Shale Gas News – September 25, 2021

shale gas news
Bill desRosiers
External Affairs Coordinator, Cabot Oil & Gas
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 carbon pricing, energy market, Mariner East 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 we played the recording of last weeks Think About Energy webinar, Pennsylvania Energy Progress: What We Have Built and What is At Stake, with Mike Sommers from American Petroleum Institute (API).

The Shale Gas News, typically, is broadcast live. On the September 25th show (click above), we covered the following new natural gas territory (see news excerpts below):

Carbon pricing back in the mix for reconciliation. Senate Democrats are considering a carbon pricing proposal for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, according to a document obtained by E&E News, bringing the policy back into the mix despite potential opposition from progressives and the White House. It’s one of several pay-fors that Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is working on as part of the effort to fully offset the massive spending package, according to a presentation given to Senate Democrats during their weekly caucus lunch Tuesday.
How the Energy Market Is Changing. Oil’s Oracle, Daniel Yergin, Describes the New Dynamics. Daniel Yergin has written some of the most influential books on energy, while advising companies and governments on policy and markets. He is now vice chairman at IHS Markit. His latest book, looks at how the politics of oil have changed in the past two decades, with the boom in U.S. shale and the rise of China. Yergin, 74, recently sat down with Barron’s to discuss the new dynamics of energy markets.
How Long Can U.S. Shale Producers Resist The Oil Price Rally? It would have been unthinkable a few months ago: ramping up production was the last thing U.S. shale drillers would do amid a hesitant price recovery and heavy uncertainty around demand recovery. In these few months, however, a lot has changed. Now, U.S. shale drillers may be ready to get back to drilling. The current situation in U.S. oil is one that shale companies must have dreamed about during the worst of the crisis. Inventories are down considerably, thanks to recovering demand. But they are also down due to the recent shut-ins of offshore production thanks to Hurricane Ida.
Oil steadies after drop in U.S. stockpiles, gas rally spurs gain. Oil steadied above $72 a barrel after U.S. crude stockpiles tumbled again and investors tracked a broader rally in energy prices. West Texas Intermediate edged up after hitting the highest intraday level since early August on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories dropped by more than 6 million barrels last week to a two-year low, according to government figures.
HUGE NEWS: Permian Driller Cimarex Buying Out Cabot Oil & Gas. We’re devastated. We know you’re not supposed to have favorites, but we do. Our favorite Marcellus/Utica driller for years has been Cabot Oil & Gas. We know some great folks who work for Cabot. It has been a peerless operator in the northeast Marcellus–making money when nobody else could. Cabot treats its landowners well, cares about the environment, gives big money to local nonprofit causes, and in general is the best kind of corporate citizen anybody could wish for. We suppose it was only a matter of time before Cabot became a target in this merger mania we’re currently going through. This morning Cabot announced a “merger of equals” with Cimarex, a big driller in the Permian and Midcontinent. The truth is Cimarex is buying out Cabot.
Another Sinkhole Appears Near Mariner East 2 Site in Chester Co. Another sinkhole has appeared in Chester County, PA at a Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline construction site. This time it’s located near the Chester County Library. The sinkhole is approximately 23 feet long, 10 feet wide, and six feet deep. It runs between two existing (older) pipelines that actively carry petroleum products. Not good.
Biden Breaks “No Frack Ban” Promise to PA 5th Week in Office. Remember the statement, uttered by then-candidate Joe Biden as he stood in Bucks County, PA (which sits in the Delaware River Basin) when he emphatically promised PA residents and union workers, “I’m not banning fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else!”? It took him slightly less than five weeks to break that promise. Yesterday the Biden administration, in the form of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which is an Executive Branch agency) abstained and then voiced moral support for the DRBC’s vote to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin. That action bans fracking in two northeastern PA counties where there are frackable shale deposits. FIVE WEEKS. Still happy you voted for lyin’ Biden?