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Stone Energy Shuts in Most of their WV NatGas Production

Big-news.jpgThere is a direct connection between lack of pipeline takeaway capacity and drillers’ willingness to either drill more–or even continue producing–gas in the Marcellus/Utica. Although we’re pretty sure this has happened with other drillers, this is the first overt announcement we’ve seen (and hope it’s not a trend) that a sizable driller in the northeast is simply shutting in (stopping) production for a major portion of their operations. Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana and with a large regional office in Morgantown, WV, has just announced they are shutting in production for their Mary Field in West Virginia. Stone drills in two geographies: the Marcellus/Utica, and the Gulf of Mexico. The GOM appears to be their primary focus at the moment. Stone’s announcement, which to us is a pretty big deal, means they will simply stop producing 100-110 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) of natural gas in the western Wetzel County, WV area…
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WPX Plugging 9 Wells in Westmoreland County, PA

inside scoopMDN recently received a tip from a reader who said that WPX Energy, which has been exiting the Marcellus for more than year, is plugging and abandoning its wells in Cook Township (Westmoreland County), PA. We asked WPX about it and got the scoop about what’s happening with WPX in southwestern and central PA…
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PennEast Pipeline Files Official Application with FERC, Antis Mad

celebrateParty time! Yesterday PennEast Pipeline filed their full, official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to commence building their $1 billion, 118-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline that will deliver approximately 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Marcellus gas fields of northeastern PA to locations in southeastern PA and across the border to Trenton, NJ. The long-term benefits to the pipeline are many–lower natural gas and electricity costs for millions of consumers. In addition, during construction the pipeline will generate an estimated $1.6 billion of economic impact during design and construction alone, supporting approximately 12,160 jobs and an associated $740 million in wages. This is good news for all Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyites. Of course anti-fossil fuel nutters also issued an angry press release claiming the PennEast Pipeline will do “irreparable harm” if built…
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Riverkeeper/Others Demand PA Gov Wolf Stop All Fracking/Pipelines

we demandTHE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, and a bunch of her anti-fossil fuel pals delivered a letter on Wednesday to America’s most liberal governor, PA Gov. Tom Wolf, asking him to immediately suspend all further Marcellus drilling in the state and while he’s at it, stop building any new pipelines. They also “demand” (their words) that Wolf shut down his Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force which he created back in May (see Disaster on the Horizon: PA Gov Wolf Creates Pipeline Task Force). The letter states, “Our homes, neighborhoods, water, air, land, precious environment and the health and safety of our families are threatened by each new shale gas well drilled and fracked, each new mile of pipeline or pipeline expansion, each new compressor station, natural gas power plant, storage facility, LNG facility, or processing facility currently being proposed and built throughout the East Coast. Drilling and fracking operations in Pennsylvania and throughout the Marcellus Shale are driving that build-out of gas infrastructure.” These people are full of Barbara Streisand up to their eyeballs. Pathological liars. Below we have a press release from the so-called 115 organizations signing the letter along with a copy of the letter itself sent to Wolf…
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Quigley Faux Pas: DEP Already has Office of Environmental Justice

John Quigley
John Quigley

The PennFuture Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, may want to familiarize himself a little bit more with his own agency. It might save him some major embarrassments, like the following. Earlier this week Quigley, in an interview with the editorial board of the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter, said he is planning to create an office of “environmental justice” within the DEP and hire “the right individual” to advise him on policy (see PA DEP Sec. Quigley Wants to Create “Environmental Justice” Office). Uhhh…Sec. Quigley? The DEP already has such an office. It’s called the Environmental Justice Advisory Board (EJAB) and it’s been part of your department since 1999…
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New Study Evaluates Stressors on Streams from Shale Drilling

researchA new research paper has just been published that purports to evaluate potential “stressors” on streams from unconventional (i.e. shale) oil and gas drilling–including drilling in the Marcellus/Utica. The paper is titled “Stream Vulnerability to Widespread and Emergent Stressors: A Focus on Unconventional Oil and Gas” (full copy embedded below) and is written by a group of researchers from the University of Arkansas, University of Central Arkansas, University of Wyoming, Wilkes University, the U.S. Geological Survey and Waterborne Environmental Inc. In a cursory review the paper does indeed appear to be heavy on science and absent the usual political arguments. However, the one great negative for this paper is that it is published in the online “journal” PLOS ONE, a publication with very low academic standards and home to a number of previous “fracking will kill you” types of “research” papers (see Another Day, Another “Study” Saying Marcellus Kills Nature; and Study Tries to Link Marcellus Fracking to Low Birth Weight Babies; and New Study Claims Marcellus Drilling Causes Serious Health Issues). Previous junk science “studies” published on PLOS ONE cast doubt on this study, but we bring it to you so you can judge for yourself whether or not this latest research is credible and useful in guiding policy and regulatory decisions…
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Antero Completes Water Division Sale to Itself, Floats New Units

163435LOGOWhen you sell something to yourself, it doesn’t take nearly as long as selling it to someone else. One week ago MDN told you that Antero Resources (the drilling company) is selling their integrated water delivery business to Antero Midstream (subsidiary pipeline company) in what is called a “drop down” transaction (see Antero Sells Marcellus/Utica Water Business to Itself for $1.05B). Yesterday Antero announced the deal is now done. As part of the deal, Antero Midstream sold an additional 12.9 million units (think shares of stock) to investors, and issued 11 million units to parent company Antero Resources. Here’s the details on the deal and how it went down…
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Dominion Buying Up to $50M in Midstream Subsidiary

bundles of moneyDominion, one of the biggest utility companies in the Marcellus/Utica region, is going on a buying spree. The object of their desire? Their very own midstream (pipeline) company subsidiary, Dominion Midstream Partners. Dominion’s board has authorized the company to spend up to $50 million to buy units (think shares of stock) in their midstream subsidiary. Usually companies buy their own stock/units for two reasons: (1) because they believe it to be undervalued/a bargain (i.e. opportunism), or (2) to prop up the share price (i.e. defending their investment). Which one is this?…
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Magnum Hunter Gets New VP for Finance & Capital Markets

hiredMagnum Hunter Resources (MHR), a significant independent gas driller focused exclusively on the Marcellus/Utica region, continues to build out its executive team. In August MHR added a new Chief Operating Officer (see New COO for Magnum Hunter Raises a Few Interesting Questions). Yesterday the company announced they’ve hired a new vice president for finance and capital markets, Chris Hewitt…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Sep 25, 2015

best of the restThe “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: OH judge ruling Oct 2 on NEXUS; antis fighting OH EPA compressor station regs; Mass. AG still trying to stop NED pipeline; silly fractivist antics during Pope visit; El Niño a nightmare for gas producers; does OPEC have the last laugh; and more!
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