US Senate Confirms James Danly as New FERC Commissioner
Last October President Trump nominated Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) attorney James Danly as the third Republican commissioner for FERC (see Trump Selects FERC Attorney James Danly as New Commissioner). Because the Democrats stall and delay anything they can to harass President Trump, a vote to confirm Danly didn’t happen by the end of last year, so Trump resubmitted Danly’s name a second time in January. The good news is that three Democrat Senators joined all the Republican Senators and yesterday voted 52-40 to confirm Danly as the newest FERC commissioner.
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If you operate a company that sells a product (particularly a commodity product) you only have two ways of making a profit: Sell the product for more money or cut expenses (or both). For oil drillers, the price of the product sold is pretty much fixed. Some drillers have “hedged” their production, pre-selling future production at a specific price. But many don’t hedge. And hedging contracts typically don’t extend beyond a year. In the case of oil, the world market sets the price, and the price this week is about half of what it was last week. That means most shale oil drillers won’t make a profit–unless they can trim costs. One of the ways drillers are attempting to cut costs is by asking the companies that do the actual drilling and perform services for them (oilfield services companies, or OFS) to cut the rate they charge.
Back in the day, your humble editor, Jim Willis, worked first an intern and later as a paid staffer in the Ronald Reagan White House. Very cool experience for a hick kid from Upstate New York. After a stint at the White House, Jim stayed in D.C. and went to work on Capitol Hill, working for Congresswoman Helen Bentley (Republican from Maryland). One of Bentley’s favorite issues was to fight against the dumping of machine tools by foreign companies on the American market. Companies in other counties would sell machine tools here more cheaply than it cost them to make, using backdoor funding from their governments to make up the difference. Eventually, our machine tool companies couldn’t compete and would go out of business, leaving the market wide open to foreign competitors, at which time they would jack their prices up.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Clean Hands Andy, in stunning reversal, endorses natural gas?; DCNR, DEP are canceling or converting meetings to calls or online due to coronavirus concerns; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Judge approves $143M natural gas explosions settlement; NATIONAL: U.S. crude oil exports increased to nearly 3 million barrels per day in 2019; More U.S. oil producers slash budgets amid price rout; US oil, gas rig count drops by three on week to 835; further decline expected; Betting on a bailout, investors rush into U.S. energy funds; UW professors receive provisional patent for method to reduce gas flaring; U.S. shale oil producers aren’t as hedged as you think, implying more downside for associated gas production; Angry US landowners are killing off renewable energy projects; INTERNATIONAL: How long will the oil price war actually last?; A global natural gas market is starting to emerge.
The 600-mile Dominion Energy Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project has completed about 35 miles of the project and that’s it. Why? Lawsuits, brought by Big Green groups. The biggest challenge the project faces is a lawsuit that ruled ACP could not cross under the Appalachian Trail. Dominion appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court where it now sits. By all accounts, the recent oral arguments before the Supremes went well for ACP (see 
In January PennEast Pipeline, a $1.2 billion new greenfield pipeline project from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to break the project into two phases (see 
Last week MDN brought you news (from the Associated Press) that Cabot Oil & Gas had “abandoned” negotiations to settle a lawsuit they brought against attorneys who had sued Cabot for something already settled in a previous lawsuit (see 
We always take it as a good sign when board members and upper management decide to buy up shares of the companies they operate. One might colloquially say they “eat their own dog food.” That’s what’s happening with at least some shale oil companies. Board members and upper management are buying shares of company stock because those shares are currently at super low prices, given the Saudi-Russia oil war and COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic scare. These people know that sooner or later the economy will straighten out and their company’s share prices will zoom skyward again–making them wealthy.
The price of natural gas in various locations, including the NYMEX futures price, has been inching up over the past few days. Yesterday the NYMEX price closed down slightly, at $1.88/Mcf. But that’s better than the $1.60 territory where it’s been bumping around. The price is inching up because of the Saudi-Russian oil price war. Most traders figure there will be less shale oil drilling in the U.S., and because of it, less associated natural gas production from places like the Permian (and Bakken). Which in turn means less supply, driving up prices for natgas. How long will prices go up? And, how high will the price go? We spotted one trader’s take on where he believes prices are heading.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and other liberal Democrats don’t give a fig about the American shale industry. Yesterday there was talk about President Trump and his administration offering low-interest loans to shale oil companies to keep them afloat during this Saudi-Russian oil price war (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Gov. Cuomo’s big promise to free the state fairgrounds of fossil fuels: What’s the status?; NATIONAL: EIA’s 50% Carbon-Free Generation side case projects little effect on CO2 emissions; U.S. LNG exports grow in a weakening, highly uncertain market; INTERNATIONAL: Prolonged oil price slide factoring more into global natural gas market, analysts say; Saudi oil price war unlikely to have quick end, says GlobalData; Portugal books US, Nigerian LNG cargoes; UAE joins battle with Saudi Arabia and Russia to grab bigger share of oil market.
According to super-secret sources, The White House is “strongly considering” a federal aid package for oil and gas companies affected by the Saudi-Russia oil price war and lingering effects from COVID-19 coronavirus panic. The proposed federal aid is called by some a “bailout.” But the Trumpsters and the O&G industry reject that label. Reportedly under consideration is a program of low-interest government loans. Regardless of what you call it (bailout or help), the U.S. has a vested interest in ensuring our domestic O&G industry does not get wiped out, plunging us back into dependence on despotic foreigners for our energy.
We continue our coverage of the historic (in a bad way) oil price war started by Russia against American shale drillers, now complicated by Saudi Arabia as they have turned the spigot wide open to pump as much oil as they can, resulting in a price crash for oil. From time to time we’ve featured comments and reports issued by IHS Markit, a global analytics company that tracks data in the oil and gas industry. Yesterday we received IHS Markit’s “key conclusions” from the latest assessment of oil markets. It’s called, “Oil Markets and Industry Brace for Crash as Supply Floodgates Open.” We think it’s about the best summation of what has happened (so far), and what’s likely to happen in the near- and medium-term.