Somebody’s lying–and our money is that the North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) are the liars. The DEQ recently denied a federal Section 401 Water Quality Certification permit (issued under the federal Clean Water Act) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project, claiming MVP has not provided information it needs to properly evaluate the project. MVP says it’s bent over backward and forward to give DEQ everything it needs.
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NGL Storage Hub Federal Loan Guarantee May be in Trouble
Appalachia Development Group is leading an effort to build a ~$10 billion (or $2.5B, or $3.4B, depending on your source) NGL storage hub in Appalachia–most likely in West Virginia (see WV’s US Senators Lead the Charge to Build $10B NGL Storage Hub). The project, called the Appalachia Storage and Trading Hub, has already hired an engineering firm and has the backing of President Trump (see Pres. Trump Targets Marcellus/Utica to Bulk Up PetChem Industry). It’s estimated such a project would lead to the creation of 100,000 new jobs. Federal loan guarantees of $1.9 billion have been in the works for the massive project for several years (partially approved), but those loan guarantees may now be in jeopardy thanks to leftists.
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PA Court Rules “On” Does Not Mean “Under” in Lease Payment Case
A Pennsylvania landowner thought he could finagle extra payments from XTO Energy after his land was drilled under from a neighboring property. The landowner had signed a lease, and the lease contains language that says if XTO were to drill “on” his property (i.e. install a well pad) the landowner would receive an extra payment. The landowner sued saying “on” also means “under” when XTO drilled under his property. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania disagreed, saying “on” means “on the surface” and “under” does not mean “on”.
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Philadelphia LNG Export Plant Approved by City Council Vote
Yesterday Philadelphia City Council approved a $60 million Marcellus LNG export facility, to be built on property owned by Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW). It was the final vote needed, held up by opposition from so-called environmentalists since March (see Philadelphia LNG Export Plant One Vote Away from Happening). Wackadoodle fossil fuel haters (holding up posters of The Lorax) were not happy at yesterday’s meeting when City Council voted 13-4 to approve the plan.
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NY Bill Would Kill Thousands of Jobs to “Save the Climate”
There is a truly dreadful, jobs-killing piece of legislation in New York State that may get passed in the next few weeks. It’s called the Climate Community Protection Act (CCPA). The bill, if it becomes law, would mandate the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to eliminate all so-called greenhouse gas emissions from any major source in the state by 2050. The following manufacturing industries in the state would likely close and/or move out of the state: glass (say goodbye to Corning), steel, cement, auto, metal casting, food, pulp and paper, aluminum, plastics, ceramics and chemicals. Yeah, pretty much all of Upstate would close.
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BP Annual Review: Wind & Solar Produce Piddly 3% of Global Energy
Oil and gas giant BP recently released its annual Statistical Review of World Energy–the 68th edition (full copy below). Among the interesting findings in BP’s analysis of global energy last year: wind and solar energy, while growing, only provide a minuscule 3% of the world’s energy supply. Meanwhile fossil fuels–coal, natural gas and oil–accounted for 85% of global energy consumption in 2018. Hey, tell us again how renewables are taking over the world–as we pick ourselves up off the floor from laughing so hard.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Fri, Jun 14, 2019
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station shut down permanently; Natural gas impact tax working; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: ExxonMobil, SABIC sanction world’s largest ethane cracker in South Texas; Cheniere starts LNG production from Corpus Christi Train 2; Energy giants set their sights on Brownsville as home for new LNG plants; NATIONAL: Obama-era EPA head doesn’t believe U.S. can both create jobs and protect the environment; The U.S. is setting the price for natural gas around the world; INTERNATIONAL: Russia pushes back against “freedom gas”.
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Range Resources Lays Off 5% of Employees – PA Affected
Yesterday the Pittsburgh Business Times broke the news that Range Resources, one of the Marcellus/Utica’s biggest drillers (and in fact the very first driller to sink a Marcellus well, back in 2004), has laid off 40 employees–roughly 5% of its workforce. The layoffs are split between the company’s Pennsylvania and Texas operations.
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MarkWest, Contractor Fined $98K for SWPA Gas Plant Explosion
In mid-December there was an explosion at a MarkWest Energy natural gas processing plant in Chartiers (Washington County), PA, injuring four people (see MarkWest Plant Explosion in Washington Co. Injures 4; 1 Critical). Unfortunately one the workers later died (see Sad Postscript: Man Dies of Injuries from MarkWest SWPA Explosion). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated the incident and has just fined MarkWest and a contractor (that employed the workers) a cumulative $98,508.
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DRBC Approves New Fortress LNG/NGL Shipping Dock on Dela. River
Yesterday, over the shrill objections of THE Delaware Riverkeeper, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) approved a plan put forth by New Fortress Energy to build a $96 million 1,600-foot-long pier on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River at the former DuPoint dynamite factory site. The purpose of the pier? To dock and load two ships at a time–loading them with either LNG (liquefied natural gas) and/or NGLs (natural gas liquids, like propane, butane and ethane).
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EQT Issues Another Letter Bashing Rice Board Nominees
On Monday, Toby and Derek Rice (the Rice brothers) sent an open letter to EQT shareholders to “set the record straight on EQT’s misleading comments” about the Rice boys and their plan to take over EQT. In fact, the Rices’ say EQT has made “a number of false claims” and engaged in “personal attacks.” On Tuesday, EQT issued a response to “correct the Toby Rice Group’s false and misleading statements” about what EQT said, and to “highlight significant omissions and errors” in the Rice analysis of EQT’s recent performance (see Rice Brothers, EQT Accuse Each Other of “Misleading” Statements). Yesterday, EQT issued yet another letter to shareholders to talk up their own board nominees, and to bash the nominees put forward by the Rice brothers.
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OOGEEP Hands Out Another 65 Oil & Gas Scholarships
The hits keep coming from OOGEEP, the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program. In May we brought you OOGEEP’s top notch new resource to help workers discover new careers in the oil and gas industry (see 75+ Gas and Oil Related Careers in the Marcellus/Utica). Now comes word that OOGEEP has just parceled out 65 scholarships ($1,000 minimum award) to students pursuing careers in the oil and gas industry.
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Gas Group ONE Future Scores Important New Member: Williams
It’s always better for an industry, like the oil and gas industry, to self-regulate rather than wait for the heavy hand of the government to do it. Case in point: There’s a coalition of upstream (drilling), midstream (pipeline) and downstream (utility) companies that formed an industry group called ONE Future, begun back in 2014. The aim of the group is lower methane emissions across all aspects of the natural gas infrastructure system nationwide to emit (lose into the atmosphere) no more than 1% by 2025. The group began with eight members and today has 17. Many of the members have major operations in the Marcellus/Utica. ONE Future’s newest member is pipeline giant Williams.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Jun 13, 2019
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: ODNR approves 11 permits in Utica shale; Gov. Justice blasts anti-fossil fuel campaign; Exxon stripped of most defenses in NY AG’s climate case; State AGs’ climate cover-up; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: North Dakota makes small bet on natural gas infrastructure company; Low natural gas prices drive up generation share in US Midwest; NATIONAL: U.S. Senators call for equal tax treatment of LNG fuel; From goats to glory: The monster oil discovery nobody is talking about; FERC Dems make climate change case in house hearing; INTERNATIONAL: U.S. ‘freedom gas’ aims to loosen Russia’s grip on Europe’s market.
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Rice Brothers, EQT Accuse Each Other of “Misleading” Statements
The war to control EQT continues. On Monday, Toby and Derek Rice (the Rice brothers) sent an open letter to EQT shareholders to “set the record straight on EQT’s misleading comments” about the Rice boys and their plan to take over EQT. In fact, the Rices’ say EQT has made “a number of false claims” and engaged in “personal attacks.” Yesterday, EQT issued a response to “correct the Toby Rice Group’s false and misleading statements” about what EQT said, and to “highlight significant omissions and errors” in the Rice analysis of EQT’s recent performance.
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WV Supreme Court Rejects Nuisance Lawsuit Against Antero
In Feb. 2016, lawsuits filed by some ~200 West Virginia residents against Antero Resources were combined into a class action (see More People Pile on Antero, Seek to Join Mass “Nuisance” Lawsuit). The lawsuits are called “nuisance” lawsuits because, according to the plantiffs, Antero is a nuisance to them (truck traffic, noise, lights at night, etc.). The collective class action nuisance lawsuit was appealed all the way to the WV Supreme Court. On Monday, the Supremes rejected the nuisance claims, granting Antero a big victory.
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