Even After Chevron, EQT Still in Hunt to Buy CNX, Other Producers
EQT CEO Toby Rice has been positively chatty lately. He gave a great interview to the Pittsburgh Business Times revealing his thinking with respect to the recently announced Chevron deal (see today’s lead story). He also spoke to Bloomberg reporters. Rice shared his views on further consolidation in the M-U sector. He indicated EQT is still in the hunt for a deal with CNX and possibly other M-U drillers.
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On Tuesday, Talen Energy Corp., under extreme litigation pressure from the odious Sierra Club, announced it will eliminate the use of coal at all of the company’s wholly-owned facilities. Back in 2017 MDN brought you the news that Talen’s coal-fired Brunner Island Power Plant, located in York County, PA, is investing $100 million to retrofit the plant so it can burn 100% Marcellus Shale gas by 2028 (see 
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA. Epsilon doesn’t actually do any of its own drilling. The company partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company does the drilling. Epsilon, according to its website, owns ~4,000 net acres in the PA Marcellus. They also own assets in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin. On Tuesday Epsilon issued its third-quarter 2020 update, showing a bump up in revenue to $5.8 million in 3Q20 (vs. $5.2 million in 3Q19).
Eureka Resources, which operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale, is doing really cool stuff. In October 2019 the company began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see 
According to the president and CEO of BP Energy, one of BP’s largest North American subsidiaries, “Demand for gas to be liquefied and exported from the US has recovered beyond pre-pandemic levels to nearly its maximum capacity.” Whoa, who knew? We are far from being over and done with the COVID-19 pandemic, yet LNG demand is already back and has exceeded demand from before the pandemic. This is seriously good news for the Marcellus/Utica and the export of our molecules.
Our worst fears have been realized. The federal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is about to be overrun with Communists and leftists. On Tuesday the Harris/Biden campaign, even though it hasn’t actually won anything yet, announced various people to head up its “transition” (i.e. power grab). Biden has selected the radicalized Patrice Simms from Earthjustice to head up the EPA transition. A COMPLETE disaster. You don’t get any more radical. Still glad you voted for Biden? We’re praying the courts will honor Trump’s request to count only legal ballots and that he remains in power.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: FirstEnergy’s top lawyer, chief ethics officer are out, acting CEO gets $150,000 pay raise; Pennsylvania has prepared itself to safely and successfully build pipeline infrastructure; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Sue-happy Louisiana sends people, jobs, and investments fleeing; NATIONAL: December natural gas futures rally for second consecutive day as cooler forecasts hold; U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions fell in 2019, mainly in electric generation; US E&Ps to keep cost-cutting, cautious approach in 2021 amid COVID-19 concerns; Oil operators get DUCs in a row, adding fracking crews to boost output; Election 2020 – the energy voter strikes back; Shell to push Biden for carbon pricing, more methane emissions rules; The coming energy shocks under a Biden administration; Pipeline opposition, hurdles sharpen focus on existing assets: Energy Transfer; How one firm drove influence campaigns nationwide for Big Oil; INTERNATIONAL: New blow for US LNG in Europe as Irish court quashes Shannon LNG consents; Cleaning up LNG becomes a target of EU in blow to U.S. exporters; New LNG-fueled ships and LNG bunkering infrastructure coming online; India could be the next breakout natural gas market.
MDN will not publish today, Veteran’s Day. We thank our veterans for their service and sacrifice.
This has been going on for more than a year. Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has not been able to finish a project that is now 92% in the ground and complete because of repeated lawsuits by the Sierra Club and colluding leftist Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The delays are costing MVP $20 million per month! Yesterday the clowns did it yet again. They blocked a Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12) that was reissued by the Army Corps of Engineers after being reworked because of an earlier rejection by the same court. NWP12 would allow the pipeline to cross creeks and rivers and wetlands.
We’ve been tracking the daily price of the NYMEX December futures contract at the South Louisiana Henry Hub on and off for the past few months. Yesterday it closed down again, at $2.86/Mcf (or MMBtu). However, the “spot price” for gas–actual physical gas bought and sold at various trading points along pipelines–has all but crashed and burned in the Marcellus/Utica. It’s bad. Like, historic record low bad.
Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling. The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. In August, the company reported less-than-rosy results for the second quarter, because of the coronavirus and producers slowing down their drilling programs (see 
Last week Pennsylvania issued a paltry 3 new shale well drilling permits (lowest we’ve seen in months), Ohio issued a single new permit, and West Virginia issued 5 new shale well permits. All 3 PA permits were issued in Greene County. The OH permit was issued in Carroll County (bit of a surprise). And all 5 WV permits were issued in Tyler County.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been declared the victors of the election (prematurely) by the Democrat mainstream media. President Trump is rightly challenging massive voter fraud and “software glitches” in vote tabulating software used in 28 states (which you won’t read about in Democrat media). So it’s not over yet. However, let’s assume Biden/Harris seize power and occupy the White House, which seems the likely outcome. Their win means the decimation of the shale oil and gas industry in this country. Oil and gas are the biggest losers. This is what you’ve voted for, America. We hope you “enjoy” the result.