Facts & Rumors # 571
October 19, 2024
AI Will Drive NatGas Plants Growth. AI growth could spur a gas plant building spree. E&E News. Wall Street analysts anticipate a building boom of natural gas power plants in response to the growing use of artificial intelligence. That outcome could endanger the 2030 climate goals of Microsoft, Google and other technology giants that are planning to use gigawatt-scale data centers to meet the energy-intensive computing demands of AI.
Lower Oil and NatGas Prices, Higher Electricity Demand Expected Over Next Five Years. The Hill. Natural gas and oil prices are likely to decline in the second half of the decade, but unexpectedly high worldwide demand for electricity will complicate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, IEA said Wednesday in its yearly World Energy Outlook. Between 2025 and 2030, the supply of oil and gas is expected to increase barring a significant escalation in conflicts in Ukraine or the Middle East, IEA said in the report. In the years ahead, the trend indicates a “very different energy world” that includes downward pressure on the prices of those commodities, according to Fatih Birol, executive director at IEA. Also covered by Reuters.
New Driller in OH. Thanks, MDN. We always get a small thrill when we notice a new company working in the Marcellus/Utica. This is one of those occasions. Tiburon Oil & Gas Partners, LLC, headquartered in Houston, TX, is headed by four former Carrizo Oil & Gas executives. Tiburon was formed in 2022 “to responsibly acquire, develop, and operate upstream oil and gas assets in the Appalachian Basin.” In a press release issued yesterday, Post Oak Energy Capital announced it is giving buckets of money to Tiburon to close a deal to lease land in the liquids-rich portion of the Utica Shale play in Ohio. Have money, will drill.
Energy Deals Drop. US energy deals drop in Q3 to $12 billion after year-long frenzy. Reuters. U.S. oil mergers slowed sharply last quarter after a year-long consolidation wave emptied pocketbooks and left fewer companies on offer in the top U.S. shale field, analytics firm Enverus said Wednesday. There were $12 billion worth of deals disclosed in the quarter ended Sept. 30, the lowest total in six quarters, said Enverus Intelligence Research analyst Andrew Dittmar. “Upstream M&A was bound to drop” after 2023’s record $192 billion in deals largely in the Permian basin of West Texas and New Mexico, the largest U.S. shale field. Those mega deals have acquirers busy running portfolio reviews to weed out unwanted assets, he added.
Fed Court Derails FERC Permits. Could Be Bad for TX. Federal court ruling threatens to derail Texas’ clean energy future. Dallas Morning News. Opinion. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a ruling in City of Port Isabel vs. FERC that took the unprecedented step of vacating the federal permits of two South Texas liquefied natural gas facilities — the $18.4 billion Rio Grande LNG terminal and Texas LNG — more than a year after they were issued. But the ramifications of this decision extend far beyond LNG. If it stands, the ruling would set a precedent that could derail future development for all forms of energy, and Texas’ position as a clean energy leader could be squandered.
Slower Growth in the Permian in 2025. Permian Crude output set for slower growth in 2025. Oil Price. The oil price rally has reversed again thanks to unrelenting short-selling by money managers. Brent crude futures for December delivery were trading at $77.24/barrel at 11.40 am ET on Thursday, while WTI crude was changing hands at $73.72/barrel. That marks a sharp fall from last Monday’s 2-month high of $81.12 for Brent and $77.91 for WTI crude. The rally was triggered by Washington’s indication that Israel could strike Iran’s oil facilities.
API Fighting EPA Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emission Standards. API takes legal action against EPA’s emissions rule for heavy-duty vehicles. World Oil. The American Petroleum Institute (API) filed its opening brief yesterday in a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) heavy-duty (HD) vehicle emissions standards for model years (MY) 2027-2032. “Americans overwhelmingly oppose the government telling them what to buy and drive, but this administration’s relentless pursuit of vehicle mandates does just that,” said API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers.
IEA Predicts End to Oil & NatGas demand growth before 2030. Oil Price. A big part of the bearishness has been triggered by ongoing oversupply and weak demand concerns, with the leading energy agencies issuing widely divergent oil market predictions. For instance, the International Energy Agency (IEA) sees OPEC crude oil output 700kb/d higher in 2025, OPEC+ (also known as Declaration of Cooperation, DoC) crude oil output 967kb/d higher and total DoC liquids output 1.323mb/d higher. In contrast, OPEC Secretariat figures–the average of seven secondary-source assessments are closer to those by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) rather than the IEA estimates.
TX NatGas Pipeline Eases Bottlenecks. Texas natural-gas pipeline eases bottlenecks, paves way for higher shale output. Reuters. A new pipeline carrying shale natural gas from west Texas toward export hubs on the U.S. Gulf Coast has eased constraints that crashed local prices this year, and will help pave the way for higher U.S. oil production, energy executives said. Pipeline companies largely quit adding new capacity following the pandemic, when shale production dried up and pipeline utilization plummeted. The 580-mile (933-km) Matterhorn Express pipeline is the first new natural-gas pipeline built in the Permian basin in three years.
PA Permits September 16, to October 10, 2024
County Township E&P Companies
1. Greene Franklin EQT
2. Greene Jackson EQT
3. Sullivan Cherry Chesapeake
4. Washington Smith Range
5. Washington Smith Range
6. Washington Smith Range
OH October 6 to October 12, 2024
County Township E&P Companies
1. Jefferson Salem EAP OHIO
2. Jefferson Salem EAP OHIO
3. Jefferson Salem EAP OHIO
WV Permits October 7, to October 11, 2024
1. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
2. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
3. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
4. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
5. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
6. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
7. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
8. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
9. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
10. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
11. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
12. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
13. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
14. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
15. Marshall Tug Hill Energy
16. Wetzel EQT
