The nation’s largest natural gas producer, EQT Corporation, is temporarily curtailing or shutting in roughly one-third of its natural gas production in Pennsylvania and Ohio. So says EQT’s main midstream (pipeline) provider, Equitrans (formerly EQT Midstream).
Read More “EQT Shuts in 33% of NatGas Production in Pennsylvania, Ohio”
We’ve been eagerly anticipating this month’s edition of our favorite report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), to see how much gas production in the Marcellus/Utica will decrease. The DPR estimates how much oil and natural gas each of the country’s seven largest shale plays produced in the previous (current) month, and how much each will produce in the coming (next) month.
Read More “EIA Report: Drop in Marcellus/Utica Gas Production Slows in June”
The weekly new permits issued report below is delayed, showing permits issued for two weeks ago, from May 4-8. The reason for the delay is a website outage for the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR). In fact, ODNR’s site is still down but the good folks at the agency provided MDN the numbers by running a custom report. There is still no forecast for when ODNR’s site will be back online. For the week of May 4-8, PA had 20 new permits, OH had 3 new permits, and WV had 2 new permits.
Read More “Weekly Shale Permits Issued for PA, OH, WV – May 4-8”
Pieridae Energy wants to build an LNG export plant in Nova Scotia, Canada. The project is called the Goldboro LNG project. We’ve tracked the project for years hoping Marcellus/Utica gas might one day feed it (see our Goldboro LNG stories here). Our hopes to have M-U gas feed Goldboro were dashed when Pieridae announced a deal last June to buy assets from Shell in Western Canada with plans to pipe the gas to the Goldboro plant (see Pieridae Buys Shell Assets in W Canada to Feed Nova Scotia LNG). Canadian regulators in Alberta have just scuttled the deal, refusing to grant permission.
Read More “Regulators Reject Pieridae/Shell Plan to Feed Nova Scotia LNG”
Will this, finally, help convince any fence-sitting Democrats who give a damn about the future of our country and the oil and gas industry that a vote for Joe Biden is a vote to end it all? Biden, the presumptive nominee for the Democrats to run for president (even though he’s senile, really) has appointed both Alexandria Occasional-Cortex, the woman with half a brain, and John “haughty” Kerry, the guy who tried to destroy America with the Paris climate treaty, as co-chairs of his campaign’s so-called climate task force. What a joke! Except…it’s not a joke. It’s real, and it’s very scary.
Read More “Joe Biden Names AOC to Lead Climate Task Force (PUKE)”
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.
Read More “MDN Calendar: List of In-Person and Virtual O&G Events”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: New year greets Marcellus/Utica shale with new, unexpected challenges; DEP permits will keep Marcus Hook as an economic engine in Southeast PA; NATIONAL: United States bump LNG exports in March; The impacts of U.S. LNG cargo cancellations; U.S. pipeline safety report reveals fewer incidents, more infrastructure; Zinke says Biden’s plan to ban fossil fuel drilling on federal lands is ‘nuts’; ‘Oil is back,’ tweets Trump. Not so fast, says reality; Natural gas drillers face price meltdown as storage fills fast; INTERNATIONAL: We’re at risk of an oil shortage.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, May 19, 2020”
Is it time to turn the gas off for New York City and let the people there reap the “benefits” of having a dictator, Andrew Cuomo, as their governor? On Friday the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation, thoroughly and completely corrupted by Cuomo, issued yet another rejection for the critically-needed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project. It was the last straw for Williams, the builder of the project, which has walked away from the project. Gas customers on Long Island, including parts of NYC, now face the real prospect of running out of natural gas (this is not an exaggeration). Andrew Cuomo is the grossest, most corrupt governor in NY’s history.
Read More “Cuomo Rejects NESE Pipe Again, Williams Walks Away”
Yet another lawsuit trying to emasculate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by attacking its right to delegate eminent domain authority to pipeline builders has been tossed in federal court. Several of these cases have been tried using Marcellus/Utica pipeline projects. This latest case was brought by uppity, privileged landowners in Virginia against the Equitrans Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project.
Read More “Lawsuit Seeking to Gut FERC Eminent Domain for MVP has Failed”
In Ohio, it costs drillers $5,500 to file for and receive a permit to drill a new shale well. In West Virginia, the cost is $10,150. In Pennsylvania, it currently costs drillers $5,000 for a new shale well permit. Following an upcoming meeting by the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission on June 3, PA’s permit fee will zoom to the top of the M-U list: $12,500 (2 1/2 times the previous fee).
Read More “Massive Hike in PA Shale Permit Fees Coming at June 3 Meeting”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is trying to slip through yet another unnecessary change to regulations–this time regs that will create big new hoops to jump through and higher fees to pay for Marcellus gas-fired electric plants.
Read More “PA DEP Proposes New Overstrict Regs on Gas-Fired Power Plants”
We’ve always found Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) a fascinating company (see our DGO stories here). DGO’s strategy is to seek out wells in “the long tail.” That is, wells already along the decline curve. In the first two years after a shale well is drilled, it produces something like 75% (rough numbers) of all the oil and gas it will ever produce. As time goes on, production greatly tapers off.
Read More “The Origins of Diversified Gas & Oil – From 1 to 60,000 Wells”
Last week MDN brought you the news of another Pennsylvania Pipeline Investment Program (PIPE) grant being issued–this one in Luzerne County, near Wilkes-Barre (see New PIPE Grant to Fund Gas for Homes, Biz Near Scranton Airport). We jumped the gun. That Luzerne PIPE grant, for $1.5 million, was part of six such new grants issued by PA to fund pipeline projects in five counties.
Read More “PA Awards $3.3M in PIPE Grants to Extend NatGas Serv in 6 Locales”
Wow! What a difference three months can make. In January Moody’s Investors Service downgraded EQT Corporation’s bonds to “junk” status (see Moody’s Downgrades EQT Debt to Junk Status Following Write-Down). A few weeks later Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings downgraded the credit rating for six of the biggest Marcellus/Utica drillers, including EQT (see S&P Downgrades Credit Rating for Six Big Marcellus/Utica Drillers). Once thought risky and speculative, investors seem to have changed their minds about investing in M-U debt. They’re taking a second look.
Read More “M-U Drillers See New Interest from Bond (Debt) Investors”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Largest Wyoming gas producer, taxpayer files for bankruptcy; DTE may switch to natural gas at four coal-fired plants; NATIONAL: EIA expects lower natural gas production in 2020; Natural gas prices could double next year; Liberal-leaning states target EPA in new lawsuit; Why U.S. oil and natural gas demand will rebound from COVID-19; Why predictions for the demise of U.S. shale are “premature”.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, May 18, 2020”
Just when it seemed everything was going great to get all 10 mini-trains up and running at the Elba Island, Georgia LNG export facility (owned and operated by Kinder Morgan), a compressor fire earlier this week has caused the shutdown of three functioning units along with a fourth unit in the process of commissioning.
Read More “Compressor Fire Shuts Down Three Elba Island LNG Export Units”