EQT Shuts-In Production Again, Turned Off 1/2 Bcf/d as of Sept. 1
In mid-May the nation’s largest natural gas producer, EQT Corporation, temporarily shut-in (curtailed) roughly one-third of its natural gas production in Pennsylvania and Ohio (see EQT Shuts in 33% of NatGas Production in Pennsylvania, Ohio). The company curtailed 1.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas production and kept it offline until the end of June. Beginning in July EQT restored their curtailed production (see EQT Brings Curtailed Production Back Online, M-U Flows Back Up). As of Sept. 1, the company has turned off some of the valves once again.
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We suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, but we’re frustrated nonetheless that the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has caved to extremist pressure and voted to reverse (at least for now) a permit it previously granted to New Fortress Energy to build a dock in the Delaware River that would allow LNG tanker ships to tie up and load up on Marcellus LNG transported from northeastern PA. The radicals of the far-left THE Delaware Riverkeeper pressured (i.e. bullied) DRBC members to block the project–because Riverkeeper irrationally hates fossil fuels. Riverkeeper compromised three of the five DRBC voting members–New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Pin Oak Midstream, a subsidiary of Pin Oak Energy Partners, a relatively young Marcellus/Utica driller based in Akron, OH, has purchased most of the pipeline assets of Laurel Mountain Midstream for an undisclosed amount. The assets include 1,050 miles of natural gas-gathering pipelines and five compressor stations located in three Pennsylvania counties.
If you live in New York City, Boston, or anywhere in the states of New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, or New Hampshire, brace yourselves to pay much higher prices for your natural gas this winter. That’s according to an analysis by S&P Global Platts. Right now the forward strip prices at key trading hubs in those locations show prices for natural gas in the range of $6.00-$6.63 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), about twice the price of last winter.
In Lansing, NY, just outside of Planet Ithaca in Tompkins County, the local utility company, NYSEG, wanted to build a short pipeline in 2017 to supply new customers with natural gas, but was blocked by crazies who irrationally hate fossil fuels (see 
The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) released an important new study yesterday. Titled “How Pipelines Can Spur Immediate Post-COVID Economic Recovery,” the new study finds delays, obstruction, and cancellation of pipeline infrastructure projects are threatening at least $13.6 billion in economic activity, over 66,000 jobs, and more than $280 million a year in state and local tax revenue at a time when America’s financial recovery from COVID-19 requires MORE investment and tax revenue. A section of the report finds anti-pipeline fanatics in NY, NJ, and PA threaten $3.5 billion worth of investments and 17,000 jobs in our region alone.
Most political analysts believe this year’s presidential election may come down to one or two states–namely Pennsylvania and Ohio. If Biden can win in those two states, he stands a good chance of winning the election (an absolute nightmare!). But here’s what you don’t hear from mainstream media: the election may well turn on the issue of shale fracking. Counties in PA and OH, like Washington County in southwestern PA, are likely where the race will be won or lost. It’s not looking good for old ban-fracking Joe.
Enbridge’s Weymouth compressor station project, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project, has begun testing in preparation to go online. As part of the testing, the station will, on occasion, release a small amount of (gasp!) natural gas into the air. Run for the hills! Get out while you can!
Justice (with a small “j”) has prevailed in West Virginia. We’ve covered the issue of a proposed new shale gas-fired power plant planned for Brooke County, WV for years. We are down to the wire on some of the final bits needed for this project to advance. One of those bits, the last major hurdle, is a loan guarantee for $5.5 million, covering a tiny part of the financing required to build this nearly $1 billion project. Yesterday the WV Economic Development Authority unanimously approved the loan guarantee.
Yesterday the full Pennsylvania Senate passed House Bill (HB) 2025, a bill already passed by the House previously. The bill now goes to Democrat leftist Gov. Tom Wolf, who says he will veto it. The bill restores democracy to the Commonwealth by giving the legislature–the very people elected to be the voice of PA citizens–a role in deciding whether or not PA should join the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–which is nothing more than an obscenely high tax on carbon meant to kill coal and natural gas-fired power plants in the state–a major customer of Marcellus gas.
Behaving like the petulant children they are, anti-fossil fuelers in New Jersey are demanding a face-to-face meeting with the board of NJ Transit so they can make a case (i.e. bully the board) against building a small, clean-burning natural gas-fired power plant NJ Transit will be used to power trains in cases of emergency. It’s a backup plant–not even running all the time. Yet antis, so corrupted by their own hatred of “fossil fuels,” are demanding NJ Transit use unreliable solar instead.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Three things to know about Charleston, S.C.’s new climate lawsuit; Cheniere resumes normal operations at Sabine Pass LNG; NATIONAL: Energy industry warns of dire consequences if natural gas, oil development banned on public lands; U.S. natural gas prices to average $3.40 in January, says EIA; Fossil fuel-conscious financing decisions add wrinkle to North American LNG market; As renewables falter, environmentalists stand up for nuclear; US will need 280-300 rigs to maintain tight oil output once DUC wells run out; Trump to ban oil, gas drilling off US Florida, Georgia, South Carolina coasts; Baker Hughes to sell SPC flow unit to Pelican Energy Partners; INTERNATIONAL: Carbon-neutral LNG to increase costs of natural gas production, consumption; Did the Russian poison meant for Alexei Navalny kill Nord Stream 2 instead?; PTT reveals ambitious plan to make Thailand an LNG hub.
For the second week in a row, both Pennsylvania and West Virginia issued permits to drill new shale wells last week, and Ohio did not. PA issued 12 new permits for wells on three well pads. WV issued 3 new permits, all for the same well pad. PA’s new permits were split between Bradford County in the northeastern part of the state, and Washington County in the southwestern part of the state. The WV permits were issued in Brooke County, located in the northern panhandle of the state.
S&P Global Market Intelligence has done some forensic analysis of permits issued to drill new shale wells in Pennsylvania during August 2020. They compared last month’s permit numbers with the numbers from a year ago and found that PA issued 77 new permits last month, down 24% from August 2019.