Biden Assault on O&G Begins – New Plan Cuts NatGas Use Nationwide
That didn’t take long. Following the Democrat media’s declaration Biden won (even though the election has not yet been certified), Biden released a new energy “transition” plan–this morning. In the plan, Biden calls for cutting natural gas usage nationwide by electrifying everything and eliminating all “non-carbon” power production. His minions are gushing about how Biden will transform the EPA and other federal agencies away from “dirty” fossil fuels and to “clean energy.” Let the carnage begin.
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Radical anti-fossil fuel groups have not given up hope they can somehow, at the last minute, block the $10 billion Shell ethane cracker plant (about a year from being completed) from ever starting up. Perhaps Biden’s “victory” has given them a little boost of irrational exuberance? In 2015 the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued an air permit for the cracker plant. Shell needs to tweak the permit with new information. Antis are asking PA to deny the new tweaks, claiming Shell wants to pollute the region even more. Shell says the tweaks reflect new realities, including LOWER emissions.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and his Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continue to push a plan that will raise Pennsylvania residents’ electric rates by 50% or more, a carbon tax plan called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The DEP will conduct 10 three-hour virtual public hearings between Dec. 8 and 14. There will be no in-person hearings due to concerns over COVID-19.
In something of a surprise for us, last week as the election returns continued to roll in and votes were counted (or miscounted, in a number of cases), President Trump demoted or fired several top agency heads. One of them was at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Trump demoted FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee and elevated fellow Republican James Danly to become the new Chairman of FERC. Chatterjee will remain a FERC commissioner.
Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. Last Friday Summit issued its third-quarter 2020 update. Interestingly, the gas flowing through the company’s Marcellus and Utica operations increased (a lot), while volumes flowing through the company’s other operations decreased (a lot) in 3Q.
NATIONAL: Weekly natural gas prices plunge as mild temperatures sap demand; US crude producers eyeing natural gas again; Natural gas vehicles are making inroads and want Joe Biden to get aboard; Henry Hub physical gas volumes jump with LNG exports, storage flows.
Kimbell Royalty Partners, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a leading buyer of oil and natural gas mineral and royalty interests, owning interests in more than 96,000 wells across 28 states, including wells in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday the publicly-traded company issued its third-quarter 2020 update. We discovered some information about their involvement in the M-U, including the Marcellus in northeastern Pennsylvania.
After a shareholder vote scheduled for next Thursday, Nov. 12, Montage Resources will be no more. The company is selling itself to Southwestern Energy in an all-stock deal worth $857 million (see 
The radicalized Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) never gives up. In June 2017, the PEDF won a case at the PA Supreme Court by the skin of their teeth (see 
In June, Weatherford International, the world’s fourth-largest oilfield services (OFS) company, announced that its CEO, Mark McCollum, had suddenly “left” the company (see 
Although the national election is still undecided (looking like Biden, a complete disaster), in almost every other respect Republicans (i.e. pro-shale candidates) won, big-time. Republicans gained seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, look to be keeping a majority in the U.S. Senate, and picked up seats in many state legislatures. Leftist Democrats poured BIG money into Pennsylvania in an attempt to flip both the PA House and Senate from red to blue. They failed. And that’s very good for shale energy in the state.
Energy Transfer (ET), builder of the Rover pipeline project and the Mariner East pipelines here in the M-U region (as well as many other projects across the country), issued its third-quarter update yesterday. The company lost $782 million in 3Q20 versus making a profit of $857 million in 3Q19. Some (most) of the loss was a paper loss. As part of the update, we learned that the “next phase” of the Mariner East project will be placed into service by the end of this year.
The Sierra Club, backed with money from Russia (see