oil prices jump most in 15 months; natgas prices at 32 mo hi; gasoline demand at 22 mo high, supplies at 42 week low

oil price percentage jump is most in 15 months; natural gas price jumps to 32 month high on biggest gain in 33 months; 4 week average of gasoline demand at a post pandemic high leaves gasoline supplies at a 42 week low

US oil prices rose more than 10% this week after Chinese virus cases fell to zero, an explosion knocked out a quarter of Mexico's oil production, domestic gasoline demand rose to pre pandemic levels, and an approaching hurricane disrupted US Gulf operations....after oil prices fell 8.9% last week as trading in the September contract on US light sweet oil expired priced at $62.32 a barrel, trading in the contract for US light sweet crude for October delivery, which had finished last week priced at $62.14, opened lower on Monday, but quickly rallied, supported by weakness in the US dollar, and by signs that China had the Delta variant controlled, easing fears of a prolonged setback for energy demand, and settled $3.50 or 5.6% higher at $65.64 a barrel, after weaker-than-expected economic data fueled speculation the Fed would delay tapering until later this year, leading to risk-on trading sentiment across the financial markets...oil prices jumped again on Tuesday, after a fire on a Mexican offshore oil rig killed five and cut the country's daily output by nearly a quarter and finished $1.90, or 3% higher at $67.54 a barrel, after China brought local virus cases down to zero and road traffic showed signs of recovery...oil prices extended their rally for a third day on Wednesday, after Reuters reported that fuel demand had climbed to its highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and settled 82 cents, or 1.2% higher at $68.36 per barrel as the EIA data also showed that crude and gasoline inventories dropped more than had been expected....however, oil's three day rally ended on Thursday on renewed concerns about demand due to rising COVID-19 infections, and as Mexico restored some of the oil production knocked out earlier in the week and prices settled 94 cents lower at $67.42 a barrel, as traders positioned ahead of coming data on domestic inflation, and potential signals for tapering from the Fed, as policymakers gathered for their annual summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming...but oil prices moved higher again early on Friday on anticipation that Tropical Storm Ida would disrupt Gulf of Mexico oil production, with forecasts for the storm to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane prior to its Louisiana landfall on Sunday, and finished trading $1.32 or 2% higher at 68.74 a barrel, with prices further supported by Fed Chairman Powell's speech saying they're still far from pulling interest rates off their record lows...oil prices thus posted the biggest weekly gain in more than a year, after the prior week had seen the greatest losses on over nine months.. 

With several news sites noting that this week's oil price gain was a nonspecific 'most in more than a year', i decided to determine exactly how much that 'more than a year' was by checking a graph of oil prices, which is included below..

the above is a screenshot of the interactive oil price chart from barchart.com, which i have set to show front month oil prices weekly over the past 5 years, which means you're seeing oil prices as they were quoted by the media...this same chart can be reset to show prices of front month or individual monthly oil contracts over time periods ranging from 1 day to 30 years, as the menu bar on the top indicates, and also to show oil prices by the minute, hour, day, week or month for each...each bar in the graph above represents the range of oil prices for a single week, with weeks when prices rose indicated in green, and weeks when prices fell indicated in red, while the bars across the bottom show trading volume for the weeks in question, again with up weeks indicated by green bars and down weeks indicated in red...notice that the green price bar on the far right, representing this week's prices, is the largest green bar on the graph, which would indicate oil prices rose more this week than in any time in five years...while that's true, note that i have also highlighted the week ending May 4 2020 on the above graph, causing pricing details for that week to appear in a small box in the upper left...that box shows oil prices for the June 2020 crude light contract (CLN20) closed at $26.17 a barrel that week, up $6.38 on the week...while that nominal price gain is smaller than this week's $6.60 gain, percentage wise it is more than three times greater, which is why the media limited the headline gain to just "more than a year"...

natural gas prices also rose more than 10% as the approaching hurricane disrupted Gulf production, following an unexpectly small increase in supplies.. after slipping one cent to $3.851 per mmBTU last week as weather forecasts fluctuated and inventories rose more than had been expected, the contract price of natural gas for September delivery opened higher on Monday and rose 9.4 cents to a one-week high of $3.945 per mmBTU on forecasts​ that hot weather and high air conditioning demand​ would continue into early September...gas prices gave up some of that gain on Tuesday as traders focused on near term forecasts for lower demand in the current week and prices ended 4.9 cents lower at $3.896 per mmBTU....natural gas prices then jumped 10 cents early Wednesday before falling back to end just a tenth of a cent higher amid a decline in production and estimates for a relatively light storage increase, as well as an evolving weather picture...but gas prices soared over 7% to a 32-month high on Thursday on a much smaller than expected storage build during ​the ​hot weather of last week than had been expected, settling 28.7 cents higher at $4.184 per mmBTU...prices were up another 4% to another 32 month high ​at $4.370 per mmBTU ​on Friday, on forecasts​ that​ the weather will remain hotter than normal through mid-September, and on concerns Hurricane Ida would shut Gulf production when it hits Louisiana as a major storm early next week, ​with natural gas ​thus finishing the week 13.5% higher...and with that, we'll also include a five year graph of natural gas prices..

the above is a screenshot of the interactive natural gas price chart from barchart.com, which again i have set to show front month ​naural gas prices weekly over the past 5 years, which means we're seeing natural gas prices as they were quoted in the media...the bars and representations on this graph are the same as we outlined for the oil graph above...as you can see, while this week's natural gas prices were the highest since December, they're still short of the $4.50 to $5 per mmBTU price range we saw in November 2018, when a brutally cold month resulted in an early drawdown of supplies, raising concerns of shortages going into that winter, which persisted until milder weather arrived in late December and January...again, i've used my cursor to highlight natural gas prices for the week ending November 12, 2018, which shows that the price of the December 2018 ​natural ​gas contract (NGZ18) rose 55.3 cents ​during ​that week, more than this week's 51.9 cent gain,​ which was the largest ​one week ​gas price increase over the 5 years shown..

the natural gas storage report from the EIA for the week ending August 20th indicated that the amount of working natural gas held in underground storage in the US rose by 29 billion cubic feet to 2,851 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, which left our gas supplies 563 billion cubic feet, or 16.5% below the 3,414 billion cubic feet that were in storage on August 20th of last year, and 189 billion cubic feet, or 5.8% below the five-year average of 3,040 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been in storage as of the 20th of August in recent years...the 29 billion cubic foot increase in US natural gas in working storage this week was less than the median forecast for a 37 billion cubic foot addition from a S&P Global Platts survey of analysts, and less than the average addition of 44 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have typically been injected into natural gas storage during the same week over the past 5 years, as well as less than the 45 billion cubic feet that were added to natural gas storage during the corresponding week of 2020…

The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA

US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending August 20th indicated that despite a sizable decrease in our oil exports, we still needed to withdraw oil from our stored commercial crude supplies for the twelfth time in fourteen weeks, and for the 28th time in the past forty weeks….our imports of crude oil fell by an average of 193,000 barrels per day to an average of 6,157,000 barrels per day, after falling by an average of 34,000 barrels per day during the prior week, while our exports of crude oil fell by an average of 619,000 barrels per day to an average of 2,812,000 barrels per day during the week, which meant that our effective trade in oil worked out to a net import average of 3,345,000 barrels of per day during the week ending August 20th, 426,000 more barrels per day than the net of our imports minus our exports during the prior week…over the same period, the production of crude oil from US wells was reportedly unchanged at 11,400,000 barrels per day, and hence our daily supply of oil from the net of our international trade in oil and from domestic well production appears to total an average of 14,745,000 barrels per day during th​e cited reporting week…

meanwhile, US oil refineries reported they were processing 16,072,000 barrels of crude per day during the week ending August 20th, 66,000 more barrels per day than the amount of oil they used during the prior week, while over the same period the EIA’s surveys indicated that a net average of 426,000 barrels of oil per day were being pulled out of the supplies of oil stored in the US….so based on that reported & estimated data, this week’s crude oil figures from the EIA appear to indicate that our total working supply of oil from net imports, from storage, and from oilfield production was 901,000 barrels per day less than what our oil refineries reported they used during the week…to account for that disparity between the apparent supply of oil and the apparent disposition of it, the EIA just plugged a (+901,000) barrel per day figure onto line 13 of the weekly U.S. Petroleum Balance Sheet to make the reported data for the daily supply of oil and the consumption of it balance out, essentially a fudge factor that they label in their footnotes as “unaccounted for crude oil”, thus suggesting there must have been a error or omission of that magnitude in this week’s oil supply & demand figures that we have just transcribed…since last week’s EIA fudge factor was at (+1,225,0000) barrels per day, that means there was a 324,000 barrel per day balance sheet difference in the crude oil fudge figure from a week ago, thus calling into question the week over week supply and demand changes indicated by this report...however, since most everyone treats these weekly EIA reports as gospel and since these figures often drive oil pricing and hence decisions to drill or complete wells, we’ll continue to report them as they’re published, just as they’re watched & believed to be reasonably accurate by most everyone in the industry….(for more on how this weekly oil data is gathered, and the possible reasons for that “unaccounted for” oil, see this EIA explainer)….

further details from the weekly Petroleum Status Report (pdf) indicate that the 4 week average of our oil imports fell to an average of 6,334,000 barrels per day last week, which was still 8.8% more than the 5,819,000 barrel per day average that we were importing over the same four-week period last year…the 426,000 barrel per day net increase in our crude inventories was all added to our commercially available stocks of crude oil, while the quantity of oil stored in our Strategic Petroleum Reserve remained unchanged….this week’s crude oil production was reported to be unchanged at 11,400,000 barrels per day because the EIA"s rounded estimate of the output from wells in the lower 48 states was unchanged at 11,000,000 barrels per day, while a 5,000 barrel per day decrease in Alaska’s oil production to 423,000 barrels per day had no impact on the rounded national production total….US crude oil production had hit a pre-pandemic record high of 13,100,000 barrels per day during the week ending March 13th 2020, so this week’s reported oil production figure was 13.0% below that of our pre-pandemic production peak, but 35.3% above the interim low of 8,428,000 barrels per day that US oil production had fallen to during the last week of June of 2016…

meanwhile, US oil refineries were operating at 92.4% of their capacity while using those 16,072,000 barrels of crude per day during the week ending August 20th, up from 92.2% of capacity the prior week, but still somewhat below normal utilization for summertime refinery operations…while the 16,072,000 barrels per day of oil that were refined this week were 9.2% more barrels than the 14,712,000 barrels of crude that were being processed daily during the pandemic impacted week ending August 21st of last year, they were still 7.7% below the 17,408,000 barrels of crude that were being processed daily during the week ending August 23rd, 2019, when US refineries were operating at what was then a normal 95.2% of capacity…

with this week’s increase in the amount of oil being refined, the gasoline output from our refineries was also higher, increasing by 249,000 barrels per day to 10,249,000 barrels per day during the week ending August 20th, after our gasoline output had increased by 39,000 barrels per day over the prior week.…while this week’s gasoline production was 7.7% higher than the 9,518,000 barrels of gasoline that were being produced daily over the same week of last year, it was 3.9% lower than the gasoline production of 10,660,000 barrels per day during the week ending August 23rd, 2019….meanwhile, our refineries’ production of distillate fuels (diesel fuel and heat oil) increased by 140,000 barrels per day to 4,988,000 barrels per day, after our distillates output had decreased by 37,000 barrels per day over the prior week…even after that increase, this week’s distillates output was 2.6% less than the 5,122,000 barrels of distillates that were being produced daily during the week ending August 21st, 2020, and 3.9% below the 5,193,000 barrels of distillates that were being produced daily during the week ending August 23rd, 2019..

even with the increase in our gasoline production, our supply of gasoline in storage at the end of the week decreased for the ninth time in twenty-one weeks, and for the 15th time in forty-one weeks, falling by 2,241,000 to a forty-two week low of 225,924,000 barrels during the week ending August 20th, after our gasoline inventories had increased by 696,000 barrels over the prior week...our gasoline supplies decreased this week because the amount of gasoline supplied to US users increased by 239,000 barrels per day to 9,572,000 barrels per day, and because our exports of gasoline rose by 260,000 barrels per day to 911,000 barrels per day​,​ while our imports of gasoline rose by 333,000 barrels per day to 1,076,000 barrels per day…after this week’s inventory decrease, our gasoline supplies were 5.5% lower than last August 21st's gasoline inventories of 239,179,000 barrels, and about 3% below the five year average of our gasoline supplies for this time of the year…

meanwhile, with the increase in our distillates production, our supplies of distillate fuels also increased for the eighth time in twenty weeks and for the 20h time in 36 weeks, rising by 645,000 barrels to 138,459,000 barrels during the week ending August 20th, after our distillates supplies had decreased by 2,697,000 barrels during the prior week….our distillates supplies rose week because the amount of distillates supplied to US markets, an indicator of our domestic demand, fell by 219,000 barrels per day to 4,104,000 barrels per day, and because our imports of distillates rose by 146,000 barrels per day to 288,000 barrels per day while our exports of distillates rose by 27,000 barrels per day to 1,079,000 barrels per day…but after twelve inventory decreases over the past twenty weeks, our distillate supplies at the end of the week were​ still​ 22.7% below the 179,195,000 barrels of distillates that we had in storage on August 21st, 2020, and about 8% below the five year average of distillates stocks for this time of the year…

finally, even with the decrease in our oil exports, our commercial supplies of crude oil in storage fell for the 17th time in the past twenty-seven weeks and for the 35th time in the past year, decreasing by 2,980,000 barrels over the week, from 435,544,000 barrels on August 13th to 432,564,000 barrels on August 20th, after our commercial crude supplies had decreased by 3,233,000 barrels the prior week…after this week’s decrease, our commercial crude oil inventories were about 6% below the most recent five-year average of crude oil supplies for this time of year, but were still 30.2% above the average of our crude oil stocks after the third week of August over the 5 years at the beginning of the past decade, with the disparity between those comparisons arising because it wasn’t until early 2015 that our oil inventories first topped 400 million barrels….since our crude oil inventories had jumped to record highs during the Covid lockdowns of last spring and remained elevated thereafter, our commercial crude oil supplies as of this August 20th were still 14.8% less than the 507,763,000 barrels of oil we had in commercial storage on August 21st of 2020, but still 1.1% more than the 427,751,000 barrels of oil that we had in storage on August 23rd of 2019, and 6.6% more than the 405,792,000 barrels of oil we had in commercial storage on August 24th of 2018…

This Week's Rig Count

The number of drilling rigs active in the US increased for the 42nd time out of the past 49 weeks during the week ending August 27th, but was still down by 35.9% from the pre-pandemic rig count….Baker Hughes reported that the total count of rotary rigs running in the US increased by five to 508 rigs this past week, which was double the pandemic hit 254 rigs that were in use as of the August 28th report of 2020, but was still 1,421 fewer rigs than the shale era high of 1,929 drilling rigs that were deployed on November 21st of 2014, a week before OPEC began to flood the global oil market in an attempt to put US shale out of business….

The number of rigs drilling for oil was up by 5 to 410 oil rigs this week, after rising by 8 oil rigs the prior week, and that’s now 230 more oil rigs than were running a year ago, but it’s barely over a quarter of the recent high of 1609 rigs that were drilling for oil on October 10th, 2014….at the same time, the number of drilling rigs targeting natural gas bearing formations was unchanged at 97 natural gas rigs, which was still up by 25 natural gas rigs from the 72 natural gas rigs that were drilling during the same week a year ago, but still only 6% of the modern era high of 1,606 rigs targeting natural gas that were deployed on September 7th, 2008….in addition to oil and gas rigs, a horizontal rig that Baker Hughes classifies as "miscellaneous' is still drilling in Kern county California, while a year ago there were two such "miscellaneous' rigs reported to be active...

The Gulf of Mexico rig count was unchanged at 14 rigs this week, with all 14 of those rigs now drilling for oil in Louisiana’s offshore waters….that was one more than the 13 rigs that were drilling in the Gulf a year ago, when 10 Gulf rigs were drilling for oil offshore from Louisiana and three were deployed for oil in Texas waters….in addition to those Gulf of Mexico rigs, we continue to have a rig drilling for natural gas off the shore of the Kenai peninsula in Alaska, and hence the national offshore rig count is now 15, up from 13 offshore rigs a year ago..

In addition to those rigs offshore, we also still have three rigs drilling through inland bodies of water in Louisiana this week. whereas there was only one such “inland waters” rigs running a year ago…the “inland waters” rig include a directional rig targeting oil near the mouth of the Mississippi in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana; a horizontal rig drilling for oil in the Haynesville shale through a lake in DeSoto parish in the northwestern corner of the state, just south of Shreveport, and another directional rig drilling for oil through an inland body of water in Terrebonne Parish of southern Louisiana...

The count of active horizontal drilling rigs was up by 5 to 459 horizontal rigs this week, which was more than double the 221 horizontal rigs that were in use in the US on August 28th  of last year, but was roughly a third of the record of 1372 horizontal rigs that were deployed on November 21st of 2014…..in addition, the vertical rig count was up by 2 to 21 vertical rigs this week, and those were also up by 8 from the 13 vertical rigs that were operating during the same week a year ago….on the other hand, the directional rig count was down by 2 to 28 directional rigs this week, but those were still up by 8 from the 20 directional rigs that were in use on August 28th of 2020….

The details on this week’s changes in drilling activity by state and by major shale basin are shown in our screenshot below of that part of the rig count summary pdf from Baker Hughes that gives us those changes…the first table below shows weekly and year over year rig count changes for the major oil & gas producing states, and the table below that shows the weekly and year over year rig count changes for the major US geological oil and gas basins…in both tables, the first column shows the active rig count as of August 27th, the second column shows the change in the number of working rigs between last week’s count (August 20th) and this week’s (August 27th) count, the third column shows last week’s August 20th active rig count, the 4th column shows the change between the number of rigs running on Friday and the number running on the Friday before the same weekend of a year ago, and the 5th column shows the number of rigs that were drilling at the end of that reporting week a year ago, which in this week’s case was the 28th of August, 2020...

the two rigs added in Wyoming were in a basin that Baker Hughes doesn't track, which means that two​ ​​rigs must have been shut down ​in an  ​untracked basin ​elsewhere, since the totals on our tables balance with the national count otherwise...checking the details on the Permian basin in Texas from the Rigs by State file at Baker Hughes, we find that one rig was added in Texas Oil District 8, which is the core Permian Delaware, but that the rig counts in all other Permian districts were unchanged...hence, with the Texas Permian count up by one while national Permian count was up by two, that means that the rig that was added in New Mexico must have been set up to drill in the far west reaches of the Permian Delaware in that state...there were also no other changes elsewhere in Texas, so that means that the Granite Wash basin rig that was added had to been in Oklahoma, in one of the counties adjacent to the Texas panhandle...Oklahoma also has oil rig additions in the Ardmore Woodford and the Cana Woodford, but since the state rig total is only up by 1, that means there must have been two rig removals elsewhere in the state in basins that Baker Hughes doesn't track, offsetting those Wyoming rig additions we mentioned earlier..

Although there appears to have been no changes​ to​ natural gas rig​s​ this week, we found that a natural gas rig was shut down in Oklahoma's Arkoma Woodford this week, while an oil rig was started up in that basin at the same time...since the national natural gas rig count was unchanged, that means that there also had to have been a natural gas rig added somewhere ​i​n one of those basins that Baker Hughes doesn't track, possibly even offset by an oil rig addition in the same basin at the same time...

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Veto area now dealing with oil spill --(WTAP) - Veto Lake has long been a destination for recreational boaters and fishermen. The area is also the location of oil and gas drilling sites. Whether by coincidence or otherwise, oil was found in the lake this week. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources was dispatched to the scene. In response to our inquiry, the DNR issued a statement saying it believes the problem was the result of a failure of a previously unidentified oil well. “The Division of Wildlife is performing a rapid emergency drawdown at Veto Lake due to what we now believe to be a cap failure on a previously unidentified abandoned oil well,” “The lake level will be drawn down in a controlled manner until it reaches the level necessary to properly assess the situation and make the needed repair. During and following the drawdown, we will be monitoring the dam embankments and abutments to ensure the integrity of the structure is not impacted. Existing gate structures on the lake are controlling the water flow to ensure contaminated water does not travel downstream. People we spoke to earlier this month, concerned about possible contamination of their private wells from drilling wastewater, are even more skeptical about this situation. But they told us the bigger concern is not to their own wells, but to public water supplies, even to cities like Marietta and Belpre. “We’re opening up a keg of dynamite here; if we contaminate our groundwater, I don’t know what’s going to happen.” “I have talked to some people who have knowledge of this kind of thing happening out west,” “and it cost millions of dollars to have water piped out to a town out there, because if produced water ends up in the aquifer out there, they told us that this water would never be drank again.” The RAMPP Company, just outside Marietta, is several miles away from the area where a suspect oil and gas drilling operation is located. But it has seen traces of the wastewater that operation is producing. “We’ve seen it come to the surface here, and they’ve seen it come out to the Veto area,” . “And it’s going to take the path of least resistance, from the reports that we’ve read, what’s in the water-the heavy metals-it’s going to contaminate the groundwater sooner or later.” In 2020, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management commissioned a study of reports of an increased flow of salt water, also known as brine, or wastewater, from a saltwater injection well located in Dunham Township. The study resulted from concerns raised by residents, many of whom have private wells located on their properties. “The lord only knows how many wells were drilled here that weren’t plugged; and the pipes rotting in them,” said one resident, who declined to be identified. “I own land myself down here that has three or four of these wells. They’re open to the atmosphere, with oil and gas bubbling up out of them, and we’re concerned that it’s going to be in our fresh drinking water before long.” Residents of the Veto Road area are not convinced. Many have their own wells that supply them with natural gas they say have now been ruined by the wastewater they’ve seen surface on their land.

Ohio investigating after crude oil found emptying into Veto Lake near Marietta - The Columbus Dispatch --A 160-acre lake in southeast Ohio is contaminated with crude oil from an unknown source, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.A resident reported on Thursday there was a crude oil leak in Plum Run, which empties into Veto Lake in Washington County.The spill happened on the edge of the lake, said Bob Lane, 76, of Marietta, who owns oil and gas wells in the area. He was one of the first people on scene."People here are totally fed up with this," he said. ODNR's Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management responded to contain the "small amount of oil and remediate any impacts to the area," said Stephanie O’Grady, a media and outreach specialist in an email to The Dispatch. "The division is also working to locate the source of the oil and investigate the cause."Lane thinks he may know the cause, noting that there is a well dating back to the 1930s where the spill site is located."We talked to a landowner whose family used to own the land where this well is," he said. The man's uncle drilled numerous wells in the area, including some that would be underwater now at Veto Lake."Some of those wells that his uncle drilled, he said, have to be under that lake," Lane said, who added that the man told him there's an orphan well at or near the spill site."He said there's no doubt in his mind his uncle drilled that because he remembered him being down there drilling in that area," Lane said.Veto Lake was built by ODNR in the 1950s. The lake is home to a plethora of fish, including largemouth bass, sported bass, bluegill, channel fish and saugeye. Ohio has an unknown number of orphan oil and gas wells that remain unplugged. Before regulations were enacted for the oil and gas industry, conventional wells were not tracked.Orphan wells are a source of natural gas and can leak oil to the surface. They also can become problematic when hydraulic fracturing waste migrates from class II injection wells, in which drillers store drilling waste, and channels through the old wells' casings, sending waste into the open.Thursday's spill is less than a mile from a class II injection well, Redbird No. 4, that had documented issues in late 2019.In that case, the hydraulic fracturing waste migrated from formations thousands of feet below ground at the Redbird and flowed into producing oil and gas wells about five miles away.That incident prompted ODNR to test well water of nearby residents out of concern about contamination, conduct a geological assessment and plug at least one nearby orphan well. The investigation did not find contamination in well water.There are more than 200 class II injection wells in Ohio.Because the fluid from injection wells is incredibly salty, there's also a possibility that the waste fluid damaged metal casings of oil and gas producing wells when it migrated."It could have caused either a surface leak or a subsurface leak of oil. So the leaking Redbird injection water coming up into the producing wells could have caused an oil leak," Townsend-Small said.People in the community have every right to be worried, she said."This is scary. This is sounds like it's all turning into a bad nightmare," Townsend-Small said.

Brine spilled at injection well near Barnesville - — A fracking waste spill that occurred Friday along Ohio 800 north of Barnesville was being cleaned up Monday.“At 5 p.m. Friday the well operator on duty reported a mechanical failure resulting in a release of fluid from the containment area,” Bryan Force of Force Environmental Solutions wrote in a text message Monday. “The ODNR and EPA were contacted immediately. Cleanup started today (Monday) and will be completed by the end of the day Tuesday. Corrective action was taken to prevent a mechanical failure from happening again.”According to an email from David Roorbach, public information officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, om Friday a brine release of 400-500 gallons was reported at the Buckeye UIC Barnesville No. 1 injection well.The incident occurred when the transfer line failed. The brine was released onto the offloading area and flowed into an offsite ditch.Roorbach said the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management visited site, which was stabilized late Friday night.He said Force Environmental Solutions worked through the weekend and will continue to work this week to remediate the area.Roorbach said the impact to wildlife was very minor, though area residents told The Times Leader that fish on a nearby stream had been killed. Dispatchers at the Ohio State Highway Patrol post in St. Clairsville confirmed that troopers were called out Friday to assist with traffic control on Ohio 800.Bryan Force said his company has owned the well for about a year and a half. It was purchased from CNX Resources Corp. As part of the cleanup operation, a contractor struck and damaged a waterline. “The area was marked by all utility companies prior to excavating but a service line was missed resulting in a loss of water service until the water company could fix it,” Force said via text. “We apologize for any inconvenience this caused any local residents.” Later Monday, however, the new accident resulted in a 48-hour boil order for households along Ohio 800.

Too Much Fracking Waste & Too Many Unanswered Questions - In 2019 Washington County had the second-highest level of injection well activity in the state at 8.1 million barrels of brine waste, 68% of which was from out-of-state (PA & WV) sources. Our county has the highest number of wells in the state. In 2011 there were 1.9 million barrels of brine waste injected in our county. Washington County is one of 22 counties in the officially designated Appalachian region, where the vast majority of injection wells are located. This leads to my first question: If there are deleterious effects of injection wells in this region, wouldn't this constitute a disproportionate impact and involve an issue of environmental justice?Class II injection wells, as they are categorized by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil & Gas Resources Management, are deep ground penetrations that push waste from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) into the ground. This division of ODNR is tasked with reviewing requests for permits and for conducting regular inspections of these wells.This fracking waste is referred to as "brine," but much of it is radioactive and is composed of water and additional chemicals, such as lead, arsenic, formaldehyde, mercury. Although only one percent of brine contains these chemicals, when we are dealing with a million gallons of water per well, this is not about teaspoons full. The shocking fact about this fracking waste is that, due to congressional action, referred to as the Halliburton rule, oil and gas companies are not required to reveal the contents of fracking waste. A recent article in the New York Times (July 13, 2021) has pointed out that toxic chemicals from hydraulic fracturing can transform into PFAS, a substance that has been linked to cancer and birth defects in people. PFAS is long-lasting and harmful to humans, wild mammals, and birds. I am aware that injection wells have cement casings and annulus controls and that they are customarily drilled to a depth of approximately 3,000 feet while aquifers, from which drinking water is obtained normally are drilled at 200-300 feet. This means that, if properly done, injection wells should not pose any risk to aquifers or surface water. The keyword in this conclusion is "properly." Spills. leaks, discharges, excessive amounts of brine, and other potentially harmful events are not uncommon at injection well sites, especially given the vast proliferation of injection wells in Washington County and throughout eastern Ohio.In November/December 2020 I reviewed 23 violation reports, 26 compliance reports, and 1,155 inspection reports provided by the ODNR. After my review, I posed several questions to the public representative of ODNR on injection wells. These questions had to do with specific reports on injection wells in the county, where spills or related violations were reported, what action was taken, and whether follow-up was made. On December 9 I sent a list of over 25 questions from inspection reports, which I grouped into the following categories: Redbird #4 injection well (aka #24), where numerous problems were cited, spills & leaks, conditions of wells at inspection, issues related to the recently approved barge offload facility in Marietta (owner Deep Rock), ownership of wells, and roads and transport to wells. I have not yet received responses to any of these questions, several of which relate to spills and leaks (at dykes and other places), which may have flowed into aquifers, streams, and rivers.

Utica Green Conference to focus on ESG initiatives --The Utica Green Conference will take place on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. This will be the first major event to be held in the soon to open Constellation Center for Excellence on the Pro Football Hall of Fame campus in Canton, Ohio. The conference will educate and prepare companies for the changes coming to the oil and gas industry. Is your company aware of the sustainability changes coming to the oil and gas industry in Utica Shale? Is your company discussing these changes? Is your company adapting to the sustainability changes coming? Does your company know what ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) guidelines will do to your business? Produced by Shale Directories and the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Utica Green Conference will uniquely showcase the industry’s continued sustainability-focused progress and results. The conference agenda is focused on highlighting the industry’s ESG initiatives, the critical role of American natural gas in the context of the broader energy transition, as well as insights about where the industry has been, where it is now, and where it is going to make the Utica Shale even more sustainable. The conference will feature speakers from Encino Energy, which is a presenting event sponsor. Barbco Inc. is the Luncheon Sponsor for this groundbreaking event in which over 300 attendees are expected. Officials from the EPA and other regulatory bodies are scheduled to attend. Lastly, Tony Barbera of Barbco will join an industry panel to discuss issues pertaining to the green future of America. This event seeks to create a platform to facilitate the exchange of ideas, drawing from energy company representatives, sector experts, regulators, public officials, and the public at large on the industry’s ongoing ESG actions and related topics. The Utica Green Conference is an important and topical conference for the energy sector and its stakeholders.

World science community watching as natural gas-hydrogen power plant comes to Hannibal Ohio - Hannibal, Ohio, is a tiny port stop on the Ohio River, with just 1,000 people living in Ohio Township, and just about 14,000 in Monroe County. About 35 miles upstream is Wheeling, West Virginia, and about 45 miles downstream is Marietta, Ohio. But this tiny place in what is considered the Appalachian part of Ohio, a new power plant that is gaining the notice of the scientific world is about to open here at the end of August. Long Ridge Energy, which sits on 1,600 acres of property where an aluminum smelter closed about a decade ago, will be producing electricity that will mix natural gas and hydrogen as the power source.Hydrogen is being “rediscovered” as a environmentally friendly energy source, though it is more simple than complicated: It is the simplest and most abundant element on earth, consisting of only one proton and one electron. But there is a catch. It doesn’t typically exist by itself in nature and must be produced from compounds that contain it.“What we are doing is very important to the renewable energy industry, and we have somewhat flown under the radar as to being a leader in some big changes that are coming for the energy industry,” Robert “Bo” Wholey, the president of Long Ridge Energy and Pittsburgh native, said to Ohio Capital Journal.“There have been some plants that have opened in Europe and Australia recently that are using more hydrogen, and plans to do other such plants in the U.S. in coming years, but we think this is the first operation in America to combine hydrogen and natural gas for clean energy,” he continued. “What we are doing is using what is here in this part of Ohio now — water and natural gas wells — and using them to reduce and ultimately eliminate carbon emissions.”Some analysts are skeptical about whether these combo-plants are a viable path to decarbonization, but Wholey is optimistic Long Ridge can get a larger and larger mix of hydrogen into the energy production over the long run, perhaps even to 100%.

PTT Finally Admits Truth – Ohio Cracker Project on Indefinite Hold - In February of this year, PTT Global Chemical adamantly claimed a final investment decision (FID) to build the $10 billion ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, OH would happen by “middle of 2021” (see PTT Says Recent Reports of Ohio Cracker Decision Delay “Not True”). They lied. Again. Last week we told you that since May, PTT Global Chemical’s parent company, PTT Pcl (Thailand’s biggest company by far), has spent almost $10 billion to build an electric vehicle business and buy up petrochemical assets in Europe and renewable-energy projects in Asia (see PTT Blows $10B on Renewables Since May, Still No OH Cracker FID). Yet they can’t scrap together the money to build the Ohio cracker plant. PTT Global Chemical has finally come clean and admitted there will be no FID for the cracker plant–not until they secure a partner to help finance the project. In other words, it’s on indefinite hold. We share a view that our friend (and M&A expert) Charlie Schliebs expressed at a PIOGA meeting in May: the Ohio cracker will get built “one way or the other,” meaning PTT may end up selling the project to someone else (see Expert Says PTT Ethane Cracker in Belmont, OH Will Get Built). Exxon, are you listening? In an email to S&P Global Platts, PTT said the project is on indefinite hold until a new investor can be found: PTTGC America’s final investment decision on a new petrochemical complex in southeast Ohio remains on indefinite hold until the company secures a new partner in the project, the company said in an email Aug. 25.“PTTGCA is currently focused on securing a partner for the project,” the email said. “Once there is a partner in place, the company will be in a position to reach FID.”In July 2020, the company announced it had struck a deal with Energy Storage Ventures to develop a $250 million natural gas liquids storage and transportation facility for the proposed complex. The facility would be the first underground NGL storage site in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.Shortly before PTTGCA announced the storage deal, the company said that its former partner in the petrochemical complex, South Korea’s Daelim, had withdrawn from the project.According to permitting documents, PTTGC’s project includes a 1.5 million mt/year cracker, two 350,000 mt/year high density polyethylene plants, a 450,000 mt/year HDPE plant and a 450,000 mt/year linear low density PE plant.*

Federal Pipeline Agency Issues Warning Letter To Shell For Falcon Project --The federal agency in charge of pipeline safety issued a July 16 warning letter to Shell for safety problems on a pipeline that will feed its Beaver County ethane cracker. In August 2020, inspectors from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) examined a section of the Falcon pipeline, which will carry natural gas liquids to the plant. The agency alleged Shell committed two “probable violations” by failing to place pipeline sections at a construction site in Beaver County on protective padding. The maximum penalty allowed under the law would have been $225,134 per violation, per day. However, the agency chose not to issue a fine. Instead, it ordered the company to correct the alleged deficiencies. In a letter to PHMSA, Shell says the two infractions were isolated, and that it’s inspected the 97-mile pipeline, which goes through Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, multiple times. This included one final inspection, known as a “jeep,” before the entire length was lowered into the ground. It says it will perform a full safety check on the line in two years, ahead of the five years mandated by federal regulations. The pipeline had previously been the subject of scrutiny from PHMSA in a separate case. A whistleblower complaint in 2019 alleged contractors working on the pipeline used defective corrosion coatings. But PHMSA ended that investigation — which was not related to the recent warning letter — without issuing any penalties against Shell.

Lawmakers To Pipeline Operators In PA: Keep Us Safe, You Pay - — The message in the proposed legislation is clear: Monitor this pipeline for leaks and other dangers and make the companies pay to keep Chester County safe. Two Pennsylvania lawmakers representing Chester and nearby counties are aiming to address the risks brought by pipelines that traverse the region with legislation in both the PA House and Senate that would make the pipeline operators pay for risk mitigation measures. Pennsylvania Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-155th) has re-introduced a bill (HB 1735) from 2019-2020. Friel Otten reintroduced the legislation as House Bill 1364 in May, and this week Pennsylvania Sen. Katie Muth (D-44th) announced she will soon introduce companion legislation in the PA Senate. The two noted in their memoranda to fellow legislators that "Title 35 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes requires 'every school district and custodial child care facility, in cooperation with the local Emergency Management Agency and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency,' to 'develop and implement a comprehensive disaster response and emergency preparedness plan consistent with the guidelines developed by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and other pertinent State requirements.'" Both Muth and Friel Otten continued in their memos, "But as Mariner East and other pipelines have brought new and unmitigated risks to our communities across the state, they have left our municipalities, school districts, and emergency responders without any reliable means of monitoring pipelines for leaks or alerting communities of pipeline incidents, leaving these local government entities unable to fulfill these statutory emergency preparedness requirements." The legislation aims both at safety for residents who live along the trajectory of the pipelines — some of which carry volatile liquid gas — but also at the cost of creating the detection and warning systems to accompany pipeline risk. The memos pointed out, "The cost of mitigating pipeline risks currently falls on taxpayers, local municipalities, and county governments." The legislation would establish a Pipeline Early Detection and Warning Board and empower that board to collect fees from pipeline operators. Those fees would be used to establish the Pipeline Early Detection and Warning Fund. The legislation would require distribution of money from the fund in the form of grants to municipalities, school districts, or county governments for the development of Early Detection and Warning Systems, which will alert communities and emergency responders and mitigate risks of a pipeline incident." Read HB 1364 here.

Advocates tell DOE that the cost of Appalachian petrochemicals too great - The Business Journals -Environmental advocates made their case for environmental justice and the health and economic impacts of ethane and petrochemical development in Appalachia during a public hearing Tuesday convened by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. DOE has been tasked by the U.S. Congress to produce a report on the potential value of Appalachia-produced ethane, a byproduct of natural gas, production and use in industry domestically as well as its transport internationally for manufacturing. DOE convened Tuesday’s session to get advocates’ and residents’ opinions about the development in a report that will be published by the end of the year. Opening presentations from Sean O’Leary of the Ohio River Valley Institute and Amanda Woodrum of Reimagine Appalachia questioned the buildout of the gas and petrochemical industry. O’Leary, reviewing research published earlier this year by ORVI, said that the oil and gas boom in Appalachia has rarely provided a large amount of jobs and economic impact to the communities where the fossil fuels are being produced.O’Leary said the petrochemical industry’s rise in Appalachia would be unlikely to benefit the region either. Among those reasons are that natural gas and petroleum industries are among the least-labor intensive sectors in industry, many of the jobs that do occur are transient workers who go from job to job, and then the proceeds are to management and investors.“The Appalachian petrochemical value chain, which starts with natural gas production, has not been and is not positioned to become a river of job growth and prosperity,” O’Leary said.Woodrum acknowledged that good-paying jobs have come with the extractive industries that have been a large part of the region from the coal mining, but she said that it has led to health impacts in the region and left massive issues like large environmental legacies including abandoned mines and steel plants. She said adding petrochemical industry would be a “doubling down” on the same types of development.Reimagine Appalachia, along with the Ohio River Valley Institute, said there’s a better way that doubles down on clean energy investment and clean up that benefits everyone in the region, including racial groups that have been left behind.“We are focused on creating a vision for what a 21st century sustainable Appalachia looks like,” Woodrum said. “It needs to have jobs equivalent to those found in extractive industries, but if we create an economy, a sustainable economy, we want to be thinking through one that is good for workers, good for communities and good for the environment.”Much of the public comment was critical of the industry.“We’re angry,” said one member on a forum that accompanied the hearing.Jill Hunker called herself a “fracking refugee.” She lives in Belmont County, Ohio, the site of Ohio’s heaviest natural gas development and the potential site for an ethane cracker proposed by PTT Global Chemical across from Moundsville, West Virginia. Hunker said that the region is already seeing the devastation from air pollution in the natural gas industry and soon the plastics industry, and that building it out further would ramp up the climate crisis and create a bigger public health crisis.“It will become the next cancer alley,” Hunker said.Lisa Graves-Marcucci, a community advocate in the Mon Valley who works for the Environmental Integrity Project, said pipelines have been a major concern including the Revolution Pipeline, which failed due to a landslide in September 2018 that led to a large fire in Center Township, Beaver County. Its owner, Energy Transfer Partners, in August was fined $140,000 related to the construction of a well pipeline in 2019 and 2020 that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said was the source of several violations.She said that pipelines are continuing to be built in the region that aren’t stable. “Sadly it’s not a question of if but when another tragedy is going to occur,” she said.

Antis Pack DOE Dog & Pony Show Hearing to Bash M-U Petchem Industry | Marcellus Drilling News -Have you ever noticed how politicians like to “study” things? Why is that? We suppose the results of all those studies gives them political cover to make unpopular votes on key issues. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management is in the process of conducting a study on the prospects for a petrochemical industry in the Marcellus/Utica. As part of that study, DOE held an online/virtual hearing yesterday to elicit comments on the environmental, health and community impacts of the petrochemical industry from ethane crackers and pipelines. In what appears to be a put-up job, a dog and pony show, the hearing was packed with radical anti-fossil fuel nuts who bashed away at the shale industry.DOE has been tasked by the politicians in Congress to produce a report on the potential value of Appalachia-produced ethane–its production and use domestically as well as its transport internationally for manufacturing. In a sad display of naked fossil fuel hatred, speaker after speaker offered lies and smears and innuendo, completely devoid of facts, during yesterday’s hearing.Jennifer Wilcox, acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management at DOE under Joe Biden appears to be the instigator, prompting the looneys to turn out and blather on. She said her office is taking a “new approach” to unearthing “racial inequities” around energy and manufacturing. From the Pittsburgh (PA) Business Times:DOE has been tasked by the U.S. Congress to produce a report on the potential value of Appalachia-produced ethane, a byproduct of natural gas, production and use in industry domestically as well as its transport internationally for manufacturing. DOE convened Tuesday’s session to get advocates’ and residents’ opinions about the development in a report that will be published by the end of the year.It’s a topic of intense importance in the Pittsburgh region and the three-state region of Appalachia, with the future of two industries in the balance: Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales produce vast amounts of ethane, which are used as the building blocks of plastic products and a significant source of revenue for companies like Range Resources (NYSE: RRC), which ships ethane to Europe via the Mariner East pipelines. But just as important is the Pittsburgh region’s growing standing in the petrochemical industry, personified directly by the nearly $10 billion petrochemical plant that will become operational sometime in 2022 after years of construction.DOE is focusing in, for the first time, on the environmental, health and community impacts of the petrochemical industry in ethane crackers — like the Beaver County plant — and pipelines. DOE acknowledged some of the concerns that environmentalists and community members have had about the health concerns as well as the traditional racial inequities around energy and manufacturing.“We are determined to tackle these inequities and it signifies a new approach for our office,” said Jennifer Wilcox, acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management. “Environmental justice, equity and workforce development are at the center of our efforts.” DOE doesn’t have any decision-making in this matter and are instead just advising Congress on Appalachian petrochemical development.

Natural gas production up in Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh Business Times - Pennsylvania’s natural gas producers took advantage of higher prices to increase production in the second quarter to the highest levels since mid-2019.There were 1.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas produced in Pennsylvania’s wells in the quarter ended June 30, up 7.8% from a year ago, according to data released by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office. That was the highest level of production since the third quarter of 2019 when production was up 9.4%. The data comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.While some of the increase could be tied to year-over-year comparisons with Covid-19, that’s not the entire story: Prices are up as well, which means that Pennsylvania natural gas producers are getting more on average for their product than at at any point since 2019. Prices are up 52% to $2.07 per million British Thermal Unit, compared to $1.36 per million BTU in the second quarter of 2020.The growth was highlighted by production in June, which was up 10% from a year ago.The top county year to date has been Susquehanna, which has seen a 1.8% decline in production volume. Washington County, whose year-to-date growth has been 18% remains in second place among counties in the commonwealth, followed by Bradford, Greene and Lycoming.

Pennsylvania catching up with Texas natural gas production - Pennsylvania’s natural gas production is closer than ever to the top-producing state in the country, according to a new state report. Pennsylvania was within 1,000 billion cubic feet of Texas’ natural gas production levels through the second quarter of 2021, according to the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office’s quarterly natural gas production report. This is the closest Pennsylvania has ever been to Texas’s production levels. Pennsylvania produced 3,150 bcf through May 2021; Texas produced 4,118 bcf in that time period. Last year the second quarter report showed Pennsylvania producing 3,002 bcf through May and Texas producing 4,386 bcf. In 2020, Pennsylvania produced 7,290 bcf for the entire year, and Texas produced 10,291 bcf. “Pennsylvania is right on the heels of Texas, the nation’s top natural gas producer, because the fundamentals of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays are strong, pipeline capacity has improved, and producers and midstream operators continue to make efficiency gains,” said Dave Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, in a statement. Through May 2021, the state reports shows that Pennsylvania had the strongest year-over-year growth of any of the top five gas-producing states. It tracks with the state’s continuous strong growth in production over the past decade. Pennsylvania jumped into the number two spot in annual natural gas production in 2013, once the Marcellus Shale production allowed it to catch up with and surpass Alaska and Louisiana’s production levels. Ever since then, production levels have only climbed. Pennsylvania production made up about 18.7% of nationwide production through May.

Fire at PES refinery site in South Philly owned by Hilco under control - An unused fuel storage tank being dismantled by welders caught fire Monday afternoon in South Philadelphia at the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions site, now owned by Hilco Redevelopment Partners and was declared under control several hours later. The fire broke out about 1:15 p.m. at the tank on the 1,300-acre property off Penrose Avenue and South 26th Street. The Philadelphia Fire Department did not have to evacuate any residents, and no one was injured. Up to 100 firefighters responded. The fire was declared under control by 4:30 p.m. The Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause, according to Fire Department spokesperson Kathy Matheson. The NorthStar Contracting Group, which is responsible for demolition at the PES site, said workers were performing “a routine torch cutting” of the empty oil tank and noticed smoke coming from the top of the tank, apparently from residue inside. NorthStar workers extinguished the “smoldering” fire with equipment that is kept on site, the statement said. However, someone from outside PES called the Philadelphia Fire Department and firefighters assisted, as well as inspected the tank to ensure it was not burning. The PES site was forced to close in June 2019 after a leak and explosion rattled the neighborhood and city, though no one was harmed. The city dodged several potential catastrophes during the blast that released 5,000 pounds of a deadly chemical and launched pieces of shrapnel as large as a truck hurtling across the refinery complex. At the time, it was the East Coast’s largest refinery. The property was sold in 2020 in bankruptcy court for $225.5 million to Hilco Redevelopment Partners, which pledged to demolish and clean up the site and rebuild it as a mixed-use industrial park. Many compounds, especially benzene, have been found to exceed levels set by the state as acceptable for nonresidential property, according to reports compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Evergreen Resources Group, which is handling a cleanup plan for Sunoco and has posted thousands of pages of documents online. Sunoco owned the refinery for decades until 2012, when it was sold to PES.

Smelly oil spill closes popular Maine beach (AP) — A popular Maine beach was closed on Wednesday due to an oil spill that posed an inconvenience, but was not a threat to public health, authorities said.The U.S. Coast Guard, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and officials with the city of South Portland were all involved in the response to the spill. The DEP said the oil spill reached the city's storm water drainage system and discharged into the water at Willard Beach on Tuesday afternoon.The DEP said a responsible party has been identified for the spill, but it did not name them. The agency said no further discharge is anticipated. The length of the cleanup was unknown on Wednesday. The DEP said Willard Beach would remain closed for the rest of the day and reopening would be assessed daily as cleanup work continued. The spill caused petroleum odors in the area. Cleanup efforts included collecting any contaminated seaweed and working with South Portland to collect any remaining oily waste in the storm water drainage system, DEP said.

Willard Beach in South Portland could be closed for days because of oil spill - — Willard Beach, a popular destination for sunbathers and dog-walkers across southern Maine, could remain closed for days because used motor oil that likely originated from a service station was discharged from a storm drain pipe at the beach on Tuesday.Investigators have identified the responsible party and no further discharge from the source is anticipated, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The agency didn’t name the responsible party or say how much oil was spilled.However, a statement from the city Tuesday night said investigators were checking a possible link to an oil product leak also reported Tuesday from an address on Cottage Road, about a half-mile from the beach.And on Wednesday, a crew from Clean Harbors, an environmental services company, was working at the former Hill’s Service Station at 491 Cottage Road, where the acrid odor of used motor oil filled the air and the pavement was covered with petroleum residue and patches of granular white absorbent material.The DEP, U.S. Coast Guard and the city’s Water Resource Protection Division mounted a joint investigation Tuesday evening, after firefighters responded to a report of a sheen on the water at the beach that rims Simonton Cove on Casco Bay.Clean Harbors was contracted to conduct the cleanup, which includes collecting any contaminated seaweed and other materials from the beach, and working with the city to collect any remaining oily waste in the storm water drainage system, the DEP said.The 4-acre, crescent-shaped beach stretches from Southern Maine Community College to Fisherman’s Point. The storm drain outfall pipe juts from the sand at the center of the beach, near the main entrance, bathhouse, snack bar and playground.

DNR warns proposed Texas Gas Transmission pipeline could harm Indiana plants and wildlife The route of a proposed pipeline connecting an Indiana power plant to a natural gas network in Kentucky could have “significant impacts” on endangered plant species and waterways in Posey County, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.The proposed 24-mile Texas Gas Transmission LLC pipeline would connect two proposed natural gas-fired power plants at CenterPoint Energy Inc.’s A.B. Brown Generating Station in Posey County to a network of interstate natural gas pipelines.Texas Gas Transmission wants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the project without an environmental impact statement. In comments to FERC, DNR said the project could affect animal species protected by state and federal authorities, like endangered mussels in the Ohio River, the Indiana bat and northern long-ear bat, and forest and wetland areas along the river in Posey County.The plan submitted by Texas Gas Transmission indicates the pipeline would cross from Kentucky into Indiana under the Ohio River through a process called horizontal directional drilling.The drilling would mostly occur underground and could avoid impacting mussels and fish directly, but DNR said that unless erosion and control measures are taken at the drilling sites, the project could negatively affect aquatic species in the Ohio River and cause sedimentation.A number of risks threaten the success of horizontal directional drilling projects, including drilling fluid circulation loss, pipeline damage during the pullback of the drill and hole instability.If any of those happen during pipeline construction, or if the pipeline fails later, animal and plant species could be affected.Texas Gas Transmission LLC has had two pipeline failures since 2009, according to reports submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.One inactive natural gas pipeline failed in 2009 due to a leak caused by internal corrosion. An underground pipeline ruptured in 2015 due to a combination of corrosion and cracking at the bottom of the pipeline, where it was installed over an area of sandy clay and rocky material. More than 45 feet of pipeline was blown away from its original location despite being buried several feet underground.

Does rural Illinois really need a new gas pipeline? --Pembroke Township, population less than 2,000, is the last historic Black farming community left in Illinois. And at one time, it was the largest such community in the northern United States. Founded in the 1860s by runaway slaves, it soon becamean agricultural hub, producing tons of hemp during World War II and later feeding Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland during the Great Migration from the South to the North. And now Nicor Gas wants to run a natural gas pipeline to it. Earlier this summer the Democrat-controlled Illinois General Assembly passed HB 3404 — a bill that will help fund the proposed gas line, in part by allowing for a 250-percent increaseto customers’ gas bills statewide. It would cap a years-long push to bring cheaper natural gas heat to an area, an hour’s drive south of Chicago, that now gets its heat from a mix of propane, wood-burning stoves, and electric space heaters. Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, has until August 29 to sign the bill into law. But many local farmers and environmentalists are pleading with Pritzker to veto the bill, arguing that the pipeline would threaten agricultural land and rare black oak savanna habitat, and that the time has passed for new fossil fuel infrastructure. “The community wants renewable energy,” said Fred Carter, a co-founder of the Black Oaks Center for Sustainable Renewable Living in Pembroke who also grows swiss chard, eggplant, cantaloupes, okra, and other crops on his farm. “This pipeline is a direct assault to the agricultural potential of this community.” Environmental advocates also argue that the pipeline would undermine Pritzker’s commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Pritzker has pledged to slash emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement and has also committed to ending emissions from the gas industry by 2045.

US Upper Midwest gas-fired generation looks to remain strong despite high prices - Gas-fired power demand in the US Upper Midwest might prove more than expected in the months ahead despite high prices, due in part to nuclear retirements, ample storage inventory and stronger-than-average power burn per degree this summer. The Midwest power burn forecast looks poised for substantial upside risk in the coming months as natural gas generation is less responsive to Chicago prices than in years past, burns per degree have risen from the five-year average, and the possibility of nuclear retirements all point to stronger gas burn than forecast. S&P Global Platts Analytics expected power burn to be lower year on year for the shoulder season of September and October. September power burn is forecast to average 1.9 Bcf/d, 558 MMcf/d below September 2020. For October, the year-on-year losses are expected to grow to 845 MMcf/d, bringing power burn to 1.7 Bcf/d.Platts Analytics’ power burn forecast largely utilizes temperatures and prices and assumes normal temperatures when modeling. September and October are shoulder months when temperatures normally cool to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in less cooling demand in the region and weakening power burn. Prices, meanwhile, are substantially higher year on year.Chicago futures for September are currently trading roughly $2/MMBtu above September 2020 cash prices, at $3.81/MMBtu. October is also at $3.81/MMBtu and $1.72/MMBtu above 2020 cash prices. These stronger prices and shoulder season temperatures should result in lower power burn. However, power burn has been less responsive to prices this year. Typically, higher prices result in higher gas-to-coal switching. While previous years show a clear downward curve in gas’ share as prices rise, this year has been much flatter, showing less influence of prices on gas generation.Also, burns per degree are slightly above normal. While last year’s weak prices uplifted power burns, this year’s stronger-than-normal prices should have weakened burns per degree. Instead, burns per degree have risen compared with the five-year average. At roughly 60 degrees, the normal temperature in September and October, burns per degree are marginally above normal.On top of the already higher burns per degree, Exelon is still planning to retire two nuclear facilities in the Midwest in September. The two facilities provide 4.4 GW of capacity in the Midwest. Their loss could result in as much as 770 MMcf/d of additional demand, should the entirety go to gas generation, though Platts Analytics expects the majority of gains to go to coal generation.While power burn is likely to dip the coming months, the year-on-year losses may not be as severe as normal weather and Chicago futures point to. This, in turn, would likely further help boost prices into the winter.*

Virginia environmental regulators make preliminary decision to issue key water permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline -Virginia state environmental regulators are leaning toward granting a key water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline designed to transport natural gas across 11 counties in West Virginia.Virginia regulators have issued a draft water quality certification for the pipeline that, if ultimately approved, would eliminate one of several obstacles standing in the way of pipeline developers proceeding with construction across wetlands and waterbodies throughout the 303-mile pipeline route.The draft permit indicates the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s State Water Control Board has determined there is a “reasonable assurance” that the permit would not violate applicable water quality standards or contribute significant impairment of state waters or fish and wildlife resources in the 107 miles of 42-inch-diameter pipeline across six Virginia counties.Saturday marks the beginning of a two-month public comment period on the draft permit that will end Oct. 27. The Department of Environmental Quality is also having two public hearings on the draft permit on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28 at the Pigg River Community Center in Rocky Mount and Kyle Hall at Radford University, respectively.The citizen-comprised State Water Control Board will make the final decision on the draft permit by Dec. 31.Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, the joint venture that owns the pipeline, is awaiting a decision on another water permit request under the federal Clean Water Act from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.Mountain Valley is also seeking approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that regulates the natural gas industry, to change its construction method across waterbodies and wetlands along the pipeline route from an open-cut dry crossing method as previously approved by the commission to a trenchless approach.

Virginia county fends off natural gas plant, but battles continue -A company planning to bring one of two natural gas-fired power plants to Charles City County, VA, said this summer it is abandoning the projects. It’s a partial victory for residents who have been opposing the C4GT power plants and other new natural gas infrastructure in the rural county for years.But a larger power plant, the Chickahominy Power Station, also fueled by natural gas, is still in the works for the county. Developers of that power plant, which has already garnered key permits from the state,say the county along the James River southeast of Richmond is ideally located between growing Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, two corners of the state where “electricity demand is expected to increase with the many data centers planned and under construction in the region.”But the county’s 7,000 residents — 46% of whom are Black and 7% Native American — have largely opposed the pair of projects, along with the expansion of a landfill, citing environmental justice concerns. “These power plants and industries are not going to help anyone in our majority-minority rural area,” said Wanda Roberts, co-director of the group Concerned Citizens of Charles City County, or C5. “The character of our rural county is up for grabs right now.” Advocates for clean water have increasingly been fighting new natural gas infrastructure (not just the pipelines, but also compressor stations, which repressurize the gas to keep it moving) in communities they say are already overburdened with environmental impacts. Though the sprawling Atlantic Coast Pipeline — opposed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — was canceled last year, the Mountain Valley Pipeline is still under way in Virginia and seeking permits for additional infrastructure.

Gas company explains what caused explosion at Convention Center - - A gas company said Wednesday that a technical issue caused explosion at the Carl C. Morgan Convention Center. A spokesperson for Spire said that “a technical issue created a high-pressure situation and subsequent damage to the center.” Spire said it would “do what’s right to resolve the situation.” Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. addressed the Selma City Council meeting on Tuesday and said that Spire accepts responsibility for the gas explosion. Selma Interim Fire Chief Gabriel Sharpe said Tuesday that a gas explosion seemed possible. The gas explosion left cracks in the building and dislodged bricks on the south side of the convention center, west side of the convention center facing city hall, roof elevated and came back down. The explosion was felt at city hall. A budget meeting was held at City Hall, where the explosion could be heard. People quickly left City Hall when the explosion occurred. Perkins said architects will check city hall to see if it experienced any other damage from the explosion. Perkins said that people who reserved the convention center will receive a refund. He declared the center is unavailable.

City considers natural gas, electricity agreements - — The Moultrie City Council agreed last week to participate in a program with the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia that will encourage residents to use natural gas appliances. The city, which buys natural gas from MGAG and sells it to residents and businesses in the city, will not be selling natural gas appliances, city Utilities Director Elvira Gibson said, but it will host a showroom at the city utilities building where an MGAG employee will do so. A handful of other Georgia cities are already participating in the program, according to Eric Groom, an analyst for MGAG who spoke at the Aug. 17 city council meeting. The Natural Gas Connection began four years ago in North Georgia, Groom said, as a way to encourage residential customers to choose natural gas for appropriate energy needs. The proposed showroom will display examples of gas appliances, such as tankless water heaters and fire logs. When the program sells such an appliance to a customer, it can provide a zero-interest loan and bill that loan through the customer’s monthly utility bill, Groom said. The program also includes television commercials to encourage residents to choose natural gas, he said.

Haynesville Shale Resurgence – How Long Will It Last? - In 2021 the Haynesville shale in Texas and Louisiana has taken off. We look into what has changed, whether this surge will continue, and for how long. Between 2005 and 2017, shale gas (including tight gas) became the overwhelmingly dominant source of natural gas in the US (Figure 1). The US eventually produced more natural gas than any other country in the world. In 2016 the US started exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG).New LNG facilities started sending out enormous tankers of LNG to markets in Southeast Asia. Countries there wanted the gas and were willing to pay a premium price. In 2020, the USA became third in LNG exports, after Australia and Qatar (practically tied between number 1 and 2). Because of the success of the shale revolution, in 2009 the price of gas dropped from $7/Mcf (Million cubic feet) to below $3/Mcf and has remained there since 2015. This dampened shale gas production everywhere until 2017 when rising LNG exports had a positive effect (Figure 2). The recent resurgence in Haynesville reflects the price of gas that has approached $4/Mcf.Still, the shale wells in the Haynesville are deeper than other shale plays, up to 14,000 feet, which means drilling and fracking costs are greater.But this is offset by the proximity of the Haynesville to the Gulf Coast LNG terminals – the play lies across the border between Louisiana and Texas. In contrast, the Appalachian plays of Marcellus and Utica shales are far away.According to a US Geological Survey (USGS) report issued in 2017, the Haynesville Shale contains 304 Tcf of natural gas plus 1.9 billion barrels (Bbbl) of natural gas liquids (NGLs) — making it the largest continuous natural gas assessment the USGS has ever conducted. The new technology that was responsible for the shale revolution of Figure 1 is the same everywhere: a long horizontal well (1-2 miles) that is fracked many times along its length (up to 40 separate frac jobs). In recent years, the drilling and fracking elements have been optimized for each play, and there are few opportunities for any further improvements. One such opportunity, using smaller proppant, was detailed earlier this year.Pipeline infrastructure has been expanded. The rig count is up to 57, highest since October 2019. The report also says operators drilled and fracked close to 50 wells in the Haynesville in June and July, the highest rate in seven years.

U.S. natgas futures rise to one-week high on hot forecasts - (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures rose over 2% to a one-week high on Monday on forecasts for hot weather and high air conditioning demand to continue into early September. Traders also noted a near 6% increase in oil futures helped push gas prices higher. Oil recovered from a seven-day losing streak due to a weaker dollar and strength in global equities markets. O/R Front-month gas futures NGc1 rose 9.4 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $3.945 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Aug. 16. Last week, gas speculators followed a 9% drop in crude futures and boosted their short positions in natural gas futures and options on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) to the highest since June 2020. That increase in shorts drove speculative open interest in overall NYMEX gas positions to their highest since March 2020. It also caused the speculative net long position on the NYMEX and Intercontinental Exchange to drop by the most in a week since March 2021 to its lowest since June 2021. In the power market, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), grid operator for most of the state, projected hot weather this week would push peak demand over the grid's all-time high of 74,820 MW set in August 2019. Data provider Refinitiv said gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states rose to an average of 92.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in August from 91.6 bcfd in July. That compares with an all-time monthly high of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019. Refinitiv projected average U.S. gas demand, including exports, would ease from 94.3 bcfd this week to 93.6 bcfd next week as a seasonal cooling of the weather reduces air conditioning demand and causes power generators to burn less fuel. The forecast for next week, however, was higher than Refinitiv projected on Friday. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants slipped from an average of 10.8 bcfd in July to 10.5 bcfd so far in August, due mostly to reductions at the Cameron and Sabine plants in Louisiana. That compares with a record 11.5 bcfd in April. But with European and Asian gas both trading around $15 per mmBtu, compared with just $4 for the U.S. fuel, analysts said buyers around the world would keep purchasing all the LNG the United States can produce.

Henry Hub futures spike following US gas storage build below market expectations - Henry Hub futures spiked Aug. 26 as US storage volumes increased much less than the market anticipated, precipitated by a massive drawdown in the South. The NYMEX Henry Hub September contract surged 27 cents to $4.17/MMBtu in trading following the release of the US Energy Information Administration's weekly storage report. The winter strip, November through March, rose 21 cents to $4.25/MMBtu. Working gas inventories added 29 Bcf to 2.851 Tcf for the week ended Aug. 20, the EIA reported Aug. 26. The injection was less than the 37 Bcf addition expected by an S&P Global Platts' survey of analysts. It also trailed the five-year average of 44 Bcf and last year's 45 Bcf injection in the corresponding week. US storage volumes now stand 563 Bcf, or 16.5%, less than the year-ago level of 3.414 Tcf and 189 Bcf, or 6.2%, less than the five-year average of 3.040 Tcf. The injection was also well below the 42 Bcf implied flow reported by the EIA for the week ended Aug. 13. Most of the change stemmed from the EIA's South Central region, where inventory fell by 14 Bcf, compared with the previous week's 1 Bcf increase. The South Central region's total demand was up fairly sharply, including a 1.1 Bcf/d increase in LNG export demand and along with a 400 MMcf/d increase in Texas power demand due to higher population-weighted temperatures, according to Platts Analytics. South Central spot prices have strengthened this week compared with last, as warmer-than-normal temperatures sweep across the region. After averaging under $3.90/MMBtu for the week ended Aug. 20, Henry Hub spot prices for the week starting Aug. 22 are on pace to average $3.95/MMBtu, pushing over $4/MMBtu for the first time in two weeks on Aug. 26. The warmer-than-normal temperatures have driven a spike in power demand, elevating combined Southeast and Texas power demand to 19.5 Bcf/d on Aug. 25, 1.2 Bcf/d stronger than the prior week's average, according to Platts Analytics. The elevated power burns have strengthened basis pricing at demand hubs, like Houston Ship Channel, to just 1 cent behind Henry Hub. Platts Analytics' supply and demand model currently forecasts a 20 Bcf injection for the week ending Aug. 27, which would measure 33 Bcf less than the five-year average. Fundamentals this week have moved tighter still, as total supplies have remained mostly flat week over week, while downstream demand has increased by nearly 2 Bcf/d. US power burn demand is up 2.2 Bcf/d week over week. These gains were only slightly diminished by a 300 MMcf/d dip in LNG feedgas volumes and a 300 MMcf/d fall in industrial loads.

U.S. natgas soars over 7% to 32-month high on small storage build, hot weather (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures soared over 7% to a 32-month high on Thursday on a much smaller than expected storage build during hot weather last week. Traders also said prices jumped on forecasts for higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, concerns about a storm in the Gulf of Mexico and the latest outlook calling for hotter than normal weather through early September. Tropical Depression 9 is expected to strengthen into a hurricane before striking the U.S. Gulf Coast early next week near Louisiana. Analysts noted storms can reduce gas prices and demand by causing power outages and LNG terminals to shut, but they can also boost prices by causing Gulf Coast production to shut. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added just 29 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended Aug. 20. That was much lower than the 40-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 45 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2016-2020) average increase of 44 bcf. Traders said the build was smaller than expected in part because wind power was low in the eastern half of the country and Texas last week, causing generators to burn more gas to meet high air conditioning demand. Last week's injection boosted stockpiles to 2.851 trillion cubic feet (tcf), or 6.2% below the five-year average of 3.040 tcf for this time of year. On its second to last day as the front-month, gas futures for September delivery rose 28.7 cents, or 7.4%, to settle at $4.184 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since December 2018. That was the front-month's biggest one-day percentage gain since the February freeze that knocked out power to millions of customers in Texas. The October contract, which will soon be the front-month, was up about 28 cents to $4.20 per mmBtu. In New England, gas prices for this winter soared due to limited pipeline capacity and rising competition for LNG from Europe and Asia where gas prices were near record highs. Data provider Refinitiv said gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states rose to an average of 92.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in August from 91.6 bcfd in July. That compares with an all-time monthly high of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019. Refinitiv projected average U.S. gas demand, including exports, would rise from 94.2 bcfd this week to 94.5 bcfd next week mostly as LNG exports rise. Those forecasts were higher than Refinitiv projected on Wednesday. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants slipped from an average of 10.8 bcfd in July to 10.5 bcfd so far in August. Traders, however, noted that LNG feedgas was already increasing as the companies operating the Cameron and Sabine plants in Louisiana and the pipelines that serve them finish maintenance work. That compares with a record 11.5 bcfd in April.

U.S. natgas jump over 4% to 32-month high ahead of hurricane (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures jumped more than 4% on Friday to a fresh 32-month high on forecasts the weather will remain hotter than normal through mid-September and concerns Hurricane Ida will shut Gulf of Mexico production when it hits the Louisiana area as a major storm early next week. Traders also noted that lower than usual amounts of gas in U.S. storage ahead of the coming winter and near record gas prices in Europe and Asia continued to boost U.S. gas futures on expectations U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will rise to all-time peaks in coming months. EIA/GAS That, of course, depends on whether the hurricane shuts Gulf Coast LNG plants for extended periods of time like last year. Analysts noted storms in the Gulf of Mexico like Ida can reduce gas prices and demand by causing power outages and LNG terminals to shut, but they can also boost prices by knocking Gulf Coast production out of service. About 2% of total U.S. gas comes from the federal offshore Gulf of Mexico, while another 8% comes from on- and offshore Louisiana, according to federal data. On its last day as the front-month, gas futures NGc1 for September delivery rose 18.6 cents, or 4.4%, to settle at $4.370 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since December 2018 for a second day in a row. The October contract NGV21, which will soon be the front-month, was up about 17 cents to $4.39 per mmBtu. For the week, the front-month gained almost 14%, its biggest weekly gain since October 2020. Last week, the contract fell less than 1%.

Blank Space, Part 2 - The Ins and Outs of Natural Gas Storage | RBN Energy --The volume of natural gas in storage and the flow of gas into and out of it are among the most closely watched indicators in the U.S. gas market. That makes sense, given that these numbers provide important weekly insights into the supply-demand balance, gas price trends, the impact of LNG exports, and any number of other market drivers. However, what’s often ignored by those not involved in the day-to-day physical gas market are the mechanics and economics of storage itself. Who uses gas storage, and for what purposes? What are the value drivers for a storage facility? Why are there different types of gas storage contracts? How much does storage cost, and what do storage rates reflect? Today, we explore these and other questions. As we said in Part 1, in the decades leading up to the early 2000s, the U.S. gas market underwent a series of fundamental changes, each spurring the development of new storage capacity. First, starting in the 1910s, ’20s, and ‘30s, a number of depleted gas reservoirs were converted to storage facilities — initially in the Northeast, but then in other regions (yellow dots in Figure 1 map and yellow slice of pie chart to left). In the late 1940s and ’50s, another approach — “aquifer storage” — was introduced as an option for regions (primarily the Midwest) that needed gas storage capacity but lacked a sufficient number of depleted gas fields. Aquifer storage (red squares in map and red slice in pie chart to left) had an advantage over depleted-reservoir storage, namely that gas can typically be injected into and withdrawn from it more quickly. However, a disadvantage of aquifer storage is that it needs to be completely empty at the end of the heating season each year, or it can lose gas. The primary purpose of both types of storage facilities was — and is — to help balance seasonal swings in gas demand.

US to restart oil leasing with offshore auction this year - The Biden administration said on Tuesday it would take steps to restart the federal oil and gas leasing program in the next week and plans to hold a Gulf of Mexico auction as soon as October, court papers showed. The move comes two months after the U.S Interior Department first said it would comply with a June 15 federal judge's order blocking its months-long pause in oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters. That order was a blow to a key White House effort to address climate change by reining in fossil fuel extraction. U.S. President Joe Biden paused the oil and gas leasing program in January, pending an analysis of its impacts on the environment and value to taxpayers. Interior said in a statement that it is still conducting that review. The filing to a Louisiana federal district court on Tuesday was in response to a motion by the state of Louisiana and 12 other states from earlier this month that sought to compel Interior to restart the leasing program and to show why it should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with the order issued weeks earlier. Interior has "expended significant agency resources, including many hundreds of employee-hours, preparing to hold oil and gas lease sales," the brief said. The agency will take procedural steps by the end of this month to prepare for a sale of oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The auction itself is expected in October or November. Regarding onshore leasing, the Interior's Bureau of Land Management will post a list of parcels for potential sale within the next week, followed by a public comment period that will result in sale notices published in December, the court documents said. An oil and gas industry group, the Western Energy Alliance, criticized the administration's plans, saying the sales that were put on hold had already undergone thorough analyzes and were "ready to put on the calendar."

Butterflies Get Aid in House Proposal and Drillers Pay Tab - Endangered butterflies and desert fish would get millions of dollars in federal funding while oil companies would face new fees and a ban on most offshore drilling under a House committee proposal to fulfill key parts of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. The details were summarized in a document seen by Bloomberg News prepared by the Natural Resources Committee, one of a dozen House panels now writing pieces of a $3.5 trillion budget bill that represents the largest chunk of Biden’s economic plan. The document was circulated to lawmakers before a planned Sept. 2 meeting to vote on the panel’s portion of the measure. It sketches out Natural Resources Committee Democrats' ambitions for spending roughly $31.5 billion onconservation programs, environmental analysis and cleanup of abandoned mines, among other priorities. The proposal, which could be revised before the committee takes up the measure next week, calls for devoting some $550 million to wildlife recovery efforts, including $25 million each to endangered butterflies, freshwater mussels and desert fish."This is the largest investment in the recovery of endangered species in a generation, and I couldn't be more thrilled," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "If we're going to tackle the extinction crisis and save these incredible species from the brink, this is exactly the type of bold action that's needed."The oil and gas industry would shoulder the burden of paying for much of the proposed spending. The proposals include new fees for idled oil wells, pipeline owners and the inspection of oil and gas facilities. Royalties also would be increased for some minerals, oil and gas extracted from public land.Spokespeople for the committee and several members, reached by telephone and email after hours, declined to comment on the document. A Democratic member of the committee, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the document's authenticity. Republican staff members said they have heard such a document exists, but it had not been shared with them. Committee Democrats also will seek to spend some $3 billion on a new Civilian Climate Corps, according to the document. The program, which would be modeled after the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps, would put Americans to work building clean energy infrastructure, capping inactive wells and conserving land.

Oil Majors Begin to Require Vaccine for U.S. Gulf Offshore Workers --Now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given full and final approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19, oil companies Chevron and Hess have announced that they will require their offshore workers in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to get vaccinated as a condition of employment. Hess cited the "highly infectious nature" of the Delta variant of the disease as a key factor in its decision. In addition, leading oilfield services company Schlumberger told media that oil majors are now requiring that contractor personnel must be both vaccinated and tested before arriving at rig sites. Valero, a leading refiner, has already imposed a blanket vaccine requirement as a hiring condition for new workers at its Louisiana and Texas facilities earlier this month. The South and Southeast are at the center of the United States' COVID-19 caseload. Louisiana, the spiritual home of the American offshore oil industry, has some of the highest case and hospitalization rates in the country; its statewide vaccination rate is just 39 percent, 12 points behind the national average. In late July, the state of Louisiana reported that about 80,000 doses of vaccine went unused and had to be discarded because of low demand. "We just don’t have people that want to take the vaccine,” said Warner Thomas, CEO of one of the state's largest hospital chains, in a news conference July 28. The uptake rate for vaccination is even lower in neighboring Mississippi and Alabama, and only slightly higher in Texas. In addition, in a May survey conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, energy industry and construction workers reported higher rates of vaccine hesitancy than the population at large: 46 percent expressed disinterest in vaccination, compared with 22 percent in the population at large. Compounding the risk of low vaccination rates, offshore oil and gas platforms house their workers in close quarters for extended periods. Congregate settings like platforms, ships, prisons and nursing homes have a limited ability to provide social distancing, requiring extra preventive measures to reduce the risk of transmission,

Oil firms cut U.S. Gulf of Mexico output by 91% ahead of Hurricane Ida - Oil firms on Saturday cut nearly 91% of U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude oil production, roughly 1.65 million barrels, as Hurricane Ida makes its way toward major U.S. offshore oilfields, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The regulator also estimated that roughly 84.87% of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut in. Ida is forecast to reach a Category 4 hurricane before making landfall west of New Orleans. Louisiana residents on Saturday rushed to prepare for the storm, which could bring winds as high as 140 mph (225 kph) when it makes landfall. Oil and gas companies evacuated 279 production platforms, representing 49.82% of the 560 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, and shut in almost 91% of their typical offshore production as the storm approached, according to the offshore regulator. The companies also moved 11 drill vessels off location and out of the storm's path on Saturday. The Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 17% of the country's crude oil production and 5% of its federal offshore dry gas production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, said Saturday that if the New Orleans refineries take a direct hit from a Category 4 storm, gas prices would likely rise by about 10 cents a gallon in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic markets.

Biden EPA loosens Trump rule limiting states' ability to reject pipelines -The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday issued a joint memo with the U.S. Department of the Army allowing states and tribes to extend the finalization process for water permits after a Trump-era rule imposed a one-year window.The memo directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to wait the maximum amount of time to finalize 41 Nationwide Permits proposed under the act in September. The Trump-era rule provided a window of only a year to make a final decision under the Clean Water Act for oil and gas project permitting. While the CWA allows states and tribes to weigh in on projects that run through waterways, the 2020 rule reduced the approvals required at the state and tribal level. The memo outlines scenarios under which state or tribal governments may take longer than a year to approve or deny projects, such as cases where “they identify factors and circumstances that warrant extending the reasonable period of time.” “While EPA moves expeditiously to revise the 2020 rule, it is essential that the agencies address pressing implementation challenges that have been raised by our co-regulators,” Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water Radhika Fox said in a statement. “Today’s action provides guidance to maximize flexibilities and support the authority of states and Tribes to protect their waters.” The Biden EPA has been critical of the Trump-era rule in the past, and EPA Administrator Michael Regan has said that as head of the agency he would take action to roll back regulations he felt undermined local protective authority. Five Democratic governors had also previously asked the Biden administration to intervene, asking the federal government to delay finalization in a May letter. “[P]recipitous action by the Corps to finalize permits based on the previous administration’s flawed Section 401 rule and nationwide permitting will greatly undermine the chances of a successful resolution,” wrote the governors of Washington, Oregon, Connecticut, California and New Mexico. “Even states that are not covered by nationwide permits share these concerns and fear that this approach may be extended to programmatic general permits in those Army Corps regions.”

EIA: US LNG exports to exceed pipeline exports - In the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) August 2021 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the company forecasts that US natural gas exports will exceed natural gas imports by an average of 11.0 billion ft³/d in 2021, or almost 50% more than the 2020 average of 7.5 billion ft³/d. Increases in LNG exports and in pipeline exports to Mexico are driving this growth in US natural gas exports. For the first time since US LNG exports from the Lower 48 states began in 2016, annual LNG exports are expected to outpace pipeline exports – by an estimated 0.6 billion ft³/d – this year.The EIA forecasts that total US natural gas exports will continue to grow throughout 2021 and 2022, exceeding the record of 14.4 billion ft³/d set in 2020. The company expects US exports of natural gas by pipeline and as LNG combined to average 18.3 billion ft³/d in 2021 and 19.3 billion ft³/d in 2022. LNG exports exceeded pipeline exports for the first time on a monthly basis in November 2020, and the EIA expects them to average 9.5 billion ft³/d and exceed natural gas imports by pipeline (8.9 billion ft³/d) in 2021.In 2020, natural gas exports accounted for 23% of total US energy exports in energy equivalent terms. US LNG exports in particular have grown as the US has added LNG export capacity and expanded its LNG export destinations.The EIA expects US imports of natural gas by pipeline and as LNG, combined, to increase by 6% compared with 2020, averaging 7.4 billion ft³/d in 2021, before declining to 6.9 billion ft³/d in 2022. Almost all US natural gas imports enter the US from Canada into midwestern and western demand markets. US pipeline imports previously had been declining annually since 2008. However, the EIA expects pipeline imports of natural gas to increase in 2021 because of relatively flat US dry natural gas production and slightly higher US natural gas consumption.Natural gas exports by pipeline – almost all of which are sent to Mexico – began exceeding gross pipeline imports on an annual basis in 2019. In 2020, US pipeline exports exceeded imports by 1.1 billion ft³/d, and the EIA expects this difference to increase to 1.7 billion ft³/d in 2021 and 2.5 billion ft³/d 2022.

Why LNG Exports From The US Are Off To The Moon – Forbes -- Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) comes from natural gas by lowering its temperature to minus -260F, when it changes from gas to a clear, colorless, non-toxic liquid. This gives it portability – it can be shipped by truck or sea-going tanker. The Marcellus and Utica shales in the Appalachian region in the northeast US provide about 30 Billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) which is about a third of the nation’s total natural gas (90 Bcfd). The next largest gas-only play is the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and East Texas. The Haynesville Shale is the largest continuous natural gas assessment ever made in the USA. The advantage here was proximity to LNG terminals on the Gulf Coast that could ship the product overseas. The trend will continue according to EIA, although the trade war between US and China has cooled things a bit. But the market potential for China using LNG to replace coal-fired boilers and power plants is potentially huge. Bar chart of LNG exports rising from 2016 to 2021. Cheniere Energy is a big LNG exporter and three years ago signed on to export to China 1.2 million tons of LNG per year for 20 years (from 2023 to 2043.) But the deal fell through due to the trade war between US and China. In mid-2020 a separate deal was signed with a Chinese company called Foran Energy Group, and cargoes of LNG have resumed cautiously. The export of LNG has increased from nothing to 10 Bcfd in just 5 years (Figure 1). It’s an amazing turnaround from natural gas production that was declining in the US as recently as 2005. In 2018, US exports of natural gas exceeded imports for the first time since 1957, when Russia launched Sputnik into orbit. Four new LNG terminals since 2018 (Figure 1) are sending out enormous tankers of LNG to markets in Southeast Asia. In the US, LNG spot market prices have been lower than prices for overseas markets this year. This price difference motivated record volumes of US LNG exports. Early in 2021, spot prices spiked to $20 per Million Btu in the Japan/South Korea market, but quickly fell back to $6. Countries over there want the gas and are willing to pay a premium price. Then began a gradual doubling of prices to $12 in June 2021. Spot prices in the European market have tracked the Japan/South Korea market this year because they need to refill storage supplies. The runup in US exports later in 2020 was due to recovery from the pandemic, as well as unplanned outages from competitors such as Australia. The US is now producing at near total capacity of 11 Bcfd. There is big money to be made by exporting LNG as the price differential between LNG within the US and overseas is large. Second, the market is getting stronger with China wanting LNG for local burners and boilers to reduce the high levels of pollutants that come from burning so much coal. The bulk (83%) of LNG exports go to two regions of the world. In 2021, 46% of LNG goes to Asia, followed by Europe with 37%. EIA expects LNG exports to remain near 10 Bcfd for the rest of 2021. China views natural gas as a halfway house in the transition to renewables, which they are committed to. While China is 70% fossil energies now, they plan to be 90% renewable energies by 2060.

Louisiana tank farm looks to spend $100 million to expand for renewable fuels - International-Matex Tank Terminals plans to invest more than $100 million to expand its Geismar marine terminal so it can handle renewable fuel products. IMTT expects to build six storage tanks, two pipelines and more dock space at the Ascension Parish for renewable diesel, biodiesel and feedstocks to make those products. The pipeline would connect to nearly one-third of the renewable diesel capacity nationwide. The expansion will double storage capacity at the marine terminal and create eight new jobs. The work is scheduled to be completed in 2023. New Orleans-based IMTT is gearing up to meet demand from Renewable Energy Group Inc. which runs a Geismar biorefinery expected to expand to 340 million gallons of renewable diesel by 2023. IMTT has 17 terminals across the country and two in Canada which store bulk liquid products for customers. The business handles a variety of materials from refined petroleum, chemicals and vegetable oil products. In Louisiana, the company also has terminals in Gretna and St. Rose.

Oil well ruptures south of Lake Charles (see overhead video)- A well at the southern end of Nelson Road ruptured Tuesday afternoon, spewing a crude oil mixture into the air. Several viewers in south Lake Charles reported hearing a loud boom. Louisiana State Police Emergency Services is responding. The well is in a sparsely populated area south of Lincoln Road. Three residences near the well were evacuated until state police can further evaluate the scene, according to Derek Senegal, State Police Troop D spokesman. No fire has been reported, according to firefighters at the scene. (see overhead video) KPLC’s crew at the scene cannot get close enough to shoot video but can smell the crude oil mixture in the air and hear it gushing. Traffic is blocked at Lincoln and Nelson.

Phillips 66 puts Alliance, Louisiana refinery up for sale (Reuters) - The fourth largest U.S. refiner Phillips 66 Tuesday said it has put the smallerof its two Louisianarefineries up for sale amid continued losses and an uncertain future for motor fuels. The company is holding talks with a potential buyer on the sale of its 255,600 barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance refinery in Bell Chasse, Louisiana, according to two people familiar with the matter. The identity of the potential buyer could not immediately be learned. U.S. refiners have closed or sold oil processing plants as the pandemic slashed demand for gasoline and jet fuel and generated losses for the industry. Top auto makers are accelerating their shift to electric vehicles, signaling tougher times ahead. "The U.S. refining business in the future is going to be smaller, not bigger," Chief Executive Officer Gregory Garland said earlier this month while laying out plans to expand its supply of components for electric car batteries and hydrogen and lower-carbon fuels. Garland predicted demand for gasoline in the U.S. and Europe was at or near its peak. The Houston-based refiner posted a second quarter profit on strong chemical demand, but work-from-home policies and sagging fuel margins left its refining business in the red. Falling demand amid the pandemic has forced the closure of five U.S. refineries and cut oil processing capacity by 4.5% to 18.13 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The 50-year-old Alliance refinery is located 20 miles (32 km) south of New Orleans and along the Mississippi River, where tankers dock to deliver crude oil. "We expect the marketing process to continue over the next several months," "We will make an announcement at the appropriate time if and when an agreement has been reached with a buyer." The market for refineries has become active this year with Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L agreeing to sell its controlling interest in a Texas refinery to Petroleos Mexicanos and a Washington state refinery to HollyFrontier. HollyFrontier agreed to pay $350 million for Shell's 145,000-bpd Anacortes, Washington refinery plant and an additional amount for on-hand inventory when the sale closes later this year. HollyFrontier estimated the inventory will cost between $150 million and $180 million. The price paid for the Anacortes refinery is consistent with what was being paid prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit motor fuel demand hard in 2020. That would put the value of a refinery at about $2,400 a barrel.

BKV Looking to Expand Further after $430M Texas Natural Gas Power Plant Deal - Natural gas exploration & production (E&P) company Banpu Kalnin Ventures Corp. (BKV) made a splash earlier this month with an announced deal to acquire a natural gas power plant in Temple, TX, for $430 million. With independent E&Ps largely focused on the upstream, value chain integration has chiefly been the territory of majors and supermajors. But BKV CEO Chris Kalnin said the power plant deal represents the start of a new era for onshore E&P companies, one that will see them wade more and more into the value chain as they search for stability amid the ups and downs of the upstream cycle.“I think this is the tip of the spear,” Kalnin told NGI. “I think you’re going to see, over the next 10 years, E&P companies that were traditionally onshore shale independents start to push into the value chain. It’s not just going to be the super majors that are doing this. And we think there are enough bespoke, smaller, niche-type opportunities that there’s a space for the guys that are below the majors to play in.”Denver-based BKV, which has assets in the Barnett Shale of North Texas and the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania, is a subsidiary of Thai energy company Banpu PCL. It plans to acquire the 758 MW Temple 1 power plant from Temple Generation Intermediate Holdings II LLC in a deal set to close by the end of the year.Kalnin said the plant will be fed by production from the company’s Barnett acreage, which it purchased from Devon Energy Corp. in 2020. The acreage produces about 500 MMcf/d, and Kalnin expects the new plant will use about 75-100 MMcf/d. The remaining production would be marketed to “various pools,” which is how BKV currently sells its gas, he said.BKV is bullish on the Texas power market, which it expects to grow in the coming years as companies such as Tesla and HP relocate to the Lone Star State. Kalnin also sees the opportunity to generate significant savings by integrating production and end use.“A lot of the synergy can come from just the way we set up contracts with the power plant,” he said. The purchase would also allow BKV to capitalize on power markets by exposing it to a “stable” forward curve, he added.

Is the U.S. shale bankruptcy rout over? - Back in April, we reported that U.S. oil and gas companies were still filing for bankruptcy at record levels right in the midst of an oil price recovery. Smaller producers were the main victims as a total of eight North American oil and gas producers with an aggregate debt of $1.8B filed for bankruptcy protection in Q1 2021. But it now appears that the massive wave of bankruptcies has finally abated. According to Energy and restructuring law firm Haynes and Boone, just four U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies filed for Chapter 11 during the second quarter, bringing the tally for H1 2021 to 12, the lowest number in six years. More importantly, there were no producers with billion-dollar bankruptcies during the quarter, the first time this has happened in 12 consecutive quarters. The aggregate debt tab of $1.8B by the four E&Ps that filed for protection ranks as the lowest amount since the first six months of 2015, when it clocked in at $3.6 billion. The report for oil field services (OFS) was more mixed, with the number of filings low but aggregate debt high. Haynes and Boone says eight OFS companies filed for Chapter 11 in Q2 2021 to bring H1 2021 numbers to 13 companies. The aggregate debt for the 13 companies came in at over $5.9 billion, the fourth-highest H1 total since 2015, with offshore driller Seadrill Ltd (OTCQX:SDRL) accounting for the lion’s share. Midstream oil and gas companies are usually the least bankruptcy prone, with just six filing for protection in a typical year thanks to many being subsidiaries of deep-pocketed integrated E&Ps. This trend continued during the second quarter with zero midstreamers filing for bankruptcy between April and June, thus bringing H1 2021 total to three. Aggregate debt for the three midstream companies that filed for protection was $6.7 million, the lowest H1 total since 2018 when it was $62 million.

US oil, gas rig count jumps despite uncertainty over lower crude prices | S&P Global Platts --The US oil and gas rig count surged by seven to 624 on the week, energy analytics and software company Enverus said Aug. 19, amid uncertainty over crude prices that have tumbled from the plus-$70/b perch that had given producers a shot of much-needed confidence over the last few months.Analysts who routinely spoke with upstream operators after the recent round of second-quarter earnings calls appeared to sound a hint of worry."Economic recoveries have slowed and mobility and oil demand indicators have fallen," Standard Chartered Bank analyst Paul Horsnell said in an Aug. 17 investor note. "Our balances now show a smaller supply deficit in June and July than previously calculated. We now expect small surpluses in August and September followed by small deficits in October and November.""Our data cautions against the consensus view that the tightness once forecast for Q3 has merely been delayed," Horsnell said. "In our view Q4 oil market balances are not tight, and the 2022 balance is now oversupplied to an extent that will likely cause OPEC+ to pause its schedule of monthly supply increases early in the new year."In the past couple of weeks, oil prices have dropped amid an unexpected build in US gasoline stocks and as the coronavirus delta variant continued to stymie demand.According to S&P Global Platts, both oil and gas prices dropped nominally for the week ended Aug. 18.NYMEX WTI averaged $67.37/b, down 90 cents, while WTI Midland averaged $67.54/b, down 84 cents. Natural gas decreases were less steep, with Henry Hub prices averaging $3.92/MMBtu, down 21 cents and Dominion South $3.55/MMBtu, down 17 cents. Despite the price signals, the US rig count is at its highest level since early April 2020, as is the oil rig count with 479, up five on the week. Also, the natural gas-directed rig count was up two to 145; gas rigs are now the highest they've been since late February 2020. Even so, individual basin activity was somewhat sluggish in the past week. The largest single shift came from the gas-prone Haynesville Shale in East Texas/Northwest Louisiana, which lost three rigs on the week to 54, while the Bakken Shale of North Dakota/Montana and the DJ Basin of Colorado each lost one rig. The downticks brought those basins' totals to 24 for the Bakken and 14 for the DJ.However, the Permian Basin of West Texas/New Mexico and the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas each added two rigs, bringing their respective totals to 259 and 43, while the Marcellus Shale mostly in Pennsylvania was up by one rig to 32.The SCOOP-STACK play of Oklahoma and the Utica Shale of Ohio remained unchanged on the week at 30 and 13 rigs respectively.

US oil, gas rig count falls 3 to 621; Permian only major basin with gains: Enverus | S&P Global Platts The US oil and gas rig count fell three to 621 on the week, energy analytics and software company Enverus said Aug. 26, with the Permian up four as the only major basin to post a weekly gain. The Permian's count reached 263 for the week ended Aug. 25, the highest level since 262 in the week ended April 22, 2020. The rig count in the Permian, the largest producing region in the US with 4.65 million b/d of oil and 12.5 Bcf/d of natural gas, had been stuck the 250s range since early June 2021. Rig counts in other basins either stayed the same or lost rigs week on week. Shedding two rigs apiece were the Haynesville Shale of East Texas/Northwest Louisiana (52 rigs), the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas (41 rigs), and the SCOOP-STACK of Oklahoma (28 rigs). The DJ Basin of Colorado slipped by one rig, leaving 13. The rig count in the Marcellus Shale largely in Pennsylvania (32 rigs), the Bakken Shale of North Dakota/Montana (24 rigs) and the Utica Shale mostly in Ohio (13 rigs) remained the same week on week. It was the fourth straight week the Utica rig count remained at the same level. Rig counts in the Haynesville, a natural gas-prone play, generally had been ticking up all this year in step with gas prices. That area's rig count cracked 50 in late April 2021, higher than it had been even at the start of 2020, and reached a high of 57 for the week ending Aug. 11. But since then the play's rigs have slipped by five after gas prices ticked down in mid-August. But gas prices were up slightly on week, according to S&P Global Platts. Henry Hub average prices for the week ending Aug. 25 were up 1 cent to $3.93/MMBtu, while Dominion South prices averaged $3.62/MMBtu, up 7 cents. Crude prices, however, continued to fall after hitting recent mid-$70s/b peaks in July. WTI averaged $65.58/b, down $1.79; WTI Midland averaged $65.98/b, down $1.56; and the Bakken Composite averaged $64.78/b, a drop of $1.88.

Residential proximity to oil and gas drilling linked to lower birthweights in newborns - Science Daily -A new study from Oregon State University found that infants born within 3 kilometers of oil and natural gas drilling facilities in Texas had slightly lower birthweights than those born before drilling began in their vicinity. The study, published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that the type of drilling or resource being extracted did not change the result. "Most studies to date focus exclusively on unconventional natural gas drilling, or fracking. That particular process is a small subset of the oil and natural gas industry. We find it doesn't matter -- where people are extracting oil and gas resources, we're still seeing an impact on infant health," said study author Mary Willis, a postdoctoral researcher in OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences. "A lot of policy is exclusively focusing on fracking, but our study shows that's a really limited view of how this industry may impact local populations." Developing fetuses are highly sensitive to environmental pollution and contaminants, so to measure potential impact, this study examined birthweight and location data for 2,598,025 mother-infant pairs in Texas between 1996 and 2009 in which the mother was pregnant while living within 10 kilometers of a current or future oil or gas drilling site. Prior research estimates that 4.5 million Texans live within 1.6 kilometers (one mile) of at least one oil or gas drilling site. However, little work to date has focused on the population health impacts of living near an oil or gas drilling site in Texas, the state that produces the most oil and gas in the U.S. The potential exposures related to drilling are numerous: air pollution from drilling activities, flaring and increased traffic going to and from the drilling site; water contamination from hydraulic fracturing chemicals; noise pollution from industrial activity and increased traffic; and light pollution from new drilling facilities. After accounting for other potential factors influencing birthweight, Willis and the research team found that living within 3 kilometers of an active drilling site was associated with a birthweight 7 to 9 grams lower than the birthweight of babies born before drilling began.

ANALYSIS: Pipeline repairs, maintenance work to keep pressure on Permian Basin gas prices - Natural gas basis prices at the West Texas Waha Hub could undergo sustained pressure through September as pipeline repairs and maintenance work in Arizona and Southern California continue to push back on westbound gas transmissions from the Permian Basin. On Aug. 15, El Paso Natural Gas declared a force majeure on its Line 2000 near Coolidge, Arizona, limiting westbound flows on the pipe by nearly 580 MMcf/d. Prior to that, SoCal Gas began its own separate maintenance in the Topock sub-zone of Southern California, also limiting receipts from El Paso. Combined, the two maintenance projects have limited westbound transmissions from the Permian Basin. As more West Texas production is diverted away from the West Coast, Permian producers have begun shipping more gas northbound toward Oklahoma. The increased exposure to lower-priced markets in the Midcontinent has weighed on basis prices at Waha. Since Aug. 15, the cash market at Waha has dipped to an average 32-cent discount to the benchmark Henry Hub, down from an average 24-cent discount in the 30 days prior, S&P Global Platts data showed. The price pressure at Waha has come in spite of rising temperatures in late August and strong gas-fired power in Texas. Over the past 12 days, westbound gas transmissions from the Permian have dropped about 400 MMcf/d from the 30-day period prior to the maintenance, Platts data showed. Limited access to West Coast gas markets has pushed more Permian Basin production northbound on Northern Natural Gas, Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America, and El Paso's northbound mainline. Since Aug. 15, northbound flows from West Texas have jumped about 240 MMcf/d. Modeled data suggests that the remaining 160 MMcf/d now being diverted away from the West Coast is likely being shipped eastbound on intrastate lines – potentially Gulf Coast Express, Permian Highway Pipeline or Whistler Pipeline. Regardless, reduced exposure to higher-priced West Coast markets has weighed on Waha's cash basis.

New Mexico Drilling Permits Skyrocketed Under Trump, State's Climate Future at Risk -Over the past four years, oil and gas producers have applied for more than 10,000 permits to drill for oil and gas on federal land in New Mexico. Recent data provided to Capital & Main by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) shows that Applications for Permit to Drill (APDs) slowly rose quarter by quarter from 2017 through the start of 2020, then more than doubled in the last half of the year. And just a few companies are behind the jump. “We’ve already locked in decades of warming and catastrophic climate change,” says Jesse Prentice-Dunn, policy director at the Center for Western Priorities. “And when these permits are drilled, we’re locking in decades more of it.”He calls the number of permits “pretty much an all-time high.”“Everyone I talk to can’t remember a statistic that large,” he says.If the BLM approves all those permits, and companies use them within their four-year maximum time limits, it would increase the total number of active oil and gas wells in the state by roughly 20% in that time frame — and that is not counting any new wells on private, tribal or state lands. People who track the industry say that while these companies may not use all of these stockpiled permits, it’s also entirely possible they will. And if all of these permits are approved and used, the resulting wells would pose a major increase in fossil fuel production and carbon emissions at a time when climate science clearly shows that any new drilling and production should instead be winding down. Last Monday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Sixth Assessment Report, which states, “This Report reaffirms with high confidence the … finding that there is a near-linear relationship between cumulative (human-caused) CO2 emissions and the global warming they cause.” Trey Cowan, an oil and gas analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says the dramatic increase in permits is “basically piling on ahead of the worry that they won’t be able to get them anymore” in light of possible future climate and environmental restrictions. And they piled on in the closing months of the extraction-friendly Trump administration.

Oil producers push Democrats to preserve key drilling deduction - Oil producers are ramping up their lobbying efforts to ensure that Democrats don’t repeal a lucrative tax deduction in the $3.5 billion reconciliation bill. The U.S. tax code allows companies to recover the cost of drilling for oil and gas and preparing oil wells for production, a provision that helps boost U.S. oil production but has drawn criticism from environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who wields significant influence over tax changes in the reconciliation package, is considering removing the intangible drilling costs deduction in the final bill, according to a committee spokesperson. Wyden previously proposed repealing the deduction in his bill to overhaul energy tax incentives to boost clean energy development. President Biden also proposed eliminating the tax provision in his budget plan and the American Jobs Plan. That’s alarmed oil and gas lobbyists, who are rounding up support from moderate Democrats from fracking-heavy states such as Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio to ensure the deduction survives. “Democrats, particularly those with oil and gas operations in their districts, understand the importance of this industry, that it provides high-paying jobs and the benefits that come with domestic production,” said Anne Bradbury, president of the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), which represents independent oil and gas producers. The AXPC said that removing the deduction would reduce the number of wells drilled by 25 percent. That would raise gas prices and increase U.S. dependence on oil from Russia and the Middle East, the lobbying group stressed in meetings with lawmakers. Only a handful of defections among House Democrats — or one defection in the 50-50 Senate — could doom the party-line reconciliation package, which will not receive Republican support.

Oklahoma commission orders oil and gas well to close after earthquakes — The strongest in a swarm of earthquakes that have been shaking eastern Oklahoma this month caught the attention of numerous residents in Quinton on Tuesday.Among those surprised by the shaking was Nicole Sustaire, who owns Grandpa's Pizza/Hatch Chile Grill in town.. "It scared me. I was just standing there cooking, and I felt the shaking and looked up and my tiles were shaking on the ceiling." The unusual activity, which scientists have linked in other locations to injected saltwater produced as part of the recovery of oil and gas, prompted the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s induced seismicity department to direct the owner of a nearby well to suspend operations on Aug. 16.

Recommendations target US oil, gas leasing across the West (AP) — An Indigenous leader from New Mexico and former U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt called on the federal government Tuesday to overhaul its oil and gas leasing program to ensure the protection of cultural resources, saying for far too long tribal expertise has been ignored to the detriment of sacred landscapes. Acoma Pueblo Gov. Brian Vallo and Babbitt highlighted recommendations outlined in a new report that looks at the government's leasing policies and how they have been implemented across the West over several decades. It seeks ways to better protect areas including Utah's Bears Ears National Monument and Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. The recommendations are centered on how land managers can incorporate tribal expertise into decision-making to better understand what resources could be at risk before permitting and development begins. They also call for the Bureau of Land Management to take a lead role in determining which areas can be developed rather than industry nominated parcels for drilling. Vallo and others expressed optimism Tuesday that an ongoing review of federal leasing policies by President Joe Biden's administration will come to some of the same conclusions and that changes could be on the horizon. The Democratic administration recently resumed leasing after a federal judge blocked its suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land. More than a dozen states had argued that the administration bypassed comment periods and other bureaucratic steps required before such delays can be undertaken and the moratorium would cost the states money and jobs. The Biden administration is appealing the ruling and has emphasized that the pause was needed to begin addressing worries about climate change. The battle over drilling in the West has spanned multiple presidential administrations, with federal officials long reluctant to overhaul what has been a significant sector of the U.S. economy. Paul Reed, an archaeologist and Chaco scholar who prepared the report, said the current approach prioritizes development over preservation and that the federal government has failed to consult with tribes. Vallo echoed those concerns. Even though tribal consultation occurs, he said federal policies and processes are not necessarily designed to incorporate the recommendations of Indigenous communities. “Until we have some equity here and until we see that our voice and our recommendations and our knowledge is considered in decision-making, we will not have achieved the government-to-government or nation-to-nation relationship that we should all be working towards,”

Appeals court upholds Superior natural gas plant approval - – State regulators correctly found a proposed $700 million natural gas plant in Superior, Wis., is necessary and "serves the public interest better than a renewable-resource alternative," the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday. Duluth-based Minnesota Power won approval in 2018 from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to supply power from the plant, but environmental groups have challenged that decision and said Monday they will "continue to push to block the development of the plant." The Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC) would generate at least 525 megawatts of power and is a joint venture between Minnesota Power and Wisconsin's Dairyland Power Cooperative; the utilities hope to have the plant online by the middle of the decade. In April the Minnesota Supreme Court found that further environmental review is not needed on the plant but instructed the appeals court to decide whether the commission's decision to approve the utility's stake in the project "was supported by substantial evidence." The appeals court concluded in Monday's ruling that "substantial evidence supports the commission's determination that NTEC best serves the public interest" and provides "a more reliable and lower cost (including environmental costs) source of energy than the equivalent renewable resources." Minnesota Power, which is shutting or converting its last remaining coal plants by 2035 and receives half of its energy from renewable sources currently, said the plant emits less carbon than coal and is needed to replace coal and keep the lights on when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. Without the plant, the utility would likely need to buy power from the market and drive up costs for customers in order to maintain reliability in the grid, the ruling said. Environmental groups and other opponents say no new fossil fuel plants should be built in the face of climate change, and the plant could drive up electric rates. "This disappointing ruling doesn't change the facts: Our Twin Ports communities simply cannot afford to burn more fossil fuels in the midst of the ongoing climate crisis," said Jenna Yeakle, Duluth organizing representative with the Sierra Club. "Rather than move us towards the clean energy future that Minnesotans want and deserve, this ruling takes a huge step backwards."

Minnesota asks federal court to block Line 3 tribal lawsuit -The state of Minnesota has gone to federal court to block a lawsuit over Enbridge Energy's Line 3 oil pipeline project from proceeding in tribal court.The novel case names Manoomin — the Ojibwe word for wild rice — as the lead plaintiff. Wild rice is sacred in Ojibwe culture and a traditional source of food. The lawsuit, which was filed two weeks ago in the White Earth Band's tribal court, is the first “rights of nature” enforcement case brought in a U.S. tribal court and the second such case to be filed in any U.S. court. The first was a Florida waterways case filed in April, according to the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights.The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources filed for an injunction in U.S. District Court on Thursday to quash the wild rice lawsuit, the Star Tribune reported Friday. The state agency said the tribal court doesn't have jurisdiction to hear the case because the DNR and its employees named in the lawsuit are not members of the White Earth Band, and it argues that the tribe lacks jurisdiction over non-members for actions occurring off the reservation.The lawsuit, filed by the tribe, advances a legal theory that nature itself has the right to exist and flourish. The plaintiffs also include several White Earth tribal members and people who have protested along the Line 3 construction route across northern Minnesota. More than 700 people have been arrested in the protests.Project opponents have argued that Line 3 would risk oil spills into waters where wild rice grows, and aggravate climate change. The tribal lawsuit, among other things, accuses the DNR of failing to protect the state’s water by allowing Enbridge to pump up to 5 billion gallons of groundwater from construction trenches despite the current drought. The agency says allowing the pumping won't significantly impact nearby wetlands or surface waters.The tribal court ruled Wednesday that the lawsuit can proceed. The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 25.Construction on the Minnesota segment is nearly 90 percent complete, Juli Kellner, a spokesperson for Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge, said Friday. Line 3 carries crude oil from Alberta to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisc. The sections in Canada, North Dakota and Wisconsin are complete. Enbridge said the project is needed because the current Line 3, which was built in the 1960s, is deteriorating and can run at only half its original capacity.

Minnesota Supreme Court denies appeal aimed at stopping Line 3 construction - -The Minnesota Supreme Court will not review a lower court's decision to affirm state utility regulators' approval of Enbridge's controversial new oil pipeline across northern Minnesota — a blow to opponents of Line 3. The high court on Wednesday rejected a petition by pipeline opponents that sought to overturn a June decision by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The appellate court — by a 2-1 vote — upheld the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) 2020 final approval of the 340-mile oil pipeline that will replace Enbridge's current Line 3, which is corroding and can operate at only 51 % capacity. The $3 billion-plus new pipeline, which will transport oil from Canada, is more than 90% built. Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge plans to begin shipping crude on it during the fourth quarter. "The rights of a Canadian corporation continue to prevail over the laws of nature and the human rights of Anishinaabe people," Winona LaDuke, head of the Indigenous environmental group Honor the Earth, said after the high court's decision. "It's a sad day for Minnesota." Enbridge said it's "pleased with the decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court," and that the project has been "reaffirmed multiple times by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and this June by the Minnesota Court of Appeals." In July, Honor the Earth and other environmental and climate groups, along with the White Earth and Red Lake bands of Ojibwe, petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case. The state Supreme Court usually hears fewer than 15% of the petitions it receives. The environmental groups, tribes and the Minnesota Department of Commerce had all appealed the PUC's decision to approve the pipeline. They made several legal arguments, but the core complaint focused on the adequacy of Enbridge's long-term oil demand forecast, which the PUC accepted when it approved the new Line 3. The Department of Commerce did not join in the petition to the Supreme Court. Enbridge says the new Line 3, built partly along a new route, will be safer and restore the full flow of oil. Pipeline opponents say it will expose new regions of lakes, rivers and wild rice waters to oil-spill degradation and will exacerbate climate change.

Water protectors opposing Enbridge pipeline criticize State Capitol fence, police presence ahead of large Wednesday rally --Organizers of a series of rallies this week against the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project are decrying elevated security measures underway at the State Capitol, calling it a militarized response to peaceful demonstrations. State officials last weekend reinstalled a fence perimeter around the Capitol and visibly expanded the presence of state troopers at levels not seen there since the immediate aftermath of January's deadly U.S. Capitol siege. In calling for the fence's return and ramping up the police presence, Department of Public Safety officials cited the likelihood that thousands of people planned to gather at the Capitol complex this week. Organizers for the Treaties Not Tar Sands demonstrations at the Capitol have planned a series of events that started Monday and will be highlighted by a Wednesday rally calling on Gov. Tim Walz and President Joe Biden to stop the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline from moving tar sands oil from Canada through Minnesota to Superior, Wis. The organizers said that water protectors — activists who oppose projects and policies that they believe harm water systems — also planned to "hold space and camp out on the Capitol lawn" on the evening after the rally. On Tuesday, the group described the fence and police presence as an "excessive and harsh response to the ceremony and art unfolding on the lawn." "We're here at the Capitol for the land, for the water, and for our treaty rights," said Nancy Beaulieu, one of the event's lead organizers. "We've come in a peaceful way. For the grandmas to be met with fencing and so many law enforcement officials, as they sit on the lawn in ceremony, doesn't feel right. "We are all treaty people, and for the state government of Minnesota to respond to us as sovereign people in this way, with a dividing fence, doesn't make them very good treaty partners."

2,000 rally against Line 3 at state Capitol - About 2,000 people gathered outside the state Capitol Wednesday afternoon to protest Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline, calling on Gov. Tim Walz and President Joe Biden to block the nearly completed project. Led by Indigenous people and environmental advocates — many of whom have been fighting the project since Enbridge submitted its first permit applications in 2015 — the “Treaties Not Tar Sands” event was a last-gasp effort to halt construction before the final pieces of pipe are buried. Enbridge says the project is more than 90% complete and scheduled to carry oil by the end of the year. “Our people have been here for thousands of years, and we didn’t mess anything up. You might want to take some notes,” said Winona LaDuke, director of the Indigenous environmental nonprofit Honor the Earth. “We’ve got to stop this line before they get to oil.” Participants gathered on the Capitol lawn, blocked from the building itself by a security fence. State officials said the fence — similar to the one that was in place for a year following civil unrest in spring 2020 — was put up last weekend in anticipation of several upcoming events at the Capitol. State troopers lined the perimeter and steps of the building as participants opened the event with song, drumming and dancing. Five hundred marchers were met with cheers and hugs as they arrived at the Capitol for the event, marking the completion of a 256-mile walk from Itasca State Park. The two-week trek was intended to call the attention of Biden and Walz to the project. Biden and Walz have faced mounting pressure from Indigenous people, environmental activists and some Democratic lawmakers to revoke key permits for the project in recent weeks. Speakers pleaded with them to take action, citing their campaign promises to prioritize tribal relations and the environment.

Line 3 is about to come online. What will Biden do? - The embattled Line 3 project could be operational next month, putting pressure on the Biden administration to weigh in as protesters march on the nation’s capital and legal fights heat up.Enbridge Inc. revealed in a filing this month to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Canadian pipeline regulators that oil could begin flowing through the Line 3 project as soon as mid-September, marking a large step forward for an initiative that includes more than 300 miles of new pipeline through the Midwest. That new infrastructure will connect to the rest of Enbridge’s Line 3 system, which was built in the 1960s and extends from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wis. Enbridge says it needs to replace a section that’s deteriorating and not running at full capacity. The replacement project within the United States involves replacing nearly 370 miles of pipe in parts of North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Only the Minnesota portion is unfinished. “It replaces the existing pipeline with a safer pipeline made of thicker steel and more advanced protective coatings, helping to protect the environment for generations to come,” The plans have sparked criticism from environmentalists and Democrats in Congress, creating a challenge for Biden as he aims to appeal to his base as well as moderate lawmakers backing the bipartisan infrastructure deal and labor unions. Yesterday, protesters gathered in front of the Army Corps of Engineers’ headquarters in Washington, unfurling a black tube marked with the message “Biden: Stop the Black Snake” that was then carried through city streets. The group also demonstrated at the White House and the home of Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff. Line 3 “is going through nearly half of North America’s freshwater, it has 22 river crossings and it goes through more than 200 bodies of freshwater,” Gina Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, said to a crowd of about 100 people. “It doesn’t just affect Indigenous lands, it affects millions upon millions upon millions of people.”The Army Corps declined to comment on the fate of Line 3, citing ongoing litigation.On Capitol Hill, some Democrats like Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon are calling on the White House to direct the Army Corps to revoke a critical water permit for the project, which involves replacing sections of the existing Line 3 with larger diameter pipe in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.“We urge you to utilize the authority you have to immediately suspend the 404 permit for Line 3 in order to conduct a full federal [environmental impact statement] prior to any additional construction,” Merkley wrote in a letter last week to Jaime Pinkham, a top Biden political appointee overseeing the Army Corps and a member of the Nez Perce Tribe. Merkley is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee overseeing the Army Corps.He led the letter with Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Project opponents have repeatedly made the same appeal, writing to Biden in May and again earlier this month.

Police Shared Intelligence on Protesters With Pipeline Company --POLICE RESPONSIBLE FOR public safety surrounding the construction of an oil pipeline in Minnesota have repeatedly denied having a close relationship with Enbridge, the company behind the controversial energy project. According to records obtained by The Intercept through public information requests, however, Enbridge has provided repeated trainings for officers designed to cultivate a coordinated response to protests. By the time construction on Line 3, a tar sands oil pipeline, began last December, a working relationship had been established between Enbridge and police officers. A public safety official even invited the company’s Line 3 security chief to regular intelligence sharing meetings. In one case, the official passed along intelligence to Enbridge’s security chief for Line 3: a list of people who attended an anti-pipeline organizing meeting. Line 3 opponents have long raised concerns about payments made to law enforcement by Enbridge to cover pipeline-related policing. A special account set up by the state of Minnesota has distributed $2.3 million in Enbridge funds to public safety agencies so far. The records shed new light on the level of close coordination between law enforcement agencies and the Canadian oil company to police the Indigenous-led movement to stop Line 3. “Local law enforcement has become the brutal arm of a Canadian corporation,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund’s Center for Protest Law and Litigation and an attorney representing opponents of the pipeline. “It’s highly inappropriate for law enforcement to target people based on First Amendment activity, collect identity information and then deliver that information to their political opponents.” The effort to halt the Line 3 pipeline is the latest flashpoint in the movement to end development of new fossil fuel infrastructure amid a growing climate crisis. In Minnesota, members of the Indigenous-led resistance, known as water protectors, have turned to tactics that directly disrupt construction, sometimes trespassing on private property, blocking roads, or locking down to pipeline company equipment.

Severe oil leaks worsened Keystone pipeline’s spill record, GAO finds - The company behind the controversial Keystone XL project that President Joe Biden effectively killed on his first day of office had an oil spill record "worse than the national average" over a five-year period thanks to two major spills, according to a Government Accountability Office report published Monday. The two spills from the Keystone pipelines dumped a combined 12,000 barrels of oil in the Dakotas even as operator TC Energy was planning to expand that pipeline with its proposed Keystone XL project, which would have tripled the amount of crude the pipeline system would carry from Canada into the United States. Biden revoked the permit necessary to allow Keystone XL to cross the U.S.-Canada border, essentially killing the project in a bid to demonstrate his climate bona fides. TC Energy is now in court seeking $15 billion from the U.S. government for the cancellation. Despite the quick action on Keystone, environmental justice advocates have criticized the Biden administration for failing to take similarly decisive action to shut down other Canada-U.S. pipelines, such as the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota.Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party who has been opposing pipelines including Keystone XL for years, said the GAO report highlighted issues that environmental groups had already voiced concern over. But having the information in an official government report would help people in future protests against pipelines, she said.“These are not new weapons per se,” Kleeb said of the report’s description of the faulty material and subpar construction. “But I am deeply grateful that this is now in the formal record.”

Democrats argue new report on Keystone pipelines bolsters Biden cancellation A group of House Democrats is arguing that a new report on spills from the Keystone Pipeline System boosts President Biden’s case for canceling the Keystone XL, which would’ve formed part of the network. Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Bobby Rush (Ill.), and Donald Payne Jr. (N.J.) said in a joint statement that the new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report “validates President Biden’s decision to revoke the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline.” “In its thorough review of the pipeline’s history and construction, GAO found that preventable construction issues contributed to the current Keystone pipeline’s spills more frequently than the industry-wide trends,” said the Democratic lawmakers, who chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and subcommittees on energy and railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials, respectively. “In fact, GAO found that, while corrosion was the industry’s leading cause of such accidents on crude oil pipelines, half of Keystone’s accidents were caused by material failure of the pipe or weld," they added. “President Biden was clearly right to question this operator’s ability to construct a safe and resilient pipeline, and we support his decision to put Americans’ health and environment above industry interests.” The report determined that since 2010, Keystone’s accident history is similar to that of other pipelines, but that its record has worsened in recent years. It particularly cited two more recent spills — one in 2017 and another in 2019 — that accounted for about 93 percent of the total barrels of oil released from the vessel network over the course of a decade. How Keystone’s operator TC Energy fared compared to its peers varied based on the time period and metrics used in the report. Using a government measure of the number of accidents impacting people and the environment per total miles of pipeline, the GAO said TC Energy was “consistently” better than the national average, though “less so” in recent years. Over the five-year period of 2016 to 2020, TC was around average, ranking 43rd out of 80 operators when measuring from the fewest accidents to the most. In terms of volume of oil spilled per barrel-mile of transport, TC was better than average over the past decade, worse than average of the past five years and better than average for the past three years. The report said that Keystone’s accidents were more likely to be caused by construction issues, approximately half of those impacting people or the environment, compared to 12 percent industrywide.

State Requires Higher Bond For Reuse Of Orphaned Natural-Gas Wells - A company that wants to use 19 orphaned natural-gas wells has agreed to post a higher bond with the state. The company is Highwire Energy Partners, of Wyoming. The wells are in the northwest corner of South Dakota near Buffalo. A bond is required so the state can capture the money if something goes wrong with the wells while the company is financially unable to plug them. A new state law says the minimum bond is $100,000. But the company is agreeing to post a $190,000 bond if it uses all 19 wells. “This is voluntary on their behalf,” said Mike Lees, administrator of the state’s Minerals and Mining Program. “It’s above and beyond the normal $100,000 blanket bond.” The 19 wells are part of a broader 40-well project. A Texas company, Spyglass Cedar Creek, went broke not long after drilling the wells 15 years ago. State laws at the time required $30,000 in bonds. That was not enough to plug the wells, so the state used taxpayer money. Lees said the state recently plugged 21 of the wells and reclaimed a compressor site at a total cost of $301,000. The plugging stopped when Highwire Energy Partners expressed interest in the remaining 19 wells. The company views the natural gas as a cheap power source for an unusual project. The gas will fire generators hooked to shacks full of computers, and the computers will run 24 hours a day solving complex numerical problems that bring new bitcoins into existence.

North Dakota Attorney General seeks order for feds to drop oil leasing moratorium --In a motion filed on Monday, North Dakota argued that the federal government has defied a court ruling by a Louisiana judge, from earlier this summer, which blocked the Biden administration's oil and gas leasing moratorium on federal lands.— North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem filed a motion this week in district court calling on a judge to order that President Joe Biden's administration resume oil and gas leases on federal lands.Leases on federal lands have been under a pause since Biden installed a moratorium at the beginning of his presidency, part of a sweeping plan by the administration to transition the country away from fossil fuel energy sources.This week's motion is the latest action in a North Dakota lawsuit over the federal leasing pause, filed against the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Bureau of Land Management last month. The motion, which was submitted to a federal district court in North Dakota on Monday, Aug. 24, calls on U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor to hold oral arguments in their case and to order the federal government's compliance with the ruling in a separate case that blocked the moratorium.In June, a Louisiana judge issued an injunction blocking the federal leasing moratorium. The American Petroleum Institute and other industry groups followed up with another lawsuit last week, after the federal government declined to resume leasing auctions in the wake of the Louisiana court decision. The Department of Interior said last week that they plan to continue auctions while they appeal the Louisiana ruling, but so far the agency has not disclosed a timeline for the return of leases. North Dakota claims that it has lost $82 million as a result of suspended auctions in March and June, a figure that the state argues could balloon into billions of dollars in the months ahead.

Nearly 59,000 gallons of brine spilled in western North Dakota - Almost all of the spill, which was reported by Whiting Oil and Gas and which followed delivery of the produced water to Goodnight Midstream Bakken, was contained to the well pad, according to an incident report filed to the state. — Close to 59,000 gallons of highly concentrated salt water spilled 11 miles south of Stanley, North Dakota, on Thursday, Aug. 19, according to an incident report filed to the state last week. Almost all of the spill, which was reported by Whiting Oil and Gas and followed delivery of the produced water to Goodnight Midstream Bakken, was contained to the well pad, according to the report. Produced water, or brine, is a byproduct of fracking that is highly saturated with salt and can contain chemical fluids, hydrocarbons and other contaminants damaging to local ecology and agricultural land. Whiting reported that 1,400 barrels, or 58,800 gallons, of produced water was released onto the site, and at the time of reporting 1,304 barrels had been recovered. The Denver-based company attributed the spill to "a broken fitting" between a transfer pump and pipeline. A state inspector has visited the site, where cleanup is underway, and will monitor additional remediation, the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources said in a news release about the spill on Monday.

Pipeline Company to Pay $35 Million in Fines & Penalties for Inland Spill from Oil Drilling - The Department of Justice filed criminal charges under the Clean Water Act (CWA) against Summit Midstream Partners LLC, a North Dakota pipeline company. The company discharged 29 million gallons of produced water from its pipeline near Williston, North Dakota, over the course of nearly five months in 2014 to 2015.According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the discharge of more than 700,000 barrels of produced water contaminated land, groundwater, and over 30 miles of tributaries of the Missouri River. The spill is believed to be the largest inland spill in history.In addition to criminal charges, the U.S. and the state of North Dakota filed a civil complaint against Summit and a related company, Meadowlark Midstream Company LLC, alleging violations of the CWA and North Dakota water pollution control laws. Summit Midstream Partners LLC has agreed to pay $35 million in criminal fines and civil penalties, according to the DOJ.“Summit prioritized profits over the environment. The company’s disregard for pipeline safety resulted in pollution of the environment on a massive scale over 143 days,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in the DOJ news release. “Summit’s conduct was criminal and its failure to immediately report the discharge a felony. This resolution holds the company financially accountable, requires enhanced compliance measures to prevent future spills, and provides compensation for North Dakota’s damaged natural resources.” If the court accepts the plea agreement, Summit will pay $15 million in federal criminal fines for causing the continuous spill, failing to stop it and deliberately failing to make an immediate report, added the DOJ. The 700,000-barrel discharge of produced water contained crude oil, chloride, sodium, ammonia, aluminum, arsenic, boron, copper, nickel, selenium, zinc, barium, benzene and thallium, and more contaminants.

Produced water spill reported in Mountrail County -The North Dakota Oil and Gas Division was notified of a release occurring Thursday, August 19 at the Brown 41-28XH well, about 11 miles south of Stanley, North Dakota. Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation reported that 1,400 barrels of produced water were released due to an equipment failure/malfunction. The product was contained on-site.At the time of reporting 1,304 barrels of produced water had been recovered. and cleanup is underway. A state inspector has been to the location and will monitor any additional cleanup. Initial incident reports can be viewed in North Dakota’s Unified Spill Reporting System at spill.nd.gov

Fuel for Thought: Alaska looks to ammonia from natural gas as part of energy transition strategy - With the world headed into a low-carbon energy future, Alaska, rich in fossil fuels, is trying to hitch a ride on the green bandwagon.A joint project underway by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is looking at whether ammonia could be made from vast proven natural gas reserves on the North Slope with the hydrogen in the ammonia used as a carbon-free fuel.The research is being supported by the US Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office."It's an interesting concept," said Corri Feige, Alaska's commissioner of natural resources. But Feige noted there could be technical problems with liquid ammonia as it is "very corrosive to steel," and introducing it into the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, or TAPS, for shipment "could have detrimental effects."Others are interested in Alaska's ammonia-to-hydrogen connection, however. Tim Fitzpatrick, spokesperson for the Alaska LNG Project, a proponent of an 800-mile gas pipeline from the North Slope, said ammonia could be made in an existing, although mothballed, ammonia plant at Nikiski near the terminus in south Alaska."We think ammonia could add a lot of value to our project," which would also ship LNG, Fitzpatrick said. Agrium Corp. has been studying a restart of the plant but is stymied by a lack of sufficient natural gas supply.There's large upside if problems can be solved. Hydrogen is increasingly seen as the fuel of the future because its emissions are essentially water, and industries and companies worldwide studying how to use it. Hydrogen's downside is that its production, transportation and storage can be expensive. The process to make green hydrogen, basically splitting water molecules with renewable energy, isn't cheap, and making it from natural gas, called blue or sometimes gray hydrogen, doesn't have the same environmental advantages. Prisco said using ammonia as an intermediate "carrier" for the hydrogen solves some of the problems. Making liquid ammonia from natural gas is a conventional process, and liquid ammonia can be shipped like propane through pipelines, he said.

Federal Judge Pulls Permits For ConocoPhillips Oil Project Due To Impact On "Climate Change And Polar Bears" -- A federal approval of a multi-billion oil project that would have been built in Alaska was thrown out by a judge last week who claimed the government didn't assess the project's impact on climate change and polar bears before approving the permits.The project, called the ConocoPhillips Willow project, was backed by both the Biden and Trump administrations. It was also backed by "wide support" from Alaskan political leaders, according to the Wall Street Journal.But that didn't stop U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason from ruling that the Bureau of Land Management didn't account for greenhouse gasses that the project would produce. The judge wrote: “As to the errors found by the Court, they are serious.”ConocoPhillips will now head back to the drawing board and "evaluate its options", according to the report. Despite the project getting the backing of the Biden administration, the company knew it had a long road of legal challenges (in an unfavorable PR climate for oil & gas names) to deal with. The project was supposed to be a 160,000 barrel-per-day, 30 year project that would drill in the federal government’s National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had slowed the project this year, despite the Trump administration offering its final approval of the project in October. Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy said: “Make no mistake, today’s ruling from a federal judge trying to shelve a major oil project on American soil does one thing: outsources. This is a horrible decision.”Jeremy Lieb, an attorney with Earthjustice, who brought the case on behalf of other plaintiffs, said: “We are hopeful that the administration won’t give the fossil fuel industry another chance to carve up this irreplaceable Arctic landscape with drilling rigs, roads, and pipelines. We should keep Arctic oil in the ground if we want a livable planet for future generations.”

Progressives eye halt to ANWR drilling in reconciliation bill - Congressional Democrats and their environmentalist allies are increasingly confident they’ll be able to stop drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the reconciliation process. According to several sources who spoke to E&E News this week, conversations were taking place at the highest levels of House and Senate leadership as lawmakers prepare to mark up portions of the $3.5 trillion infrastructure spending bill as early as next week (see related story). On the House side, the effort is being championed by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, who has sponsored legislation to stop ANWR lease sales slated for 2024. “I’d rather not be very specific,” Huffman said of conversations he’s had with leaders regarding the negotiations, “but let’s just say I think it’s in play and I’m hopeful.” Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said there is “strong support from leadership and from key allies on the Hill, so we’re optimistic it will be included.” This push comes as environmental groups and congressional Democrats are also pursuing a host of other reforms to the government’s oil and gas drilling program, including increasing century-old royalty rates for onshore federal leases and strengthening bonding requirements — the amount that oil companies must secure in order to drill for federal minerals (E&E Daily, Aug. 24). The League of Conservation Voters, alongside NWF, was among the 33 groups that signed a letter to House and Senate leaders Monday night calling for reconciliation to address these policies. However, LCV President Gene Karpinski conceded that environmental advocates might have a better chance in securing a repeal of the 2017 ANWR leasing language. “They can make a lot of changes with executive authority and they don’t need Congress,” Karpinski told E&E News — by, for instance, raising royalty rates. “But you can’t fix the Arctic drilling without Congress,” he said.

ANALYSIS: Canadian working gas storage inventories slide well below five-year average | S&P Global Platts - Canadian natural gas production continues to demonstrate surprising strength this summer, but the nation's storage fields remain 11% below the five-year average, which is nearly double the deficit US storage inventories are facing as winter demand approaches. Western Canada storage fields held 408 Bcf of working gas as of Aug. 27, according to data by S&P Global Platts Analytics. This is well below the five-year average of 457 Bcf and last year's 487 Bcf in the corresponding week. Even under a normal weather scenario, Platts Analytics is forecasting a tight balance for Western Canada this winter. Exports to the US are expected to be strong, while demand has been exceeding expectations in a trend that should continue through the winter. Platts Analytics is expecting 300 to 400 MMcf/d of Canadian demand growth this winter from last, primarily from coal power plants converting to gas. In addition to strong local demand, last winter's export strength to the US appears poised to repeat itself. Oklahoma production took a substantial hit from the pandemic leading to less available supply for the US Upper Midwest last year. It is expected to continue this winter. This means that Western Canada is likely to fill this void in the US Upper Midwest. This would pull on AECO via Great Lakes and Viking pipelines. Canadian producers have developed growth plans likely leading to an 800 MMcf/d increase in production over last winter. However, even new production of this magnitude leaves the market tight and vulnerable to a cold winter. These producer plans were laid out earlier in the year when AECO was expected to be below $3.00/MMBtu or even below $2.50/MMBtu. However, AECO is now expected to be in excess of $3.00/MMBtu this winter, the strongest it has been in years. Producers' financial health across North America has drastically improved in the past two quarters, following improved commodity prices and continued financial discipline. Canadian operators on average have reduced their net debt levels by 11% since the start of the year. Platts Analytics expects the reduction could be over 20% by year-end. Meanwhile, US gas operators have only managed to reduce their net debt by 5% since the start of the year. Broadly, operators have stuck to capital discipline, but Canadian operators are starting to redeploy capital back to the drill bit while also more rapidly paying down debt. Canadian gas operators are now expected to increase capital expenditures 21% year on year, up from their original guidance of 13%. Contrast this to US gas operators, which have had to truly stick to capital discipline, with their 2021 capex down 4% on average.M

Fire erupts after explosion at Pemex Oil platform in Gulf of Mexico - An explosion has caused a fire at an oil platform of the Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos) state-owned oil company in the Gulf of Mexico, local media report. The blast occurred at the Ku-Alpha platform, which is part of the Ku-Maloob-Zaap oil field off the coast of Tabasco and Campeche, on Sunday, Codigo Veracruz Noticias reported via Facebook, posting photos and a video of the subsequent fire and black smoke coming from the site. Pemex has not officially confirmed the explosion. Codigo Veracruz Noticias said that at least six people were injured in the Sunday explosion. They are expected to be transferred to hospitals in Campeche. Ku-Maloob-Zaap is one of the world's largest offshore oil complexes, accounting for more than 40 percent of Pemex's nearly 1.7 million barrels of daily output. In July, a gas leak from a pipeline caused a heavy underwater fire at the Ku-Charly oil platform at the Ku-Maloob-Zaap offshore oil complex. No injuries were reported then.

Ku-Alfa explosion: Fears of multiple people injured after huge blast on oil platform - - A huge explosion has cast thick clouds of smoke in the air at an oil rig in Mexico, raising concerns of multiple casualties.Alarming photos from off the coast of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico show a rig ablaze, with heavy black smoke spreading up into the sky.It is currently unclear what caused the explosion on the KU-Alpha platform.Workers are racing to close valves to prevent further damage to the oil facilities, Campeche reported, which lie close to where one of the worst spills in the industry's history took place.Unofficial reports suggest six people have been injured in the explosion and resultant fire before being transported via helicopter to a hospital in Ciudad del Carmen. The smoke cloud can be seen from many miles away. Works on the rig, which was in use at the time of the explosion, are being evacuated to floats, Reuters reports.The Cantarell Complex of five oil fields lies beneath the Bay of Campeche.In 2003, it was the second most productive oil field in the world, then supplying about two thirds of Mexico's crude oil output, but it went into a steep decline soon thereafter.On June 3, 1979, Ixtoc I, an exploratory oil well located in the bay, suffered a blowout that caused a catastrophic explosion, resulting in what has been ranked as the third largest unintentional oil spill in history.In early July Pemex, which owns the KU-Alpha platform, had to put out a fire in an underwater pipeline connecting two platforms.

Heavy crude prices rise as Pemex fire roils U.S. market, traders say -- A fire that struck an offshore oil platform operated by Mexico's state-run Pemex cut the company's production by 444,000 barrels per day A fire that struck an offshore oil platform operated by Mexico’s state-run Pemex cut the company’s production by 444,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to the lack of natural gas to re-inject into crude fields, a company document showed on Monday. At least one person died and five others were missing following an explosion on Sunday at Pemex’s E-Ku-A2 platform, part of a gas-processing center of the Ku-Maloob-Zaap complex in the Gulf of Mexico’s Bay of Campeche. The fire, the second at a Petroleos Mexicanos offshore platform in less than two months, was brought under control hours later. The two fires have put a spotlight on Pemex’s safety protocols given past refinery outages and fires. Two sources familiar with Pemex’s operations said the fire affected the operational side of the platform, forcing the company to completely shut the gas supply and distribution to neighboring offshore oil fields. Pemex said early on Monday that the affected platform’s gas valves had been shut to extinguish the fire, while an emergency plan was put in place to search for the missing people, all of them contract workers A rapid decline in the availability of natural gas, which is used by Pemex to boost oil at its offshore fields, knocked crude output from more than 719,000 bpd before the accident to nearly 275,000 bpd through early Monday, according to the document, seen by Reuters, detailing Ku-Maloob-Zaap’s operations. It was not immediately clear if Pemex was able to recover at least a portion of the lost output. The Ku-Maloob-Zaap oilfield cluster is Pemex’s biggest operational complex, accounting for more than 40% of its nearly 1.7 million barrels of daily crude output. The company did not reply to a Reuters request for operational details.

Offshore platform fire cuts Mexico oil output by 444,000 bpd - (Reuters) - Prices of heavy sour crude oil grades are rising in the U.S. Gulf Coast, traders said, as the market braces for a disruption of supplies from Mexico in the wake of a fire that has cut state-run Pemex's oil output by about 25% since Sunday. At least five workers were killed and six injured in the blaze, which broke out on an offshore platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico operated by Petroleos Mexicanos PEMX.UL, halting production of more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), the company said on Monday. It could take days for output and flows to return to normal, people familiar with the matter said, even as work is underway to restore power to the facility by Wednesday, and later connect 125 idled wells at the Ku-Maloob-Zaap cluster, Mexico's largest. Pemex did not reply to a request for comment. U.S. Gulf Coast sour crude grades including Mars have begun rising as U.S. refiners begin to seek replacement barrels for the lost Mexican supplies, traders said. Mars crude had traded at the weakest levels in about a month before the fire WTC-MRS, but prices on Tuesday were seen trading at a $2.35 discount to benchmark futures, stronger than the $2.65 discount on Monday, dealers said. Heavy grades such as Western Canadian Select (WCS) in Alberta also have started to strengthen on news of the outage, traders said. U.S. oil refiners Chevron Corp CVX.N, Phillips 66 PSX.N and Valero Energy VLO.N are scheduled to receive Mexican crude cargoes in coming days, the people said. Valero aims to load a cargo on Tuesday in Mexico, sourcing the barrels from onshore Pemex storage tanks at the Pajaritos terminal in the Gulf Coast, market sources said.

Delays force Argentina to purchase LNG at record-high prices Argentina’s Plan Gas IV, which aimed to incentivise natural gas production in the country, was introduced too late, according to GlobalData. The data and analytics company notes that the plan’s delays have meant production has not ramped up enough to get the country through the winter, and it will be forced to rely on importing LNG at record-high prices.Svetlana Doh, Upstream Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Plan Gas IV’s delay is a shame, as it has introduced some positive changes. For example, operators must commit to supply contracted volumes for a period of four years – with a possibility to extend the terms for another four. There is also now a maximum price for each basin, which should not exceed US$3.21/million Btu of gas, and the contract prices being in US dollars give more certainty for operators in the mid-term. In fact, ever since the plan was initiated, drilling activities in the Neuquina basin, home to the Vaca Muerta shale, have picked up and production rose by almost 19% in the period of February - June 2021. It is just all a bit too late to meet winter energy demand.“Argentina’s energy supply demand is still way below its production capacity when it comes to natural gas. Further, this production is forecast to decline at an average 3.4% in the next five years.”In 2016, the Argentinian Government’s incentives resulted in more output and an increase in domestic supply. By 2018, Argentina had substantially narrowed the natural gas supply-demand gap and was very enthusiastic about LNG exporting opportunities. However, natural gas production dropped by almost 15% by the month of March 2020 due to the global pandemic. In attempt to sustain drilling operations, the government offered a guaranteed price of US$45/bbl for crude oil producers and US$3.5/million Btu for upstream natural gas.Doh continues: “The plan announced in June 2020 did not allow enough time for production to react to the incentive. As the winter months of June to August show the highest domestic demand for gas, Argentina had to rely on imported LNG. This year the country is experiencing a bit of déjà vu as Argentina is facing the same situation again.”

Nord Stream 2 says Fortuna vessel working on final stage of project - The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction is 99% complete, the operating company said on Wednesday, after a media report the Russian-led project, which has come under criticism from the United States, is expected to be finished on Aug. 23. Natural gas prices in Europe fell sharply following the report. Deutsche Welle news outlet reported, without providing sources, that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is set to be completed on August 23. Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 AG declined to give a possible completion date but said the Russian Fortuna pipe-laying vessel was working on the final part of the pipeline construction. It referred Reuters to a Handelsblatt business daily interview last month with its chief executive officer Matthias Warnig who said the pipeline, which will bring Russian gas to Germany, should be finished in late August and enter service this year. Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are due to meet in Moscow on Friday and most likely will discuss the pipeline, which Washington says will increase European reliance on Russian gas.

Russia is pumping a lot less natural gas to Europe all of a sudden — and it is not clear why - Russia has slowed the delivery of piped natural gas to Europe in recent weeks, according to analysis from ICIS, a commodity intelligence service, raising questions about the potential causes behind the drop and its implications for global gas markets. It comes shortly after German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to ease long-running concerns about the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying further sanctions may be imposed if Moscow used gas "as a weapon." The controversial project is designed to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine and Poland. Critics argue the pipeline is not compatible with European climate goals, increases the region's dependence on Russian energy exports, and will most likely strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin's economic and political influence over the region. Europe will be like a frog in boiling water, not noticing that it is in trouble until it is too late. Some analysts have suggested Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas giant, may be limiting its delivery of discretionary natural gas supply to Europe to support its case in starting flows via Nord Stream 2. "That's because Gazprom is readying itself for starting Nord Stream 2 and it is hoping to exert an element of leverage in terms of trying to make sure that when all the regulatory t's get crossed and i's get dotted, that that process is as swift as possible," Tom Marzec-Manser, lead European gas analyst at ICIS, told CNBC via telephone. "If there is less gas around than normal and the price is high then it may streamline that process," he added. When approached for comment, Gazprom referred CNBC to a statement published on its Telegram account Aug. 16. The company described August as "another 'winter' month on the gas market," according to a translation. An increased load on the gas supply system had coincided with the traditional season of scheduled preventive maintenance and preparation for the fall to winter period, "which cannot be paused," Gazprom said. "The practice of the last few years both in Russia and in Europe suggests that the winter period has also shifted to the spring month of March. Therefore, now, in the summer, the priority is to pump gas into underground storage facilities," the company said. "This is also very well understood by our European colleagues." Natural gas flows at the westernmost point of the Yamal pipeline — a strategically important 2,000-kilometer pipeline that runs across four countries: Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany — dropped to 20 million cubic meters per day in mid-August, according to ICIS. This was down from 49 mcm per day at the end of July, and a sharp fall from its typical rate of 81 mcm per day. What's more, European piped natural gas supply from Russia is expected to slip even further in September. Marzec-Manser said that for Russia to move gas through neighboring energy community states, such as Ukraine, it must first purchase access to a pipeline, "like a toll road." The Nord Stream 1 route is an option, although this is already owned by Gazprom, and is flowing at capacity. The Yamal pipeline is a second major route and, until the end of July, was running at close to capacity as expected. "Thirdly, you have the Ukrainian route which obviously comes with a lot of political baggage," he continued. "It is the only other way you are going to get gas from Russia to Europe in any significant volume." Gazprom typically efficiently uses its booked EU pipe capacity, Marzec-Manser said, but an unexpected drop in volumes at the end of July along the Yamal pipeline "immediately indicated something was amiss."

Russia ready to continue gas transit via Ukraine post-2024: Putin - President Vladimir Putin said Aug. 20 that Russia was ready to continue supplying gas to Europe via Ukraine after 2024, but that Moscow needed clarity on future European gas demand before agreeing to any new transit deal. Speaking at a joint press conference in Moscow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin also said Russia would continue gas transit via Ukraine after the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is finished, adding that there were just 15 km of the link left to lay. Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom in late 2019 agreed to transit 65 Bcm of gas via Ukraine in 2020 and 40 Bcm/year in the 2021-2024 period, well down on a recent transit peak of 94 Bcm in 2017. Putin said Russia would continue to respect its current contractual obligations with regard to Ukrainian transit, even after Merkel steps down as Chancellor after the German elections in September and Nord Stream 2 is completed. Putin added that even after 2024, when its current five-year deal with Kyiv expires, Russia was “ready to continue to transit gas through Ukraine.” But, he said, Russia needed to know what the volume of gas to deliver through Ukraine would be and for how long. “For this we must receive an answer, including from our European partners — how much are they ready to buy from us?” Putin said. “We cannot sign a transit contract if we do not have supply contracts to our consumers in Europe,” he said. In view of Europe’s ambitions for a greener energy system, Putin said the question was: “How much of our gas will Europe buy?” This, he said, was a subject for discussion. “This is a purely commercial issue,” he added.

Ports in Russia to be inspected within one month - Ports in Russia are planned to be inspected after the oil spill near Novorossiysk within one month and with involvement of Russian environment protection and technical regulators, Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko said on Tuesday.“Colleagues from the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources should perform this inspection within one month. Colleagues from the Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic Supervision are also engaged because these facilities are hazardous,” the official told reporters.All the hazardous goods will also be inspected, Abramchenko added. The oil spill under Novorossiysk occurred on August 7. According to estimates of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the spill area was about 200 sq m and the volume of spilled oil – about 12 cubic meters. According to CPC data, the accident was caused by the collapse of the inner space of the single point mooring’s hydraulic damper.
Source: TASS

Papua New Guinea resumes talks with Exxon on gas field agreement (Reuters) - The Papua New Guinea government and U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp plan to resume talks on the P'nyang natural gas project, nearly two years after their negotiations halted, Exxon confirmed on Monday. In November 2019, talks tied to a $13 billion expansion of the country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports fell apart with the government saying Exxon was unwilling to negotiate on the country’s terms. Papua New Guinea has been pressing for better returns for the impoverished country than it obtained in the original PNG LNG agreement in 2008. "We look forward to further discussions with the government to align on a gas agreement that ensures fair benefits for project stakeholders and the people of PNG," Exxon said in an emailed comment, declining to elaborate on details of the discussions. The talks are focused on developing the P'nyang gas field. Exxon and its partners, including Oil Search Ltd, had intended to develop P'nyang to feed a new processing unit, or train, at the two train PNG LNG plant. However, since the talks collapsed, the thinking has moved toward developing P'nyang further down the track to feed the existing trains as the current gas sources dry up, rather than expanding PNG LNG, Oil Search has previously said. PNG Minister for Petroleum, Kerenga Kua said on Monday if all goes well, "we can expect to sign a P'nyang Heads of Agreement around the end of this next month and a Gas Agreement thereafter." "We look forward to further progress in these negotiations and will support (Exxon) through our 38.51% interest in the joint venture," said Diego Fettweis, Oil Search's executive vice president for commercial. Its stake in PNG LNG is considered the jewel in the crown for Oil Search, which agreed to an all-stock takeover offer from Santos Ltd worth about A$8 billion ($6 billion) in a deal that would create a top-20 global oil and gas company.

Did Hackers Just Pull Off A Maritime "Colonial Pipeline 2.0"? -When the LockBit ransomware gang announced it had hit maritime fuel provider Petrologis Canarias earlier this month, the hackers proclaimed the cyberattack “Colonial Pipeline 2.0” with an added wink emoji. Unfortunately for the hackers, it could never have lived up to the massive disruption of the U.S. fuel supply after theransomware attack on Colonial. Based in Spain’s Canary Islands, their victim has 73,500 cubic meters, or 19.4 million gallons, used for bunkering — the refueling of vessels. The firm, operating out of the Port of Las Palmas, also provides bunkering logistics services. Jack Jordan, managing editor of Ship & Bunker, characterized Petrologis as a small-to-midsize player in what itself is a small market that’s a “key place you might stop off coming from Africa.”“If that facility were to disappear, it would be inconvenient for ships traversing the Canaries,” Jordan said. Vessels, instead, might have to source their fuel from Gibraltar or South Africa. The attack on Petrologis does not appear to have taken the fuel provider out of commission. But the extent of the incident is murky. The company con tends that it failed to impact operations, and that it remedied the problem by restarting the affected computers. Meanwhile, the hackers are preparing to leak over 11 gigabytes of stolen data in retaliation for Petrologis not paying an unspecified ransom.

Oil spill from power station spreads along Syria's coast - Times of India - A massive oil spill caused by leakage from a power plant inside one of Syria's oil refineries is spreading along the coast of the Mediterranean country, Syria's state news agency said and satellite photos showed Wednesday. Sana said the spill reached the coastal town of Jableh, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the refinery in the town of Baniyas, adding that Syria's environment department and the municipality of the coastal province of Latakia have placed all concerned departments on alert. It said work is underway to clean the coast in the rocky areas.A day earlier, Syria's government said that maintenance teams at Baniyas thermal station had brought a fuel leakage from one of the tanks under control.Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. on Wednesday showed what appeared to be a massive 19-kilometer long spread oil spill from the Baniyas plant. An image from Monday showed no sign of the slick, suggesting whatever happened to cause the spill happened later.The head of the electricity workers syndicate at Tartous Workers Union, Dawoud Darwish, blamed cracks in one of the fuel tanks at the thermal station. He pointed out that the tank was filled with 15,000 tons of fuel.Syria's oil resources are mostly outside of government controlled areas but its two refineries are under government control and operating. This makes Damascus reliant on Iran for fuel, but US treasury sanctions have hindered the supply network, which spans Syria, Iran and Russia.There has been a series of mysterious attacks on vessels in Mideast waters, including off Syria's coast, for over a year. They have come amid rising tensions in the region between Iran, Israel and the United States.In May, Syria's foreign minister blamed Israel for mysterious attacks targeting oil tankers heading to Syria, saying they violate international law and will not go unpunished.

Oil Prices Rebound as Dollar Slips, China Pandemic Jitters Ease - – Crude oil prices soared Monday, supported by weakness in the dollar, and signs that China is getting handle on the Delta variant of COVID-19, easing fears of a prolonged setback for travel-infused energy demand. On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for October delivery gained $3.50 to settle at $65.64 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), Brent added $3.57 to settle at $68.75 a barrel. China, the world's largest energy consumer, reported no new Covid-19 cases for the first time since July, easing investor fears of a prolonged setback for travel and energy demand. "The coming weeks will reveal whether the travel restrictions that have been imposed in China and other Asia-Pacific countries will really have such an impact on fuel demand as last week‘s price performance suggests," Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) said in a note. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) estimated the impact of increased pandemic restrictions in China has cut oil demand by nearly 1 million barrels per day. "China concerns are particularly pronounced in investor conversations around copper and oil, with our Commodities colleagues estimating a 0.7 million (barrels per day) bpd impact to oil demand from increased restrictions in China," Goldman Sachs said in a note. As well as signs of positive signs on the pandemic front in China, a falling dollar also helped push up oil prices as risk-on sentiment gripped markets. The US Dollar Index Futures, which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slid by 0.56% to 92.99. A weaker dollar makes oil, priced in the U.S. dollars, attractive in other currencies, boosting demand.

Oil Futures Rally on Chatter of Fed Delayed Quantitative Easing Tapering -- Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange settled Monday's session sharply higher, lifting the U.S. crude benchmark above $65 per barrel (bbl). The rally came after weaker-than-expected economic data fueled speculation the Federal Reserve would delay tapering its quantitative easing program until later this year, weakening the dollar index that, along with risk-on trade sentiment across financial markets, fueled buying interest. More evidence of slowing economic growth could be found in manufacturing data released Monday morning by IHS Markit showing business activity in services and industrial sectors this month fell to the slowest pace since December 2020. Capacity constraints, difficulty in hiring qualified staff and the aggressive spread of the Delta coronavirus variant were cited as key factors behind renewed weakness across the economy. Severe supply chain disruptions have also led to a further increase in cost burdens at private sector firms midway through the third quarter. The rate of input price inflation accelerated to the second-fastest on record, with both manufacturing and service sectors registering a quicker rise in costs. Commenting on the data, Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said, "Not only have supply chain delays hit a new survey record high, but the August survey saw increasing frustrations in relation to hiring. Job growth waned to the lowest since July of last year as companies either failed to find suitable staff or existing workers switched jobs." The recent accumulation of slowing growth, including weaker-than-expected manufacturing data and its effect on employment gains, fueled speculation that voting Fed officials who recently spoke in hawkish terms on monetary policy would reconsider aggressive tapering of $120 billion in monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. Last week, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan suggested he might readjust his stance on rolling back the central bank's support for the economy when the Federal Open Market Committee meets next on Sept. 21-22 should rising coronavirus cases further subdue business and consumer activity. The comments come ahead of the Federal Reserve's annual Jackson Hole symposium that begins Thursday, Aug. 27, with a keynote address from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell scheduled for Friday. The theme of this year's retreat, which will be held virtually "due to the recently-elevated COVID-19 health risk level," is "Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy." Oil complex was further lent support by bullish economic data out of the European Union, where business activity in August continued to grow at a strong monthly rate despite cooling slightly amid widespread supply chain delays and concerns over the Delta spread.

Oil jumps as much as 6%, snapping longest losing streak since 2019 -Oil prices jumped Monday, snapping a seven-day losing streak that was crude's worst since 2019, as the dollar pulled back and traders bet the recent selling was overdone. "News of zero new cases in China has certainly provided a tailwind as it gives added light at the end of the Covid tunnel and a breath of fresh air to the demand landscape," noted analysts at Blue Line Futures. "Additionally, the U.S. Dollar has retreated from recent highs, underpinning the commodity landscape broadly." West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, gained $3.50, or 5.6%, to settle at $65.64 per barrel. Earlier in the day it rose more than 6% to hit a session high of $66, at which point it was on track for its best day since November. The sharp jump marks a turnaround from last week when the contract sank nearly 9% for its worst weekly performance since October and second negative week in three. WTI ended Friday at its lowest level since May 20. International benchmark Brent crude advanced 5.48%, or $3.57, to $68.75 per barrel on Monday, after posting its worst week since October. Oil's tumble came amid fears of a demand slowdown as the delta variant of Covid-19 spreads, leading to new lockdowns in countries including Japan and New Zealand. Additionally, weak economic data out of China, which is the world's largest crude importer, weighed on prices. The latest U.S. inventory report also showed a rise in gasoline stocks as well as an uptick in output from U.S. producers. But some Wall Street firms said the selling looked overdone. "We find this price weakness excessive and believe it has more to do with the psychology of market participants than with any deterioration of fundamental data," noted analysts at Commerzbank. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, said that macro headwinds including the reflation unwind and Covid concerns in China are veiling the bullish backdrop for oil and commodities more generally. "While liquidity will likely remain low and the trend is not our friend right now, we believe the micro — steadily tightening commodity fundamentals — will trump these macro trends as we move toward autumn, pushing many markets like oil and base metals to new highs for this cycle," the firm wrote Monday in a note to clients. Energy stocks jumped on the heels of oil's rise, and the group was the top-performing S&P 500 sector, gaining more than 3%. The energy sector fell more than 7% last week and has yet to reclaim its spot as the top-performing group this year. Energy was the best sector for the first half of the year but has been hit hard in recent weeks and is now the fourth-best sector for 2021, trailing financials, real estate and communication services.

Oil spikes as deadly blaze in Mexico slashes output by 420,000 barrels per day - Oil prices jumped on Tuesday as a fire on a Mexican offshore oil rig killed five and cut the country's daily output by nearly a quarter.Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company, said on Monday that about 420,000 barrels per day of oil output - about 0.5% of average global output - had been knocked offline, but projected that the 125 impacted wells could be up and running within days.West Texas Intermediate oil futures shot up as much as 3.3% on Tuesday to $67.80 per barrel. The two-day rally was even sharper. From Friday's closing price, WTI was up as much as 8.8%. Another factor boosting oil prices on Tuesday was sunnier feelings about projected oil demand, especially from China, even as spread of the Delta variant continues apace."It seems that the concerns about demand that had still predominated last week have lost much of their scare factor, at least for now," analysts at Germany's Commerzbank told the Financial Times. "One key part in this is the clear success that the Chinese authorities are having in combating the spread of the Delta variant." Iron ore and agricultural commodities also enjoyed a boost on Tuesday, buoyed by more sanguine sentiment about Chinese iron demand and extreme heat killing American corn, soy, and wheat.

Oil Continues Rise As China Beats Down Covid Cases | Rigzone - Oil extended gains from the biggest jump in five months as China’s success in stamping out virus flare-ups boosts optimism of a demand recovery. U.S. oil futures rose 2.9% while Brent topped $71 a barrel. China has rapidly brought local virus cases down to zero and road traffic is showing signs of recovery. The country also reopened its Ningbo port, one of the busiest in the world, after a two-week shutdown. “The developments out of China are reigniting expectations that oil demand would start to rise again,” Meanwhile, a fire on a Mexican oil platform wiped out more than 400,000 barrels a day of the nation’s output, roughly equivalent to what OPEC+ will discuss adding back to the market when it meets next month. Covid’s resurgence has interrupted oil’s rally and prompted speculation that OPEC+ may reassess its current plan to return additional barrels to the market when it meets Sept. 1. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., however, reiterated that the demand impact from delta would be transient, while UBS Group AG sees Brent crude recovering to $75 a barrel on market tightness. This week’s rally has coincided with a sharp strengthening in timespreads that indicate prompt demand. The difference between the nearest two December Brent futures contracts jumped by $1 a barrel in the past two days. Gains in the global benchmark increased its premium to WTI to the widest since April. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery rose $1.90 to $67.54 a barrel in New York. Brent for October gained $2.30 to $71.05, settling above $71 for the first time since Aug. 12. Despite the positive strides against the Delta variant, hurdles still remain to restoring demand. Chinese airlines plan to operate the fewest flights in August since February, according to data from Cirium. In Malaysia, rising infections are threatening to aggravate shortages of semiconductors and other components that have hammered automakers for months.

Oil rises on US fuel demand, extends rally - Oil prices rose about 1% on Wednesday, extending gains for a third session, after U.S. government data showed that fuel demand climbed to its highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brent crude settled $1.20, or 1.7%, higher at $72.25 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude advanced 82 cents, or 1.2%, to $68.36 per barrel. The four-week average for U.S. total product supplied, a proxy for fuel demand, soared to nearly 21 million barrels per day, its highest since March 2020, when governments first began to widely impose pandemic-related restrictions, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels in the last week to 432.6 million barrels, the EIA said, about 1% higher than during the same time in 2019, before the pandemic. Refiners have ramped up production to 92.4% of operable capacity, the highest since late June. Gasoline stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels in the week to 225.92 million barrels, EIA said. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 600,000 barrels in the week to 138.46 million barrels. "The market is being led up by gasoline inventory draws and good gasoline demand as we head into the end of the summer driving season," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. Over the last three sessions, both Brent and WTI have risen around 10%. The rally erased most a week-long slump triggered by a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. Price gains came after Mexican supply fell by more than 400,000 barrels per day following a fire on an oil platform. Mexico's state oil firm said it expected to resume production by Aug. 30. "While volatility looks set to continue, we see further gains for oil as global economic normalization continues and OPEC remains disciplined on crude supplies," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. The bank expects Brent crude prices to rise to $75 a barrel by December. In a sign that the spread of infections from the coronavirus Delta variant was easing in China, the country on Wednesday reported just 20 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Aug. 24, down from 35 a day earlier.

Oil Futures Ease After Three-Day Rally Ahead of Fed Summit -- Following a three-session rally, oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange pulled back early Thursday, sending the U.S. crude benchmark 1% lower as traders positioned ahead of incoming data on domestic inflation and jobless claims for additional clues on the economy's performance under a Delta-driven avalanche of coronavirus infections, and signals for potential tapering of the Federal Reserve's bond and mortgage-backed securities purchases as policymakers gather for their annual summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Storm activity is limiting losses for the oil complex Thursday morning, as Tropical Wave Invest 99L "continues to become better organized," said DTN Weather, tracking towards U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Meteorologists at DTN Weather forecast the system will develop into a tropical depression or storm later Thursday or Friday, while moving into the Gulf this weekend, seen reaching hurricane strength Sunday evening, early Monday. The expected path of the storm has moved east away from Houston, with landfall now seen along the Louisiana-Mississippi border Tuesday morning. Last year, a total of six Atlantic Basin storms shut-in over 41 million barrels (bbl) in offshore Gulf of Mexico crude oil production. The level of activity for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season is once again forecast to rank well above normal. DTN Weather forecast 21 storms of which nine storms are hurricanes including four major hurricanes. We are quickly approaching peak hurricane activity. In outside markets, U.S. equity futures were mixed Thursday and the dollar index gapped higher, as investors prepare for a key reading on U.S. inflation and jobless claims ahead of the Federal Reserve economic summit in Jackson Hole. Global stocks retreated from Wednesday's record high after Bank of Korea introduced its first rate hike in three years, pulling back fiscal support for the economy despite heightened risks tied to the Delta coronavirus variant. BOK's decision could cast a different light on Friday's speech from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, although market consensus appears to have tilted towards a more dovish speech from the Fed chair. Investors also await the second estimate of second quarter U.S. Gross Domestic Product, which is expected 0.1% above the first reading for 6.6% growth, weekly jobless claims and the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption and Expenditures price index. .

Oil rally falters on pandemic surge, renewed Mexico supply - (Reuters) -Oil settled lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day rally on renewed concerns over demand due to rising COVID-19 infections and as Mexico restored some output after a fire disrupted supplies. Losses were limited by the potential for other supply interruptions. Energy companies prepared for the possibility of a severe storm hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast this weekend. Brent crude settled down $1.18, or 1.6%, at $71.07 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil settled down 94 cents, or 1.4% at 67.42 a barrel. Fresh COVID-19 outbreaks fueled by the Delta variant raised concerns about the strength of the economic recovery globally. Oil was also weighed down by broader weakness in equity markets later in the day, analysts said. [.N] Mexico has begun restoring output after a fire on an offshore platform on Sunday knocked out more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production. By Tuesday, state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) had recovered 71,000 bpd of production and expected to add an additional 110,000 bpd this week. However, Pemex's efforts to restore oil production could lag official projections, people close to the matter told Reuters, as re-connecting wells is proving more difficult than planned. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday said Pemex will produce an average of 1.8 million bpd by year end, despite the fire. Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp and others on Thursday began evacuating nonessential personnel from offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead of a storm expected to enter the Gulf this weekend. The storm brewing in the Caribbean Sea could become a major hurricane and strike the U.S. Gulf Coast by Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricanes with winds of up to 111 miles per hour (178 km) are classified as major and can bring devastating damage onshore. "The oil companies are getting way ahead of this storm, which is lending the market some support and offsetting some of the concern about more supply entering the market,"

Oil Futures Climb as Tropical Storm Ida Disrupts GOM Output -- Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange reversed higher in overnight trade on anticipation that Tropical Storm Ida, currently tracking towards Louisiana Coast, disrupts Gulf of Mexico oil production, with forecasts indicating an increased likelihood for the storm to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane prior to its landfall on Sunday. Near 9:30 a.m. EDT, NYMEX October West Texas Intermediate futures rallied $1.45 or 2% to $68.88 barrel (bbl), and Brent crude for October delivery advanced $1.35 to trade near $72.38 bbl. NYMEX September ULSD gained 1.59cts to $2.0991 gallon and September RBOB futures rallied to $2.2840 gallon. U.S. energy companies on Thursday began shutting down offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and evacuating workers in preparation for the storm. BP, BNP and Shell said they have shut in some production at the offshore oil platforms, while Chevron's production remained at normal levels as of Thursday. Occidental Petroleum and Hess Corp said they are monitoring weather conditions. Meteorologists at DTN Weather forecast a fast-moving storm will likely make landfall across the central Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane, packing winds of up to 111 miles per hour. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency due to the potentially life-threatening storm surge and called on residents to make necessary preparations. A hurricane watch stretches from Cameron, Louisiana, to the Mississippi-Alabama state line, including the New Orleans metro area. Aside from the developing hurricane, traders also watch for signals of potential policy shift at the Federal Reserve annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Chairman Jerome Powell is set to deliver a keynote address today. Powell may not provide tapering details during his virtual address but could lay out the roadmap for easing the pace of monthly bond purchases before the end of the year. President of Kansas City Federal Reserve Esther George told CNBC Thursday morning that "given the progress we've seen," Fed tapering is "appropriate," though she didn't specify when she thinks it should start. "When you look at the job gains, we saw last month, the month before, you look at the level of inflation right now, I think it would suggest that the level of accommodation we're providing right now is probably not needed in this scenario," she said. "So I would be ready to talk about taper sooner rather than later."

Oil Posts Largest Weekly Gain In Over A Year - Oil advanced as a brewing hurricane shuts Gulf of Mexico crude production while the Federal Reserve reinforced its support to begin tapering stimulus by the end of the year. Futures in New York rose 2% on Friday to post the biggest weekly gain in more than a year. Oil producers in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico have begun shutting production ahead of Hurricane Ida, which may make landfall in the New Orleans area in the next few days as a Category 3 hurricane. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could begin reducing its monthly bond purchases this year, though it won’t be in a hurry to begin raising interest rates thereafter. The central bank had hinted at such asset tapering plans weeks ago. “Clearly, the hurricane is what the market is focusing on now, at least in the short-term,” . “We are going to be losing supply from refiners and some demand.” Oil has had a volatile August with the fast-spreading delta variant of the virus leading to renewed restrictions on mobility and clouding the outlook for fuel demand. OPEC+ is scheduled to meet next week, and market-watchers surveyed by Bloomberg expect it will ratify another monthly output increase as it revives supplies halted during the pandemic. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery rose $1.32 to settle at $68.74 a barrel in New York. Brent for October settlement gained $1.63 to end the session at $72.70 a barrel. With Ida heading for the U.S., West Texas Intermediate crude’s nearest timespread strengthened. That firming structure comes amid expectations of tighter supplies as production is shut in the Gulf of Mexico. The relative strength in U.S. crude has also narrowed its discount to the global Brent benchmark.

Oil has only done this twice in the past 20 years — and it could forecast a 50% rally - Oil prices could be setting up for a major rally, one strategist says.Though the energy sector has cooled off in recent months, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude's price chart just flashed a rare signal, Miller Tabak's Matt Maley told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday."Crude oil has seen what's called a golden cross on its weekly chart," the firm's chief market strategist said.A golden cross occurs when an asset's shorter-term moving average crosses above its longer-term moving average and is broadly seen as a signal of further upside.In oil's case, "that's only happened three times since the beginning of this century and each of those three times has been followed by a very strong further rally in crude oil, anywhere from 20%-50%," Maley said."If oil continues to rally here, energy stocks should continue to bounce as well and I think that's a group where I think people can do really well for the last third of the year."Investors should consider adding some downside protection to their portfolios as the market enters the seasonally difficult September-December trading period, BK Asset Management's Boris Schlossberg said in the same interview."I'd call this the Terminator market. It's always coming back. It refuses to die," Schlossberg said. "But ... I think there is certainly some potential for danger here."With bond yields creeping up as inflationary pressures persist, the odds of a correction in high-valuation stocks are also rising, said Schlossberg, his firm's managing director of FX strategy.

Israel escalates attack on the Palestinians in Gaza -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have ramped up their attacks on Gaza, with fighter jets launching strikes on Hamas targets on Monday and Saturday in response to home-made incendiary balloons set afloat from the besieged Palestinian enclave. It marks the heaviest escalation in hostilities since Israel’s 11-day war on Gaza last May that killed more than 250 Palestinians, including at least 66 children and 41 women. Israel’s attacks follow Saturday’s demonstration near Gaza’s border with Israel, when Israeli soldiers fired lives shots and injured at least 41 Palestinians, including two people who were critically injured, one of whom was a 13-year-old boy shot in the head. The IDF said that the Palestinians had shot and critically injured one of its security personnel, a 21-year-old sniper from the Border Police undercover antiterrorism unit. On Monday, Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, announced plans to hold a major rally on Wednesday in southern Gaza near the border with Israel. The IDF responded by building up its forces along the heavily fortified border with the Gaza Strip and instructing its officers and soldiers to respond 'more aggressively' to any attempts to breach the border fence or attack soldiers. Hundreds of Palestinians had gathered on Saturday near the border to mark the 52nd anniversary of the arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site. Built on the site of the second Jewish temple destroyed by the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago, it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world. While the attack was carried out by a mentally unstable Christian Australian tourist, there were suspicions that Israel had been actively involved in planning and facilitating the arson attempt. The Mosque has become a symbol of the ongoing violations of the basic rights of Palestinians, including their ability to worship freely, most recently during Ramadan earlier this year, precipitating the tensions that gave rise to Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza. Since Israel’s capture and annexation of Jerusalem’s Old City after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, it has become a frequent flashpoint, regularly stormed by Jewish settlers and armed security forces, while worshippers are turned away at the gates and its foundations are being damaged by tunnelling.

UN agencies say aid cannot get into Afghanistan, call for shipments through Kabul airport -- The World Health Organization's (WHO) office for the Eastern Mediterranean region on Sunday called for "immediate and unimpeded access" to send medicine and medical supplies to Afghanistan through an airbridge as commercial flights are down in Kabul. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for Eastern and Mediterranean Region, and George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, released the joint statement on Sunday, calling for countries to support humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan as evacuation efforts continue. “While the main focus over the past days has been major air operations for the evacuation of internationals and vulnerable Afghans, the massive humanitarian needs facing the majority of the population should not - and cannot – be neglected," Al-Mandhari and Laryea-Adjei said. “However, with no commercial aircraft currently permitted to land in Kabul, we have no way to get supplies into the country and to those in need. Other humanitarian agencies are similarly constrained," they added. According to the UN officials, aid supplies in Afghanistan are quickly dwindling and the WHO only has enough resources to meet urgent needs for about another week and a half. More than 500 metric tonnes of WHO supplies are are awaiting delivery in Dubai. They suggested in their statement that evacuation planes flying into Afghanistan carry aid supplies with them to be dropped off as they are evacuating people out of the country.

WHO says its medical supplies in Afghanistan will only last a week - The World Health Organization (WHO) said during an online briefing on Tuesday its current medical supplies in Afghanistan will only last a week amid the chaos of U.S. evacuations and the new Taliban rule over the country. "We rapidly distributed lifesaving supplies to health facilities and partners in Kabul, Kandahar and Kunduz, but WHO now only has enough supplies in country to last for one week. Yesterday 70 percent of these supplies were released to health facilities," WHO regional director Ahmed Al-Mandhari said. The country apparently has 95 percent of its health facilities open despite the turmoil, but some female employees and patients have not returned due to fear regarding how the Taliban are going to treat women’s rights. WHO regional emergency director Richard Brennan told Reuters the agency is working with four countries to secure flights with resources as medical supplies have been delayed due to restrictions at the Kabul airport during the U.S.-led evacuations. "We have had some encouraging signs and encouraging communications, that the Taliban authorities have made it clear that they want the United Nations to stay, that they want the continuity of health services," Brennan said. "We remain cautiously optimistic that we will be able to get our operation back at increasing scale over the coming weeks,” he added. The WHO’s regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean released a statement Sunday calling for the “immediate and unimpeded access to deliver medicines and other lifesaving supplies to millions of people in need of aid.” The office said even before the Taliban takeover and evacuations this past week, Afghanistan was its the third largest humanitarian operation. There are 18 million people who need assistance with no way to get supplies to them, the statement reads. “Conflict, displacement, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic are all contributing to a complex and desperate situation in Afghanistan. Humanitarian agencies need to be supported and facilitated to meet the enormous and growing needs in Afghanistan, and make sure that no one dies unnecessarily due to lack of access to aid,” the office says.

The 2-year-old daughter of an interpreter for an American company was trampled to death as stampedes at Kabul Airport leave at least 7 dead, reports say --At least seven people have been killed at Kabul airport by stampeding crowds, as thousands of panicked Afghans try to flee the country, the British military said on Sunday.Since the Taliban takeover last week, huge crowds of Afghans have lined up outside Kabul airport in scorching temperatures to try and secure a place on an evacuation flight out of the country. Although the British military confirmed seven deaths, eyewitnesses on the ground claim the real figure is much higher.One of those killed was a 2-year-old toddler, who was trampled to death by the surging crowd, according to The New York Times.The toddler was the child of a former interpreter for an American company who was trying to leave Kabul along with her family, the paper reported.When the crowd swelled, the interpreter and her family fell to the ground. She lost sight of her daughter and later found she had been crushed to death."I felt pure terror," the woman told The New York Times. "I couldn't save her."Sky News's Stuart Ramsey described the chaotic scenes as paratroopers pulled people from the crowd and medics rushed "from the next casualty to the next, then the next and the next."Soldiers often sprayed the crowds with hoses in an attempt to cool them down, he said.The Independent's Kim Sengupta reported witnessing several deaths caused by the crush of the crowd and heat at Kabul airport. He said the official number of fatalities was 12 but the real figure was almost certainly a lot higher.

"US Troops Call It World War Z": Shocking New Images Capture 'Post-Apocalyptic' Scenes Outside Kabul Airport - A Russian media correspondent, Murad Gazdiev, arrived at Kabul airport this week to report on the ground and was shocked by the deteriorating conditions and continued spiraling crisis. "We’ve just arrived at Kabul airport. American troops call what is happening here 'World War Z,' referring to the zombie movie starring Brad Pitt. It is clear why," he narrated. "The situation is horrendous. The entire airport is littered with bullet casings and flash-bang grenades," he continued. "Everything, absolutely everything is covered in barbed wire. The entire runway is lined with barbed wire." And there are tragic scenes of desperate Afghan civilians standing outside the airport walls in knee-deep sewage.This as new reports emerge from US officials, and even a pair of congressman who just went to Kabul's international airport on a fact finding mission, that it's looking nearly impossible that US troops will be able to evacuate everyone on Washington's list or who has a visa, including possibly Americans stuck in the capital city, by the Aug.31 deadline. One of the Congressional members who touched down in Kabul airport this week, Democratic Representative Seth Moulton - who served as a Marine and multi-tour Iraq war veteran - said, "To say that today is anything short of a disaster would be dishonest. Worse, it was avoidable." RT News footage showing a chaotic scene and warning shots fired by Taliban "security" militants just outside the airport:"Shooting is ceaseless, 10 minutes don’t pass without gunfire. Either within the airport; American troops scaring away the more daring locals, or shooting near the main entrance, where the Taliban is discouraging would-be refugees."

Covid concerns in Kabul are an afterthought amid evacuation. --At Hamid Karzai International Airport, where thousands of U.S. troops and NATO allies are trying to evacuate citizens and Afghans desperate to flee their country after the Taliban took control of Kabul last week, the coronavirus is an afterthought. The speed, size and scope of the evacuation operation — which came together rapidly as U.S. officials were caught off guard by the Taliban’s swift offensive — have meant that few measures, if any, are in place to help prevent the spread of the disease and its newer, more aggressive variants. There is no testing of the thousands of passengers passing through the base, in what has turned into the final operation of the United States’ nearly 20-year-old war in Afghanistan. Social distancing is nonexistent as hundreds of Afghans are ferried in from the airport’s gates, held in crowded parking lots or tents and processed in packed terminals. The U.S. military cargo aircraft responsible for carrying a large number of Afghan refugees to bases in the Middle East and Europe are packed with 300 to 400 passengers at a time who sit practically knee-to-back on the floor. Coronavirus testing usually takes place at American bases outside Afghanistan, where passengers are tested and isolated if found to be positive. Before the government of Afghanistan collapsed, its ministry of public health had reported a third wave of coronavirus infections in the country, with a record number of positive cases and deaths. But coronavirus testing in the country has been unreliable and inconsistent since the start of the pandemic, as testing ability was limited or unavailable in rural areas. The current situation is part of a broader humanitarian and medical issue facing Afghans on top of the security crisis. Humanitarian and medical aid has been scarce in the past week, with the World Health Organization and other aid agencies unable to fly supplies into the airport while it is overwhelmed by the evacuation effort. “Conflict, displacement, drought and the Covid-19 pandemic are all contributing to a complex and desperate situation in Afghanistan,” the W.H.O. said in a statement.

Israel's PM Bennett Says He Will Continue Covert Attacks Against Iran -- A few days ahead of his meeting with President Biden, Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with The New York Times and said he will continue covert attacks against Iran and will oppose any US efforts to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.Israel has a long history of taking covert action against Iran, but Israeli leaders usually aren’t so candid about it. The Times report said that Bennett plans to present Biden with a new "strategic vision" for Iran that includes more "clandestine attacks" on Iran, including what Bennett referred to as "the gray-area stuff."One of Israel’s recent attacks on Iran targeted the Natanz nuclear facility in April. It coincided with the start of indirect negotiations between the US and Iran to revive the JCPOA and was a clear effort by the Israelis to sabotage the talks.Another aspect of Bennett’s vision is for Israel to strengthen ties with Arab countries in the region that oppose Iran. Forming an anti-Iran coalition was part of the reason for the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords that led to Israel normalizing with some Arab countries, including the UAE and Bahrain."What we need to do, and what we are doing, is forming a regional coalition of reasonable Arab countries, together with us, that will fend off and block this expansion and this desire for domination [by Iran]," Bennett said.Bennett favors many of the same policies as his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, but he wants to take a different approach. Netanyahu publicly clashed with the Obama administration when the JCPOA was negotiated in 2015, which Bennett hopes to avoid.

Surge in COVID deaths adds to pressure on Iran’s clerical regime --Saturday saw Iran’s highest single-day COVID-19 death toll of the pandemic, as 684 people succumbed to the disease and more than 36,400 new cases were confirmed. This latest surge in infections, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, is Iran's fifth, bringing the total number of cases to more than 4.5 million and deaths to 102,000, numbers even Iran’s health officials admit is an underestimate of the real toll. Worse is yet to come, with deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi acknowledging, “Infections and hospitalization numbers have stabilized in 14 provinces... but fatalities are expected to be on a relatively rising trajectory in coming days.” One of the top doctors in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city, declared that such is the gravity of the situation that no families in the city are without a patient or someone who has died in the pandemic. Without citing statistics, he said infections and deaths “are very high” and younger people are dying. Video clips of hospitals full of patients lying on the ground or in courtyards and long lines at pharmacies are circulating widely. By far the worst affected country in the Middle East, Iran has suffered decades of US sanctions that have had a devastating impact on its health care system, preventing access to medicines and supplies to treat coronavirus cases, cancer patients, and other deadly diseases. But fraud, mismanagement and profiteering by Iran’s pharmaceutical companies are widespread, with multiple reports of the hoarding and stockpiling of vital medical supplies. Like its counterparts internationally, the Iranian government has put profits before lives and shunned comprehensive measures that would ensure the closure of all non-essential work, schools and universities. Instead, it has imposed short-term, piecemeal measures that most recently have included a ban on private travel between provinces until August 27 and a five-day closure of government buildings, banks and non-essential shops that ended Saturday. Only 5.4 million of Iran’s 85 million population have been fully vaccinated, with more than 16.3 million people awaiting their second jab. Vaccination centres are swamped with kilometre-long lines of people queuing for their jabs, largely imported from China, Russia, India, Cuba, Japan and via the global COVAX initiative. Some of these vaccines may be less effective against the delta variant. A study by the Statistics and Information Technology Management Center found that 2,072 Iranians out of the 2.85 million fully vaccinated at the time of the study had died, a far higher rate than elsewhere.