Southwestern Returns as Much Freshwater to Environment as Used
Southwestern Energy continues to be a trailblazer among Marcellus/Utica shale drillers. The company voluntarily participates in several environmental programs aimed at lowering methane emissions, including the TrustWell™ Responsible Gas Program and the ONE Future organization (see Southwestern Energy Lands Another “Responsible Gas” Customer). Air quality is not the only environmental issue important to Southwestern. Water is too.
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Is this time different? The oil and gas industry is known for its “boom and bust” cycle. The price of oil and gas goes high, drillers jump on the bandwagon and inevitably produce far more than the market demands resulting in a price bust and a slowdown in drilling as it becomes unprofitable. Until the next cycle.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Peduto calls for a stop to further petrochemical industry development in region; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Lawsuit threat has caused 50% drop-off in La. oil drilling, study finds; NATIONAL: House Democrats block GOP effort to prevent nationwide fracking ban; Most utility-scale batteries in the United States are made of lithium-ion; Trevor Rees-Jones pioneered plays that changed America’s energy industry; Don’t bank on a boring propane market this winter.
Equitrans (nee EQT Midstream) owns a natural gas storage field in Greene County, PA, in the southwest corner of the state, called Swarts Field. Natural gas storage fields are an important, but often overlooked, part of the natgas ecosystem. Last December the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) threatened to shut down Swarts Field because of coal mining in the area, saying Equitrans had not properly mapped old/abandonded conventional gas wells in the area (see 
We’re still feeling the fallout of FirstEnergy’s sleazy campaign to keep their $1 billion ratepayer bailout in Ohio. Last week we told you about FirstEnergy’s Mafia-like tactics in attempting to block petitioners from gathering signatures to overturn House Bill 6 that hands FirstEnergy $1 billion (see 
While on the surface the liquefied natural gas (LNG) marketplace may seem simple and straightforward, when you dig down you’ll find it is complex. There are different kinds of contracts between those who sell the gas, those who liquefy and ship it, and those who buy it. The LNG marketplace is, with the entrance of the U.S., changing rapidly. Our friends at RBN Energy recently posted an explanation for how it all works.
Quick, when we ask you how natural gas gets exported from the U.S. to other countries, what do you think of? LNG, right? That’s true. Yet while LNG grabs all the headlines, more than twice as much natural gas is exported to Canada and Mexico via pipeline every day than is exported to other countries via LNG ships. LNG is expanding and catching up–but it has a ways to go. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, during the first half of 2019 natural gas exports from the U.S. to other countries doubled–largely because of LNG.
We have, for years, brought you arguments about the superiority of an impact fee over a severance tax (see 
The State of Connecticut’s “Siting Council” changed its mind in July and approved NTE Energy’s proposed project to build a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly (see 
One of the privileges of writing about the Marcellus/Utica industry is the occasional opportunity to attend worthwhile events and connect with the terrific people who work in this industry. Shale Insight (last week in Pittsburgh) was one of those events. MDN editor Jim Willis will attend another such event in a few weeks: 
Last year a hedge fund manager tried pitching a fund that would “bet against” shale drillers to investors. At the time he was “basically kicked out of every office in New York City.” Good! However, the now-former hedge fund manager has an advisory service that in a sense also disparages the shale industry, but perhaps performs a valuable service for the industry. The new company uses data that is number-crunched from state records, applying assumptions that are “more realistic” than numbers offered by companies in investor presentations when it comes to how much the wells they *will* drill will produce. That is, this new service provides a more realistic look at reserves–proven and otherwise.