On May 31, Constellation Energy shut down and permanently retired the natural gas-fired Mystic Generating Station it owned and operated in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the north side of Boston (see Boston Mystic Gas-Fired Power Shuttered, but LNG Imports Continue). Mystic was one of the oldest U.S. electric power plants still in operation. The plant was…
Read More...The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) continues to do its job. Yesterday, the group held a meeting and awarded five contracts for drilling and fracking UNDER (not on) several state-owned lands, including a contract with EOG Resources to drill under 85 acres in Keen Wildlife Area in Washington Township, Harrison County, for…
Read More...Speedy Gonzales How many government programs does it take to fix the broken Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP)? However many have gone before, you can add another two new programs to the list. Yesterday, the DEP announced two new programs that will, this time, really, actually, fix the agency’s chronically slow permitting for simple…
Read More...Yesterday, the “front month” NYMEX natural gas contract for Sept. delivery gained 4.60 cents per million British thermal units (MMBtu), rising 2.15% to $2.1890/MMBtu. Hey! Above $2 for five consecutive trading sessions! How long will the price stay above $2? Zacks.com took a stab at answering that question. To view this content, log into your…
Read More...What had been a regular stream of talk about providing power to data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) has become a torrent. There is a clear connection between data centers and the natural gas industry. This most recent round of quarterly financial updates by the biggest of the big pipeline companies (all of which have…
Read More...The mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, has a new person in charge: Emma Lewis, senior vice president of U.S. chemicals and products at Shell. We told you Lewis had replaced Hilary Mercer back in January (see Shell PA Cracker’s First Birthday – One Unit Still Not Online). Lewis splits her…
Read More...A Washington County, PA, man and his anti-fossil fuel lawyer have won the right to force Chevron executives to testify in court in a case where the man accuses Chevron of using PFAS (“forever chemicals”) in fracking fluids in 2011-2012 near his home. He alleges the chemicals spread to his water well and damaged his…
Read More...In July, MDN told you about a disappointing (but not surprising) decision from the Democrat leftists on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (see PA Supreme Court Allows Big Green $$ in RGGI Carbon Tax Lawsuit). The so-called Supremes ruled in favor of allowing three well-financed Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club, PennFuture, and Clean Air…
Read More...The vast majority (up to 99%) of Pennsylvania’s abandoned conventional wells are “orphans,” or wells without an identifiable, documented owner whom the state can hold liable for cleanup. Orphan wells date back to the Civil War in some cases. Even with “newer” wells, the problem has been poor recordkeeping by the PA Dept. of Environmental…
Read More...Once a month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysts issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. Starting in June, the EIA axed its monthly Drilling Productivity Report that focused on shale plays and instead rolled it into the…
Read More...Here’s a court case that flew under the radar until now. It’s a case that has the potential to affect some drillers and some royalty owners in Ohio. Sabre Energy Corporation (the plaintiff) sued Gulfport Energy Corporation and Antero Resources Corporation (the defendants) for breach of contract. Sabre Energy owns Overriding Royalty Interests (ORRIs), or…
Read More...This is fascinating. A leftist researcher rented an apartment and lived in Williamsport for eight months in 2013. He interviewed over 100 residents of Greater Williamsport (Lycoming County), PA, to learn their views on fracking. He followed up with the participants and made return visits to the region for the next eight years until 2021….
Read More...AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company, is a utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation. AES Indiana said yesterday that it wants to invest $1.1 billion in Pike County, IN, to convert the company’s two remaining coal-fired power…
Read More...As we’ve discussed many times before, the price for natural gas (especially the NYMEX futures price) is primarily determined by supply and demand — Economics 101. When there is too much supply with the same or less demand, prices go down. And boy, have they gone down! The problem we’ve struggled with all this year…
Read More...A section of the recently completed 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) was shut down on Tuesday for “pigging” operations and maintenance. Certain sections of MVP have dropped to zero flows, while other sections have dropped to drastically lower flows. We’ll ask the questions no one else will: Why the heck is MVP shutting down a…
Read More...