Gas prices are at $3.11, with a low of $2.61 and a high of $3.38. Drilling rigs are at 622 after hitting a low of 619, but still seem to be on a downward trajectory. Gas storage is at 3,529 Bcf, a little higher than the five year average, but closer to the five year average than last month.
RBNEnergy has published an excellent article showing why natural gas prices are where they are. It’s well worth the read if you don’t follow energy news.
DeSmog published a lengthy article about the water treatment plant in Doddridge County and the company that built it, Veolia. Antero has sued Veolia and won, and it may behoove Doddridge and Ritchie County residents to take a close look at the filings and judgments in that case to see if they’re at risk of environmental contamination. It seems that the plant never worked right, and that makes me wonder if it could have released unhealthy amounts of chemicals or radiation in the area.
One characteristic of the oil and gas industry is that there is always someone predicting that we’ve reached peak oil–the point at which the amount of oil we are able to pull out of the ground irreversibly decreases. This discussion with an oil executive shows why peak oil is so hard to predict with any degree accuracy.
Did you know that natural gas could be turned into diesel? I didn’t. That’s what they’re doing in Arkansas.
Wondering why oil prices are going up? OPEC+, of course. We’re producing a lot of oil here in the U.S., but not enough to swing prices around the way that OPEC+ can.
Exxon is trying to get federal subsidies for making hydrogen from natural gas.
This is odd. The company that bought the West Virginia land for a cracker plant back in 2015 just barely filed the deed. Apparently, there has been some interest in the property in the past year, which could be driving the filing of the deed, finally. Now speculation will begin as to who is interested and for what. Hydrogen hub property, maybe?
Mountain State Spotlight wrote a pretty good overview article about hydrogen and hydrogen hubs. However, they look at hydrogen as a power source. It’s not. It’s power storage, the same way a battery is, or refined fuels of any type are. When you think of it that way, it makes more sense.
Hope Gas will be building about ten miles of new pipeline in Monongalia County. This will connect with about 15 miles of existing pipeline. They’ll be taking gas from the Wadestown area down to the Harmony Grove area just west of Morgantown, then up to a facility they have in Osage. The line will curve south and apparently go into Marion County for about five miles. I hope to be able to help people negotiate their agreements with Hope Gas for this pipeline. Along with more money, we can make sure the pipeline location won’t change, the right of way will terminate when it’s no longer used, and do other things to protect the property.
The rise in oil prices usually brings about a corresponding rise in oil production in the U.S. Not so this time around. That’s because E&Ps are forecasting a reduction in the price of drilling supplies in the next 12 months, and since they’ve begun focusing on turning a profit for investors and shareholders, they’re all waiting for those prices to come down.
Something a lot of people don’t know is that gas can be sold in different places for different prices. The Henry Hub is the price most people look at, but the Eastern Gas South hub is where a lot of gas from the Marcellus Shale gets sold. That price is almost always less than the Henry Hub price, and has been below a dollar for a while.
Hart Energy did an analysis of how much longer the Marcellus and Utica shales will produce gas at current gas prices. I won’t spoil it, click through and read the article and examine the graphs. Keep in mind that recoverable reserves is always a function of the price of gas and the price of drilling supplies.
WACO Oil and Gas is paying an $825,000 fine and doing some cleanup work to restore wetlands and streams in Braxton County.
Hope Gas has finished it’s acquisition of People’s Gas.
It’s just a startup, so who knows whether this will become reality, but a company is trying to build tractor-trailer sized methanol plants that could be hauled out to an oil well that has produced gas and use that gas to make methanol.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline has agreed to inspect any pipe that is not already buried and undertake treatment for any corrosion.
Demand for gas is increasing, and unconventional wells (horizontally fracked) are needed to fill the gap.
RBNEnergy does it again! I’ve had clients ask how completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline will affect the value of their mineral rights, and this article details all the considerations.
Two more protesters have halted work on the MVP. One was named Mickey. The other was named Ben.
So, it seems there was still one more T to cross in the EQT/Tug Hill merger. The FTC required a couple of changes to the deal, and those changes required a public comment period, and that period just expired, so the FTC signed off on the deal and the deal is finally done.
The amount that West Virginian’s will pay for their natural gas will go down this year.
The hydrogen hub called ARCH 2 which will work in an area including West Virginia, Ohio, and PA, will receive federal funding.
Exxon has bought Pioneer for $60 billion. Pioneer doesn’t operate in West Virginia, but they are a pure shale operator and the dollar amount is staggering.