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First 5 Elba Island LNG Mini-Plants Now Online Exporting Marc Gas

Elba Express – how Marcellus gas gets to Elba Island

Last December the very first load of Marcellus molecules liquefied at the Elba Island, Georgia LNG export facility was loaded onto a ship and headed to Pakistan (see Elba Island Finally Exported First Marcellus LNG Cargo on Friday). Elba Island is a series of 10 small liquefaction units, and December’s cargo was from one (maybe two) of those units. Since that time the first four of Elba’s “mini-trains” have come online (see KM’s Elba Island LNG Makes Rapid Progress, Units 1-4 Now Online). You can now add a fifth train to that number.
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Ohio House Bill 55 Aims to Make Royalty Checks Understandable

Is history repeating itself? Ohio House Bill 55 would require certain pieces of information to be included on royalty statements landowners receive from Ohio drillers. Ohio State Rep. Jack Cera (Democrat from Bellaire) introduced HB 55 last year–for the third time since 2011. Like the two previous times, the bill is now mired in committee and doesn’t appear to be making any headway toward a vote. Let’s look at what information landowners receive now under existing law, and what details they would receive under this bill if passed.
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5 Yrs Later Williams, ET Still Arguing over Botched Merger

In 2015 Kelsy Warren and his Energy Transfer Equity (now just Energy Transfer) company pursued Williams, wanting to merge Williams into its own operation. Williams initially fought ET tooth and nail, but in the end, cut a deal (see Williams Accepts ETE’s “Indecent Proposal” – Price Went Down $10B). Without recounting all the sordid details, ET got cold feet and left Williams at the alter, and Williams sued (see Merger Turns Sour: Williams Sues ETE/CEO Kelcy Warren). The merger never happened. Believe it or not, lawsuits over that merger continue. ET says Williams CEO Alan Armstrong covertly worked to tank the deal. Williams says it was all ET’s fault and ET still owes it $410 million.
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Judge Rules Tug Hill Not on Hook to Buy Gulfport OH Marc. Assets

A kerfuffle between Gulfport Energy and Tug Hill Operating has been settled by a Texas judge. Gulfport and Tug Hill cut a deal in November 2018 for Tug Hill to purchase certain Marcellus shale assets in Ohio from Gulfport for $26 million. According to Gulfport, Tug Hill never sealed the deal and should be forced to complete it now. Tug Hill said Gulfport didn’t come through with necessary releases from third parties related to the deal, and therefore the deal is null and void. The judge agreed with Tug Hill.
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Shale Water Management in the M-U, Coming to Pittsburgh Mar 24-25

Water is the lifeblood of shale drilling. Water must get to the pad for use in drilling and fracking. But then, after the drilling is done and the well is connected, produced water continues to flow from the borehole for years to come. All that water must be managed. In the early days of Marcellus/Utica drilling every spare gallon of produced water got recycled for reuse drilling the next well. With a slowdown in new M-U drilling, produced water is piling up. What can be done to manage it? The 10th Annual Cost-Effective Shale Water Management Marcellus and Utica 2020 event, coming March 24-25 in Pittsburgh, has the answers.
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Columbia Selling Mass. Gas Utility Biz to Competitor Eversource

Columbia Gas of Massachusetts (NiSource) never quite recovered (reputationally) from a series of explosions in September 2018 that occurred with its local delivery pipelines north of Boston (see Local NatGas Pipes Explode Near Boston Killing 1, Injuring 25). The explosions and resulting fires tragically killed one teenager and injured 25 others. It left some 8,600 households and businesses without natural gas for months. Several class action lawsuits were filed against the company, which got settled last summer for $143 million (see Columbia Gas Pays $143M to Settle Lawsuit from Mass. Explosions). We have two big pieces of news about Columbia.
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1Q20 Saw Biggest Quarterly Drop in Oil Demand in History

IHS Markit employs more than 5,000 analysts, data scientists, financial experts and industry specialists. Their global information expertise spans numerous industries, including finance, energy, and transportation. Yesterday IHS Markit issued a bulletin to say its analysts expect when the tabulating is all done that world oil demand, due to fear over the COVID-19 coronavirus, fell by some 3.8 million barrels per day over the same quarter from 2019. That would be a new all-time, world record quarterly drop in oil demand. The previous record happened during the worldwide recession of 2009 when demand dropped 3.6 million bpd. Should we be worried that we are about to experience another worldwide recession?
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Mar 5, 2020

NATIONAL: Less petroleum and other liquids consumed in the U.S. is coming from refineries; Danly’s FERC nomination moves to full Senate over Democrats’ objections; US natural gas infrastructure investment increasingly risky; INTERNATIONAL: With oil prices down 20%, OPEC pushes for stability; PetroChina suspends some gas contracts as coronavirus hits demand.
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