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Robinson Twp, PA Offers a Preview into Future of NY Frack Debate

coming attractionsOne of the original seven selfish townships in Pennsylvania that sued the state over the Act 13 Marcellus Drilling law because of its zoning provisions–and won–has just become less selfish. In fact, the town, Robinson Township in Washington County, PA, has done a complete reversal. Two of the three anti-drilling supervisors were voted out of office last November. On their way out they tried to pull a fast one by passing super restrictive zoning (in December). Last night, the incoming two supervisors who are pro-drilling repealed the law and passed one of their own that’s favorable to the drilling industry. Below we take a look at Robinson’s complete reversal, which offers a fascinating preview into what’s coming to townships across New York State when Gov. Andrew “man child” Cuomo finally decides to make a decision to allow fracking…
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Antero Signs Deal to Export Marcellus/Utica Ethane to Sweden

Borealis AG, an Austrian petrochemical company (majority-owned by International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi) announced yesterday that it has signed a deal with Marcellus and Utica Shale powerhouse driller Antero Resources to buy some of Antero’s Utica/Marcellus ethane. The ethane will be pipelined to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia via the Sunoco Logistics Mariner East Pipeline. That’s if Sunoco can get the Mariner East Pipeline operating, given the current legal entanglements (see Setback for Mariner East NGL Pipe – Judges Say Not Public Utility). From Philly, the ethane will be loaded on container ships and sent to a Borealis ethane cracker plant in Stenungsund, Sweden…
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Antero Resources 2Q14: Gas Production Doubles, NGLs Quadruple

Antero Resources, one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, had a very impressive second quarter 2014. The company reported on Wednesday that 2Q14 production for natural gas and equivalents was up an impressive 94% over the same period last year–to 891 million cubic feet per day. Closing in on that elite 1 Bcf/d Club! Antero’s natural gas liquids production was 20,237 Bbl/d, an astonishing 387% increase over the same period last year. Antero now has deals to sell ethane to three different cracker plants–two in the northeast and one in Sweden (see today’s story on that)–as well as agreements to sell natural gas to Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility. It’s all Marcellus/Utica and all cylinders firing for Antero…
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ETP 2Q14: ET Rover Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Already 91% Sold Out

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) recently announced a major new Marcellus/Utica Shale pipeline infrastructure project yesterday that will transport up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of northeast shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). ETP provided the following quarterly update yesterday, which includes the interesting tidbit that ETP has already signed up customers for 91% of the available capacity of the ET Rover pipeline when it’s built…
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McClendon Invests in New Utica Pipeline Project, JV with Regency

It was only in June, less than two months ago, that MDN brought you the news that it sure seems like Aubrey McClendon is building a new company that looks a lot like the first company he built, Chesapeake Energy (see Aubrey McClendon Gets Back into the Midstream Business). McClendon is not only high on Utica and Marcellus drilling with his newly formed American Energy Partners company, he’s also high on building the pipelines needed to conduct the gas out of the borehole. His new midstream division was set up to work on such projects. And less than two months later, we have the first of those projects. Yesterday McClendon’s new midstream division and Regency Energy Partners announced a joint venture to build the Utica Ohio River Project for $500 million…
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Summit Midstream 2Q14: Marcellus Rockets to #2 Operation

Summit Midstream is a Dallas, TX-based company with growing operations in the heart of the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Summit’s first foray into the Marcellus was when they purchased Mountaineer Midstream–a pipeline gathering system in Doddridge County, WV–from MarkWest back in June 2013 (see MarkWest Sells Doddridge County, WV Pipeline System to Raise Cash). Summit’s second foray, this time in the Utica, was last December when the company bought out Gulfstream’s interest in Ohio Gathering (see Summit Midstream Buys Gulfport’s Interest in Ohio Gathering). The revenue they’re generating from those purchases has helped improve Summit’s bottom line: earnings increased 30.5% over the same period last year…
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Sunoco Logistics Update on Mariner East Pipeline

On Wednesday midstream company Sunoco Logistics released their second quarter 2014 update. There’s essentially no discussion or reference to the Mariner East pipeline, which is currently bogged down in litigation and regulation (see Setback for Mariner East NGL Pipe – Judges Say Not Public Utility). However, in the follow up and ubiquitous analyst call that usually accompanies the release of these updates, Sunoco’s top management had quite a bit to say about Mariner East 1 and 2, as well as other projects in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Magnum Hunter Moving its HQ from Texas to…Texas?

Magnum Hunter Resources sold off its Eagle Ford (TX) assets in April 2013 and the drilling and midstream company has become laser focused on the Marcellus and Utica Shale region–in West Virginia and Ohio–since that time. They also maintain operations in the Bakken Shale of North Dakota and Canada, but the Marcellus/Utica is where they are focused. Magnum also has several divisions that concentrate their work in the northeast–GreenHunter Water, Triad Hunter, Eureka Hunter Pipeline, Alpha Hunter Drilling. Like many companies they have a list of subsidiaries a mile long (see the list below)–most of them either wholly or mostly concentrated in the northeast. So when Magnum Hunter decided it was time to move out of their Houston headquarters, where did they decide to move? Pittsburgh, PA? Charleston, WV? Columbus, OH? Nope. They’re moving to…
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