U.S. Becomes Net NatGas Exporter – First Time in 60 Years
We consider this REALLY BIG news–and yet we’ve only seen it mentioned in a single mainstream news story. For the first time since 1957, in 2017 the United States exported more natural gas to other countries (Canada, Mexico, and internationally) than it imported (from Canada, Mexico and other countries). That is, in 2017 the U.S. became a “net exporter” of natural gas–the first time in 60 years! The reason is, of course, because of shale. And because the Marcellus/Utica produces over 40% of all the shale gas produced in the U.S., you can justifiably say we just became a net exporter, thanks to the Marcellus/Utica. So pop a cork on the champagne bottle. It’s Friday. Let’s celebrate!…
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The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye over the break that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Chemical leak at Derry gas well spreads odor for miles; seminar in Belmont County gives info on o&g royalties; Trumbull County hoping for CNG filling station; de Blasio’s bogus war on fossil fuels; Upstate NY shrinks as Andy cuts off pipeline lifelines; cold snap leads to biggest U.S. natgas draw ever; forecasters missed East Coast deep freeze; oil heading for $80?; Nova Scotia shale gas deposits “to large” to ignore; and more!
We’ve been waiting, with bated breath, for an announcement from Dominion Energy that their $4 billion LNG export terminal is finally (finally!) up and running and shipping out condensed Marcellus/Utica Shale gas as LNG, heading to Japan and India. In April of last year, Dominion said the plant would be up and running, shipping LNG to India beginning this month (see 
It’s always a shame–in fact it grieves us–to see once-great Christian denominations succumb to a worldly rather than spiritual purpose and mission. It’s sad to see the modern day version of a golden calf erected in place of God. It’s happened again–this time with the Presbyterian denomination in Pittsburgh. An “umbrella group for 140 Presbyterian churches” in Allegheny County are calling on Shell to stop construction of their $6 billion ethane cracker plant project about 25 miles from Pittsburgh. That’s right–just stop now, throwing thousands of people out of work (not very Christ-like) and throwing away the $1 billion+ Shell has already spent on the fully vetted, fully permitted, fully discussed (for years) project. Why do the Presbyterians want work on the cracker plant stopped? Because the plant will produce “plastic products that have been linked to the death of animals and the diminishment of fragile natural habitats.” Yep. The Presbyterians are now anti-plastic. The very keyboard they typed up their tripe on is, of course, plastic. As was the computer and monitor they used, the chair they sat in, the clothes on their bodies and sneakers on their feet–all come from the plastics the Shell cracker plant will produce. Just for icing on the global warming cake, the Presbyterians are also demanding their denomination divest any of their considerable investments from companies remotely related to the fossil fuel industry. It seems that the golden calf of global warming has now replaced God in the Pittsburgh Presbyterian denomination. And yes, we do grieve over that…
Here we go again. A group of five, radicalized Big Green groups, led (by the nose) by the odious Sierra Club, filed a motion and a new lawsuit in federal court on Monday attempting to prevent construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. The pipeline is being built by EQT, NextEra Energy and several other partners. The Sierra Club along with Appalachian Voices, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, and Wild Virginia, want a halt to MVP construction work until their lawsuit to reverse the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to approve the project is heard by the same court. We doubt the court will grant their request–but one never knows. The case (and motion) were filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Below is the Sierra Club’s smug, self-serving announcement about the lawsuit and motion, followed by copies of the lawsuit and motion…
In April 2017, MDN brought you the news that Columbia Pipeline (now owned by TransCanada) had filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build a 3.5 mile, 8-inch pipeline that will carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to connect the Mountaineer Gas system in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia with the Columbia Gas Pipeline in Pennsylvania (see 
Each month MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for rig count health in general and rig count health in the Marcellus/Utica in particular (
Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, issued its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday (full copy below). Most of the headlines in the media have been about EIA’s prediction that U.S. oil output will hit its highest level EVER in 2018. As in ever, in all of history. The simple reason for the record output is, of course, shale oil output–most of it coming from the once-sleepy Permian Basin in Texas. Something overlooked in yesterday’s report is that 2018 and 2019 will see the most U.S. natural gas output, EVER. EIA says that in 2018 the U.S. will average an additional 6.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natgas production. That is “like the U.S. adding the entire output of Turkmenistan — one of the world’s largest gas exporters — in the space of just one year.” Astonishing! There are two reasons why natgas production will see an historic increase this year: (1) associated gas–the more you drill for oil in the Permian and Bakken, the more natgas molecules come out of the ground along with the oil; and (2) the main reason…new pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica. “Pipelines able to carry roughly 7 billion cubic feet of gas a day away from the prolific Appalachian region are due to start up this year, allowing production that’s been bottled up in the East to flood out.” Thank you Marcellus/Utica for lifting the entire country to new heights!…
Nine Energy Service, an oilfield services company that competes with companies like Halliburton and Baker Hughes, operates in a number of shale basins, including the Marcellus/Utica. Nine was formed in 2014 by the combination of four existing oilfield services companies–Northern States Completions, Tripoint LLC, CDK Perforating and Integrated Production Services Canada. All four were portfolio companies of SCF Partners–a private equity firm investing in the oil and gas industry. The new company was named Nine Energy Service and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Why the unusual name of “Nine”? It’s aspirational. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being perfect, they aspire to be a 9, which is about as good as you can get. Hence the name, which is kind of cool. Nine announced yesterday it plans to go public with an initial public offering of 7 million shares. The company hopes to raise ~$160 million with the IPO…
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is clinically insane. It’s time to put him in a straitjacket and prevent him from doing any more damage to a once-great city. de Blasio is using city resources to sue five oil companies, blaming them for “climate change”–the hoax that mankind is causing the earth to warm at an apocalyptic rate. The theory behind global warming is that burning fossil fuels (extracted by the five companies) releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere where the CO2 then acts like a canopy over the earth, trapping in heat from the sun, causing the earth to warm. And, as the theory goes, Mom Earth is warming up to such a degree that it will “soon” (any year now) kill plants, animals, mankind–all living things. All sorts of ills are laid at the feet of so-called global warming, now called “climate change”, including earthquakes, major storms, hurricanes, pestilence, racism. No, we’re not exaggerating. EVERYTHING is blamed on global warming. Even the record cold temperatures that we’ve experienced in the northeast are blamed on global warming! Wait–how can that be? How can a canopy effect trapping heat cause COLDER temps? Obviously it can’t–but these people will believe anything. Yes, CLINICALLY INSANE. But maybe not totally insane, because at its root, de Blasio’s move is not *really* about global warming and preserving the planet–it’s about an avowed socialist (de Blasio admits his perverse political leanings) attempting to steal money from those who earn it, in order to redistribute it to people who don’t earn it–people who will keep voting de Blasio into office in response to his political bribery. de Blasio has also instructed the city to divest its pension funds from any company that remotely has anything to do with fossil fuels. Now that IS insane!…
CNX Resources, the gas drilling part of what used to be CONSOL Energy (but now is it’s own separate company), issued guidance yesterday for how much money they intend to spend on drilling in 2018. CNX will spend somewhere between $790-$880 million on drilling and midstream projects this year, with 65% of that total going for Marcellus projects, and 35% for Utica projects. That high level number breaks down as $515-$580 million for drilling and completions, and $275-$300 million for water, land and midstream infrastructure. CNX expects to drill 75 wells, 60 of them in the Marcellus, in PA and WV, and 15 in the Utica, in PA and OH. CNX plans to frack 51 wells this year, mostly in PA, and bring 59 wells online to production, again mostly in PA. The company also provided a big tease by saying it will spend $75-$100 million on running water pipelines “for two major stacked pay project areas that the company expects to be ready in the fourth quarter of 2019.” Hmmm. Wonder where they intend to expand in 2019? No CNX’s tease will stoke the rumor mill. As part of yesterday’s announcement, CNX also provided impressive data on a pair of dry Utica wells they recently drilled in Westmoreland County, PA…
We now have confirmation from the Russians themselves that the natural gas shipment on its way to Boston we alerted you to a few days ago is, indeed, Russian gas from the Yamal LNG plant, located in the Russian Arctic (see 
Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Ellis (Republican from Butler County) introduced House Bill (HB) 1960 on Jan. 5. The bill, known as the “State Agency Regulatory Compliance Officer Act,” would create a new Regulatory Compliance Officer position in each state agency, including the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The new Compliance Officer would have the authority “to block an agency from imposing fines and penalties for violations and to rewrite the policies under which fines and penalties are imposed.” The aim of the bill is to force all PA state agencies (including the DEP) to work *with* the people and companies they regulate. It would create a different mindset–instead of “gotcha” enforcement of regulations, it’s aimed at making it easy to comply with regulations. The bill states this in its opening lines: “(1) It is the purpose of this act for agencies to work collaboratively with, instead of acting punitively towards, regulated communities. (2) Agencies should strive to make the regulations which the agencies administer and enforce as clear and easily navigable as possible for regulated communities. (3) In administering a regulation, an agency’s primary goal should be to ensure compliance rather than to exact punishment.” Those who love Big Government don’t like this bill. Will this bill go anywhere? Who knows! What the bill indicates to us is that at least some legislators (Republicans) in Harrisburg are listening and “get it.” What do they get? That PA has developed a reputation for burdensome regulations and if the state wants the Marcellus miracle to continue, and grow, things need to change at the DEP. A $83.7 billion investment by China in neighboring WV’s shale/petrochemical industries should be a bright, red slap across every PA legislator’s face. Wake up! If you don’t fix the DEP, quickly, you’ll lose PA’s Marcellus momentum to someone else…