VG Wants an Extra 15 Months for Commissioning Plaquemines LNG
We’ll begin this post with this statement: We’re not surprised. At the end of last December, Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG export facility officially shipped its first cargo to Germany. Unfortunately for Venture Global’s contracted customers, they will have to wait to receive their legally contracted shipments. Venture Global said that it would (as it did with the Calcasieu Pass facility) pretend the Plaquemines LNG is not “commercially ready” while shipping all sorts of LNG cargoes around the world. The practice allows the company to cream the market and make more money for the first couple of years (see Plaquemines LNG Coming Online, Will Hose Customers for 2 Years). We consider it a disgusting business practice. And now, VG wants *another* 15 months added to the calendar to continue this practice. Read More “VG Wants an Extra 15 Months for Commissioning Plaquemines LNG”
President Trump delivered a speech to the United Nations yesterday, and wow! It was a speech for the ages. The teleprompter was broken, but he delivered his speech “off the cuff” anyway! He told the assembled world leaders, and we quote: “Your countries are going to hell,” particularly Europe. Why? Primarily because they’re pursuing the climate hoax of green energy, what he calls a “green scam,” and because they refuse to block illegal invaders (euphemistically called “immigrants”) from moving in and sucking up the country’s public resources. He left it all at the podium, not holding back anything. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear plant ahead of schedule to reopen; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas picks up after string of losses; AI model gives energy traders hourly forecasts 7 months out; LNG exports now dominate U.S. natural gas — where the market is heading; Gas-fired power braces for new AI landscape; Feedgas demand rises despite maintenance at Cove Point; INTERNATIONAL: Oil rises on Russian supply risks; Latest science further exposes lies about rising seas; TC Energy bets on US even as Canada plans LNG expansion. 
Yesterday, the NYMEX “front month” futures contract for natural gas declined once again, marking four consecutive days of losses. The NYMEX price fell 8.20 cents per million British thermal units (MMBtus) to $2.806 per MMBtus. Why the slide? The best thinking we could find says (a) the weather isn’t warm or cold enough to draw down stocks, and (b) we have more than enough extra gas sitting in inventory. Classic economics 101 states that a surplus of supply over demand results in falling prices. How much longer will the price continue to decline? Gas traders speculate that the short-term outlook is “bearish,” meaning the price will continue to decline. However, in the not-too-distant future, they predict a turnaround and higher prices. 
In the closing hours of the 2014 West Virginia legislative session, the legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 373, the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (see 
PJM Interconnection is the electrical grid operator serving Pennsylvania, as well as parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia. For months, the Democrat governors of PJM states have been criticizing PJM, blaming the grid operator for higher electricity prices, even though their own policies are driving electricity prices higher (see 
One of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s big beefs with the PJM grid is that it doesn’t allow new sources of electric generation to be added quickly enough (see Gov. Shapiro Convenes Group to Blame PJM Grid for His Policies). Nationally, a potential solution is on the way. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Congressman Troy Balderson’s (OH-12) bill to expedite the construction of new power plants, thereby ensuring the long-term reliability of the American electric grid. H.R. 1047, the Guaranteeing Reliability through the Interconnection of Dispatchable (GRID) Power Act, makes a key improvement to the interconnection queue, where power generation projects wait in line before being reviewed by regulators. Time to cut the red tape for “dispatchable” power. 
Here’s a story that technically doesn’t have anything to do with shale energy. However, one of the characters in this story, THE Delaware Riverkeeper (that’s what Maya van Rossum calls herself), is a person who routinely attempts to block shale energy projects (and drilling). We think it’s fair to say Van Rossum, indeed, all card-carrying members of the far-left environmental movement hate Trump and anyone associated with Trump. So, when she praised (her word) a new final rule establishing federal water quality standards for 38 miles of the Delaware River between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, created by the Trump EPA, well…that’s a “man bites dog” kind of story! 
We continue to eek out progress with the rig report. Last week, the national rig count added three rigs after adding two the prior week and one three weeks ago. We’ve added rigs for three weeks in a row! We ended last week with 542 active rigs across the country. The Utica Shale in Ohio added one rig two weeks ago and kept it last week. The combined count was 37 for two weeks running. PA operated 18 active rigs last week. OH operated 12 rigs. And WV operated 7 rigs. Twenty-four rigs targeted the Marcellus and 13 rigs targeted the Utica last week. 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its highly dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use requests for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the September 20 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Executive Director of the SRBC approved and/or renewed 40 general water use permits in August for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Centre, Clearfield, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties in Pennsylvania. 
EQT Corporation CEO Toby Rice, along with two other speakers (one from Enbridge and one from investment firm Engine No. 1) spoke on a panel at last week’s Bloomberg event called “Barrel of Tomorrow in the Age of AI” held in Houston. Rice and the others had some interesting comments about the current high price of electric and heating bills in the U.S. and how to decrease them. Their recommended solution to lower energy costs for U.S. residents is to build more natural gas pipelines. Rice also provided insight into the breakeven price that “marginal” producers need to break even and generate returns.