Shale Directories Conferences
FALL 2022 Hydrogen & Carbon Capture Conference IV
November 10, 2022
Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe
Canonsburg, PA (near Pittsburgh)
Latest facts and rumors from the Marcellus, Utica, and Permian, Eagle Ford Plays
Shale Firms Are Not Changing. Why U.S. shale firms aren’t likely to change their growth plans. As one Permian independent put it to Bloomberg, “It’s just more difficult to get some of the key products that we need, whether that’s pipe or sand. If we wanted to increase activity, say from three rigs to four or five, we would certainly have to plan on that a lot further out than what you would have had to a year or two back,” Travis Thompson, chief executive of FireBird Energy said. The focus on shareholder returns is also unlikely to change anytime soon. Oil and gas might be raking in the cash because of high oil prices, but overall, it remains a pariah industry for many as the energy transition’s momentum accelerates amid the struggle to regain some energy security when a sizeable chunk of the world’s global oil supply is being targeted by sanctions.
NatGas Prices Stay High. Natural-gas prices will stay high as demand outpaces supply. Natural-gas prices could jump by 15% or more by year end as supplies fall far short of demand, experts say. “Increasing supply is now getting trickier, and we really don’t see much of a jump until this time next year,” says Peter McNally, an energy expert at Third Bridge. Shortages of equipment and personnel, combined with underinvestment in the sector, will probably lead the price to rally to $10—or about 15% more than recent futures prices. However, McNally says that some U.S. regions may see temporary spikes to $30 due to lack of infrastructure.
PA NatGas Production Down. Natural gas: ‘Hedging’ and pipeline capacity an issue for Pennsylvania production. A recent dip in natural gas production should not obscure Pennsylvania’s production growth, though some financial and infrastructure barriers stand in the way of the industry’s response to high prices. Compared to natural gas production in the first quarter of 2021, production declined by 0.6% in Pennsylvania, according to a report from the Independent Fiscal Office. The production volume from horizontal wells was 1.851 billion cubic feet, compared to 1.863 bcf in 2021.
Schlumberger & EPA Certainly an Odd Couple. EPA lacking funds as responsibilities mount. The Hill. Big ones like oilfield services company Schlumberger are broadly in favor of methane curbs — not least because it offers them a chance to sell a new generation of state-of-the-art leak-preventing technology in the oilfields, the Journal reported. It also gives them a competitive advantage over smaller firms, and the ability to please investors by branding their operations as lower emissions. Small producers are pushing back: They argue that new methane regulations will price them out of business, according to the Journal. “While the citizens of these rural parts of the country are certainly concerned with the ‘climate and health impacts of pollution’ … they are also concerned with their livelihood and putting food on the table,” the Independent Petroleum Association of America stated in a letter to the EPA.
$33 Million to Plug PA Wells. Abandoned oil and gas wells to be plugged in national forest in Pennsylvania. As part of a $33 million effort to plug, remediate and reclaim abandoned oil and gas wells in national parks, national forests and other public lands, 18 wells will be capped in Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania. They are among 277 “high-priority polluting wells that pose threats to human health and safety, the climate and wildlife” being targeted nationally by four bureaus within the U.S. departments of Interior and Agriculture. The effort is part of a total of $250 million provided through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for cleaning up orphaned wells and well sites on federal public lands, national parks, national wildlife refuges and national forests.
Take Advantage of PA NatGas. Calls made for policies that take advantage of Pennsylvania’s natural gas resources. Pennsylvania needs to take full advantage of the natural gas resources inherent in the Marcellus Shale footprint that covers more than half the state, business and industry advocates said at an energy briefing in Berks County on Wednesday, and policies that stifle energy production will have serious consequences for the state and the nation. “We want to maximize production of Pennsylvania energy,” said David Taylor, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association. “We need to have affordable, available, abundant market-priced energy to have the inputs for the chemistry that makes possible all of these different manufacturing processes. If we do it right, it can be Pennsylvania jobs all the way down.”
Utica Drillers Touts ESG Achievements. Ohio Oil and Gas Association details Utica players’ ESG achievements in inaugural report. Ohio oil and natural gas operators produced 15 times more natural gas in 2018 than in 1990 while slashing carbon dioxide emissions by 37.3 million metric tons, according to the Ohio Oil and Gas Association’s (OOGA) first Community Impact and Sustainability Report. OOGA surveyed its member companies on environmental stewardship, community engagement and energy education for the report. Member companies also provided insight on the impact of technological upgrades to reduce emissions. According to the report, OOGA producers fell “well below the .28% goal the OneFuture Coalition set to limit methane emissions from production operations.”
Ohioan Balderson Wants to Make NatGas Green and Clean. Rep. Troy Balderson announces House resolution embracing natural gas as green and clean energy. Highland County Press. U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson joined Ohio energy advocates June 1 at an oil and gas well site in Licking County, Ohio to announce a resolution he introduced this week in the House of Representatives officially recognizing American natural gas as a “green and clean” energy source. Rep. Balderson’s resolution recognizes American natural gas as an affordable, green energy source and calls for the United States to commit to an “all-of-the-above” approach to meeting our energy needs. In Ohio alone, natural gas has already reduced carbon emissions from power generation by an astounding 38 percent.
TX Landowners Lose Eminent Domain Case. Landowners lose eminent domain pipeline case, but can testify on value of land. The Texan. Last week, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a pipeline company “transporting polymer-grade propylene” has eminent domain authority under the Texas Business Organizations Code to condemn land against the landowners’ wishes. The case, Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline Partnership, LLC, was heard by the court in February. The Hlavinkas are landowners along the Texas Gulf Coast. They sold easement rights to multiple other pipelines, but they could not reach a satisfactory agreement with HSC Pipeline, so the company-initiated condemnation proceedings against the landowners.
Oil Output Up 3% in March. U.S. oil output rises 3% in March to highest since November -EIA. Reuters. U.S. crude oil production rose in March by more than 3% to the highest since November, according to a monthly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday. Oil production rose to nearly 11.7 million barrels per day in March from 11.3 million bpd the month prior, the report showed. Output is slowly recovering from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and is still far below its record high of 12.3 million bpd in 2019. Production in New Mexico rose to almost 1.5 million bpd, the highest on record. Output in Texas gained to nearly 5 million bpd, the highest since December.
Thank Renewables for Blackouts. Blackouts on the path to a clean energy transition? Politico Morning Energy. Large swaths of the country face greater risk of blackouts this summer, and it’s dividing regulators on what that means for a transition to clean energy, POLITICO’s Catherine Morehouse reports. More fossil fuel-generating plants are retiring and being replaced with weather-dependent renewables while other technologies such as battery storage develop. The blackouts in Texas and California last year due to extreme weather drew some unwarranted finger pointing from critics of renewables, further politicizing the energy transition.
US Permian Basin Poised to Out-Produce Opec Rivals — Rystad. The US Permian basin is on pace out-produce many Opec powerhouses in 2022 and 2023, in spite of supply chain issues and publicly traded companies being hesitant to increase production. Oil production from the play that spans west Texas and south-east New Mexico has grown from about 1 million barrels per day of total production in 2010 to more than 5 million bpd of unconventional production alone in April. A new report from Rystad Energy indicates that the surge in shale production, along with conventional production, will allow the play to surpass an Opec giant. The Permian basin will account for about half of US production in 2023 — projected at 13.2 million bpd — and will outproduce many Opec nations by itself. Note: the Houston Chronicle also reports.
Exxon Selling Shale Assets in TX. ExxonMobil to sell shale assets in Texas to BKV for $750m. ExxonMobil has announced it is selling its operated and non-operated shale gas assets in Texas for $750 million (£596m). It has signed an agreement with subsidiaries of BKV Corporation for the sale of the Barnett Shale gas assets, with additional payments contingent to future natural gas prices. They are part of ExxonMobil’s gas resources in North America that were removed from the company’s development plans in 2020. Liam Mallon, President of ExxonMobil Upstream Company said: “We are focused on delivering the most competitive returns to our shareholders by developing opportunities with the lowest cost of supply and further strengthening our industry-leading upstream position.”
Sendero Midstream Sold. Sendero Midstream sold for $600M. New pipeline connecting Permian oil and gas to Gulf Cost. A Permian Basin-focused oil and gas company was expected to be sold to a Houston company in a $600 million deal intended to take advantage of growth in the region during a time of high energy prices. Crestwood Equity Partners announced its planned purchase of Sendero Midstream May 25 in an effort to increase Crestwood’s presence in the western Delaware sub-basin of the Permian in southeast New Mexico. The company planned to help finance its deal by selling $275 million in assets in the Barnett Shale centered near Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.
Midwest Ethanol Pipelines Meeting Some Resistance. Strange Bedfellows: Farmers and Big Greens square off against Biden and the GOP. Conservative farmers are teaming up with the Sierra Club in open rebellion against the ethanol industry. They fear a pipeline running under their land could ruin their crop yield and potentially expose their families to a hazardous gas. And the Sierra Club is targeting a Democratic White House eager to bring federal bucks to Iowa and anywhere else willing to invest big on solving the climate problem. The environmental group is pushing back against the idea that any technology that can drive down heat-trapping carbon emissions deserves a place in Biden’s policy playbook. For Biden, though, CCS is a critical bargaining chip as he negotiates with Sen. Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia and pivotal moderates over a $500 billion plan for addressing climate change.
PA Permit May 23, to June 2, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. Bradford Terry Chesapeake
2. Bradford Terry Chesapeake
3. Bradford Terry Chesapeake
4. Indiana Armstrong INR ORC
OH Permits May 22, to May 28, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. No New Permits
WV Permits May 23, to May 27, 2022
1. Marshall High Road Oper.
2. Ohio SWN
3. Ohio SWN
Joe Barone 610.764.1232
