shale gas news
Bill desRosiers
External Affairs Coordinator, Coterra Energy
Host, Shale Gas News

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The Shale Gas News, heard every Saturday at 10 AM on 94.3 FM, 1510 AM, 1600 AM, 104.1 FM and Sundays on YesFM, talked about the Mariner East 2, oil price surge, help wanted and much more last week.

The Shale Gas News has grown again to the Williamsport area on stations WEJS 1600 AM & 104.1 FM. 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 and now the Williamsport area. The Shale Gas News is aired on Saturday or Sunday depending on the station.

Every Saturday Rusty Fender, Matt Henderson and I host a morning radio show to discuss all things shale gas. This week, as a guest, Sarah Johnson, Business Development and Sales for Costy’s Energy Services.

The Shale Gas News, typically, is broadcast live. On the March 5th show (click above), we covered the following new natural gas territory (see news excerpts below):

• Oil blasts through $110/bbl, as few alternatives seen to Russian supply. Oil surged relentlessly beyond $110 a barrel on Wednesday, extending its rally since Russia invaded Ukraine seven days ago, on expectations that the market will remain short of supply for months to come following sanctions on Moscow and a flood of divestment from Russian oil assets by major companies. The market rallied into the close of trading on heavy volume, with global benchmark Brent crude ending the day at its highest close since June 2014, while U.S. crude’s settlement was its highest since May 2011.
• Biden’s dilemma: CO2 cuts or more gas? For several moments in his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Biden led a bipartisan, unified ovation from Congress for Ukraine’s heroic defenders. Outside the House chamber, it was back to paralyzing debate about America’s fractured energy policies and prices, including the nation’s foremost energy weapon in the Ukraine crisis — the future of the vast U.S. reserves of natural gas.
• All Construction for Mariner East 2 Pipeline Now Done, Online 1Q. Frankly, we sometimes wondered if we would ever see this day! Fantastic news: The Mariner East Pipeline system, including Mariner East 1 (ME1), Mariner East 2 (ME2), and Mariner East 2X (ME2X), is now completely built and in the ground. According to an update by builder and owner Energy Transfer issued yesterday, the company is in the process of commissioning and bringing the remaining bits online. The entire system will be online during the first quarter of this year–no later than March 30th. Hallelujah!
• M-U Drillers Restrict Production Even as NatGas Prices Spike. There was a time in the Marcellus/Utica when, if the price of natural gas went above $3/Mcf, drilling companies would drill like crazy. Cabot Oil & Gas (now Coterra Energy) would routinely drill wells when the price in the region was less than $1/Mcf! And somehow they made money. With prices hitting above $4/Mcf routinely, even flirting with $5/Mcf, you would think M-U drillers would ramp back up and try to make hay while the sun shines. But M-U drillers are not. They are showing remarkable restraint in NOT expanding their drilling programs. Why?
• Equitrans Files New $160M Pipe Expansion Project with FERC. As part of yesterday’s fourth quarter and full-year 2021 update, Equitrans Midstream announced it recently filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Called the Ohio Valley Connector Expansion Project (or OVCX), the $160 million project will add compression along Equitrans pipelines in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that allow the company to flow an extra 350 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of natural gas.
• MVP Partner NextEra Energy Goes Wobbly, Doubts Pipe Will Finish. In the “with friends like these” department…One of the main partners with Equitrans Midstream in the project to build the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project is NextEra Energy (31% ownership). MVP took it on the chin three weeks ago when the Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned a key permit and a key FERC decision to allow MVP to finish up. The pipeline is 94% complete and in the ground. Yet now, because of those court rulings, NextEra Energy says the pipeline has a “very low probability” of completion.
• Help Wanted: M-U Companies Recruiting, Positions Going Unfilled. According to the Bureau of Labor Statics, the oilfield services and equipment industry grew by over 7,000 jobs in December 2021. Marcellus/Utica companies can’t find enough workers to fill all of the open positions in our region, especially in Pennsylvania. According to an article in the Wellsboro Gazette (Tioga County, northeastern part of the state), companies in Tioga and Potter counties can’t fill all of their open positions.

The Shale Gas News sponsored by Linde Corporation