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
EU Labels NatGas as GREEN. BlackRock Loves It. It’s Always about the Money. BlackRock’s Fink praises EU labelling of natural gas as green. Reuters. BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Laurence Fink said on Thursday that natural gas would play a key role in the global drive to cut planet-warming carbon emissions and praised the European Union’s decision to label as sustainable some investments in using the fuel. During a recorded conversation with the chairman of Spanish bank BBVA, Fink said it was likely to be impossible to phase out hydrocarbons in the next 20 years. “The key is going to be gas,” he said, describing it as “obviously less pollutive than other forms of hydrocarbons”. Fink’s comments were in line with other recent messages from the $8.5 trillion asset manager as it tries to steer a middle path on environmental issues.
Appalachian Buyers Running Out of Sellers. EQT Corp.’s recent $5.2 billion acquisition might have been one of the last big deals in the Marcellus and Utica shales for a simple reason: Potential buyers in Appalachia are running out of targets.
The shale gas producer’s purchase of Tug Hill Operating LLC’s West Virginia wet gas position was the type of transaction investors like — a bolt-on acquisition of a large, privately backed driller that is already producing and selling oil and natural gas, which makes an immediate impact on revenues and income. The other characteristic investors look for is proximity to the buyer’s own leasehold.
Appalachia is getting low on drillers with operations that match those requirements, EQT executives told analysts from Goldman Sachs.
“Management noted that following the acquisition of Alta Resources by EQT last year, Chief Oil & Gas LLC by Chesapeake Energy Corp. earlier in the year and the recently announced Tug Hill acquisition, there are few private operators remaining in southwest Appalachia,” Goldman Sachs analyst Umang Choudhary said after meeting with EQT management Sept. 8. “The company sees room to own more midstream/gathering assets, though noted that the large, contractually defined step-down in gathering rates with Equitrans Midstream Corp. on their legacy footprint represents a tailwind to gathering, processing and transportation costs reductions.”
CreditSights analyst Charles Johnston noted that Tug Hill was one of the “few remaining private Marcellus operators of scale.”
Uncle Joe Wants Less U.S. Oil Production. Biden freezes oil and gas leases. Wall Street Journal. The Interior Department last week agreed to conduct additional climate reviews for five federal oil and gas lease sales held in 2019 and 2020 that were challenged by environmental groups. Activists claimed the Trump Administration didn’t sufficiently study the climate impact of the leases under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Rather than defend the earlier environmental reviews, the Biden Administration surrendered to their progressive friends. According to last week’s legal settlement, the climate reviews will incorporate the “social cost” of greenhouse gas emissions that could result from the leases. While the settlement doesn’t outright cancel the leases, it will effectively freeze their development. Interior has agreed not to approve new drilling permits or rights-of-way on the leases until it completes the climate reviews.
Chevron CEO Higher NatGas Prices Coming. Americans should brace for higher natural gas prices, Chevron CEO says. CNN. Prices at the pump have fallen along with the cost of a barrel of crude oil. But the CEO of Chevron, one of the world’s largest energy companies, thinks consumers in the United States should be prepared for a shock when they get home heating bills this winter. Chevron chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said in an interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow that “there’s certainly a risk that costs will go up” for American consumers. Wirth is not predicting a rise of the magnitude seen in Europe, where prices have skyrocketed, largely due to the impact of Russia limiting exports of natural gas. The energy situation in the United Kingdom and on the continent is far more dire. “Prices already are very high relative to history and relative to the rest of the world. We’re already seeing this impact being felt in the European economy and I do think it’s likely that Europe goes into a recession,” Wirth said.
BP Makes Purchase. BP’s takeover of EDF Energy Services to expand U.S. natural gas, power business. NGI. BP plc, the top North American natural gas marketer, is building its estimable U.S. commercial and industrial retail power and gas arm with the purchase of Houston-based EDF Energy Services (ES). The agreement would provide “opportunities…to enhance and deliver additional lower carbon integrated energy solutions,” according to BP. The purchase of ES also is likely to increase BP’s North American natural gas volumes. No financial details were disclosed. “BP’s commitment to putting the customer first has helped make us the largest marketer of natural gas in North America for the last 20 years, as well as a top power marketer in the U.S.,” said BP’s Orlando Alvarez, senior vice president of Gas and Power Trading Americas.
Manchin’s Pipeline Plan Has Competition. GOP natural gas pipeline permitting bill competing with Manchin plan. NGI. An overhaul of natural gas pipeline permitting by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is set to be included in a congressional spending package this week, but some House Democrats and now Senate Republicans are balking, with the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) caught in the crosshairs. Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voted in support of President Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act. To secure his vote, the president, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “committed to advancing a suite of commonsense permitting reforms this fall that will ensure all energy infrastructure, from transmission to pipelines and export facilities, can be efficiently and responsibly built to deliver energy safely around the country and to our allies,” Manchin said.
Manchin Facing VA Pushback. W.Va. vs. Va.: Permitting overhaul a backyard brawl. E&E News. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wants a contested natural gas pipeline in his state to be part of his permitting reform effort. But Virginia lawmakers who might typically support a permitting overhaul are balking at the deal, in part because of the pipeline that would run between the two states. At issue is the path of the 303-mile Mountain Valley pipeline. Virginia’s two Democratic senators have been circumspect on permitting reform, with one saying Thursday that congressional action could unfairly wade into the complicated political battle over the pipeline in his state. “For years, I have taken the position to both pipeline opponents and proponents that Congress should not be making pipeline decisions,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told reporters. “We should be setting up a permitting process that works and then have any project go through them.”
Antero Midstream Buying Crestwood’s Marcellus Assets. Antero Midstream to acquire Crestwood’s Marcellus gathering assets. Oil and Gas Journal. Antero Midstream Corp. has agreed to acquire Marcellus shale natural gas gathering and compression assets from Crestwood Equity Partners LP. The acquisition adds roughly 425 undeveloped drilling locations and 120,000 gross dedicated acres in Doddridge and Harrison Counties, W. Va., and increases Antero Midstream’s compression capacity by 20% and gathering pipeline mileage by 15%. The assets include 72 miles of dry gas gathering pipelines and nine compressor stations with approximately 700 MMcfd of capacity. Current throughput on the system is about 200 MMcfd, leaving space for growth without significant capital investment. Throughput will be gathered and compressed under the agreement established by Crestwood, which is substantially like Antero Midstream’s existing gathering and compression agreement with Antero Resources, but not considered in the low-pressure gathering rebate volumes with Antero Resource.
EPA Could Stifle Permian Production. Texas oil lobby says EPA air-quality plan could stifle production in the Permian Basin. El Paso Times. Texas’ largest oil lobby is mounting a grassroots effort designed to pressure the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing new air pollution regulations in the Texas-New Mexico Permian Basin, where 40% of the nation’s traditional energy sources are mined. The Texas Oil and Gas Association, or TXOGA, on Tuesday distributed an electronic pamphlet titled “Keep drilling in the Permian” warning of a proposal that would require the state to develop a federally approved plan for meeting air quality standards in portions of the nation’s most productive region for oil and gas production. The pamphlet urges Texans to contact the EPA to raise objections to the planned action in the Permian Basin. The oil and gas lobby group is piggybacking on a letter Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent to President Joe Biden late last month warning that new regulations “would jeopardize 25 percent of our nation’s gasoline supply.”
Permian Continues Production Records. Permian basin and Haynesville shale continue to set production records. Upstream Online. US unconventional oil production could surpass 9 million barrels per day in October, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly update. More than half of that production will come from the Permian basin, with the prolific play expected to set production records both this month and next. According to the EIA, oil production in the Permian will increase from about 5.27 million bpd in August to nearly 5.35 million bpd this month. In October, the EIA forecasts that production will reach approximately 5.41 million bpd. The Eagle Ford shale of Texas is also seeing an oil production rebound. The EIA projects the Eagle Ford’s production will reach 1.22 million bpd this month and 1.25 million bpd in October, which would be the highest levels for the play since April 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic caused production to crash. In the Bakken shale, October production is projected by the EIA to reach 1.2 million bpd in October, the highest level of production seen in that play since November 2020.
EPA Battles Continue in the Permian. Permian Basin fighting EPA on potential non-attainment proposal to halt some oil and gas production. NewsWest9. The Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to use air quality measurements in New Mexico to potentially reclassify the Texas portion of the Permian Basin as a non-attainment area due to ozone air pollution issues. Some people say that if this proposal is finalized, the oil and gas industry in West Texas would be halted, subsequently causing millions of jobs to be lost in Texas, as well as billions of dollars of revenue that fuels our economy — both in Texas and in the United States. “You know, whether we be Democrat, Republican, Independent, we can all come together to support American oil and gas production, because it is the booming economy that benefits all Americans,” President and Founder of Oil & Gas Workers Association Matt Coday said.
PA Permit September 5, to September 15, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. Armstrong Washington Snyder
2. Butler Forward PennEnergy
3. Butler Forward PennEnergy
4. Butler Forward PennEnergy
5. Butler Forward PennEnergy
6. Butler Prospect Boro XTO
7. Butler Prospect Boro XTO
8. Butler Prospect Boro XTO
9. Butler Prospect Boro XTO
10. Elk Jones Seneca
11. Elk Jones Seneca
12. Elk Jones Seneca
13. Elk Jones Seneca
14. Elk Jones Seneca
15. Indiana Young INR OPR
16. Susquehanna Bridgewater Coterra
17. Susquehanna Dimock Coterra
18. Susquehanna Dimock Coterra
19. Susquehanna Dimock Coterra
20. Susquehanna Lathrop Coterra
21. Susquehanna Lathrop Coterra
OH Permits September 5, to September 11, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. No Permits Posted
WV Permits September 5, to September 9, 2022
1. Marshall SWN
2. Monongalia CNX
3. Ohio SWN
4. Ohio SWN
5. Ohio SWN
6. Ohio SWN
7. Ohio SWN
Joe Barone 610.764.1232
