So it’s September 3, but it was Labor Day and the office was closed tight all weekend. Everybody enjoyed themselves and didn’t think about posting this on the 1st. We’re getting back into the swing of posting things so look forward to another in a couple weeks. Enjoy the wrap up of oil and gas news from the last month!

Libya’s Sharara oil field is back online. Add 300,000 barrels per day back into the equation. Until some rebel faction decides to take it back off again.

Oil demand has gone down for three fiscal quarters. This hasn’t happened since 2014. Oil prices were pretty bad at that point.

An ethane storage facility will start construction in the first quarter of 2020. That will go a long ways towards keeping some of the value of the natural gas that we produce in the area, even if it’s not actually in the state.

This Reuters article discusses the rising demand for natural gas and the falling price of the same. All driven by an amazing increase in production capability. While this is good for consumers, it’s bad for West Virginia mineral owners and your friendly neighborhood oil and gas lawyer.

SWN is taking its rig count in the Appalachian Basin from six to two.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline folks seem to be misunderstanding the definition of the word emergency. Also, they have put someone’s house at risk. Come on, guys. Get it together.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was planning to get working again here in August or September. However, a federal judge vacated some permits that the pipeline needs in order to get to work. ACP plans to re-file the permits and hopes to get back to work sometime in the November to March tree-cutting window.

Some folks are sitting in trees on the MVP right of way, and they’ve been there for almost a year. We remember reading and posting briefly about them back then. Didn’t realize just how long they would stay there. It’s kind of impressive, really.

Russia is probably happy with oil at $40/bbl, Saudi Arabia probably wants it at $80. So long, OPEC+?

We’ve been wondering how Marcellus Shale drillers planned to stay in business if gas prices stayed as low as they currently are. EQT’s new CEO, Toby Rice, plans to use “combo development“, which is “large-scale, sequential, highly choreographed drilling and hydraulic fracturing.” The article is behind a paywall.

If you wanted to know more than you ever cared about moving propane to Mexico by train, here’s the article for you. And it’s only Part One.

EQT’s new CEO, Toby Rice (see above) did a town hall meeting in Bridgeport, WV on Monday, August 19,2019. He’s talking as if EQT will be a kinder, gentler company. While that’s all well and good coming from the CEO, it’s going to take a while for that attitude to trickle down through the bureaucracy. It’s the same principle that makes the federal government stay pretty much the same in spite of the changes in power between the Ds and the Rs. I’ll really believe EQT has changed when they start approving a gross proceeds clause in their leases without us having to get into a knock down, drag out fight over it every single time.

If you’d like to know some of the basics about where the gas that’s being produced here in West Virginia is going, this is the article for you.

If you’re wondering why natural gas prices are really low, it’s pretty simple. We produce more gas than we use.

CNX is one of two companies developing the Marcellus Shale in Monongalia County, WV. They have been hyper-focused on just filling out some units that they already hold most of the leases for. Looks like they might be slowing things down. Last week they laid of 50 people, and this week they’ve laid off another 20. Word is that they’re going to lay off about 1/3 of their employees; they’re at about 15% right now.

On a more positive note, shale oil companies have posted an actual profit for the first time that we know about.