more background on both hydrogen and carbon capture.
Read More “Is the Future of Natural Gas Hydrogen & Carbon Capture?”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: New Mexico and Texas officials give dire warnings over federal lands ban impacts; Oil and gas coalition aims to end routine flaring by 2030; Rockland Council to hold meeting on natural gas project; NATIONAL: Shale rig owner touts new price model as drilling speeds up; EIA lifts forecasts for US gas production, trims 2021 price estimates; A look at Chesapeake energy’s exit from bankruptcy; First Keystone XL, now Dakota Access: pipeline politics swirl around Biden; INTERNATIONAL: Poland’s LNG imports again jump as Russian supplies decline; Germany claims emissions success yet becomes more dependent than ever on Russia?
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Feb 11, 2021”