Industrywide Issues

M-U Rig Count Holds Even; U.S. Count Down 8th Week in a Row

The weekly rig count for the U.S. has continued to be anemic over the past two months. Baker Hughes, with its venerable rig count, reported last Friday that overall, the U.S. rig count continued to bleed rigs–down another five rigs to 682 in the week ending June 23. That’s the lowest count since April 2022…

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Potential Shutdown of Boston LNG Terminal Discussed at FERC Forum

A month MDN told you about a coming real-life nightmare that the Everett LNG import terminal, which accepts and regasifies foreign natural gas, may shut down following the closure of New England’s biggest natural gas-fired power plant, the Mystic Generating Station in Everett, MA (see Nightmare in Boston – Everett LNG Import Terminal May Close…

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MVP the Template to Finish Pipelines Like NY’s Northern Access

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) and its pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline have worked on a plan to build the Northern Access Pipeline since 2016. Northern Access is a 97-mile project from McKean County in Pennsylvania into and through Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Erie counties in New York that will flow Marcellus gas into New York State….

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Higher NatGas Prices on the Way – Rystad Predicts $2.91 Avg 2H23

A Rystad Energy analyst says strong supplies and cool temps kept the price of natural gas low over the past few months–but that’s about to change. Rystad says new modeling shows a bump up in temps coming, and with it, a bump in the price of domestic natural gas. How much? Rystad believes the Henry…

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Williams CEO Cheerleads for Competitor Mountain Valley Pipeline

Earlier this week, the J.P. Morgan Energy, Power and Renewables Conference was held in New York City. The event featured a number of oil and gas luminaries. Among the speakers was Alan Armstrong, CEO of pipeline giant Williams, which owns and operates the Transco Pipeline system. Williams also built and operates an extensive gathering system…

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Injection Well Fight Continues in Western PA – Plum, Murrysville

MDN recently reported that after eight years, Pennsylvania General Energy gave up on trying to build an environmentally safe wastewater injection well in Grant Township, Indiana County, PA (see Bad Guys Win: PA General Energy to Plug Grant Twp Injection Well). Yes, the bad guys (CELDF) finally won. However, a proposed injection well project is…

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Bidenistas Already Close to Reissuing WOTUS Following Court Ruling

In May, after years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) provided closure on what is and what is not considered “waters of the United States”–or WOTUS (see U.S. Supreme Court Permanently Restricts EPA WOTUS Rule). SCOTUS ruled unanimously on WOTUS. The court came down on the side of rationality and common sense. However, we’re…

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Punxsutawney Phil Getting a New Neighbor – Shale Injection Well

In the future, when everyone’s favorite groundhog Punxsutawney Phil pokes his head out of his hole in February to tell us whether or not there are another six weeks of winter, he may be looking at shale wastewater trucks coming and going on their way to a new underground injection well just outside of town….

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PA Senate Passes 2 Important Bills Affecting EHB; Unfortunately DOA

Far-left environmentalist wackos have learned how to abuse the legal system in the U.S. in their attempts to block fossil energy. One of the places they excel in abusing the system is in Pennsylvania. When the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issues a new permit for a project the left opposes, they appeal the…

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Newpark Resources Looks to Sell Its Fracking Fluid Division

In 2017, Texas-based Newpark Resources bought out and merged in Well Service Group located in Robinson Township, near Pittsburgh, for $75 million (see TX Newpark Resources Buys Pittsburgh Well Services Group for $75M). Well Service Group, a containment and well site service company, was founded in 2012 and sold and serviced equipment for Newpark from…

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Work Proceeds on NJNG Gas Regulator Station in Holmdel, NJ

In late December, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) voted to grant permission to New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) to build a pipeline regulator station in Holmdel, NJ. What does a regulator station do? It reduces pressure on the underground natural gas pipelines that already exist in the area, running underneath the ground…

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PA PUC Distributes $279M from Impact Tax – Highest Ever!

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) posted detailed information about this year’s distribution of last year’s impact fees generated by natural gas producers. Great news! PA raised $278.8 million from Act 13 impact fees (PA’s version of a severance tax). That is the HIGHEST amount raised and distributed by impact fees since the beginning…

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Exxon Working on Second Shale Revolution Using New Innovations

Earlier this month, we noticed a short Bloomberg article about a stray comment made by Exxon Mobile CEO Darren Woods. He was speaking at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference held on June 1 in New York City. Woods said he has tasked the brainiacs who work for Exxon to figure out a way to…

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PA State Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Establish Independent Energy Office

The great state of Pennsylvania has an Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), created by Act 120 of 2010 and Act 100 of 2016. The IFO analyzes fiscal proposals made by state agencies and is nonpartisan with its analyses. PA State Senator Gene Yaw, from Lycoming County, introduced a bill earlier this week to create an Independent…

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Drilling Tools Intl Merges with ROC Energy Acquisition, Goes Public

Drilling Tools International (DTI) has just received a major cash infusion of $40.8 million to expand and begin trading as a public company. DTI is a Houston, Texas-based oilfield services company that manufactures and rents downhole drilling tools used in horizontal and directional drilling of oil and natural gas wells. DTI, a private company until…

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