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Tag Archive: Oil and Gas

  1. How W.V. Oil and Gas Aids U.S. Foreign Policy

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    The energy sector is fundamental to our nation’s economy, creating good jobs for hardworking Americans and providing innovative solutions to modern-day challenges. As a top-five energy producer, what we do right here in West Virginia — whether it’s producing, transporting, or using our natural resources — makes a big difference in everyday life. 

    Especially now, as Europe faces an energy crisis and a conflict in Ukraine, we’re seeing firsthand the importance of our energy abundance to America’s national security and foreign policy interests. Just last week, the White House and European Commission made a pact to increase the supply of liquefied natural gas, including from the U.S., to Europe.

    “The United States and the EU are working jointly towards continued, sufficient, and timely supply of natural gas to the EU from diverse sources across the globe to avoid supply shocks, including those that could result from a further Russian invasion of Ukraine,” a joint WhiteHouse-European Commission release said.

    We mustn’t forget that the shale revolution that occurred right here in Appalachia over the past decade is what enabled our country to become the world’s top oil and natural gas producer, and recently, the largest exporter. Hydraulic fracturing unleashed resources once considered unattainable in the Marcellus and Utica shales (found across much of West Virginia,Pennsylvania, and Ohio), and this region now provides a third of the total U.S. natural gas supply.

    It’s also important to recognize it’s West Virginia’s natural gas producers helping to meet the growing demand for U.S. LNG.

    Antero Resources, for example, is the top natural gas producer in the state and provided enough natural gas for the equivalent of 90 LNG cargoes sent to our allies in 2020 alone. They are directly supplying LNG to nations around the world, improving their energy security, health, safety and livelihood.

    Another major West Virginia producer, Southwestern Energy, transports roughly 50% of the natural gas they produce in Appalachia and Haynesville to the Gulf of Mexico to be sold on the global LNG market to our allies.

    Simply put, “the U.S. LNG industry, powered by American shale, is a solution that could prevent this type of crisis we are seeing over there in Europe from happening,” EQT CEO Toby Rice recently told CNN.

    Not only does America benefit from LNG export growth as it supports our domestic economy, but we are also providing the world with a cleaner energy source, helping reduce global emissions.

    Consider: Our country has reduced energy-related emissions faster than any other country because we started producing and using more natural gas, and American LNG export provides other nations with that same ability.

    West Virginia-produced energy is key to providing this critical fuel to our country, but we are also being more efficient and environmentally responsible than any other shale-producing basin in the country. As a recent Rystad Energy report found, “the Appalachian Basin was US’ best-in-class in 2020 when it comes to CO2 emissions intensity … Such a level of CO2 intensity performance brings Appalachia to the top quartile among all oil and gas fields globally.”

    This progress is because West Virginia’s oil and natural gas producers are driving innovation, creating environmental solutions, and they are committed to making West Virginia a better place to live and work.

    Across the region, companies are implementing best practices, reducing emissions and setting goals to improve environmental performance. These initiatives include responsibly sourced natural gas certification, carbon capture and storage, and setting aggressive greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

    Whether large or small, the companies that make up West Virginia’s oil and natural gas energy industry take environmental protection, conservation and public safety incredibly seriously.These are our mountains, valleys, rivers and communities after all, and we are incredibly proud to contribute to American energy and national security.

     

    Original Article by Charlie Burd, March 7th, 2022 on wvnews.com

    Original Article Here

  2. Pipeline Infrastructure Unlocks W.Va.’s Energy Potential

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    West Virginia is an energy powerhouse, and it’s no secret the work we do here keeps the lights on across our country and throughout the world. In fact, natural gas production has grown 770% over the past decade — thanks to the advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technologies — edging the Mountain State up to be the nation’s fifth-largest energy producer. 

    But without modern pipeline infrastructure, there’s no way to move energy from where it’s produced to where it’s needed.

    Natural gas and oil development is an economic and environmental winner for the entire region. Families and communities rely on the good-paying jobs, investments in manufacturing, and small business support that energy production generates.

    In 2019, West Virginia’s natural gas and oil industry supported more than 82,000 well-paying jobs, contributing over $11.2 billion to our economy.

    And thanks to the homegrown energy produced in our backyards, West Virginians save billions in household energy costs – $4.3 billion in 10 years (2006-2016), to be exact, according to theConsumer Energy Alliance. For commercial and industrial natural gas users, those savings amount to $2.7 billion.

    In order to build on that success, we must commit to expanding and building new pipelines, transmission systems, and processing facilities to deliver more affordable, reliable energy.

    Pipelines are the safest and most efficient way to transport natural gas, and they’re overwhelmingly safely built by skilled building trades men and women. But politics, government red tape and “Keep it in the Ground” extreme activism aimed at ceasing the development of all fossil fuels have stopped, blocked, or delayed critical pipeline projects that would improve access to affordable, abundant energy.

    Locally, the Mountain Valley Pipeline is facing some of the same hurdles that led to the cancellation of other pipelines, like the PennEast Pipeline a few weeks ago and the AtlanticCoast Pipeline last summer.

    Mountain Valley, expected to go into service next year, spans more than 300 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, with a proposed extension to increase service to fast-growing North Carolina communities.

    Pipelines to move gas to the Southeast, New England and Midwest markets are critical to fueling economic growth while helping states reach their climate goals. Just in North Carolina, natural gas use for electricity generation grew 13-fold from 2005-2018, and one in every four homes depends on natural gas for heating.

    But regulatory delays and pipeline blockades threaten the success of MVP and risk burdening consumers as they have in New England, where anti-domestic energy policies force consumers to rely upon imports to meet demand — despite being within a stone’s throw of the Marcellus and Utica shales.

    To continue driving economic growth, keep the lights on and achieve clean air progress in WestVirginia, we need a business-friendly environment that attracts pipeline infrastructure development and related downstream investments such as manufacturing.

    We must prioritize making improvements in our country’s pipeline infrastructure network for the sake of all West Virginians, our nation’s energy security, and our world’s environmental well-being.

     

    Original Article by Charlie Burd Executive Director, GO-WW March 7th, 2022 on wvnews.com

    Original Article Here

  3. PTT official gives update on cracker project

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    The project director for the planned PTT Global Chemical ethane cracker in Belmont County said having such a surplus of the natural gas liquid so close to Eastern Seaboard population centers makes the Dilles Bottom location ideal.

    Paul Wojciechowski said the Thailand-based petrochemical firm will make a final decision on construction by early next year, during the Ohio Valley Regional Oil & Gas Expo at the James Carnes Center Tuesday.

    If built, the cracker construction would generate thousands of temporary jobs and hundreds of full-time permanent jobs, along with the millions of dollars in wages paid and associated economic activity generated. Wojciechowski also told the several hundred attending that any plans to burn the liquid are counterproductive. “Friends don’t let friends burn ethane. That would be a waste,” he said. Developers of the proposed $615 million Moundsville Power natural gas power plant previously announced intentions to burn ethane in their facility.

    Also, some producers now blend ethane into their methane streams to heat homes. Wojciechowski said he plans to meet with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials this week to discuss some of the permits for which PTT Global Chemical will soon apply. Such a project would create certain types of air pollution, according to documents filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental protection for the Royal Dutch Shell ethane cracker planned for Monaca, Pa. Although Wojciechowski emphasized he could not promise the plant would be built, he said the nearly 500- acre site between Ohio 7 and the Ohio River would be preferred. “It was important for me to show you just how perfect this area is for our plant,” he said, displaying an aerial photograph of the site.

    Contractors working for FirstEnergy Corp. are demolishing the closed R.E. Burger power plant. The massive project would include the Burger site, along with another nearly 300 acres to the west. Wojciechowski said plans call for having infrastructure that would “crack” the ethane into ethylene, which then would be transformed into ethylene glycol for antifreeze polyethylene for plastic. “Hundreds of rail cars of polyethylene pellets per month,” Wojciechowski said of how much completed material the plant would ship via railroad.

    Expo attendees also heard from Rob Wingo, senior vice president of Rice Energy, on Tuesday. Rice is one of the largest producers of natural gas in the region, claiming eight of the 10 most prolific natural gas wells in Ohio during the final quarter of 2015 — all in Belmont County. “We do have a great technology team that keeps us ahead and gives us great well results,” Wingo said. Wingo said every driller in the region is waiting for more interstate pipeline capacity to come online.

    Presently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission continues reviewing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the Rover Pipeline, the Leach XPress pipeline, the Mountaineer XPress pipeline and the Nexus Pipeline. Rick Frio serves as chairman of MPR Transloading & Energy Services in Bellaire and is one of the expo’s organizers. The business serves to supply fracking sand and other materials producers need. “This industry is safe, it’s effective — it’s a great thing for our communities,” he said.

    By Casey Junkins, The Times Leader

  7. A Strong Outlook for Industrial Demand

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    As real estate professionals, the BDR team is often asked these two questions:  How are things going in our market and what are you seeing? Here’s what we have to say in response to these popular questions:

    BDR has experienced unseasonable demand during what is traditionally the slowest time of year in commercial real estate.  Although demand has increased in all sectors, the industrial sector is leading the charge in 2017.  There are so many factors that affect a market.  Most of these factors are outside of our regional control.  Each sector under the commercial real estate umbrella is different and driven by varying economic forces which can also be directly affected by macroeconomic factors stemming from federal policy and regulation.

    Many believed Trump’s surprising presidential election would result in pro-business policies.  Time will tell on that one.  Many also thought Trump’s election would result in pro-energy policies.  In less than two weeks in office, we are already seeing this bear some truth.  Within his first week of office, President Trump signed an executive order to encourage federal review folks to pass Trans Canada’s resubmittal of the Keystone Pipeline project in the Dakotas.  According to Marcellus Drilling News, “On January 19, 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted to approve and issue a certificate to Columbia Pipeline’s Leach Xpress and Rayne Xpress pipeline projects.  This is fantastic news for the Marcellus/Utica region.”  While traveling in Morgantown, have you looked over at the acres upon acres of green pipe being stored in Morgantown Industrial Park?  We are not getting the world’s longest water slide, but we will begin to hear about progress relating to Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile interstate natural gas transmission line. The project will begin in 2017 and stretch from Harrison County, WV to Chesapeake County, VA and Robeson County, NC.

    What does all of this mean for the region?  Commodity pricing has been suppressed due to an oversupply of natural gas in the market.  Two factors will increase demand:  Pipelines and cracker plants.  We have already touched on pipelines.  There are currently three cracker plants being consider in the region.  One is moving forward in Monaca, PA with two additional cracker plants still in the planning stages.  Cracker plants effectively isolate the molecular components (think chemistry class) in natural gas which are then used in other manufacturing processes such as the development of various plastics.  Due to high usage needs and the expense of transportation, many believe manufacturing will follow and locate within close proximity of the cracker plants.  This results in more jobs for the region and will undoubtedly have a trickle-down economics effect on various sectors.  When looking to open a location, many energy companies have a need for industrial space.

    How can you tell demand has increased in the industrial sector?  Black Diamond Realty records and tracks every lead that comes into our office via phone and internet.  Since Election Day (November 8, 2016), there have been 27 unique leads that have come into our office.  This number is in line with the number of industrial leads we typically see in an entire year.  Things are looking bright for the industrial sector.  Act now before pricing increases.

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