Marcellus pipeline woes threaten to change entire US gas market game

Permitting issues have radically curtailed the access to cheaply produced gas to which the industry has grown accustomed

That the Marcellus shale and the wider Appalachian gas basin have a pipeline offtake problem is hardly news. But the implications of the US cutting itself off from gas resource that can be cheaply produced may still be being underestimated. Research firm Enverus forecasts Appalachian gas production rising by just 0.88bn ft³/d (24.92mn m³/d) year-on-year in 2023. “The limited growth from the Northeast is really a function of takeaway constraints, rather than resource issues or the economics of wells at sub-$4/mn Btu Henry Hub prices,” says the firm’s senior vice-president of intelligence, Steve Diederichs. “And we do not expect significant relief until the Mountain Valley Pipeline comes onlin