Will “the price” of natural gas “wall” fall below $2 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) in the next few weeks? And if it does, what does that mean for big Marcellus/Utica drillers like Cabot, Antero, Range, Southwestern and others?
Read More “Will NYMEX Price of NatGas Fall Below $2/Mcf in August?”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Lynbrook community receives some insights on New York’s gas crisis; New motion seeks details on Maryland AG’s use of Bloomberg funded attorneys; A giant factory rises to make a product filling up the world: Plastic; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Duke Energy’s Asheville natural gas plant fired up for final tests; Colorado is quickly becoming a patchwork of oil and gas rules after a major law change; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas demand is at a record – and prices keep dropping; INTERNATIONAL: Pieridae slashes Goldboro LNG terminal budget by 56%; Frustration grows among natural gas producers amid low prices, LNG uncertainty; China might not buy American oil. So what?
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Aug 12, 2019”
After Toby and Derek Rice seized control of EQT following a bruising proxy fight to control the board, Toby was named CEO of the company. Not long after that, Toby went on record to say he wasn’t cleaning house (see Toby Rice, EQT’s New CEO, is NOT Cleaning House re Top Management). And yet, that’s what it looks like from our point of view. In addition to former CEO Rob McNally and company attorney Jonathan Lushko getting the boot, the company’s chief operating officer (COO), and at least one other senior official, have exited.
Read More “EQT COO Gary Gould “Resigns” – Company Eliminates Position”
Chester County, PA District Attorney Tom Hogan has sunk to a new low. We told you back in January Hogan and his highly-paid staff, motivated by politics, were investigating Energy Transfer, their Sunoco Logistics division and anyone/anything to do with ET’s Mariner East pipeline projects, looking for “crimes.” All he found were minor violations by two off-duty PA constables (see Chester County DA: Using Off-Duty Police as ME2 Security a Crime). Yesterday Hogan’s office, in an act of supreme shame, arrested those two off-duty officers for having the gall to moonlight as security guards for the ME project.
Read More “Chester Co. DA Abuses Office, Arrests ME2 Pipeline Security Guards”
Could we *finally* see some movement on an NGL (natural gas liquids) storage facility in the Marcellus/Utica? Indeed it seems possible–even likely. Mountaineer NGL Storage is planning to build an NGL storage operation in Monroe County, OH, located just across the river (and border) from West Virginia.
Read More “Mountaineer NGL Storage Says Construction Begins in OH 1Q20”
A paid political activist who is not a doctor but works for the so-called Physicians for Social Responsibility (left wing group), told a hearing in Murrysville (Westmoreland County), PA on Wednesday that she could not prove fracking leads to negative health affects on those living near the activity, but in the very next breath she essentially said it does, saying there’s a “strong correlation” between fracking an ill health. Her proof? A list of Big Green-paid for “health studies” (propaganda campaigns).
Read More “Anti-Drilling Activist Bad-mouths Fracking at Murrysville Hearing”
There’s one municipality on Long Island that is not taking New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline ban lying down. Political and business leaders from the Village of Lynbrook (Nassau County, Long Island) rallied earlier this week to say the “feud” between Cuomo and utility company National Grid, which has put a moratorium on any new natgas customer hook-ups, is “absolutely, unconditionally unacceptable” and is causing the village “great harm.”
Read More “Long Island Community Rallies Against Cuomo Pipeline Ban”
Anadarko Petroleum, as an independent company, is no more. The company has officially sold itself and is now merged into Occidental Petroleum in a cash, stock and assumption of debt deal worth $55 billion. At one point Chevron had a deal to buy Anadarko, but Anadarko left them at the altar, along with a $1 billion deal abortion payment (see Anadarko Leaves Chevron at the Altar to Elope with Occidental).
Read More “Deal is Done: Anadarko Petroleum Now Part of Occidental Petroleum”
We don’t know if you watched any of the most recent round of Democrat presidential debates. We couldn’t hack it personally. But some brave souls did, including Katie Klaber, former (founding) head of the Marcellus Shale Coalition and now head of her own consulting firm. Katie points out Bernie Sanders said the oil and gas industry is willfully destroying and planet and said those of us in the industry are engaging in “criminal activity.” You might just dismiss it as “just crazy Bernie,” he always talks that way. Except other candidates said equally disturbing things about the fossil fuel industry too. Katie says it’s time for candidates to stop vilifying our industry. She’s right.
Read More “Democrat Presidential Candidates Must Stop Vilifying O&G Workers”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: NJDEP extends NESE comment period – sign now!; Dimock pigs to rigs lawyers lose control of Dimock client?; Trump reschedules visit to Beaver County; Pipelines are the safest option for Pennsylvania; NATIONAL: The U.S. leads the world in new oil & gas demand; Halcon Resources files for bankruptcy again; Trees to the Rescue! (video).
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Fri, Aug 9, 2019”
Yesterday Southwestern Energy, a major Marcellus/Utica driller, released its second quarter 2019 update and talked about the rest of 2019 and beyond. Southwestern total production in 2Q was 186 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe), an 11% increase compared to 2Q18 (excluding the Fayetteville, which Southwestern sold last year to become 100% focused on the M-U). That 186 Bcfe number includes 148 Bcf of gas production, 937,000 barrels of oil production, and 5.5 million barrels of natural gas liquids (NGL) production.
Read More “Southwestern Energy Cutting Rig Count from 6 to 2 in M-U”
Montage Resources, which formed in a merger of Eclipse Resources and Blue Ridge Mountain Resources (formerly Magnum Hunter Resources) in March of this year, issued their second quarter update yesterday–the first full quarter for the newly merged entity. The company released an operational update several weeks ago to announce they are cutting back from two to one active drilling rig in the second half of 2019 (see Montage Resources Cuts Drilling Program to 1 Rig in 2nd Half 2019), which they reiterated in yesterday’s update.
Read More “Montage Resources Cuts Rigs from 2 to 1, Spending $30M Less”
One of the most liberal governors in America, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, continues his campaign to kill the Marcellus Shale by slapping a severance tax on top of an already-high impact tax. He’s now getting a little help from his lib friends at the polling unit at Franklin & Marshall College. When asked a misleading question, a recent poll of 627 PA residents found 69% of them “strongly” or “somewhat” favor Wolf’s Santa Claus promises in his “Restore PA” plan–if it’s funded by a severance tax on Marcellus Shale.
Read More “F&M Push Poll Finds Majority PA Residents Want Severance Tax”
Monday evening the Mariner East 2 pipeline was down for routine maintenance at a pump station in Chester County, PA (near Philadelphia). When workers relit a pilot in a flare used to burn off excess gases, there apparently was some accumulated gas in the flare stack and it ignited, creating a loud boom. Nobody was injured, there was no danger. Yet that incident is now being labeled an “explosion” by anti-fossil fuel activists and their sycophants in the press.
Read More “PA Antis Trying to Turn ME2 Pipeline Fart into an “Explosion””
The Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV) held its annual summer meeting earlier this week in beautiful White Sulphur Springs. WV Gov. Jim Justice, who was not on the agenda to speak, stopped by and gave an impromptu speech to delegates. Which surprises us, given his business interests in coal and his previous bashing of the shale industry (see WV Gov. Justice Blames Shale for Bad Roads, Wants Higher Taxes).
Read More “WV Gov. Justice Makes Impromptu Speech at IOGAWV Summer Mtg”
A few weeks ago MDN told you the State of Connecticut’s “Siting Council” had changed its mind and decided to approve NTE Energy’s proposal to build a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly (see Connecticut Approves New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in Killingly). Apparently Connecticut doesn’t want to experience rolling blackouts that are sure to come unless more electric power generation is added to the grid. The Siting Council’s approval brought out a handful of anti-fossil fuel protesters yesterday. Among them were a paid volunteer Sierra Club agitator and some old hippies.
9/23/19 CORRECTION: The Sierra Club representative who participated, Martha Klein, contacted MDN to say that she is a volunteer. She does not receive any compensation from the Sierra Club. We regret the error and have corrected the article to reflect that fact.
Read More “Old Hippies, Sierra Club Protest Against CT Gas-Fired Elec Plant”