U.S. Rig Count, Methane Emissions, Hydrogen Tax Credits: Your Daily Energy News

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News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) dealing with the energy markets.

PRODUCTION
U.S. Drillers Cut Rigs - U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for a second week in a row for the first time since mid-January, energy services firm Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) (Houston, Texas) said. The oil and gas rig count fell by three to 621 in the week ending March 28. Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell three to 506 this week, while gas rigs were unchanged at 112, holding at their lowest since January 2022. (Reuters)

New U.S. Rules Seek to Curb Methane Emissions from Public Lands - The Biden administration this week said it had finalized rules aimed at limiting methane leaks from oil and gas drilling on public lands. Nearly a tenth of U.S. oil and gas production takes place on federal lands, primarily in Western states like New Mexico and Wyoming. The rules require oil and gas drillers to develop plans to detect leaks, make repairs and minimize waste. They must also pay royalties for natural gas lost through flaring or venting if those losses are considered to have been avoidable. The Interior Department said the rule would conserve billions of cubic feet of gas that otherwise might have been vented, flared or leaked, generating more than $50 million in additional royalty payments to the federal government each year. (Reuters)

HYDROGEN
Hydrogen Industry Pleads for Easier Path to U.S. Tax Credits - Some companies planning to use new U.S. tax credits to deploy hydrogen projects urged the Treasury Department this week to ease proposed environmental requirements, warning that they could hinder the nascent industry's takeoff. The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service hosted hearings this week on the guidance they released in December governing implementation of the Clean Hydrogen Production, or 45V, tax credit, one of the most lucrative incentives in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The credit would create a 10-year incentive for clean hydrogen production of up to $3.00 per kilogram. The Treasury's proposal would require hydrogen producers seeking the 45V credits to prove they have used clean electricity that has been recently built and sourced from the same region as the project. They would also need to show that the power was generated around the same time that the hydrogen was produced. (Reuters)

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Energy asset information on power plants, oil refineries and natural gas infrastructure is now more important than ever. A unit of Industrial Info Resources, IIR Energy provides infrastructure information on these assets, as well as real-time tracking of planned and unplanned interruptions affecting the commodity-trading community. We are the number one source for information about power plant outages, refinery turnarounds and midstream natural gas disruptions.

About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).