Facts & Rumors # 589
March 15, 2025
‘We Hear You, Mr. President’: The World Lines Up to Buy American NatGas. New York Times. President Trump’s cabinet has been busy rolling back regulations that will make it far easier to extract and produce fossil fuels. But who will buy them? Nearly everyone, it turns out, particularly under the threat of tariffs. At an annual energy-industry conference in Houston, executives spoke openly about how companies from around the world are seeking to buy American liquefied natural gas as a way of placating Mr. Trump’s demands to either balance trade or face punitive measures.
Trump’s Energy Chief Says US Shale Can ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ at Low Oil Price. Financial Times. US energy secretary Chris Wright has said the US shale sector can deliver President Donald Trump’s pledge to “drill, baby, drill” and boost oil production even if prices hit $50 a barrel, a level most analysts say would curtail drilling activity. The former chief executive of fracking group Liberty Energy told the Financial Times that the US sector could “absolutely” deliver both lower prices and higher production by “innovating” and driving “efficiency gains”.
EIA Expects U.S. Crude, Gas Output to Rise to Record Highs in 2025. Reuters. U.S. crude oil and natural gas production, along with demand for natural gas and electricity, will all rise to record highs in 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday in its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) report. The agency said it expects crude oil production to average 13.61 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 and 13.76 million bpd in 2026, up from 13.22 million bpd in 2024.
Permian Basin Will Be the ‘Driver’ in 2025. Permian Basin to drive U.S. oil and gas production growth in 2025. Midland Reporter-Telegram. With final numbers for 2024 being tallied, the Permian Basin is again the star of the nation’s oil and natural gas production. And expectations are that won’t change in 2025. East Daley Analytics issued its projections for 2025 and projects oil output to rise from 13.14 million barrels a day in 2024 to 13.64 million barrels a day in 2025. The Permian Basin will once again be the primary driver of U.S. growth as rising natural gas prices will spur an expansion of drilling and higher gas-to-oil ratios.
U.S. Crude Inventories Up. U.S. crude oil inventories rise 1.4MM barrels WoW. Rigzone. U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increased by 1.4 million barrels from the week ending February 28 to the week ending March 7, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. The report showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 435.2 million barrels on March 7, 433.8 million barrels on February 28, and 447.0 million barrels on March 8, 2024.
Permitting Reform Unlikely. API head doubts Congress will pass permitting reform in 2025. Politico. The head of the country’s largest oil and gas industry trade association said Tuesday he is pessimistic Congress will pass permitting reform legislation this year. Mike Sommers, chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute, said Congress is too partisan and lawmakers will have too much “bad blood” from the current fight over budgets and resolutions to pass any legislation that would streamline the way the federal government processes permits for energy infrastructure.
UAE’s ADNOC to Investment Millions in US. CERAWEEK ‘Make energy great again’ says UAE’s ADNOC CEO, pledging U.S. gas investment. Reuters. The international investment arm of United Arab Emirates state oil company ADNOC will make a significant investment in U.S. natural gas starting in the coming months, ADNOC CEO Sultan Al Jaber said on Tuesday. The UAE is a member of the OPEC+ producer group and one of the world’s top oil producers. ADNOC’s wholly-owned international investment arm XRG has about $80 billion in assets and Reuters reported last week the UAE was considering options for an XRG IPO.
Chinese EV’s Driving Down Oil Consumption. Chinese oil consumption peaks as EVs surge. E&E News. Chinese oil demand plateaued last year amid surging electric vehicle sales and a slowdown in the country’s construction sector, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. The finding represents a major shift for global oil markets. China accounted for 60 percent of global oil demand growth between 2013 and 2023. That rapid growth now appears to be over.
Ukraine Needs U.S. LNG. Ukraine bets on U.S. LNG as gas import needs rise. Reuters. Ukraine may import large volumes of U.S. gas this year via terminals in Germany, Greece, Lithuania and Poland, its state gas operator said, as Kyiv struggles with the impact of Russian attacks on its infrastructure. The White House has spearheaded talks to end the more than three years of war that have followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv said it was willing to accept a ceasefire proposal on Tuesday, but Moscow has yet to agree to a deal.
Expand Energy Drills 5.6-mile Lateral. Thanks, MDN. Hart Energy reports that Expand Energy, formed by the combination of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, drilled a massive 5.6-mile lateral in northern West Virginia’s dry-gas Utica—and it was drilled in five days with just one bit run. Expand’s Shannon Fields OHI #3H well, located in Ohio County, WV, has a 29,687-ft lateral. We always get in trouble when we make statements like this (because some drillers don’t disclose details for their wells), but we’re pretty sure this is the longest onshore shale well lateral ever drilled in the U.S. Maybe even in the world!
NY, Yes, NY Approved Major Pipeline Expansion. New York approved a major gas pipeline expansion. What does it mean for its climate goals? City Limits. On Feb. 7, the state greenlit an enhancement project by Iroquois Pipeline Company, which will boost the capacity of four facilities that compress gas to push more of it into the city. The approval of Iroquois’ project, which utility companies argue is needed to heat New Yorkers’ homes in the coldest months, amps up planet-warming pollution—and signals that the state’s commitment to reaching its climate goals is faltering, critics say.
EPA Moving Very Aggressively. E.P.A. targets dozens of environmental rules as it reframes its purpose. New York Times. on Wednesday the Trump administration said it would repeal dozens of the nation’s most significant environmental regulations, including limits on pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks, protections for wetlands, and the legal basis that allows it to regulate the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet. But beyond that, Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the EPA, reframed the purpose of the E.P.A. In a two-minute-and-18-second video posted to X, Mr. Zeldin boasted about the changes and said his agency’s mission is to “lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business.”
EPA shuts down 10 environmental justice offices, axes EJ division. E&E News. EPA is shuttering its 10 regional environmental justice offices and also scrapping the stand-alone EJ division created by the Biden administration, according to a Tuesday memo from Administrator Lee Zeldin. In the memo, a copy of which was viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News, Zeldin attributed the closures to President Donald Trump’s executive order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the government within 60 days.
Appalachian Basin Has the Lowest Methane of All O&G Basins. Thanks, MDN. The Appalachian Methane Initiative (AMI) is a coalition of leading U.S. natural gas companies in the Marcellus/Utica, including Ascent Resources, CNX Resources, EQT Corporation, Equitrans Midstream Corporation (now part of EQT), Expand Energy Corporation, MPLX, and Seneca Resources. AMI uses independent monitoring providers, technical consultants, and top-tier universities to monitor and track methane emissions in the M-U. Yesterday the group released the findings of its 2024 basin-wide methane monitoring program. The report confirms that the Appalachian Basin (the M-U) has the lowest methane emissions intensity of any major oil and gas producing basin in the United States.
Belmont and Jefferson Counties Accounted for Over Half of Ohio’s 2023 Natural Gas Production. The Intelligencer. Energy producers’ focus on a swath of eastern Ohio over 15 years has captured dollars, resources and opportunity, a natural gas and oil advocacy group reported. Ranked first and second respectively, Belmont and Jefferson counties accounted for more than 50% of Ohio’s 2023 natural gas production, the Ohio Natural Energy Institute writes in its report “The Essential Facts on Essential Ohio Energy” released last month.
CNX Paused Participation in ARCH2. Thanks, MDN. CNX Resources, one of the original founding partners in the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project created during the Biden administration, has “paused” its participation in the project. CNX is no longer listed as a partner on the ARCH2 website and confirmed to the Pittsburgh Business Times it is no longer participating (for now) while it waits to see whether the Trump administration will move forward with ARCH2 and the other hydrogen hubs promised $7 billion in funding during the previous administration. Trump froze funding for the hydrogen hub projects and is currently reviewing the program, placing all seven hydrogen hub projects, including ARCH2, in limbo.
DUC Report February. Production activity in four of the most prolific oil and natural gas plays in the US heated up in February, as the number of drilled, but uncompleted wells continued falling, the latest government data reveals.
The number of DUCs in Appalachia (including the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays), the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian plays fell by 529 wells, or 18.7%, last month, to 2,297, from 2,826 DUCs in February 2024.
The data was reported this week in the Energy Information Administration’s monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).
All four of the plays experienced a year-over-year drop in DUCs, led by the Eagle Ford, where the number of drilled, but uncompleted wells fell by 172, or 36.7%, to 297 from 469. The latest total was actually up from 292 DUCs reported in January 2025.
The number of DUCs in the Permian play dropped by 158 wells, or 14.4% last month, to 937 from 1,095 in February 2024, STEO reported. The Permian total was up 37 wells, or 4.1%, from 900 DUCs in January.
The Bakken lost 115 DUCs, a 26.7%, decrease, to 316 last month, from 431 one year ago. February 2025’s total was down three DUCs, 0.9%, from January 2025’s 319.
Appalachia last month reported its DUCs total fell by 84 wells, or 10.1%, to 747 wells from 831 DUCs one year ago. The latest total for Appalachia was down six wells, 0.7%, from January 2025’s 753, according to STEO data.
PA March 3, to March 13, 2025
County Township E&P Companies
1. Bradford Tuscarawas Chesapeake
2. Bradford Tuscarawas Chesapeake
3. Bradford Tuscarawas Chesapeake
4. Bradford Tuscarawas Chesapeake
5. Bradford Tuscarawas Chesapeake
6. Susquehanna Springville Coterra
7. Susquehanna Springville Coterra
8. Susquehanna Springville Coterra
9. Susquehanna Springville Coterra
10. Susquehanna Springville Coterra
11. Washington Robinson Range
12. Washington Union EQT
13. Washington Union EQQT
OH March 1, to March 8, 2025
County Township E&P Companies
1. Jefferson Wayne Ascent
2. Jefferson Wayne Ascent
3. Jefferson Wayne Ascent
4. Jefferson Wayne Ascent
5. Monroe Sunsbury Gulfport
6. Monroe Sunsbury Gulfport
7. Monroe Sunsbury Gulfport
8. Monroe Sunsbury Gulfport
WV Permits March 3 to March 7, 2025
1. Lewis HG Energy
