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Sunoco LP 3Q16: Mariner East 2 Delayed Due to Permits

Sunoco LogisticsIt was tough deciding on a headline for this post about Sunoco Logistics Partners third quarter 2016 update. In the end we opted to highlight the news that Mariner East 2–a $2.5 billion, 350-mile natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will run from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, carting ethane, butane and propane to the facility from both the Utica and Marcellus region–will be delayed nine months from the original plan due to permit delays. Which is frustrating and disappointing. However, other important news was shared during yesterday’s update. On the earnings call Sunoco LP’s top brass said even though the prices Marcellus and Utica drillers get for their NGLs (natural gas liquids) is lower in the northeast than if they can cart it to the Gulf Coast, when you factor in transportation costs to get product to the Gulf, drillers end up making MORE money by selling their NGLs in the northeast via Sunoco’s Marcus Hook facility–$0.10 to $0.20 per barrel more. At least, that’s the claim made by Sunoco LP’s CEO Michael Hennigan…
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Ascent Resources Sells Another 3.5 Billion Units for $787 Million

big-sale.jpgIn March of this year MDN reported that Ascent Resources–formerly Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners’ Utica Shale company–floated 2.2 billion common units (think shares of stock) to raise $500 million (see Ascent Resources Sells More of Company to Pay Down Debt). Ascent planned to use that money to pay off existing notes, or IOUs. The company is back again, this time selling ANOTHER 3.5 billion common units hoping to raise $787 million. And yes, much of it will be used to pay down outstanding debt. But the company also plans to use $175 million of the proceeds to fund their Utica drilling program in Ohio. According to Ascent CEO Jeff Fisher, with this round the company will have raised $1.5 billion in cash from selling off ownership of the company. Each time they float more units it further waters down the value of existing common units, i.e. makes each share less valuable. How many more units can they float without totally dilluting the value for existing owners?…
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NEXUS Tells Waterville: Ban Vote Meaningless, Still Building Pipe

meaninglessAs MDN previously reported, the dupes in Waterville, OH voted to pass a resolution on Tuesday that would block the construction of the NEXUS Pipeline, planned to go through city property (see Waterville, OH Passed NEXUS Pipeline Ban, Certain to Get Overturned). Apparently in order for the resolution to be officially in force, Waterville City Council will have to vote to ratify it. Whether City Council does or does not ratify it makes no difference to NEXUS–they will still build the pipeline anyway. Why? Because legally the city has NO SAY in whether or not the pipeline can be built. It is a federal project under the purview of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). A NEXUS official said the pipeline is on track to receive FERC approval by Nov. 30, and then a FERC certificate early next year. As soon as they have the certificate in hand, the Waterville resolution will be just a worthless piece of paper…
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Paid Protesters Turn up in Philly (Again) to Slam Oil Terminal Plan

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Philly Regional Port Auhtority – Click for larger version

Less than two dozen PAID global warming protesters from the odious Food & Water Watch and Philly Thrive groups convened yesterday in Philadelphia to (once again) rail against a plan by Philadelphia Energy Solutions to expand their operation at the Southport Marine site in Philadelphia by leasing an additional 200 acres. Believe it or not, a plan to lease the extra space has been going on for more than two years (see Marcellus Caught in Crossfire of Philly Port Leasing Controversy). That’s how long it takes to grease all of the corrupt Democrat hands in Philly to get anything done. As things have gotten closer to a signed lease, paid law-breaking protesters have shown up at the facility, periodically, as they did in July (see Group of Protesting/Ignorant Kids Briefly Block Philly Refinery). A teeny tiny group of paid protesters showed up again yesterday and the propagandists at StateImpact Pennsylvania (paid to trash oil and gas) were there to slavishly regurgitate the wackos’ rantings against fossil fuels…
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Who Won in Tuesday’s Election in PA, OH, WV? Shale Energy Won!

energy-voterYou know how Democrats in Pennsylvania vilified and viciously attacked pro-energy Republicans over the past two years, especially with regard to a severance tax. PA Gov. Tom Wolf has been one of the worst. The media in PA has stood behind Wolf and his calls to enact a Marcellus-killing, so-called severance tax, on top of the existing impact fee + corporate income tax which amounts to a rate higher than a severance tax in states like Texas. We were told, repeatedly, that Republicans blocking Wolf’s desire for a new tax (to pay back teachers’ unions) would be political death for the Republicans. The Republicans, most of whom have held firm and resisted such severance tax lunacy, have been called every name in the book and told “at the next election, you’re gone.” Guess what? After Tuesday’s elections, Republicans in PA now hold the LARGEST MAJORITIES in both the House and Senate than they have held IN DECADES! The voters in PA have spoken, and anti-fossil fuel numskulls have been drummed out of power. And not just in PA…
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Weatherford Fires CEO/Chairman, CFO Interim CEO

You-are-fired.jpgWeatherford International, the fourth largest oilfield services company in the world employing some 31,000 people (down from 44,000 a year ago) and with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region, is a company in trouble as we pointed out earlier this week (see Oilfield Srvs Co Weatherford in Financial Trouble). The company is faced with the unsavory choice of either having to do an “equity raise” (wiping out existing shareholders) or continuing to burn through the remaining cash it has and go belly up sometime next year. More earthquakes at Weatherford. On Wednesday the company fired its CEO/Chairman of the Board, Bernard Duroc-Danner, appointing the CFO as interim CEO…
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Army Corps of Engineers Turns Political in Dakota Access Fight

usaceWhat’s wrong with this AP story from yesterday: “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it’s trying to defuse tensions between Dakota Access pipeline protesters and law enforcement in southern North Dakota, but the pipeline’s developer isn’t cooperating. The agency released a statement late Wednesday imploring Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners to voluntarily stop work in the area where protests against the $3.8 billion pipeline have resulted in more than 400 arrests. The Corps made a similar plea last week, but was also rebuffed.” What’s wrong? It shows that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is no longer a group of engineers. It has been corrupted by the Obama Administration into a political agency. IT’S NOT THE JOB OF ENGINEERS TO WORRY ABOUT OR PLACATE PAID CRIMINALS “PROTESTING” THE DAKOTA PIPELINE! It is the job of law enforcement to deal with the out-of-control, paid criminals who have gathered in North Dakota. We call on Congress to immediately convene hearings into what in the world is going on inside the USACE–and to force them to shut up when it comes to criminal protesters and stick to engineering. We are VERY concerned that the USACE has compromised their role to the point that they should be removed from any kind of regulatory oversight of the Dakota Access project. To their credit, Energy Transfer Partners (building the pipeline) is not backing down and continues to build the pipeline, even in the face of the Obama politicized USACE…
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Turning NatGas into Food – For Animals AND Humans!

flatulence“Please pass the salt for my methane cheeseburger!” This story is one of those stories that makes us literally laugh out loud. It’s the kind of story we love to share–to push in the face of fossil fuel haters. (Sent to us by our faithful story-sniffing assistant, Chris Acker. Thanks Chris!) A California-based company, Calysta, has pioneered a way to convert methane (i.e. natural gas) into “high protein” food–for animals. Calysta is partnering with food-giant Cargill to build a big plant to manufacture this “gassy” food that will be fed to animals–animals that humans eat, like pigs. Calysta also wants to (one day) manufacture food from methane that humans will eat! The technology is already there and done. It’s just a matter of getting approvals and winning the public over to the idea that they’re eating food that started life as a dinosaur…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Nov 11, 2016

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: Northeast NGL production & takeaway capacity; energy companies ask, can’t we all just get along?; horizontal wells among highest-producing US wells; renewable energy will do just fine under President Trump; stick to your instincts on energy, Mr. Trump; what to watch in oil under a Trump presidency; ConocoPhillips selling $8B of natgas assets; EU tries to push Trump around; no letup in oil supplies says IEA; and more!
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