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Equitrans Buys 2 Pipeline Systems in Marcellus/Utica for $1B

Equitrans Midstream, which used to be called EQT Midstream, yesterday announced they have cut their first big deal since separating from EQT last year. Equitrans is buying a 60% stake in Eureka Midstream, a 190-mile pipeline system in Ohio and West Virginia serving both the Marcellus and Utica, and a 100% stake in the tiny 15-mile Hornet Midstream, a gathering system in WV that connects to Eureka.
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WV Pipeline Co. Clipped for $3.7M for Overtime Violations

Witch hunts take a loooong time when it’s the U.S. government doing the hunting. We told you back in 2015 that the U.S. Dept. of Labor was unfairly targeting the Marcellus industry, looking at every time slip, to see if they could bag companies violating federal overtime regulations–not paying their workers overtime (see Labor Dept. Unfairly Targets Marcellus Industry in SWPA & WV).
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PA Floats Bill to Allow Shale Drilling to Span Multiple Units

Some Pennsylvania landowners have recently been approached by the companies they’re leased with, asking landowners to sign amended leases to allow cross-unit drilling. We personally know of one case in which a driller requested such an amendment in northeast PA. So it is with great interest we notice a new bill has been introduced in the PA House, specifically to allow cross-unit shale drilling.
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Moratorium on New Gas Hookups in Westchester County Begins Today

Today is the last day for customers who want to apply to be added to Consolidated Edison’s natural gas delivery system in Westchester County, NY to apply. There’s no guarantee if they do apply they’ll be accepted, but after today new applications to get gas service will automatically go on a waiting list. That is, the moratorium on new customers in Westchester essentially begins NOW, today–thanks to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s policies in prohibiting new natural gas pipelines.
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Analyzing the Court Decision that May Allow Constitution Pipeline

In February MDN told you about an important decision by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals that has the potential to override New York State and allow both the Constitution Pipeline and Northern Access Pipeline projects to get built (see Recent Fed Court Decision Gives NY Pipes Hope for Bypassing Cuomo). The Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC decision is still causing shock waves–especially among Big Green groups. We have some analysis below of that decision and how states like NY may now behave in light of the decision.
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Shell Plans to be World’s Biggest Electric Producer, Using NatGas

Here’s a mind-blower: Royal Dutch Shell is the world’s second largest oil producer (by market value). Yet a Shell official recently said his company wants to be “the largest electricity power company in the world in the early 2030s.” Within 15 years Shell wants to be THE world’s #1 electricity producer! And they plan to do it by using natural gas as the fuel to create all that electricity.
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Where Will New NatGas Demand Come From? Hint: Not Residential

A recent Bloomberg article got it wrong, as they typically do, with this headline: “Biggest Threat to Once-Prized Gas Is Getting Kicked Out of Homes.” Residential natural gas use has been relatively flat, for years. Yet natural gas demand has rocked upward, which begs the question–so who are the new customers using all that gas? MDN friend Jude Clemente has the answer…
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Energy Stories of Interest: Fri, Mar 15, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Women of Influence: Meet Laural Ziemba with Range Resources; Energy theorist touts benefits of fossil fuels; Auditor General DePasquale calls for state action on climate change, brace for new costs; Appalachia leads northeast power generation shift to gas; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Exxon thinks it can lower its Permian drilling costs to $15 a barrel; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas production hit a new record high in 2018; US LNG exports up on week to nine cargoes; Lower 48 working natural gas stocks hit a new record for largest weekly net withdrawals in March; Amazon has a cost-cutting plan for the boom-and-bust oil business, as rival tech giants target energy industry; ‘Smart’ rigs to digital retrofits: How oil and gas explorers are getting lean and fit; INTERNATIONAL: Making sense of Cheniere’s $18 billion LNG deal with China; Shipping companies banking on gas carriers as LNG demand grows.
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