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PTT Global Ohio Cracker Grows to $10B Project w/New Partner

With much fanfare, yesterday a press event was held in Columbus, OH to make an official announcement of what we already know: that South Korea’s Daelim Chemical, a subsidiary of Daelim Industrial, is now a partner with PTT Global Chemical in the Belmont County ethane cracker project. We previously brought you that news on Feb. 1 (see PTT’s “Big Announcement” – Gets a New Partner for Belmont Cracker). OH Gov. John Kasich along with officials from PTT and Daelim held a presser yesterday to officially announce the partnership, but also to announce that PTT has pulled the trigger on buying more land for the project–a positive sign. There was also talk by all three that the size of the project has grown. Plans are now that the project will cost $7.5-$10 billion to build, and it will have the same daily capacity as the Shell cracker now under construction in PA–using up to 100,000 barrels of ethane per day to make ethylene (raw plastic). Disappointingly, there was no “final investment decision” (FID) announcement. However, Kasich said he is “very hopeful” all three will be back, soon, to make an FID announcement…
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Court Rejects NY DEC Attempt to Stop Short Power Plant Pipeline

Valley Lateral Pipeline map – click for larger version

The Andrew Cuomo-corrupted New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is now out of options in its quest to block a tiny, 7.8-mile pipeline that would connect the Millennium Pipeline to a gas-fired electric generating plant under construction in Orange County, NY. Yesterday the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition by the DEC asking the court to vacate two orders by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) allowing the pipeline to continue construction. Which means construction on the pipeline has restarted and will almost certainly be completed within a month. The plant the pipeline will feed, Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Valley Energy Center, is wrapping up construction. Recently antis had a cow when they saw steam coming from the plant, part of the commissioning process (see Antis Apoplectic at Sight of Steam Coming from NY Power Plant). Before the new plant can go online, it needs fuel, which is why the Millennium project is so important. Now that the 2nd Circuit has rejected its petition, the DEC says it is still “reviewing its options” with respect to “next steps.” Frankly, there are no options and no next steps. The Cuomo-corrupted DEC has lost…
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EIA Mar ’18 Drilling Report: Oil & Gas Output Hit New Records

Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR is the EIA’s best guess, based on expert data crunchers, as to how much each of the U.S.’s seven major shale plays will produce for both oil and natural gas in the coming month. The numbers continue to be mind-blowing–hitting new all-time highs that take your breath away. Last month EIA estimated the Marcellus/Utica (called Appalachia in the report) would produce a new high of 27.15 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of natural gas, which would be 321 million cubic feet (MMcf) (nearly 1/3 of a Bcf) higher than the month before. The actual number for February turned out to be 27.56. That is, EIA underestimated the number! This month, which is an estimate for all of March, EIA says M-U natgas production will go up ANOTHER 359 MMcf (over 1/3 of a Bcf)! The Permian, an oil play that produces “associated natural gas” along with oil, is estimated to go up another 233 MMcf/d. Yikes! The new total natgas production from all seven major shale plays is estimated to be 66.119 Bcf/d in March. Last year this time output was 55.2 Bcf/d. Mind blowing!…
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2 Major Investors in Caiman Energy II Looking to Cash Out

Caiman Energy II is an interesting midstream (pipeline & processing plant) company. Caiman is part of a spaghetti mix of intertwined midstream operators in the Marcellus/Utica. Caiman is related to (backed by) Williams, and Caiman is the operator of Blue Racer Midstream. In April 2012, Caiman sold their West Virginia assets (Caiman “I”) to Williams for $2.5 billion. These days, via Blue Racer, Caiman is focused on the Ohio Utica. The news that recently caught our eye is that two of the investors in Caiman Energy II are interested in selling their ownership stake. Not Williams, which remains the primary investor–but EnCap Flatorck Midstream and Oaktree Capital want out…
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Part of Jefferson Natl Forest Closed to Keep MVP Protesters Out

Last week MDN told you about a couple of rabid antis who climbed trees in Jefferson National Forest and have perched themselves in homemade tree stands in an attempt to block tree cutting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (see Radicals Go Up a Tree in Quest to Illegally Block MVP Construction). Time is ticking. Tree felling must happen by the end of March, or the builder (EQT Midstream) will need to wait until October to fell the trees due to a ban on cutting trees during “bat season” (don’t ask). The antis are still, literally, up a tree–still blocking tree cutting in the forest. Last week a judge issued a restraining order that instructs the tree sitters to come down. But they haven’t–not yet, anyway. Following the judge’s order, the U.S. Forest Service, in charge of Jefferson National Forest, issued an emergency closure order, closing the forest along the 3.5 miles of MVP’s path through the forest. The Forest Service is trying to prevent any more tree sitters from invading the forest and setting up what will no doubt be a police action to remove the demented tree sitters already up a tree…
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Witch Hunt Continues to Oust Wolf Aide Tied to Marcellus Industry

We’re in a position we don’t typically find ourselves in–defending a member of liberal Democrat PA Gov. Wolf’s staff. We don’t have much respect for Wolf and his administration, but sometimes there’s an injustice that simply can’t be ignored. We find this injustice particularly loathsome. A Big Green supporter and far-left radical environmentalist who lives in Chester County, PA, Caroline Hughes, filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission against PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s deputy chief of staff, Yesenia Bane, late last year (see Antis Target PA Gov Wolf Aide as Payback, Husband Works for EQT). The complaint is a ginned up allegation that Bane “was regularly involved in meetings and travel related to her husband’s natural gas industry clients.” The so-called evidence comes from a copy of Bane’s travel schedule in 2016, obtained by Big Green mouthpiece StateImpact Pennsylvania. Bane attended various shale meetings and conferences, on behalf of Gov. Wolf, and because she did so, Ms. Hughes would like to see Ms. Bane lose her job. Nice people those antis. The latest development is that the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission is officially investigating the matter, which tickles StateImpact PA pink…
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Study: Volcanic Ash Linked to Shale Oil & Gas

Did you know that once upon a time, around 100 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, that mom earth had no permanent polar ice caps, and that the amount of greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide, CO2) in the atmosphere was 10 times (i.e. 1000%) higher than it is today? And yet, somehow, life survived. Who knew? Contrary to the scaremongering balderdash being pedaled today, the amount of CO2 we humans pump in the atmosphere today by burning fossil fuels is puny compared to what volcanoes used to pump into the atmosphere eons ago. Humans today are pikers–bush league–compared to the volcanoes of old when it comes to warming up mother earth. That’s what we learned in reading a newly published study on the link between the formation of today’s shale oil and gas deposits and ash from long-ago volcanoes. “Nutrient-rich ash from an enormous flare-up of volcanic eruptions toward the end of the dinosaurs’ reign kicked off a chain of events that led to the formation of shale gas and oil fields from Texas to Montana.” So says “Volcanic ash as a driver of enhanced organic carbon burial in the Cretaceous”–a new study just published in the journal Nature
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Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Mar 13, 2018

The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Anti-pipe agenda in New England leads to higher costs, less reliability, Russian LNG; Tellurian to acquire 15 Tcf of gas for Driftwood LNG; Cheniere building 3rd berth for Sabine Pass LNG; the permanence of the Permian; Georgia fracking regs waiting for gov’s signature; former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson out as Secretary of State; is LNG the next world energy sector the U.S. will disrupt?; Mickey Mouse getting LNG powered cruise ships; natgas is the fossil fuel of choice; Canada to slap border tax on gas?; and more!
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