Shale Gas News – March 20, 2021

Bill desRosiers
External Affairs Coordinator, Cabot Oil & Gas

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The Shale Gas News, heard every Saturday at 10 AM on 94.3 FM, 1510 AM, 1600 AM, 104.1 FM and Sundays on YesFM, talked about LNG exports, emissions, Southwestern Energy and much more last week.

The Shale Gas News has grown again to the Williamsport area on stations WEJS 1600 AM & 104.1 FM. The Shale Gas News is now broadcasting in Bradford, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wayne Counties, as well as in greater central PA and now the Williamsport area. The Shale Gas News is aired on Saturday or Sunday depending on the station.

Every Saturday Rusty Fender, Matt Henderson and I host a morning radio show to discuss all things natural gas. This week we played some clips from the most recent Think About Energy Briefing.

The Shale Gas News, typically, is broadcast live. On the March 20th show (click above), we covered the following new territory (see news excerpts below):

Sustained higher oil prices to spur U.S. output growth: JP Morgan. Sustained higher oil prices are expected to spur higher U.S. oil output this year, JP Morgan analysts said in a weekly note. “At current prices, most U.S. onshore operators are economic, leaving a vast group of operators, from large public companies to private players, in good position to ramp up activity in 2H21 and build solid momentum for higher volumes in 2022,” they said.
Natural gas companies look to reassure buyers on emissions. More and more liquefied natural gas companies are moving to show buyers they’re serious about trying to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Driving the news: Spanish energy company Repsol said emissions linked to LNG loaded into a Swedish-flagged chemical tanker would be fully offset via carbon credits. Reuters has more. Bloomberg, meanwhile, reports that Russian natural gas producer Novatek is looking to curb emissions associated with its cargoes via steps like carbon capture at one of its Arctic gas fields.
U.S. LNG exports continued to grow in 2020, despite pandemic. U.S. exports of liquified natural gas continued to grow last year, despite the global pandemic’s economic lockdowns. LNG exports averaged 6.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2020, increasing 32 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Energy Department.
Bill would require U.S. ships for some oil, gas exports. A bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced legislation last week to require a percentage of fossil fuel exports be transported on U.S.-built, -flagged and -crewed vessels.
Southwestern 2020 Update: Drilled 98 Wells, Avg 2.7 Bcf/d, Lost $3.1B. Southwestern Energy, a pure-play Marcellus/Utica shale gas driller with 786,000 net acres and operations in all three M-U states (concentrates drilling in WV and northeastern PA) issued its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 update last Friday. Perhaps the biggest news for Southwestern in 2020 was its purchase and merging in of another sizable driller, Montage Resources.
CNX Gets More Diverse – Working with Minority-Owned Co. EQT Dumped. Yesterday, CNX Resources, Bettis Brothers, and The Bus Stops Here Foundation announced a partnership intended to bring greater awareness and access to opportunities in the natural gas industry to disadvantaged urban and rural communities in the Pittsburgh region. Does the Bettis name ring any bells? It should. Pittsburgh-based IntegrServ, a trucking company partly owned by former Pittsburgh Steeler Jerome Bettis, filed a federal lawsuit last summer against EQT claiming discrimination against his company (a minority-owned company) after EQT canceled a contract worth some $66 million.
DRBC Jumps Off Cliff – Votes to Permanently Ban Fracking. The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a quasi-governmental organization composed of four states (NY, PA, DE, NJ) plus the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, voted yesterday to permanently ban fracking within the boundaries of the DRBC’s jurisdiction, which includes Wayne and Pike counties in Pennsylvania where there is abundant Marcellus Shale deposits. But don’t despair. The DRBC is in the midst of two legal challenges and one (or both) is sure to win, reversing the illegal action taken yesterday. Chin up! The sun will rise again.