The State of Oil and Gas: November 15, 2024

Natural gas prices are at $2.82/MMBtu, down from a high of $2.98, but up from a low of $2.26.

Drilling rigs are at 584, down two from last month.

Gas storage is at 3,972 Bcf, which, while it’s a reduction in actual amount, is right at the top of the five-year average. It’s a good thing we’re getting into winter.

The demand for electricity is growing, and data centers are the main driver of that growing demand. Natural gas will provide the power for the generators, if pipelines can be built.

About 600 West Virginia homes will be forced to convert from using free gas to using electricity or propane by Hope Gas. Hope has been making some moves lately. This is one we’re not fans of. Anyone who is affected by this should refer back to the lease that created the free gas right and see what it actually says. Most of those leases probably allow the production company (Hope Gas in this case) to get out of providing free gas this way, but some won’t.

Diversified Energy has signed a deal to provide some unnamed gulf coast LNG company with natural gas to turn into LNG.

Construction costs for building new solar and wind installations went up last year, while costs for building new natural gas installations went down a lot. That just adds to the difference, as natural gas was cheaper to build to start with.

Natural gas produced from the Utica shale declined in the first nine months of 2024, probably due to wells being shut-in.

$44 million will go towards drilling and running two carbon capture wells in West Virginia’s northern panhandle.

Hope Gas is distributing WATT electrical “generators” to customers. If you haven’t read about them, these devices are one of the things that remind me that we’re living in the future.

The EIA published an article about some of the more important natural gas pipeline hubs. It’s worth the read if you’re wondering what a hub is and why it’s used for pricing natural gas.

U-shaped horizontal wells are a thing. They make it possible to develop tracts that otherwise would not be economical, and even in normal situations they are more economical and less disruptive to the surface than standard horizontals.

The U.S. is considering additional sanctions on Russian LNG production. We have to be careful, though, because additional sanctions would reduce supply in a market that is already tight.

Here’s Antero’s Q3 2024 report. I haven’t read it yet as it takes some time, but there’s always something interesting in there.

The PA cracker plant is being sued again over air quality.

Here’s an article that discusses what the Trump administration will probably bring in the way of changes towards energy policy. Not discussed is the LNG pause, or changes at the FERC that would allow for additional pipelines to be built out of the Marcellus shale region.

West Virginia’s Senator Shelley Moore Capito intends to get rid of a tax on methane emissions in the next Congressional session.

EQT and Diversified are going to pay $6.5 million and promise to double their efforts to plug abandoned wells as part of a lawsuit settlement.