Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Sep 8, 2020
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Joe Biden says he won’t ban fracking, but can we believe him?; Pence to campaign in Westmoreland and Beaver counties Sept. 9; Klaber’s Viewpoint – The energy industry is resilient; Harvest Oil & Gas announces changes in board of directors; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Key documents raise troubling questions about money behind Hoboken climate lawsuit; U.S. shale producers race for federal permits ahead of presidential election; NATIONAL: U.S. shale recovery leans on huge inventory of DUCs; US oil, gas rig count rises by three to 285 heading into last trimester of 2020; Highlights of Joe Biden’s [horrible] energy plan; Rush Limbaugh likens Biden rejecting fracking ban to ‘me telling you that I’ve never been a conservative’; Why midstreamers depend on pigs; U.S. LNG exports: outlook improves as macro headwinds ease; Is the energy transition really accelerating?; Schlumberger deal shows hope for battered oil services sector; INTERNATIONAL: Russian led Nord Stream II in trouble over Navalny poisoning.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Sep 8, 2020”
Each quarter the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) issues an update on Utica (and Marcellus) oil and natural gas production. Apparently ODNR no longer issues a summary press release as they once did. They have, however, published a detailed spreadsheet of all active wells showing oil and gas production by well, which we have below. We do our own summary to show you the top 25 shale gas wells and top 25 shale oil wells for the quarter. We also have a summary of the overall results from the experts at S&P Global Platts.
Last week both Pennsylvania and West Virginia (but not Ohio) issued permits to drill new shale wells. PA issued 12 new permits and WV issued 2 new permits. The majority of PA’s permits were for a single well pad in Greene County. In fact, 10 of the 12 permits were issued in Greene County. Both of WV’s permits were for the same well pad in Marshall County.
Back in 2012 Gulfport Energy drilled a pair of exceptional Utica wells in Belmont County, Ohio–both on the same pad. The first was the Shugert 1-1H which had an initial production (IP) rate of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (Mmcf/d). It also produced an initial 144 barrels of condensate per day, and 2,002 barrels of natural gas liquids per day (see 
Although Joe Biden is protesting (the lefty doth protest too much, methinks) that he would not ban “all” fracking if he’s elected president, his own words and the words of his pick for VP (Kamala Harris) say otherwise. Biden has endorsed most of the Green New Deal platform pushed by crazy Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Occasional-Cortex (AOC). So yes, if Biden is elected, fracking is pretty much done. Over. Fini. If fracking is banned, according to the Ohio State Grange it will be a catastrophe for farmers in the Buckeye State. Some farmers (many) will simply go out of business.
There’s potential trouble brewing for pipeline companies that own and operate big interstate pipelines that flow Marcellus/Utica Shale molecules to other regions. (Trouble for gas pipelines in other regions, too.) Some of the contracts for the earliest pipelines built or repurposed to flow M-U molecules out of the northeast are expiring. The customers, in many cases, were the drillers themselves (instead of utility companies and other gas customers). Drillers are pulling back and not likely to renew those contracts, at least not at the prices they signed originally.
The anti-fossil fuel zealots at the Scranton Times-Tribune (in Lackawanna County, PA) are doing their darnedest to try and stop an $800 million LNG liquefaction plant (generating hundreds of jobs) planned for nearby Bradford County. On Monday we told you the zealots were attempting to whip up a frenzy of opposition to the plant, based on trucks that would travel through the borough of Clarks Summit, a suburb of Scranton (see 
When the world’s largest oilfield services (OFS) company, Schlumberger, decides to call it quits in the fracking business, you have to ask the question, Is this the end of shale? (It’s not, but that’s what reporters at Bloomberg are hinting.) Yesterday Schlumberger announced a deal to turn over the keys to their U.S. and Canadian fracking business to Liberty Oilfield Services in return for 37% interest in Liberty.
Last December Columbia Gas of Ohio (NiSource) announced a new $135 million pipeline project to bring new supplies of Utica-sourced natural gas to homes and businesses located north and west of Columbus, in central Ohio (see 
According to one Appalachian producer, small operators of conventional oil and gas wells in Appalachia are facing “an economic Armageddon.” Prices for natural gas are so low operators can’t afford to do anything but the most critical maintenance work. Yet our intrepid operator is hopeful nonetheless. He’s using a new method of “acidizing” wells that (in at least one case) triples gas output. How’d he do it?
What will happen with major natural gas (and oil) pipeline projects after the November Presidential election? You might guess if Biden wins (God perish the thought) there will be no new pipeline projects anywhere, and if Trump wins (our lips to God’s ears) new projects will appear out of the blue. But it’s not quite that simple according to S&P Global Platts.
New York City is home to some 15 “peaker plants”–small electric generating plants that fire up to provide electricity during times of high demand when the regular electric grid can’t handle the load. The plants are fueled mostly by oil, some are fueled by natural gas. NRG Energy wants to convert its old oil-fired peakers with natural gas, which is far cleaner and more efficient. However, a group of hardened Socialist Democrats (actually Communists) who have won primaries over the summer, unseating more moderate Democrats, are demanding all of the peakers be shut down. How’s that for stupid?
MDN is updating our Calendar page more frequently to bring you the latest news on events of interest that have either been canceled, postponed, or in some cases, have gone virtual. We encourage you to review the list. A number of free and low-cost webinars and online events have popped up as an alternative to in-person meetings.