The Daily Digger

From the Herald-Star: A locally organized industrial development company says it will build two state-of-the-art gas- to-liquids plants on a 500-acre parcel in Saline township. Hammondsville-based Orin Holdings said the property is “adjacent to the Ohio River.”  “This parcel of land will be slated for industrial development housing two state-of-the art gas to liquids plants in the Ohio Valley,” the company said in a brief notice posted on its website.  Jefferson County Port Authority Incentives Manager Evan Scurti Wednesday stressed the project is still in a “very preliminary” stage, but said there’s “great potential.” Prior to posting that notice, Scurti said Orin Holdings had insisted on confidentiality.  “We’re ready to work with them, to hear what their needs might be as they go through the permitting process,” he said.  Orin founder Donald Brown said this morning that the site had been chosen after about three years of searching.  “We’re very pl...

From Nasdaq: EQT Corp EQT.N, the largest producer of natural gas in the United States, on Thursday reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and cut its 2020 capital outlays, joining peers in curbing spending as investors seek higher returns.  The company now expects 2020 capital expenditure between $1.15 billion and $1.25 billion, compared with a prior outlook between $1.25 billion and $1.35 billion.  U.S. natural gas prices are trading at their lowest in nearly two decades, with record-high levels of production outpacing domestic consumption and leading to a global glut.  As a result, several large gas producers like CNX Resources, Noble Energy have reduced the value of their production assets. EQT also took an impairment charge of $1.12 billion in the fourth quarter, which led the company to post a bigger quarterly loss. Click here to continue reading. 

WEEK ENDING 02/22/20 New permits issued last week:   8  (Previous week:  3 )   +5 Total horizontal permits issued:  3200  (Previous week:  3192 )    +8 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2719  (Previous week:  2717 )   +2 Total horizontal wells producing:  2451  (Previous week:  2451 )   +-0 Utica rig count:  11  (Previous week:  12 )   -1

From Nikkei Asian Review: PTT Global Chemical, an arm of Thai energy major PTT Group, has set aside $5 billion for its next five-year investment, of which around 80% will be spent on a petrochemical complex in the U.S. and acquisitions.  Chief Executive Kongkrapan Intarajang said the company is on track to make a final decision on the U.S. project by mid-2020. The process is moving as planned, including approval from U.S. authorities, environmental assessments and the choice of a construction company, the CEO said.  "The petrochemical complex in the U.S. will be our second home base," Kongkrapan told the Nikkei Asian Review. "We choose to invest in the U.S. because we can gain cheap raw material from shale gas near our location, while we have a big consumer base there." Kongkrapan said PTTGC's petrochemical complex will be on a 500-acre site in Ohio, where the Thai company has a 50-50 joint venture with South Korean petrochemical maker Daelim Industrial. ...

From the Western Energy Alliance: In an open letter to 2020 Democratic presidential candidates printed in New York Times on February 24th, 54 executives from the western oil and natural gas industry forcefully pushed back against months of claims that they are corrupt criminals who should be jailed. The following full-page advertisement placed by Western Energy Alliance responds to statements that have gone unchallenged by Sen. Bernie Sanders , Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren by explaining the environmental and life-sustaining benefits of oil and natural gas.  Contrary to the anti-oil and natural gas messages candidates are spreading to voters and the media on the campaign trail, the underlying statement from business leaders is that it “would be criminal not to produce oil and natural gas.” They represent companies that develop oil and natural gas across the West. The full-page ad features a young boy studying by lantern light, one of the billion people...

From Reuters: U.S. shale oil drillers could scale back investment in production more quickly than previously expected this year after prices slid for what had been a lucrative by-product of their operations.  Oil producers have already taken a hit from the fall in global oil and gas prices as China’s coronavirus outbreak destroys demand in the world’s second-largest economy. Benchmark U.S. crude prices CLc1 have fallen about 12 percent to date this year.  Many shale producers had announced reductions in their capital expenditures even before the coronavirus outbreak due to lower oil prices in the second half of 2019. Lower spending is expected to slow the rate of shale growth, although production remains on course to reach a new record in 2020.  Shale producers now face another blow to their revenues because prices for natural gas liquids (NGLs), which include propane and butane, have also fallen. NGLs had helped prop up their bottom lines, providing lucrative ret...

From the Energy Policy Research Foundation: Oil and gas production from the U.S. petroleum resource base has experienced an unprecedented expansion in output which has now positioned the U.S. as the world’s largest oil and gas producer. The North American petroleum production platform is soon to become a net oil and gas exporter to the world market. This rapid expansion in oil and gas production has enhanced U.S. energy security, provided greater stability to the world oil market, and conveyed sustained economic benefits to the national economy. The expansion in output has been possible through a series of advances in extraction technology including the use of hydraulic fracturing which permits oil and gas production from so-called source rock.  Concerns over carbon emissions from sustained increases in domestic oil and gas production has now been reflected in the 2020 Presidential race, with some candidates and many public interest groups calling for an end to hydraulic fractu...