First, my apologies to those who watch for this post. I’ve been changing up my schedule and had to put off finishing this post for a few days.
The following numbers are from August 15, 2024. Natural gas prices are at $2.20, up from a low of $1.91 about two weeks ago. Drilling rigs are at 586, up two from last month. Gas storage is at 3,264 Bcf, which is just below the five year high. The hot summer has helped with the gas storage oversupply.
The Freeport LNG plant has been down since July 7 because of Hurricane Beryl. Eleven days later, and it’s still not operational, in part because the port is not operational. Update: it finally started operation on July 22. Update: only one train is fully operational, the others won’t be until early August. Final Update: Freeport LNG is fully operational, three weeks later.
The Ninth Circuit has sent approval of an LNG project back to the FERC, requesting it to look at greenhouse gas emissions and the cumulative effects analysis.
The MVP is still working on reclamation and remediation, and has had 35 instances of sediment leaving the right of way in the last month.
Here’s an update on that fracking waste storage facility in Martins Ferry. And another, which says that the ODNR is stepping in to clean up the facility, and the owner will be able to avoid a 30-day jail sentence if he posts an additional $1.2 million bond. Update: he paid $25,000 for a bond.
The mayor of Chicago was trying to pass an ordinance making new natural gas hookups in the city illegal. Thirty-one out of fifty aldermen (essentially city council members) opposed it. Similarly, Vancouver, BC reversed a ban on natural gas in new homes.
Here’s a quick analysis of natural gas prices.
The FTC is looking into oil and gas company executives’ text records to see if they’ve been colluding with OPEC.
Senator’s Manchin and Barrasso have introduced legislation that will streamline energy project approval. Here’s another article discussing the bill.
EQT now owns Equitrans, which is part owner of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and makes EQT a fully vertically integrated company.
In EQT’s 2Q Earnings Call, they note that they’re keeping the MVP (had previously hinted that they intended to sell it), may bump it up to 2.5 Bcf/day (is 2.0 now, was advertised as 1.5 when announced), and are selling off a lot of their acreage that they don’t operate. I haven’t read the whole thing, so there are probably some other tasty tidbits I haven’t run acrross.
The amount of natural gas injected into storage this year is 15% below the average, but total natural gas in storage is still above the five-year average. We just didn’t use as much natural gas last winter as we usually do, not even close. That’s keeping the price of natural gas down.
In CNX’s 2Q Earnings Call, they discuss that they are creating CNG (compressed natural gas) at the wellpad without using compressors. They use geobaric energy, which seems to have something to do with a difference in temperature, probably between the produced gas and the ambient air, but they don’t go into details. It’s interesting, to say the least.
Virginia has fined the Mountain Valley Pipeline another $30,500 for environmental violations.
Two companies are arguing over who gets to supply natural gas to a new West Virginia hydrogen plant, whenever it gets built.
Dirty natural gas destroyed heating equipment at Fairmont State University, and there’s a lawsuit which will determine who is at fault for delivering them the bad gas.
RBNEnergy did an article about AI and how it’s demand for energy is affecting natural gas markets.
The MVP has added takeaway capacity to West Virginia natural gas fields, and will continue to increase capacity in the future.
In spite of questions over tax breaks, the hydrogen hub is moving forward, evidenced by an agreement reached at the end of July 2024. EQT put out a separate announcement has other details.
Natural gas production from West Virginia increased 9.5% in one month due to the Mountain Valley Pipeline going into service.
The Sharara field in Libya has shut down, taking 270,000 barrels per day of oil out of production. That’s not an enormous hit to world supply, but it’s not small.
The oil and gas production industry is cutting costs and becoming more efficient, which is good news for operators in a low-price environment.
Hog Lick, an aggregates company based in Fairmont, WV, is beginning work on the ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub.
The EIA published an article that predicts that natural gas production will balance out with natural gas demand soon, and that by the end of storage season we won’t be quite as much above the five-year average as we have been. This is not bad news. The article dives pretty deep into natural gas storage, so if you’re a newbie to this area, it’s worth the read.
Natural gas prices in Texas have gone negative 18 times this year. It’s hard to compete with those kinds of prices.
The EIA predicts that oil demand will continue to rise for the next couple of years. OPEC has cut its demand prediction, but they still say demand will continue to rise.
CNX has released data from a ongoing project to measure pollution from wellsites. Their conclusion is that natural gas production is safe and clean. Environmental organizations dispute this conclusion, of course. Time will tell which is true.