| | |

Chevron Cuts Another 80 Jobs in M-U; Still Looking for Buyer

Last December Chevron announced it was writing down the value of its Marcellus/Utica assets and putting those assets up for sale (see Chevron Writes Down $5B+ in Marc/Utica Assets, Looks to Sell All). Prior to the pandemic lockdown, Chevron said it would begin cutting 320 jobs in the M-U beginning early April (see Chevron Cutting 320 Jobs in Marcellus/Utica Beginning April 6th). The cuts continue with another 80 employees getting a pink slip this week.
Continue reading

| | | | |

Mountain Valley Pipeline “Slips” in 3 West Virginia Locations

Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile Marcellus/Utica gas pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia, is 90% built and in the ground. The final 10% is waiting on various lawsuits and regulatory agencies to resolve outstanding issues brought on by radicalized green groups. One of the places the pipeline has long been done and in the ground is Lewis County, WV. It’s a mountainous area. Inspectors recently discovered there have been “slips” of the land resulting in “at least three locations” where MVP has shifted.
Continue reading

| | | | | | |

Workers Begin Returning to Shell Cracker Plant Construction Site

Add another 300 workers returned to work at the mighty Shell ethane cracker construction site in Beaver County, PA this past Monday. This follows the lifting of a ban on construction activities by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. With the extra 300 workers back on the job, some 800 workers are now active at the site, just 10% of the 8,000 working on-site prior to the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
Continue reading

| | | | |

NTSB Investigates Exploded TETCO Pipe in KY; Gas Flows Rerouted

On Tuesday MDN told you that the Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) pipeline running through Kentucky had exploded for a second time in a year (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes in Kentucky…Again). While the owner (Enbridge) still has not said much, they did say the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has taken over the investigation into what happened and why. NGI is reporting “much” of the gas flowing through TETCO in the region has been rerouted.
Continue reading

| | | |

58 PA House Members – Repubs & Dems – Ask Wolf to Stop Carbon Tax

We previously told you about Gov. Wolf’s executive order (EO) to force Pennsylvania to join with northeastern states in the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional alliance to slap a carbon tax on coal and natural gas-fired electric plants in order to force them out of business (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO Destroying Gas-Fired Elec, Carbon Tax). Eighteen PA State Senators sent a letter to Wolf on April 21 asking him to withdraw his EO (see 18 PA Republican Senators Ask Gov. Wolf to Cancel Carbon Tax Plan). On Tuesday a group of 58 House members, including 10 Democrats, sent a similar letter to Wolf requesting the same thing.
Continue reading

| | |

Halliburton Lays Off 1,000 Workers at Houston, TX HQ

In mid-March as the twin blows of the coronavirus pandemic and the Saudis and Russians decided to tank oil prices, Halliburton, the second-largest oilfield services company on the planet, announced it would furlough 3,500 workers for 60 days (see Oil Price War: Halliburton Furloughs 3,500 in Houston). Now comes word the company is laying off an additional 1,000 workers at company headquarters in Houston, Texas.
Continue reading

|

Enverus Says We’re “Seeing the Bottom” of Oil & Gas Price Crash

Enverus (formerly Drillinginfo) is a leading data, software and insights company that provides information to upstream, midstream, and downstream companies. Enverus experts have just published an “Oil and Gas Fundamentals Update” featuring the impacts of COVID-19. VP of Strategic Analytics for Enverus, Bernadette Johnson, says “there will still be more painful announcements, but we are seeing the bottom” of the current oil and gas price crash. It will be painful and slow, but we now begin to crawl back up out of the hole we are in.
Continue reading

Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, May 7, 2020

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Daily electricity demand in New York falls about 13% after COVID-19 mitigation efforts; New York City climate push; Pandemic hurts Marathon Petroleum; NATIONAL: Fringe Dems want to punish oil and gas workers during pandemic; States ask Trump administration to pay laid off oil workers to plug abandoned wells; The shale basins that have been hit hardest by the oil price crash; Shale drillers risk relapse into rampant oil output at $30 crude; Why eco-warriors’ bid to ban natural gas appliances is wrongheaded; INTERNATIONAL: Is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a vital ally?
Continue reading