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Ohio Approves 2 Utica-Fired Power Plants in Guernsey, Trumbull Counties

Last week the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) approved two new Utica-gas powered electric plants, and authorized the expansion of a third plant to a bigger size. The OPSB approved the Guernsey Power Station–a new Utica/Marcellus natural gas-fired electric generating plant proposed for (surprise!) Guernsey County, OH (see New Utica-Powered Electric Plant Proposed for Guernsey County, OH). OPSB also approved the Trumbull Energy Center project, a new plant proposed by Clean Energy Future for (surprise!) Trumbull County (see Details on Newly Announced Trumbull Energy Center Electric Plant). That second one may or may not sound familiar. Clean Energy is already building an electric generating plant in Trumbull County–in Lordstown, called the Lordstown Energy Center (see Lordstown Energy Center Breaks Ground on $890M Electric Plant). Clean Energy proposed building a second plant right next to the first one (see Details on Newly Announced Trumbull Energy Center Electric Plant). We suppose Clean Energy could have called the second plant Lordstown Energy Center II, but instead they elected to call it Trumbull Energy Center. Two plants, side by side, built by the same company–now approved by OPSB. The OPSB also approved a request by Clean Energy to expand the already-under-construction Lordstown plant, from 800 megawatts to 940 megawatts. Here’s the lowdown on what got approved, and where it’s all located…
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Rover Pipe Nearly Doubles Flow with Addition of Carroll, OH Compressor

Fire it up! On Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted Energy Transfer permission to fire up the three units that make up the Carroll County Compressor Station (called Compressor Station 1) that helps compress and flow natural gas through the mighty Rover Pipeline. According to the letter from FERC authorizing the startup of the compressor station, FERC is authorizing “partial” service to commence. Since ET wanted to start the station on Friday, we expect the plant is by now up and running. The effect will be dramatic. According to stats released by NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence), which has an excellent Rover Tracker application on their website (see Friday’s version here), Rover has been flowing around 680 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of Utica/Marcellus gas. With the addition of the Carroll County compressor station, that number will nearly double–to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Cool! Here’s the details of how Rover’s capacity just nearly doubled with the addition of a single compressor station…
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Antis Redux Court Strategy on Orange County, NY Gas Power Plant

Antis certainly learn from one another. If an anti-fossil fuel tactic works (in court) in one place, antis in other locations jump on it like white on rice. Ninny nanny antis in the Chenango Valley School District (suburb of Binghamton, NY) got their knickers in a twist when NG Advantage proposed building a “virtual pipeline” project about a mile from one of their schools. A virtual pipe is a compressor station that compresses gas from a pipeline (the Millennium in this case) and loads it onto specially fitted tanker trucks to haul the gas to industrial users. The school paid $40,000+ for an outside-the-area law firm, which sued and in a county-level court (called “Supreme Court” in quirky NY). The Big Money law firm won the case, convincing the judge to proclaim that the local planning board didn’t do a good enough job in considering NG’s application (see Judge Rules Against Broome Virtual Pipe, NG Advantage to Try Again). Hey, it worked in Broome County, NY, so the ninny nanny antis in Orange County, NY (close to New York City) thought they would give it a try. Competitive Power Ventures is in the midst of building a $900 million natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Wawayanda, Orange County. Early on local antis sued to stop the project, but a local judge threw out the case in 2015, clearing the way for construction (see Orange County, NY Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant OK’d by Judge). Antis next tried to deny a source of fuel for the plant. They were successful in pressuring New York’s corrupt governor, Andrew Cuomo, to instruct his corrupt Dept. of Environmental Conservation, to deny a permit for a 7.8 mile pipeline to feed the plant. Eventually, in an unprecedented (and embarrassing for NY) action, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission overruled the DEC to allow the pipeline to be built. So that avenue to stop the CPV electric plant bombed out for the antis. Back to square one. Antis are now suing the local planning board in Wawayanda, claiming they didn’t do a good enough job in reviewing the original application. Sound familiar? A court date is set for tomorrow in the case…
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Shell Files PA Application for Ethane Pipe to Feed Cracker Plant

Click to view a larger version of the map

Shell’s long-talked about ethane pipeline, called Falcon Pipeline, is finally official. That is, official in the sense that Shell filed an application with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection last week, looking for permission to build it. Brief history: In February 2016, MDN brought you exclusive news that Shell had begun approaching landowners in Beaver County to get them to sign easements for two ethane pipelines to feed the mighty cracker plant they plan to build in the county (see Exclusive: Shell Leasing Land for 2 Pipelines to PA Cracker Plant). At that time Shell had still not fully committed to building the cracker–something they finally did in June 2016 (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go!). NGI’s Shale Daily broke a story in August 2016 that shed new light on the project–news that Shell is working on a 94-mile ethane “pipeline system” with two “legs” to feed the cracker, confirming the tip we received in February (see Shell Working on 94-Mile Ethane Pipeline to Feed PA Cracker). As NGI reported at that time, the new ethane pipeline system has a name: the Falcon Ethane Pipeline System. In October 2016 Shell launched a binding open season for the Falcon pipeline (see Shell Launches Open Season for PA-WV-OH Falcon Ethane Pipeline). You might justifiably think that with open seasons and a scad of easements signed between landowners and Shell, that the project had already filed for permission to build. Not so. Last week Shell made it official by filing that paperwork–for the portion of the pipeline running through PA…
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We Now Know New Name for CONSOL’s Gas Unit Post-Split

CONSOL Energy, headquartered in Pittsburgh, began life as a coal company some 150 years ago. For the past half dozen years MDN has reported on CONSOL’s transformation from coal company to natural gas company. That transformation is now nearly complete. In July, CONSOL filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission that lays out a plan to split the company in two, into a coal company and a natural gas exploration and production company (see CONSOL Energy’s Split into 2 Companies Nearly Complete, New Name?). CONSOL the coal company will retain the CONSOL Energy name and get various coal mines and other coal-related assets. The CEO of the coal company will be Jimmy Brock. Meanwhile, CONSOL the natural gas driller will get a new name and retain the other assets. Nick DeIuliis will remain president and CEO of the natgas company. Current CONSOL shareholders will get shares in the separated coal company, as well as retain their shares in the gas company. While no specific date is given for the final split, the company remains committed to getting it done sometime by the end of this year. Oh, what’s the new name for the gas company? CNX Resources Corp.
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Pin Oak Energy’s Unique Strategy and PA Focus

MDN has run two stories about a new Marcellus/Utica drilling company called Pin Oak Energy Partners, one in August (see New Marcellus/Utica Driller Snaps Up Assets in OH, PA) and the other just last week (see Pin Oak Energy Snaps Up 4,300 Acres, 16 Wells from Seneca in NWPA). While Pin Oak is a “new” company, the people running it have been around. CEO Chris Halvorson says Pin Oak is comprised of folks who were formerly with AB Resources. You may recall that AB Resources built a position in the southwestern “core” of the Marcellus and sold out to Chevron several years ago. Pin Oak is “what’s next” for for the former AB folks. Their target: the Appalachian basin. However, they’re doing things differently than most others–zigging while everyone else zags. They like to pick up already-producing oil and gas wells instead of raw acreage. And they don’t take private equity money to fund their operations. They’re using cash from producing wells to help finance new drilling. How about that? Someone that wants to “pay as you go.” That is unique! Here’s a closer look at Pin Oak’s aggressive strategy to expand quickly in north central and northwestern PA…
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Lewis County, WV: Pipelines, Drilling Elsewhere Boost Local Economy

Lewis County, WV is not the first county you think of when it comes to the Marcellus/Utica Shale. While Lewis shares a border with the highly drilled Doddridge County, there have been very few shale wells drilled in Lewis. Perhaps we should say there’s been very few permits to drill shale wells in Lewis–we’re not 100% sure if any wells have actually been drilled. But no matter. Lewis has, in the past, benefited greatly from the shale industry. A number of companies are located in Lewis that serve the shale industry, providing jobs for Lewis residents. And pipelines are scheduled to cut through the county–both the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the $3.5 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline. Those two projects alone have the potential to employ hundreds of Lewis County residents. A recent report from the WV Bureau of Business & Economic Research says some 2,000 Lewis County residents (16% of the working population) are employed by natural resources and mining. That number will grow 2% a year for the next five years. In other words, counties like Lewis don’t have to have shale wells drilled to see enormous economic benefits from the shale industry…
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Nuverra Roller Coaster Continues – Stock Listed on NYSE American

Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling. The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. In January 2016, the company, going through tough economic times, was de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange (see Nuverra Environmental Delisted from NYSE, Now a Penny Stock). In April of this year, Nuverra issued their full year 2016 update which showed a $169 million loss for the year (see Nuverra Environmental 2016 Update – Red Ink Slows, Some). And in May, the company filed for bankruptcy (see Nuverra Environmental Files for Chapter 11 Bankrutpcy). Three months later, Nuverra has emerged from bankruptcy with $70 million of new financing and magically dumping $500 million of debt (see Nuverra Environmental Exits Chapter 11, $500M Debt Magically Gone). Of course, there is no magic. Like others before them, Nuverra turned its creditors into owners, swapping out debt for ownership equity, thereby screwing existing shareholders–their shares become so watered down they are worthless. The roller coaster continues. Last Friday the company announced its stock would be redeemed from the Pink Sheets (as a penny stock) and will, once again, be traded on the NYSE American exchange–what used to be called the American Stock Exchange. No, it’s not total redemption of regaining it’s listing on the NYSE, but hey, it’s progress, and it’s an exit from the purgatory of the Pink Sheets…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 9, 2017

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: PA PUC earns high marks from the feds; 11 well permits issued in OH Utica; Cheniere’s Sabine Pass Train 4 gets green light; Permian associated gas is a party crasher; Sen. Inhofe holds up final 2 FERC nominees; Trump taps ex-lobbyist from EPA #2 job; dismantling Obama’s attempt to kill fossil fuels; the “Amazon effect” in oil; US CO2 emissions down in 2016; Fiat Chrysler CEO says pushing electric cars now will “endanger the planet”; and more!
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