Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 29, 2013

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

Pennsylvania

4 Reasons To Buy Cabot Oil & Gas
Seeking Alpha
The price of natural gas has been recovering from its precipitous four year drop, which sent it plunging from 2008 highs. The plunge was caused by the appearance of abundant new reserves and production of natural gas in the United States. One of the beneficiaries of the substantially increased natural gas production and the recent price recovery is certainly Cabot Oil & Gas. Cabot’s share price has risen more than 400% since the late 2011 lows, driven by the substantial revenue and earnings growth, production growth and lower costs. Here are five reasons for you to consider buying the stock.

Protecting the Rights (and Pocketbooks) of Local Marcellus Shale Leaseholders
Canon-McMillanPatch/State Rep. Jesse White
The Marcellus Shale boom has exposed lots of holes in Pennsylvania law when it comes to the specifics of how drilling will impact the landowners who sign leases in order to earn royalties from the minerals under their property. It’s nobody’s fault—there was just no way to be prepared for many of the issues that popped up as a result of the horizontal drilling process, which is very different from the traditional shallow wells most people were used to a decade ago.

Ohio

Rail Industry Key to Utica Shale’s Success
Energy in Depth – Ohio
The current buzz concerning Ohio’s Utica Shale is midstream development. People want to know when and where processing facilities and pipelines will come online so producers can start getting more product to market. What isn’t often talked about, however, is how things are transported until those come online, and how the processed liquids will be transported once Ohio does have more midstream capabilities. For many companies, the answer is rail.

Appalachian NGL projects offer price advantage
Gas Business Briefing
With two new major pipelines coming online with the capacity to move up to 590,000 BPD of natural gas liquids out of the Marcellus and Utica shales to the Gulf Coast, analysts are divided on whether building ethane crackers in the Appalachian Basin is economically viable. The sudden rush of Y-grade, or raw NGL mix, pipelines from Appalachia to the Gulf Coast is largely due to better netbacks, a Platts analysis shows.

National

House bill would force approval of pipeline
Columbus Dispatch
The House approved a bill May 22 declaring that a presidential permit was not needed to approve the Canada-to-Nebraska leg of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a move that would take a decision on the project away from the Obama administration. The Republican-controlled House voted 241-175 with support from some Democrats. The bill faces an uphill battle because it would have to pass the Senate with enough votes to overcome a promised veto from President Barack Obama.

Wyoming’s Energy Strategy A Potential Step Toward Improved Oil And Gas Regulations
Environmental Defense Fund “Energy Exchange” Blog
There is strong potential in the strategy released last week by Governor Matt Mead and his staff. The 47 policy prescriptions in the “Leading the Charge” document are broad and varied, but the ones pertaining to oil and gas regulation appear promising.

Eco-groups pleased with Texas fracking revisions
Akron Beacon Journal
The Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) commend the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) on its biggest overhaul of oil and gas rules in over thirty years. The RRC adopted dozens of highly technical rules today aimed at improving well integrity – procedures critical for constructing and operating oil and gas wells in a way that protects the environment, public health and safety.

LPG Tanker Rates Rising Near Record in U.S. Shale Surge: Freight
Bloomberg
Record global trade in liquefied petroleum gas, a result of increasing U.S. energy independence, is driving up rates for hauling the fuel on tankers at a time when most commodity shipping is losing money. The U.S. is exporting a record amount of LPGs including propane and butane as it taps new energy reserves found in shale-rock formations. The surge in LPG shipping returns is spurring billionaire investors John Fredriksen and Wilbur Ross to build gas carriers.