In Pennsylvania, there are two permits required by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for nearly every shale well drilling project: A Chapter 102 (erosion and sediment control) and a Chapter 105 (water obstructions and encroachments). The DEP has proposed and is seeking comments on wide-ranging amendments to its Chapter 105 regulations.
Read More “PA DEP Proposes Changes to Ch. 105 Water Permits”
The story of the Marcellus/Utica is a story of natural gas. At least, mostly. We focus almost exclusively on natgas production here on MDN. But there is another story in the M-U, and that’s shale oil. More oil is produced in the Ohio Utica than in the Pennsylvania and West Virginia Marcellus, but all three states produce at least some oil from their shale plays. We spotted a new report about the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its use in “enhanced oil recovery” or EOR. The report covers (in part) the Marcellus region and was co-authored by researchers at West Virginia University.
Read More “WVU Co-Authors Study Using CO2 to Extract More Oil/Gas from Shale”
NATIONAL: U.S. liquefied natural gas exports set a record in November; Centrist group urges Biden to strike bargain on gas as part of clean energy grid; Downhole drilling player expands U.S. footprint; INTERNATIONAL: ‘There is hardly any gas’: LNG price rally exacerbates gas crunch in Asia.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 17, 2020”
Demand for natural gas in the northeastern United States, along with the spot price for gas, has surged over the past few days, for one simple reason: the weather. Those of us living in the northeast are about to get clobbered by a classic nor’easter snowstorm that’s due to drop two feet or more of snow in some areas of Pennsylvania. Here at MDN HQ we’re supposed to get at least a foot of snow over the next 24 hours!
Read More “M-U NatGas Prices Highest in a Year with Coming Winter Storm”
In March 2019 MDN told you about Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (NGPL) project that carries Marcellus/Utica gas from the Midwest all the way to the Gulf Coast to feed just about any of the existing or under construction LNG export plants in the region (see NGPL Pipe Will Flow M-U Gas to Gulf Coast for LNG Export). Phase 1 of NGPL’s Southbound Expansion project was placed in service in October 2018, providing an extra 460,000 Dth/d (460 MMcf/d) of gas from NGPL’s interstate pipeline interconnects in Illinois, Arkansas, and Texas to markets in NGPL’s South Texas zone. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has just given Phase 2 of the project permission for a partial startup.
Read More “FERC OKs NGPL Pipe Phase 2 Partial Startup – M-U Gas to Gulf Coast”
Big Green groups conducted a highly coordinated effort to pack Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB) virtual hearings on Gov. Tom Wolf’s $2.36 billion carbon tax scheme. Big Green claims 95% of those blabbering on during the hearings supported the tax, which would kill the gas-fired power generation industry in the state. There’s still time for shale supporters to register their objection to Wolf’s carbon tax insanity.
Read More “Anti-Fossil Fuelers Pack Virtual Hearings to Support PA Carbon Tax”
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) had to file a second federal lawsuit against Grant Township, PA (located in Indiana County) to overturn the town’s patently illegal regulations that prevent PGE from establishing and using a safe wastewater injection well in a rural part of the town.
Read More “Grant Twp, PA Sued 2nd Time for Illegal Law Banning Injection Well”
The State of Connecticut’s “Siting Council” changed its mind in July 2019 and approved NTE Energy’s proposed project to build a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly, after initially rejecting it (see Connecticut Approves New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in Killingly). The Siting Council recognized that some 6,000 megawatts of older, less-efficient power plants in the region are retiring and without new plants coming online to provide electricity, Connecticut and its neighboring New England states will begin to experience rolling blackouts if they don’t make up the difference with new supplies of electricity.
Read More “Extremists Pressure CT Gov to Block Killingly Gas-Fired Elec Plant”
Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 new shale well drilling permits scattered across both northeast and southwest PA. Ohio issued 5 new shale well permits, all of them to the same company and the same well pad. West Virginia issued 3 new shale well permits, all in different counties.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Dec 7-11”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Brooke County Board of Education approves lease; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California’s natural gas bans are drawing fire from black and Latino leaders; NATIONAL: TC Energy to acquire all outstanding common units of TC PipeLines, LP; Another green subsidy bust from Obama/Biden; Gina McCarthy emerges as top choice for climate adviser; U.S. shale should be worried about ‘very aggressive’ policies coming from Washington; INTERNATIONAL: China buying more U.S. LNG to meet winter demand, but still far below phase one targets; As people rush for their Christmas shopping, young say no to fast fashion.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Dec 16, 2020”
Last Saturday a small fire occurred in a metal storage container at the Shell ethane cracker plant complex still under construction in Beaver County, PA. The on-site fire department quickly extinguished the blaze (no injuries). Also last week, Shell reported 61 new cases of COVID-19 among workers at the plant. Currently, 97 employees (out of 7,950, or 1.2%) have the virus. Some 238 site employees have recovered from COVID infection and returned to work since the beginning of the pandemic in March.
Read More “Fire at Shell PA Cracker Complex; COVID Cases Spike at Plant”
By now it’s a cliche to say that 2020 has been an exceptional year–and not in a good way. For the first time in our memory of writing MDN, we witnessed widespread curtailments or “shut-ins” of wells in the Marcellus/Utica during 2020. That is, drillers voluntarily turned the values off and flowed less gas in a bid to (a) not sell the gas at prices that don’t return a profit, and (b) drive up the price of gas (see M-U Shut-ins Help Keep Regional Gas Prices Stable…for Now). Will that trend continue in 2021?
Read More “M-U Drillers Increasingly Shut-In Wells to Boost Gas Price, Profits”
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), published our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The latest DPR, which shows estimates for oil and gas production from the seven largest shale plays in the U.S., shows a drop in shale gas production across all plays (including the Marcellus/Utica)–except for a slight production increase in the Haynesville–coming next month in January. The M-U is forecast to drop another 154 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) from production levels in December.
Read More “DPR: Most Shale Plays, Incl. M-U, Continue Big Drop in Production”
Each year S&P Global Platts hosts its “Global Energy Outlook Forum” in New York City, an event we always look forward to attending. The Forum assembles some of the best thinkers and industry participants from across all energy sectors to discuss what happened during the previous year, and what’s on the way next year and down the road with respect to energy. All kinds of energy. This year, given COVID-19, there was no Forum. However, Platts did release its 2021 Energy Outlook yesterday.
Read More “S&P Global Platts Analytics 2021 Annual Energy Outlook”
The Lyme Timber Company has closed on a deal to buy approximately 92,000 acres of forestland in North Central Pennsylvania and Southwest New York from Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources for $116 million. Wait, why did Seneca own all of that acreage to begin with?
Read More “Seneca Resources Sells 92K Acres of Timberland in PA/NY”
UGI Corporation, which operates natural gas and electric utilities in Pennsylvania and midstream (pipeline) assets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, has just become the newest member of Our Nation’s Energy Future (ONE Future), a group dedicated to reducing methane emissions from their operations.
Read More “UGI NatGas Companies Join ONE Future Low Methane Emissions Group”