Analysts at S&P Global are making a bold prediction: It will take a full ten years for the world to recover from the coronavirus and begin growing its demand for natural gas once again. Something about the prediction just seems “off” to us.
Read More “Prediction: NatGas Growth Blunted Next 10 Yrs Due to Coronavirus”
Each quarter the Dallas Federal Reserve conducts a survey of 150-200 oil and gas firms located or headquartered in the Eleventh District–Texas, southern New Mexico, and northern Louisiana. The energy company executives surveyed run companies that operate regionally, nationally, and some even internationally. The Dallas Fed released its latest quarterly Energy Survey results yesterday. We have a full copy below.
Read More “Dallas Fed Survey: Energy Execs Predict What’s Ahead for O&G”
Bet you never thought you’d read about (or watch) a Justin Bieber video on MDN. We never thought we would write about or feature Bieber’s music. But then we watched a video of his newest song called Holy, a video that’s been watched (so far) over 32 million times since it was released to Youtube on Sunday! In the video Bieber plays the part of an oilfield worker who gets laid off. It’s poignant. Frankly, it brought tears to our eyes.
Read More “Justin Bieber Captures the Plight of Laid-Off Oil & Gas Workers”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PUC orders Sunoco Pipeline to conduct public education & awareness meeting in Cumberland County; Boilermakers, CNX share stage to back fracking, pipelines and Trump; Energy secretary sees region’s plastics industry as critical; Trump slams Biden on fracking and trade at Pennsylvania rally; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California should ban oilfield fracturing by 2024 and move to zero-emission vehicles by 2035, says Newsom; Can gas-fired power plants coexist with a net-zero target? Yes, Southern Company insists; NATIONAL: U.S. fracking services won’t recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2025; So, we’re back to “peak oil” again; Natural gas market deficit over winter may exceed 5 Bcf/d this coming cold season; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ agreement to reduce production contributes to global oil market rebalancing.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Sep 24, 2020”
Last week the spot price for natural gas being sold at the Dominion South trading hub in Allegheny County, PA crashed to its lowest point in more than a year, selling for $0.735 per Mcf (thousand cubic feet). According to the experts at RBN Energy, the Marcellus/Utica is heading into a rocky fall season with respect to natural gas prices.
Read More “Ugly Gas Prices Coming to M-U – Demand Falls More than Production”
Last week Ohio finally broke the drought of not issuing permits for new shale wells in the Buckeye State. Finally! Last week Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits for wells on three well pads. Ohio issued 4 new permits for wells on two well pads. And West Virginia issued 1 new permit.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Sep 14-18”
On Sept. 10, a day after a meeting of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority meeting, we reported (based on media reports) that the Authority had voted to approve a $5.5 million loan guarantee for a proposed new shale gas-fired power plant planned for Brooke County, WV (see WV Approves Loan Guarantee for Brooke County Power Plant). We were wrong. In fact, the Authority did something better than a simple loan guarantee…
Read More “WV Brooke County Power Plant Gets $5.5M Direct Loan from State”
Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, a 200-mile greenfield pipeline from northeastern to southeastern PA where it joins the Transco Pipeline, went online in October 2018 (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise for Startup! Pipe Opens Sat. Oct. 6). Shippers on Atlantic Sunrise include Cabot Oil & Gas, Seneca Resources, and Range Resources. Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced it is (two years after it went online) assessing fines for violations that happened during construction of the pipeline 2-3 years ago.
Read More “PA Fines Atlantic Sunrise Pipe $836K for Years-Old Violations”
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued modified permits for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project in three southeast PA locations (Delaware and Chester counties). Each location has faced problems with underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The modifications allow a different type of installation method to be used–open trench.
Read More “PA DEP Approves Mariner East 2 Pipe Changes in 3 SEPA Locations”
Once again big money is being funneled to Big Green groups by secretive sources to finance a lawsuit attacking American infrastructure. The latest attack by Big Green, including a PA-based “environmental” group, seeks to overturn a recently-updated rule by the U.S. EPA governing air emissions from ethane cracker facilities.
Read More “Big Green Lawsuit Targets Cracker Plants, Incl. Shell PA Cracker”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Rep. Danielle “Karen” Otten caught trespassing in Mariner East fight; CNX Resources announces closing of $200 million senior notes offering; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: City bans natural gas in most new construction; NATIONAL: Video – Baseload Electricity; U.S. crude oil exports have fallen in each month since their record high in February; Lower natural gas production seen driving $2 price jump this winter; US shale production can reach new highs beyond 13 million b/d, but needs $60/b; Everything points to more natural gas, even for jurisdictions that try to avoid it; LDCs adopting high-tech solutions to get methane emissions under control; INTERNATIONAL: Energy transition could force majors to sell or swap $100B in oil and gas assets; UK set to accelerate ban on fossil-fuel vehicles to 2030.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Sep 23, 2020”
Last year MDN shared with you the rumor that Exxon Mobil was sniffing around Pennsylvania, investigating the prospect of building a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker like the Shell cracker being built near Pittsburgh. Those rumors went on for a while and even included evaluation of the Philadelphia area, not just Pittsburgh. Last week Exxon said unequivocally they have no active plans for such a facility in the Keystone State. Bummer.
Read More “Potential Exxon Interest in Building M-U Cracker Plant Goes Cold”
It’s that time of year again. Each fall Dominion Energy takes the Cove Point LNG export terminal offline for annual maintenance work. Every time it happens, the plant is offline for roughly three weeks. We expect the same this year.
Read More “Cove Point LNG Down for Maintenance for Next 3 Weeks”
We don’t know if PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania “reporters” are just sloppy in their reporting, or if they intentionally lie. Either way, it doesn’t look good for StateImpact. PBS reporter Jon Hurdle’s latest Big Green hit piece, published yesterday on StateImpact, is wholly manufactured out of nothing. He claims there are continuing problems with drilling for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project at Snitz Creek in Lebanon County, PA. There are not.
Read More “PBS Up Snitz Creek with False Reporting re ME2 Pipe Problems”
Last week Enbridge asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to bring its Weymouth, Massachusetts compressor station online by Oct. 1 (see Enbridge Asks FERC to Start Up Weymouth Compressor in 2 Weeks). Because of a brief problem during testing, Massachusetts U.S. Senators Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren and Ed “Lackey” Markey are pressuring (bullying) Enbridge to delay the start of the Weymouth station.
Read More “Mass. Senators Ask Enbridge to Delay Weymouth Compressor Startup”
We love U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. He’s smart, articulate, and a supporter of all forms of energy, including fossil fuels. He also doesn’t suffer climate change fools well. Brouillette visited the Shell ethane cracker plant under construction in southwestern PA yesterday. He had some great things to say about petrochemicals, fracking, and (yes) even about so-called climate change.
Read More “DOE Secretary Visits Shell PA Cracker Site, Talks Up Fossil Fuels”