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
Manchin’s Pipeline Showdown Is Coming. Manchin’s plan to fast-track energy projects headed for showdown. Bloomberg. Congress is headed for a showdown this month over Democratic Senator Joe Manchin’s plan to fast-track federal approvals of energy projects ranging from natural gas pipelines to wind farms. Manchin secured a pledge from congressional leaders to advance the legislation, but the proposal is already drawing fierce opposition from environmental activists and progressive Democrats, and the outcome is far from certain. The deal, which was blessed by the White House, could deliver speedier approval for Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s stalled $6.6 billion Mountain Valley gas pipeline crossing Manchin’s home state of West Virginia. It also may expedite approvals for new clean energy projects spurred by the climate law enacted last month. If the legislation is passed, it would mark a big win for the oil and gas industry, which has long sought to accelerate federal permitting and scale back environmental reviews that can lead to years of delay and hundreds of millions of dollars in extra costs.
Pipeline Fight Could Be a Big One! Pipeline fight heads to Washington. Politico. Congress is about to hear from hundreds of angry anti-pipeline activists. They are en route from across the country, with some coming from as far away as Alaska, to urge lawmakers on Thursday to nix the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline — and scrub it from a side deal Democratic lawmakers made to advance President Joe Biden’s climate law. After holding out for months, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia finally agreed to support the climate measure on the condition that Senate Democrats ease permitting requirements. The deal would help expedite energy infrastructure projects, including the construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline, which is slated to transport natural gas from West Virginia shale reserves to energy markets in mid-Atlantic states. Note: Daily Mail also reports.
EQT Buying Tug Hill. Deals pick up in US oil and gas patch among companies flush with cash. Financial Times. EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the US, is nearing a deal worth about $5bn to buy rival THQ Appalachia, which produces gas and owns pipelines in the prolific Marcellus shale region in the north-east US, according to sources familiar with the talks. THQ is a privately held group backed by Texas-based Tug Hill Operating and Quantum Energy Partners. On Tuesday, a $4.8bn tie-up was announced between two of the largest mineral and royalty rights holders in the Permian oilfield of Texas and New Mexico. The share prices of Sitio Royalties and Brigham Minerals have risen more than 40 per cent over the past year as exploration activity in the area has increased and high prices make drilling rights more valuable. On Friday, oil supermajors ExxonMobil and Shell said they were selling their California-focused oil and gas producing venture, Aera Energy, to German asset manager IKAV for about $4bn.
EOG Glum About Production Outlook. EOG Resources adds to glum U.S. oil outlook on cost, supply chain snags. Reuters. Shale oil producer EOG Resources on Thursday said U.S. production gains next year will slow amid persistent supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures, echoing a rival’s sentiment. EOG forecasts overall U.S. oil output to increase by between 700,000 and 800,000 barrels per day this year. But in remarks at the Barclays CEO Energy and Power conference on Thursday, EOG’s top executive predicted that next year’s gains likely would trend lower. “Our internal models count on the lower end” of that same range for 2023, said Chief Executive Officer Ezra Yacob, referencing volume growth. Global energy prices have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, prompting calls for U.S. producers to increase production. But oil executives say they cannot accelerate output due to labor and materials constraints.
NatGas Big Drop – Production Up and Usage Down. U.S. natural gas futures shed over 5% on soaring output. Oil Price. U.S. natural gas futures shed around 5% on Tuesday, hitting a four-week low as soaring output coupled with lower demand forecasts drags prices down, despite the fact that inventories are 11% lower than their five-year norm. Output is still holding strong after the latest report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) for the week ending August 26, which showed a natural gas inventory build of 61 billion cubic feet. While that brings inventory to 2,640 Bcf, it is still 228 Bcf below levels at the same time last year–heading into the winter season. Also prompting the decline is the outage at the key Freeport LNG export plant on the Gulf coast. That outage means traders are calculating some 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day that is not being consumed by Freeport for export and is remaining on the domestic market. Freeport–which accounts for some 20% of U.S. LNG export capacity–looks set to remain offline until sometime in the first half of November, at which point we could see only a partial startup, ramping up to full capacity by the end of that month.
Frac Gear Shortages Still Exist. Shortage of frack gear is helping to hold back US oil production. Bloomberg. In a dusty corner of Oklahoma, close to where Erle Halliburton founded his eponymous oil services empire 103 years ago, a group of workers shows why US oil production growth has been underwhelming in spite of a price boom. This Halliburton Co. crew is busy cannibalizing older frack pumps — the powerful, truck-mounted engines that help to squeeze hydrocarbons out of shale rock — to meet the high demand for gear in US oilfields. It’s hectic work, and currently extremely profitable. Halliburton and its competitors are choosing this path — the reconditioning of existing equipment — over significant new investment in manufacturing for a reason.
70,000 Acres in the Permian Could Be on the Market. Family could sell huge Texas oil tracts – sources. Reuters. A Texas family which owns 70,000 acres in the Permian basin is exploring options including a sale, putting up for grabs one of the largest family-owned tracts in the heart of U.S. shale country, people familiar with the matter said. The land, known as the Mabee Ranch after late farmer-turned-oilman John Mabee who bought into it in 1932, is leased to energy producers including ConocoPhillips, Diamondback Energy Inc and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. It is owned by relatives of Mabee, who died in 1961, with a stake also held by a charitable foundation he set up with his wife, Lottie. The sources did not discuss the expected price of the site, but said it was expected to generate around $575 million of free cash flow in 2023 from royalties collected on oil and gas production alone.
LNG Export Facility in Philadelphia? Proposed Pennsylvania LNG export terminal in talks to commercialize project. NGI. An East Coast LNG export terminal that would tap into vast amounts of feed gas from the Appalachian Basin is aiming to pre-file with federal regulators by the end of the year and reach a final investment decision by 2024. The 7.2 million metric tons/year (mmty) facility would be located at a yet-to-be-determined site along the Delaware River near Philadelphia. It could produce the first liquefied natural gas by 2028, said Franc James, founder and CEO of Penn America Energy Holdings LLC.
Hearthstone Buys Hope Gas in WV. Hope Gas acquisition by Hearthstone closed today. Bakersfield Californian. Hearthstone Holdings, Inc. (“Hearthstone”), a portfolio company of Ullico Infrastructure Fund (“UIF”) announced today that it closed on its acquisition of 100% of the equity interests in Hope Gas, Inc. (“Hope Gas”), a regulated gas distribution company located in West Virginia. Hearthstone indirectly acquired Hope Gas from Dominion Energy, Inc. (“Dominion Energy”). “I’m pleased Hearthstone is investing in West Virginia and is committed to bringing not only affordable domestic energy to their customers but also their headquarters and job opportunities to The Mountain State,” said U.S. Senator Joe Manchin. “This is great news for the region, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact of this investment for years to come,” said Manchin.
Another Billion Dollar Deal. Billion-dollar deals break out across the shale patch. Forbes. Opinion. Just when it appeared the news in the energy world could not become any more hectic, two multi-billion-dollar merger deals among big U.S. shale companies were announced within hours of one another. The “bigger is better” theme invoked in similar deals this year continues to game steam amid an increasingly uncertain business climate and evolving global energy crisis. Tuesday first saw Denver-based Sitio Royalties announce that it had reached a definitive agreement to combine with Austin-based Brigham Minerals, creating a company that will boast a combined enterprise value of $4.8 billion. The company, which will continue under the Sitio Royalties name, will own almost 260,000 acres of leasehold, most of which resides in the Permian Basin, the most prolific and active shale oil and gas region on the planet.
LNG Terminals and Carbon Capture. Why so many LNG terminals are adopting carbon capture. E&E News. Liquefied natural gas companies are increasingly investing in carbon capture and storage to limit their emissions and bolster their climate credentials, despite the absence of a regulatory requirement for them to do so. They are voluntarily embracing the still sparsely deployed technology as a way to stay ahead of regulations at home and abroad and to maintain a social license to operate in a world that is increasingly anxious to contain emissions. U.S. LNG exporters such as Cheniere Energy Inc., NextDecade Corp. and Sempra Energy have announced plans in the last few years to use CCS to capture a share of their carbon emissions associated with liquefaction and transport of gas.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve Very Low. The strategic petroleum reserve is at its lowest level since 1984. Forbes. Opinion. What is the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)? What are the implications of depleting the SPR, which the U.S. has been doing now since 2016? Further, what has been the impact of the rapid drawdown of the SPR that has taken place this year? Let’s discuss.
Pipeline Fight Could Be a Big One! Pipeline fight heads to Washington. Politico. Congress is about to hear from hundreds of angry anti-pipeline activists. They are en route from across the country, with some coming from as far away as Alaska, to urge lawmakers on Thursday to nix the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline — and scrub it from a side deal Democratic lawmakers made to advance President Joe Biden’s climate law. After holding out for months, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia finally agreed to support the climate measure on the condition that Senate Democrats ease permitting requirements. The deal would help expedite energy infrastructure projects, including the construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline, which is slated to transport natural gas from West Virginia shale reserves to energy markets in mid-Atlantic states. Note: Daily Mail also reports.
Hoarding NatGas at Sea. Natural gas buyers hoarding fuel at sea to prepare for winter. Bloomberg. Energy traders and power utilities are storing more liquefied natural gas at sea, an unusual move to hoard supply for winter as the market faces a severe shortage. Energy-starved utilities in Europe are parking LNG shipments off the coast in a scramble to replace Russian pipeline gas this winter. They can’t simply import the fuel into onshore storage because terminals are maxed out, and so are choosing to pay to keep the ship nearby. Importers in Asia and South America have also jumped on the floating storage bandwagon, seeking extra supplies. At the same time, traders are looking to profit by storing LNG and cashing in when prices spike during the winter months.
Williams Does North TX Deal. Williams acquires north Texas natural gas pipeline, storage assets. Oil & Gas Journal. Williams closed a deal Aug. 31 to acquire NorTex Midstream, a fully contracted natural gas pipeline and storage asset in north Texas, from an affiliate of Tailwater Capital for $423 million. The assets—some 80 miles of natural gas transmission pipelines and 36 bcf of natural gas storage in the Dallas-Fort Worth market—are well positioned to store Permian basin gas supply directed towards US Gulf Coast demand, the company said in a release Sept. 8. The assets also serve as critical infrastructure for Texas power grid reliability with gas storage and supply for 4 gigawatts of power generation, Williams continued.
PA Permit August 22, to September 8, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. Allegheny Frazer Range
2. Beaver Hanover Range
3. Bradford Wilmot Chesapeake
4. Bradford Wilmot Chesapeake
5. Bradford Wilmot Chesapeake
6. Bradford Wilmot Chesapeake
7. Butler Forward PennEnergy
8. Butler Forward PennEnergy
9. Butler Forward PennEnergy
10. Butler Forward PennEnergy
11. Elk Jones Seneca
12. Elk Jones Seneca
13. Greene Franklin Rice
14. Greene Franklin Rice
15. Greene Franklin Rice
16. Greene Franklin Rice
17. Greene Franklin Rice
18. Lycoming Hepburn Inflection Energy
19. Lycoming Shrewsbury Inflection Energy
OH Permits August 21, to September 3, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. Belmont Richland Ascent
2. Belmont Wheeling Ascent
3. Carroll Washington INR Ohio
4. Carroll Washington INR Ohio
5. Carroll Washington INR Ohio
6. Guernsey Richland Utica Resources
7. Harrison Nottingham EAP OHIO
8. Harrison Nottingham EAP OHIO
9. Harrison Nottingham EAP OHIO
WV Permits August 15, to August 19, 2022
1. Marshall Tug Hill
2. Marshall Tug Hill
3. Marshall Tug Hill
4. Marshall Tug Hill
5. Monongalia CNX
6. Monongalia CNX
7. Monongalia CNX
8. Monongalia CNX
9. Monongalia CNX
10. Monongalia CNX
11. Ohio SWN
12. Ohio SWN
13. Ohio SWN
14. Ohio SWN
15. Ohio SWN
16. Ohio SWN
17. Tyler CNX
18. Tyler CNX
19. Tyler CNX
20. Tyler CNX
21. Tyler CNX
22. Tyler CNX
23. Tyler CNX
24. Wetzel Antero
25. Wetzel Antero
26. Wetzel Antero
27. Wetzel Antero
28. Wetzel Tug Hill
29. Wetzel Tug Hill
30. Wetzel Tug Hill
31. Wetzel Tug Hill
32. Wetzel EQT
Joe Barone 610.764.1232
