Shale Gas News – December 28, 2019

Bill desRosiers
External Affairs Coordinator, Cabot Oil & Gas

The Shale Gas News, heard every Saturday at 10 AM on 94.3 FM, 1510 AM and Sundays on YesFM, talked about New England, Fair Shake Environmental, global warming and much more last week.

The Shale Gas News has grown again; welcome Gem 104 as our FOURTH station! Gem 104 helps to solidify the Shale Gas News coverage in an important Marcellus region, PA’s northern tier. The Shale Gas News is now broadcasting in Bradford, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wayne Counties, as well as in greater central PA. The Shale Gas News is aired on Saturday or Sunday depending on the station.

Every Saturday Rusty Fender and I host a morning radio show to discuss all things natural gas. We are still replaying some interviews from the December 10th Think About Energy briefing in State College.  Today we hear from George Stark of Cabot Oil and Gas.

Shale Gas News

The Shale Gas News, typically, is broadcast live. On the December 28th show (click above), we covered the following new territory (see news excerpts below):

  • New England Natural Gas Prices Hit Two Year High. For those who grew up in New England, single-digit temperatures, snow squalls, and icy roads are nothing outside the ordinary. With at least six days last year averaging colder than today’s forecast, it seemed almost impossible that gas prices would break last season’s record. Accompanying this week’s cold was a combination of factors amounting to conditions that were far from normal. As the risks began to present themselves on the morning of Wednesday, December 18, AGT-CG (Non-G), New England’s largest natural gas hub, sold for as much as $15.25/MMBtu, the highest price observed since January 30, 2018. So, what really caused natural gas prices to spike when they were so weak for the last six months?
  • Fair Shake? No, Just Another Heinz Shill Spending Big Daddy’s Money. Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services is a Heinz shill, just like StateImpactPA, the Clean Air Council, the Povertykeeper and whoever else money will buy.  Nobody, but nobody, has their ear closer to the ground of what’s happening in the world of natural gas here in the Northeast than our friend Jim Willis at Marcellus Drilling News. Yesterday, he picked up on the decision of Protect PT to appeal the big defeat this fractivist outfit just endured at the Commonwealth Court when the latter found Tony Ingraffea was a toothless tiger. Protect Pt is clearly just a front.
  • Global Warming Facts, Fear, Foolishness and Frauds. Climate scientist Judith Curry lays out the fear, foolishness and frauds involved with the global warming debate today and a reader dispenses some facts. No one who reads this blog regularly doesn’t understand our position on global warming; that natural gas is the solution, not the problem, with respect to any issue that does exist. I have been increasingly disturbed, though, by how the debate is evolving among those who believe global warming is a threat. That they want to simply shut down any speech contrary to their own views, rather than debate, has been long apparent.
  • Dark Fiber Project in Bradford County Another Plum from Natural Gas Tree. High capacity dark fiber internet infrastructure is being planned for Bradford County, thanks to the Marcellus gas impact fee and some innovative leaders. If you live in the rural countryside and all you want for Christmas is a faster Internet connection, you might just be in luck sooner than you think. Several weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting in on a meeting between a number of local Bradford County officials and federal USDA representatives, who discussed a large variety of things pertaining to energy development both here in rural Pennsylvania and across the country.
  • EQT Shifting Charitable Giving Away from City of Pittsburgh. Take note Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto: You can only crap on the shale industry for so long before it comes back to bite you on the backside. EQT CEO Toby Rice told a group of landowners Wednesday night that the EQT Foundation (EQT’s charitable giving arm), the third largest foundation by giving in Pittsburgh, is going to shift its donations away from Pittsburgh and to the counties/regions where the company drills.
  • All of EQT’s Previous Top Management, Save One, is Now Gone. Beauty (and truth) is in the eye of the beholder. During the proxy fight earlier this year to control EQT’s board–and ultimately its management team–Toby Rice threw some sharp barbs including talk that EQT’s existing management was not up to the task of effectively running the company. The Rice boys said so, their board nominees said so, and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said so. There will be change (i.e. personnel change) at the “operational level” said ISS. Imagine our surprise when, after assuming control, Toby said there would *not* be a wholesale replacement of top management.
  • Rice Bros. Win Proxy War to Control EQT – Toby Rice New CEO. Monumentally BIG NEWS! The Rice boys, Toby and Derek, have won the proxy fight to elect their candidates to the EQT board. In a joint announcement made this morning, preliminary results show the Rice boys prevailed in a huge upset (80% of the vote) to gain control of the largest natural gas producing company in the U.S. Later today the new board will meet and vote to appoint Toby Rice CEO and President of EQT. The firing and replacement of top management won’t be far behind.

The Shale Gas News sponsored by Linde Corporation

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