When people communicate, that’s a good thing. When a shale well “communicates” with nearby conventional wells, that’s a bad thing. And that’s what happened with a CNX Resources Utica well being fracked in Westmoreland County last week.
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Day: February 4, 2019
Recent Fed Court Decision Gives NY Pipes Hope for Bypassing Cuomo
A huge crack of sunshine has just shown through the court system with respect to pipeline projects. A case decided on Jan. 25 in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals which technically has nothing to do with either the Williams Constitution Pipeline project nor the National Fuel Gas Company Northern Access Pipeline project (both being blocked by New York State), may be the one court decision to break open the logjam and allow both projects to begin construction.
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Northern Access Pipe Gets 3-Year Extension to Build in NY
Speaking of National Fuel Gas Company’s Northern Access Pipeline project, NFG asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last November to extend the project timeline by an extra three years, to give them more time to fight with Cuomo in court and actually get the pipeline built once lawsuits from the state are exhausted (see NFG Asks FERC for Extra 3 Yrs to Build Northern Access Pipe in NY). Last Thursday FERC granted that request.
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NFG Qtly Update: PA Production Up 28%, 7 New Utica Wells Online
Last week National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Western New York State (operates drilling subsidiary Seneca Resources and pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline), issued its first quarter 2019–everyone else’s fourth quarter 2018–update. Via Seneca Resources, NFG drills wells in northcentral and northwestern PA. Via Empire Pipeline, they build and maintain hundreds of miles of pipelines.
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Dominion Delays Atlantic Coast Pipeline Again – 2018 Update
In November, Dominion Energy said that their 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) would be delayed, with a partial startup in 2019 and full startup for everything else in mid-2020 (see Dominion Energy 3Q18: Atlantic Coast Pipeline Delayed to 2020). The company also said the price tag had gone up from $6.5 to $7 billion. Strike all that. Last week Dominion said the startup will now be even later, and the cost even more.
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PA Chamber Files Brief in Martian School Court Case
The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry (PA Chamber) recently filed a brief in Commonwealth Court opposing THE Delaware Riverkeeper in a case that still has us angry and baffled. The case brought by Riverkeeper is clear across the state, hundreds of miles from the Delaware River Basin where Riverkeeper supposedly operates, and attempts to force a local municipality to adopt zoning ordinances it doesn’t want to adopt. And it involves Martians.
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MI NatGas Compressor Stn Fire Leads to GM, Ford Plant Closures
Last week a pipeline at a single Michigan compressor station caught fire and exploded (see Michigan NatGas Compressor Station Catches Fire, Explodes). That single compressor (single point of failure, as it turns out) is responsible for pumping natgas to two-thirds of Michigan residents, including all those big automobile assembly plants Michigan is famous for.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Feb 4, 2019
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: CNX scales back production growth and the market panics; Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf to unveil budget with familiar call for a tax on natural gas drillers, but with a twist; Chevron reports fourth quarter net income of $3.7 billion, annual earnings of $14.8 billion; Despite missing big fish, WV benefits from gas boom; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: King County Council approves 6-month moratorium on major fossil-fuel facilities; Bill seeks to curb flaring by charging taxes, royalties; NATIONAL: Brainwashing kids to take action on climate change; Shell buys charging company Greenlots as oil majors prep for rise of EVs; Green New Deal would be a giant leap on the road to serfdom; US midcon propane discounted to Gulf despite freeze; U.S. natural gas prices plummet, defy ‘polar vortex 2019’; Structural shifts propel U.S. gas demand; INTERNATIONAL: Breakneck LNG demand surge in China is history.
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