PA House & Senate Republicans to Stop Wolf’s Insane Carbon Tax
Yesterday a bipartisan group of Pennsylvania House and Senate members held a press conference in Harrisburg to introduce parallel bills to prevent Gov. Tom Wolf from following through on his insane plan to tax carbon dioxide from natural gas-fired power plants–yet another attempt by Wolf to raise ~$300 million a year for Harrisburg politicians to spread around to voters in an effort to get themselves reelected. The proposed bills will prohibit the state from joining the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) without express permission from the PA legislature.
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Anti-fossil fuel nutters who so often turn to criminal activity in the name of “protecting” the planet have struck again–this time at the Cricket Valley Energy Center in Dutchess County, NY. The natural gas-fired power plant is nearing completion and with every rivet punched and bolt that gets turned, it drives the nutters even more insane than they already are. Some 29 protesters, some of them not local, were arrested by Dutchess County sheriff’s deputies on Saturday for blocking the entrance to the facility. Four of them climbed a 275-foot smokestack to hang banners. We have the names and ages of all 29 who broke the law.
As we pointed out in our post yesterday about the U.S. EIA’s latest Drilling Productivity Report, natural gas production in the U.S. is slowing down (see EIA Nov ’19 Drilling Report: Permian Gas Grows More than M-U). No surprise in that bit of news as we’ve been reporting for months about various drillers in the Marcellus/Utica (and other plays) announcing their intent to spend less on drilling both this year and next. Production in the M-U is expected to grow 8-9% this year over last year. But what about next year?
Diversified Gas & Oil owns close to 8 million acres of leases with some 60,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. Their focus has been to acquire quality production and cash flow–regardless of the well or commodity type (gas or oil). They currently have over 400 shale wells in their portfolio. Diversified has just closed on a deal to raise more money via securitization–meaning to issue securities (“notes”) based on the value of their gas wells. It will raise a reported $200 million for the company. The securitization transaction is being called “groundbreaking.”
Shame on Joe Manchin, who once considered leaving the leftist Democrat Party to become a Republican (but didn’t). Now he’s showing his true colors by pushing a far far far left radicalized candidate for an empty seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–a former “senior attorney” for the odious National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). No way, no how Joe.
Not long ago we highlighted the problem of falling severance tax revenue in West Virginia (see 
Each year the International Energy Agency (IEA) issues a special World Energy Outlook report. The 2019 edition was released last week. In this year’s Stated Policies Scenario, the share of natural gas in global primary energy demand grows to about 25% by 2040, and in the Sustainable Development Scenario, gas retains a critical role by supplying a projected one fifth of the world’s primary energy in 2050. Shale production growth is now slowing as investors lose interest, but IEA says: “the shale race is not yet run; many of the most profound impacts of the shale revolution still lie ahead.” Cool!
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Sen. Yudichak switches parties; Johns Hopkins researcher – Pa. should ban fracking; Pipeline inspectors seek final nod for $2.2M OT deal; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Salaries growing faster in oil-rich Texas than New York; NATIONAL: Committee votes FERC, DOE, DOI nominations through to full Senate; Rising baseload demand for gas means more price spikes, volatility; Challenging commercial environment for new US liquefaction projects seen persisting.
It looks like we may be almost at a peak–the day we knew would come (but secretly hoped never would) where not only the Marcellus/Utica, but all of the major shale plays in the country stop producing more natural gas each month than they did the month before. Yesterday the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration, our favorite government agency) issued its monthly Drilling Productivity Report. It shows the M-U will end up producing 33,674 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas in November, and their forecast is the M-U will produce 33,720 MMcf/d in December, a gain of 46 MMcf/d (one-tenth of one percent). In other words, statistically we’re at a standstill (not growing) and in the near future we expect to see *less* monthly production. We’re just about cresting the top the hill.
Acting like a petulant baby whose binky was taken out of his mouth, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening to put giant natural gas utility National Grid out of business in New York State by canceling their franchise, their right to operate, and giving it to another company (see 
In September MDN told you about environmentalist wackos at the Bernheim Arboretum (about 25 miles from Louisville, Kentucky) who refuse to grant an easement for 4,000 feet of land they bought *after* the Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) already had a state-approved plan to build a new pipeline over that land as part of tiny 12-inch, 12-mile pipeline (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you an article about the supply chain in Ohio–companies that sell goods and services to upstream (drilling), midstream (pipeline) and downstream (petrochemical) companies (see 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released its “Natural Gas Annual 2018” report which shows the U.S. set new records in natural gas production, consumption, and exports in 2018. In 2018, dry natural gas production increased by 12%, reaching a record-high average of 83.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). That’s the largest percentage increase since 1951, and the largest volumetric increase in the history of the series, dating back to 1930! Behold the miracle of shale.