Houston Petchem/Downstream Events Go Virtual – Attend for Free!
Each year the folks at Petrochemical Update (now owned by Reuters Events) hosts two concurrent events in Houston, Texas: Petrochemical Supply Chain & Logistics Conference & Exhibition, and the Downstream Conference & Exhibition. This year’s events were due to be held in June. That has just changed. Due to the virus pandemic and travel restrictions, both events will now be virtual. Same great speakers and topics, but now you can tune in to hear them. The best part? IT’S FREE!
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Natural gas, manufacturing industries are an important asset; Equitrans delays quarterly earnings filing due to coronavirus; Indian Point nuclear plant near NYC closes; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere chief says price negotiations, force majeures off the table during pandemic; NATIONAL: Small oil drillers are turning off taps more quickly than anticipated; Plan coming to assist oil, natural gas industry through pandemic, say Trump officials; Trump poised to unveil bridge loans for ailing oil companies; Low prices and depressed demand impact global oil and gas pipeline sector; INTERNATIONAL: In 2020 oil crisis, Russia seen coming out on top this time.
It’s not a done deal yet, but according to sources willing to speak with Reuters, Chesapeake Energy is preparing the paperwork for a bankruptcy filing as one of its options to deal with debt payments it likely will not be able to pay this year. This should not be a surprise to anyone. We’ve been warning about a potential bankruptcy filing since last November (see 
In a piece of stellar investigative journalism and reporting, MDN friend Bob Downing (at 
A partnership between Penn State EMS Energy Institute researchers and a Pittsburgh-based start-up company may hold the answer to reducing so-called greenhouse gas emissions while also paving the way to disrupt the chemical and material industries. The collaboration has resulted in several research projects that aim to “reinvent” both coal and natural gas as clean, cost-effective sources of fuels and high-performance materials.
Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, published a blog post yesterday to outline the differences between the oil markets and natural gas markets and how each market responds to world events vis-à-vis pricing. EIA says crude oil markets respond quickly and often dramatically to world events, but natural gas markets have tended to be driven by regional factors and have been less connected to the international market. Oil markets are from Mars, natgas markets are from Venus.
We’re learning far more about the oil business than we ever thought we would, due to the price crash brought on by the coronavirus and the Saudis and Russians dumping. Yes, oil and gas are an industry that goes together–but natural gas really is a different kind of business overall. Different kind of drilling, different kind of pipelines, different economics. We don’t know about you, but we always thought an oil driller could simply shut-in a well (essentially turn off a valve) and later, when the economics returned, just open the valve again and let the oil flow. Boy were we wrong! Shutting in a well is a major decision with long-term consequences. It’s not just flipping a switch or turning a valve.
Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global strategy and marketing consulting firm along with Rice University surveyed 195 oil and gas industry experts from around the world. They published their findings in a report titled “2020 Oil & Gas Crisis Study.” The upshot, the sentiment, is that the current crisis faced by oil companies is largely homegrown. We did it to ourselves.
MDN is floating a potential new feature. We’d like your feedback. Below are lists of new shale drilling permits issued for the past four weeks for each state: Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Permits issued are a strong indicator of future drilling activity. Typically it is a matter of weeks to perhaps a month or two after a new permit is issued when a driller begins work on a new well. Permits are one of the best ways of predicting future drilling activity.
MDN editor Jim Willis isn’t much into tooting his own horn. But, well, this is kind of slow news day, so we’ll toot. Marcellus Drilling News began as a hobby and side project in January 2009. Little did Jim know that it would grow to become his full-time job and in April 2020, the blog/news site would surpass having 20,000 posts. That milestone was reached last week.