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    Exclusive: Huntley & Huntley Hires Big Fish to Expand Marc/Utica Program

    Chris Doyle
    Chris Doyle

    A small western Pennsylvania energy company, Huntley & Huntley, has just stepped up its game in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. MDN has exclusively learned that H&H has hired industry veteran M. Christopher Doyle to lead the development and expansion of H&H’s Marcellus and Utica Shale operation. Doyle was most recently executive VP of operations at Chesapeake Energy, where he was in charge of the Marcellus/Utica region for Chessy. He’s also an 18-year veteran of Anadarko Petroleum where, once again, he was in charge of the Marcellus/Utica region. H&H has hired themselves a VERY big fish, which can only mean one thing: H&H is planning a major expansion into the Marcellus/Utica. Here’s the background on Chris Doyle…
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    EQT Buying 62.5K “Core” WV Marcellus Acres from Statoil for $407M

    EQT logoEQT, a major Marcellus (and Utica) driller based in Pittsburgh, announced yesterday it has cut a deal to purchase all of Norwegian Statoil’s Marcellus assets in West Virginia. The deal will give EQT another 62,500 net acres and 50 million cubic feet per day (50 Mcf/d) of natgas production for $407 million. The acreage is located in Wetzel, Tyler and Harrison counties in WV. The deal includes 31 Marcellus wells and ~500 drilling locations. It bumps up EQT’s available drilling locations by a big 29% and shows the company’s continued commitment to the mighty Marcellus Shale. How will they finance it? EQT released another announcement yesterday that says they are floating 10.5 million shares of new stock, hoping to get $67 per share for a total of $700 million for this deal and for “other potential acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.” Statoil is retaining ownership of its shale assets in Ohio and (for now) it’s non-operated Marcellus assets–i.e. joint venture deals where Statoil owns a portion of the lease but doesn’t do the drilling…
    Read More “EQT Buying 62.5K “Core” WV Marcellus Acres from Statoil for $407M”

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    Updated Maps for the Utica Shale Play – from EIA

    UticaPlay_MajorFeatures
    Click for larger version

    The more you drill in a given shale play, the more you know about it based on the performance of the wells you’ve drilled. And so it is with the newest, youngest, and fastest-growing play in the U.S.–the Utica Shale. Aubrey McClendon (God rest his soul) once said the Utica Shale is “the biggest thing to hit Ohio since the plow.” He was right. But the Utica extends beyond Ohio into West Virginia, Pennsylvania and even into New York. Since active drilling began in the Utica in 2011, more than 1,700 shale wells have been drilled in the Utica/Point Pleasant layer. That gives us (and our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration) a lot of useful information. The EIA has just released a series of revised Utica Shale maps based on the data accumulated over the past five years. We have their updated maps and insights below…
    Read More “Updated Maps for the Utica Shale Play – from EIA”

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    Update on Spectra Pipeline Explosion Near Pittsburgh

    Spectra blazeYesterday MDN told you about the Texas Eastern Transmission Company (TETCO) pipeline explosion last Friday in Westmoreland County, PA (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes near Pittsburgh, Antis Celebrate). We still don’t know what caused the explosion. Spectra Energy, TETCO’s owner, is working with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to investigate the incident and several pipelines in the area back to service. Spectra shut down the flows of our pipelines in close proximity to the explosion “out of an abundance of caution.” The stoppage means about 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas is not going to New York and New England, causing a price spike in the region. One local homeowner was seriously burned and sent to the UPMC Mercy Hospital burn unit in Pittsburgh. His condition has been upgraded from critical to serious. Below is an update with the latest we can find about the explosion and aftermath…
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    Critical Project for Canadian LNG Exports Gets Favorable FERC Review

    map_atlantic_bridge_full
    Click for larger version

    Spectra Energy’s Atlantic Bridge project has just gotten an important “favorable” Environmental Assessment (EA) from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A favorable EA is a signal that FERC will, later this year, grant a full approval for the project. And that’s really good news for Canadian LNG export plants–and equally good news for Marcellus drillers. Here’s how this news all ties together. The Atlantic Bridge project is a series of upgrades to two different pipeline systems already in existence: the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) pipeline and the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (M&NE). The two pipelines will be connected along the coast of Massachusetts, near Boston. Thing is, right now the M&NE flow gas from north to south, from Canada to the U.S. Part of the Atlantic Bridge project is to make M&NE bidirectional, able to flow gas from south to north. The AGT will collect gas from the prolific Marcellus via a third Spectra-owned pipeline–the Texas Eastern Transmission Company (TETCO) pipeline–delivering Marcellus gas to New England. Yes, much/most of the gas will go to New England, but excess gas produced during periods of the year when not as much gas is used in New England will then be available to flow on up to Canada and to one of several new LNG export facilities either in planning or under construction. It all starts with a favorable EA…
    Read More “Critical Project for Canadian LNG Exports Gets Favorable FERC Review”

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    Another Baby Step in Fracking Ohio’s Wayne National Forest

    Wayne National Forest
    Wayne National Forest – click for larger image

    Wayne National Forest (WNF) is the only national forest in Ohio and portions of it are found in Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Lawrence, Perry, Scioto, Vinton, and Washington counties. WNF is a “patchwork” of public land scattered among private land. Some 60% of the mineral rights below WNF are privately owned. Those mineral rights owners have been denied the use of their property rights going on a decade. The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) controls drilling on federally-protected lands like WNF. Last November the BLM held a series of hearings about finally beginning to drill in WNF. In January we told you that the BLM is working on a draft Environmental Assessment for drilling in WNF (see Small Progress with Drilling in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest). The BLM is ready to share the draft EA and wants public input–which means we now take another baby step toward drilling in WNF. As we previously pointed out in January, the BLM has decided to wait on pursuing drilling in the “Athens Unit” until 2017. However, the BLM is taking the next step in the “Marietta Unit” now. The draft EA is for the Marietta Unit (full copy of the draft EA embedded below)…
    Read More “Another Baby Step in Fracking Ohio’s Wayne National Forest”

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    Leases Near Expiration for Many OH Utica Landowners – Tips for Re-Leasing

    lease agreementIt was four years ago last month that BP entered the Utica Shale in a big way by signing a lease with members of the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley (ALOV) group to lease 84,000 acres in Trumbull County, OH (see BP’s Big Utica Shale Deal, Leases 84K Acres in Ohio). BP and ALOV was all hush hush about the terms of the deal–but MDN found out and blabbed it to the world. Landowners got a $3,900 per acre signing bonus, and when/if their property is drilled, they would get a 17.5% royalty. When was the last time you heard about BP drilling a well? Yeah, us too. Like, never. Last year this time BP announced they were calling it quits in the Utica Shale (see BP Calls it Quits in the Utica Shale – Total Write-off). ALOV members were not the only group, or individuals, to sign leases 4+ years ago. There’s plenty more–and many of them never got drilled. So those 5-year leases are now coming up to expiration. What should landowners do? Re-sign with the same company? Try to renegotiate a new rate? Look for a different company to sign with? You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again from MDN: YOU NEED A LAWYER to review any such agreements. The legal beagles at Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell have just issued a memo with some great tips for landowners–things to mull over as you think about whether or not to re-lease, and if you do, under what conditions…
    Read More “Leases Near Expiration for Many OH Utica Landowners – Tips for Re-Leasing”

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    The Road Ahead for Baker Hughes – Post Halliburton Deal

    Baker Hughes logoYesterday MDN brought you the news that the Halliburton buyout of Baker Hughes is now officially dead (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). So what’s ahead for Baker Hughes? First up is that they will get a $3.5 billion (with a “b”) payment from Halliburton tomorrow. At least, they’re supposed to. Baker Hughes says they will use $1.5 billion of the money to buy back company stock, and the other $1 billion to pay off certain debts. The company will also “rationalize” (i.e. downsize/cut) certain segments of its business–like the onshore pressure pumping business. You have to wade through lots of euphemisms and management gobbledygook speak, but here’s the Baker Hughes “path to the future” statement they issued yesterday…
    Read More “The Road Ahead for Baker Hughes – Post Halliburton Deal”

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    Low Emissions Goals “Out of Reach” Without Shale & Nuclear Energy

    Bernie SandersCrazy Bernie Sanders believes that we can just stop fracking for oil and gas, and turn off our nuclear plants, and sing Kumbaya to each other and usher in the nirvana age of Bernie renewable energy. What a dope. The people who support him are bigger dopes (sorry if you’re a Bernie supporter–but you need to wise up, quick). Below is a column that points out that shale gas and nuclear are the PROVEN path to a lower carbon emissions future–not reverting back to the stone ages with everyone parking their cars and turning down the thermostat. Carbon emissions in the U.S. have gone down faster than anywhere else in the world–BEFORE Obama’s idiotic Clean Power Plan and BEFORE any of the draconian measures cooked up by the out-of-control federal Environmental Protection Agency. Why? Because of the dramatic increase in the use of shale gas to power energy plants. And because nuclear powers energy plants. Here’s the story Crazy Bernie doesn’t want you think about (thinking not a requirement to be a Bernie supporter)…
    Read More “Low Emissions Goals “Out of Reach” Without Shale & Nuclear Energy”

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    The Rolls-Royce of Fracking Technology

    Rolls-RoyceEPIX is on the way. What is it? A joint venture between Weir Oil & Gas, the world’s leading provider of upstream pressure pumping equipment, and Rolls-Royce Power Systems subsidiary MTU, a market leader in heavy-duty industrial power systems based on diesel and gas engines. EPIX will provide the drilling industry’s first integrated system for hydraulic fracturing. Here’s the low down on the Rolls-Royce of fracking…
    Read More “The Rolls-Royce of Fracking Technology”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 3, 2016

    best of the restThe “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Inside Climate News should be a RICO target; National Oilwell Varco cuts 6,000 jobs, closes 200 facilities; Clean Energy signs LNG deal with Hawaii Gas; Exxon Mobil reaches for the credit card; Enbridge considers dumping U.S. natgas business; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 3, 2016”