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PA DEP Clips Rice Midstream $1.5M for Pipe Problems in SWPA

Even though Rice Midstream doesn’t exist anymore, it can still be fined. Rice Midstream became part of EQT when EQT bought out and merged in Rice Energy in 2017. Last year EQT, under pressure from investors, split itself in two–into EQT (the driller) and Equitrans (nee EQT Midstream, the pipeline company). What was Rice Midstream is now part of Equitrans. Yesterday the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) levied a $1.5 million fine on Rice for work done in late 2017/early-to-mid 2018.
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Va. Water Control Board Shocks Antis re Vote on MVP Water Permit

Gloom, despair and agony on me. That’s how we would describe the reaction of fossil fuel haters who thought they had successfully bullied Virginia’s Water Control Board members into revoking a permit earlier granted to the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. But last week the Board voted to NOT revoke the previously issued permit. That sent the antis into despair…and into a rage.
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Still a Few “Tree Sitters” Left Blocking Section of MVP in Va.

We thought the tree sitting weirdos trying to block construction of Equitrans’ Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in Virginia had long returned to earth. The last of the sitters, at least in Franklin County, VA, came down last May (see Last MVP Tree Sitter in Franklin Co. Comes Down, Trees Cut). What we didn’t know is that there are at least two other sitters in Montgomery County, VA–one of whom has been up a tree for more than five months.
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OH/WV Buckeye XPress Pipe Project Moves to Front of FERC Queue

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In January 2017, TransCanada’s Columbia Pipeline subsidiary launched an open season for the Buckeye XPress (BXP) pipeline project (see Columbia Pipeline Launches Open Season for New M-U Project). BXP will expand service along the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline from Ohio (and PA and WV) to send even more Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf via the interconnection at Leach, Kentucky.
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NGL Energy Buys Northeast Propane Terminals from DCP Midstream

We spotted an interesting announcement from NGL Energy Partners that the company has just closed on the purchase of seven natural gas liquids terminals in the Eastern United States, purchased from DCP Midstream for an undisclosed amount. What’s interesting is that some of the terminals, most of them located in the Marcellus/Utica region, are capable of exports. NGL Energy says they plan to export butane from one of them. Might that be M-U butane?
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The Secret to Lowering Water Management Costs in the M-U

Water is expensive. Marcellus/Utica producers are spending millions of dollars on solutions to better handle water–the water they need for drilling and (perhaps more importantly) the produced water they must treat and/or dispose of. At the end of March, a group of M-U producers, regulators and other experts will gather in Pittsburgh to share their secrets to lowering the cost of water management. Should you be there too?
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Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Mar 5, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Denbury and Penn Virginia announce filing of definitive proxy materials; Epsilon announces voluntary delisting from TSX; DCNR Secretary continues to resist more drilling under (not on) PA state land; Methane migration, water chemistry changes are focus of shale gas webinar; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere takes over Corpus Christi LNG Train 1 control; NATIONAL: Hickenlooper up the middle; Green New Deal: Impossible (video); Chesapeake Energy Corporation: The thesis is playing out; U.S., China close in on trade deal; Senate bill to speed up LNG applications; INTERNATIONAL: Nuclear reactor restarts in Japan displacing LNG imports in 2019; Germany plans to directly regulate Russia-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
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