House/Senate Energy Scorecard: Who to Vote For/Against PA-OH-WV
The American Energy Alliance (AEA), a “pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, and free-market energy organization,” has just released its 2019-2020 American Energy Scorecard which ranks members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on whether or not they support affordable energy (i.e. fossil fuels). We have the listings for all three Marcellus/Utica drilling states–Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. This is your handy list of who to vote for, and who to vote against, in the November election.
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In May, Australian company LNG Limited (LNGL) found a buyer for its Magnolia LNG export project, located in Louisiana, for $2 million (see 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: How purple politics cost North Carolina’s energy consumers; A South Texas NGL alternative hub to Mont Belvieu?; Obstructionists’ victories aside, pipelines remain critical to America’s energy and environmental success; NATIONAL: FERC nominees promise impartial decision making in Senate hearing; U.S. gas exporters eye Europe’s surging prices; U.S. CEO group says it supports carbon pricing to fight climate change; Biden promises no new pipelines; INTERNATIONAL: Germany offered to build LNG terminals to avert U.S. pipeline sanctions; Cheniere gets $615M infusion from Abu Dhabi.
As we told you on Monday, the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), a powerful committee operating under the larger umbrella of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), held a hearing and cast a vote yesterday on whether or not PA should join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon for power generators (see 
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the U.S. came from literally zero in early 2016 to a total theoretical capacity today of 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). The first three months of this year saw U.S. LNG exports average 7.9 Bcf/d–almost full capacity! Since then, our LNG exports have gone over a metaphorical cliff. In June, U.S. LNG exports averaged 3.6 Bcf/d. The turning point came in April.
Emboldened by Dominion Energy’s decision to abandon its 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) from West Virginia to North Carolina, anti-fossil fuel zealots are trying to force Equitrans Midstream to abandon its 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from West Virginia to Virginia. But there’s a big difference between the two: While ACP had less than 50 miles built, MVP is now 92% done and in the ground, with just a little bit left to go. Even so, it’s not stopping a small group of antis, including the well-funded Sierra Club, from attempting to kill MVP.
For the third week in a row, both Pennsylvania and West Virginia issued permits to drill new shale wells last week, and Ohio did not. What’s up with Ohio? PA issued 13 new permits for wells on five well pads. WV issued 2 new permits on two different pads. PA’s new permits skewed toward the southwestern part of the state with 11 of the 13 permits issued (two in Bradford County in the northeast). The WV permits were both issued in Marshall County, located in the northern panhandle of the state.
Last October MDN told you about RealX, the country’s first and largest online property rights exchange (see 
Have you caught yourself thinking lately (as we have), “When in the world is the price of natural gas (and oil) going to go up again?” And, “Why is more drilling not happening?” Perhaps you answer yourself with the obvious answer: It’s the pandemic, stupid. If you have said/thought that, you are correct. But what is there about the pandemic (which seems to be getting better) that is causing this ongoing slowdown and low prices for oil and gas?
There’s trouble brewing in EQT-land. Once upon a time, EQT was both a producer (drilling) and midstream (pipeline) company. But then so-called activist investors forced the company (after its merger with Rice Energy) to split in two–drilling and pipelines. The split happened in November 2018 (see 
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR estimates how much oil and natural gas each of the country’s seven largest shale plays produced in the previous (i.e. current) month, and how much each will produce in the coming (i.e. next) month. The September report, which predicts production for the coming month of October, estimates natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica will decrease by 162 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d)–the eighth month in a row the M-U has seen a production decrease.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just published its 2019 Oil and Gas Annual Report. This is the fourth year in a row the DEP has published the report in an interactive, electronic (i.e.online) format ONLY. What does the 2019 report show? While permits issued and number of new wells drilled have both gone down (again), gas production has gone up (again)–to a new record high.
Last week MDN brought you the news that the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) had, once again, caved to pressure from radicalized environmental groups by suspending (for now) a permit they previously issued to allow New Fortress Energy (NFE) to build a dock in the Delaware River to load ships with LNG (see 
Encino Acquisition Partners (aka Encino Energy) bought all of Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio assets for $2 billion in 2018 (see 
S&P Global Platts published analysis last Friday looking at supply and demand for natural gas in the Midwestern region of the country. Platts says supplies to the region from places like the Bakken, Midcontinent (SCOOP/STACK), and Rockies will decrease this winter–by a lot. But then, demand in the region will decrease too, given the slumping economy because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, it looks to us like maybe there’s an opportunity for Marcellus/Utica gas, which travels to the Midwest via several pipelines, to make up the difference between supply and demand. The region will still need more gas than supplies available.