Wow, that was fast! Yesterday Kinder Morgan filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking for permission to start up train #9 at the Elba Island, George LNG export facility. And yesterday FERC turned around and issued that permission. Same day! How many trains (of the 10 total) are left to go online?
Read More “KM’s LNG Train #9 (out of 10) at Elba Island Ready to Come Online”
Yesterday the White House announced its intent to nominate the final two members needed to comprise a full five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. One of them, Mark Christie, is the Chairman of the Virginia State Corporation Commission. He is one of the country’s longest-serving state utility regulators, having served for 16 years. Great credentials. Smart guy. The other nominee, Allison Clements, spent 10 years as a rabid radical working for the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). She is uniquely UNQUALIFIED for the job. A lemon.
Read More “Trump Nominates 2 New FERC Members – One an NRDC Lemon”
Who would win a fight between Thor and Superman? Could Wonder Woman defeat Spider-Man? Does it even matter? Of course not! We just know we love watching superhero movies. But there would be no superhero flicks without oil, natural gas, and coal. You wouldn’t know it to listen to the news media, activists, and many politicians, but these essential energy resources are the REAL LIFE superheroes of our daily lives. Without fossil fuels, we would all be living in an unending horror show with no popcorn, no drink, no comfortable seat, no air conditioning, and… not much else for that matter.
Read More “Fossil Fuels – The REAL Superheroes!”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Natural gas scorecard shows Ohio needs its now more than ever; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Haynesville gas production, drilling retreat continues, bucking broader US trend; NATIONAL: ‘Flat is the new up’: Investors will forgive low shale gas volumes, prices in Q2; Microsoft and Halliburton are building the oilfield of the future; Joe Biden’s energy plan aims to overhaul the electric grid by 2035. Is it plausible?; Natural gas gets set for prime time: tracking a possible rally until February 2021.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Jul 28, 2020”
On Friday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced it has fined CNX Resources and its subsidiary CNX Midstream $310,000 for two incidents in which 65 barrels (2,730 gallons) of non-toxic brine (salty water) leaked into the ground and 43 gallons of non-toxic drilling mud leaked into a creek. The DEP says CNX did “not adequately maintain erosion and sedimentation best management practices.”
Read More “PA DEP Fines CNX $310K for Minor Violations re Pipe Construction”
In May the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held a virtual public hearing on the issue of the DRBC’s prior decision to approve construction of a dock in the Delaware River that will allow New Fortress Energy to load LNG tanker ships with LNG transported to the dock from a new liquefaction plant being built in northeastern Pennsylvania (see DRBC, New Fortress Crush Antis’ Arguments Against LNG Export Dock). Both New Fortress and the radicals at THE Delaware Riverkeeper were given time to make their case for and against. The hearing officer (i.e. judge) recently announced his decision…
Read More “Hearing Officer Approves New Fortress Dela. River LNG Export Dock”
The Risberg Line, a 60-mile pipeline from Crawford County, PA to Ashtabula County, OH, went into service with a ceremonial ribbon cutting and a literal turning of the valve by Ohio Lt. Governer Jon Husted last December (see Risberg PA-to-OH Pipeline Starts – Flows Marcellus Gas to OH). Risberg cost roughly $86 million to build and now flows 55 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas from the PA Marcellus to the northern tip of Ohio in Ashtabula County. You may have thought (as we did) that this project was over and done. Think again…
Read More “Potential Expansion for the Risberg PA-to-OH Pipeline”
We love a good supply chain story. Crozier Welding, founded in 1980, started by servicing coal mining operations. Eventually, the company, located in Coshocton County, transitioned from coal to welding pipelines for the oil and gas industry. Today the focus of the company is on welding pressure vessels (holding tanks) for the shale industry. The company is moving and expanding, thanks to an abundance of work coming from the M-U.
Read More “Ohio Welding Co. Expands Thx to Marcellus/Utica Work”
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a number of committees under its umbrella. Volunteers from business, non-profit groups and other sectors sit on these committees in an effort to provide helpful feedback to the department from the people who must live under the regulations (sometimes onerous) the DEP cooks up. The Small Business Compliance Advisory Committee (SBCAC) is one such committee. SBCAC has just voted against Gov. Wolf’s cockamamie plan to tax “carbon” from gas-fired electric plants.
Read More “PA Small Business Compliance Advisory Ctte Votes NO on Carbon Tax”
The price of natural gas and what it fetches (by geography) is always a top concern for both drillers and landowners. Recently the price of natgas nationwide has been trading at a 25-year low (see U.S. Natural Gas Price Hits 25-Year Low, Storage Nearly Full). The price natgas will fetch for Marcellus/Utica drillers is possibly heading, according to the experts at RBN Energy, for a “meltdown” this fall. We don’t like the sound of that…
Read More “The Coming Price Meltdown for Marcellus/Utica Gas This Fall”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PA DEP climate consultant did not authorize the use of its name on a letter supporting Wolf carbon tax; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: NH Democrat gubernatorial candidates split on proposed gas pipeline; NATIONAL: Environmentalists threaten suit over push to transport liquefied natural gas by rail; NRG in $3.6B deal to acquire Centrica’s Direct Energy, one of North America’s largest natural gas retailers; Oil, gas cash for Trump in 2020 trails previous GOP candidates; Schlumberger cutting 21,000 jobs in reorganization after bruising quarter; LNG news: U.S. cargo cancellations set to ease as demand rises.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Jul 27, 2020”
It’s time for a victory lap. Pennsylvania Republicans, with the help of some brave Democrats (and former Democrats), passed and convinced Gov. Wolf to sign a bill into law that will grant tax breaks to companies willing to build brand new petrochemical plants in the Keystone State–plants that use huge quantities of Marcellus Shale gas. Wolf signed the bill yesterday, after vetoing a similar bill earlier this year. The normally chatty Wolf press operation barely mentioned his signature on the bill.
Read More “Victory Lap! Gov. Wolf Signs Tax Break Bill for New Petchem Plants”
We’re pretty certain Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (RINO) doesn’t read MDN, but we’re glad to see he took our advice from yesterday when we said he’s “stupid if he vetoes the bill to repeal House Bill (HB) 6. Does he not realize he will be given the political equivalent of an anal exam to see if his palms were greased by FirstEnergy too?! The only reason the bill passed was bribery. It’s poisoned. It must be overturned.” A day after DeWine expressed support for the bribe-ridden HB 6 that became law when he signed it last year, DeWine reversed course and now says he supports repeal of that terrible law.
Read More “OH Gov. DeWine Reverses Course, Wants to Repeal $1B Nuke Bailout”
In March 2016, MDN reported that 47 dumpsters full of concentrated frack waste from OH, PA and WV was illegally dumped in a Kentucky landfill in Estill County, KY (see Marcellus/Utica Frack Waste Illegally Dumped in Kentucky Landfill). The cuttings were buried between July and November in 2015, near as anyone can tell. Earlier this week a federal grand jury in Kentucky indicted the former owner of the company doing the dumping on five counts of mail fraud and 22 counts of violating the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.
Read More “Fed Grand Jury Indicts Owner of Co. Dumping M-U Frack Waste in KY”
Earlier this week Kinder Morgan, one of (perhaps THE) largest pipeline company in the U.S., issued its second-quarter update. While most headlines blare that the company “lost” $637 million during 2Q, what they don’t say (until you read a few paragraphs in) is that it was a paper loss. Yes, revenue was down. But if you take the impairment (writedown) charge away, KM actually made $363 million in profit during 2Q. It was not, however, KM’s financial performance that caught our attention. It was the update on Marcellus/Utica projects like the Elba Island LNG export facility and a new project to expand Tennessee Gas Pipeline to provide more gas into New York City that caught our eye.
Read More “Kinder Morgan 2Q Update: Elba Island, Tennessee Gas Pipe to NYC”
New Fortress Energy, which likes to build and own as much of the LNG supply chain as possible, built and recently finished an LNG import terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently dinged the company, asking for an explanation as to why they built it without FERC permission (see FERC Orders New Fortress to Explain Unauthorized PR LNG Facility). New Fortress just officially responded, to say that FERC told them no permission was needed!
Read More “New Fortress Pushes Back Against FERC re Puerto Rico LNG Facility”