Cove Point LNG Now 67% Complete, Atlantic Coast Pipeline on Track
Last week utility and midstream giant Dominion issued their second quarter update and held an earnings/analyst call to discuss the update. Sometimes those earnings calls are a treasure trove of information you don’t see in the prepared quarterly update, especially in the unscripted Q&A that follows prepared remarks. Such was the case last week. Dominion’s CEO and President, Tom Farrell, along with other top brass from the company, offered up key insights into the Cove Point LNG export project, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, Blue Racer Midstream (a Dominion’s joint venture project), and the status of leased acreage for which the company owns Marcellus/Utica drilling rights. A smorgasbord of yummy updates! Here they are…
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Last month when Baker Hughes released their venerable rig count numbers, we cracked a smile that things are beginning to turn around with an increase in U.S. rig counts (see US Rig Count Up by 9 in June, Marcellus/Utica Holds Even at 36). This month we have a full-on smile. Baker Hughes released their July rig count numbers on Friday and the average number of rigs working in the U.S. was 449, up 32 from the 417 counted in June 2016. Cool! Was there also good cheer for the Marcellus/Utica? Er, well, maybe “no cheer” is the best way to put it. PA’s rig count went up by one in July, Ohio stayed the same, and West Virginia’s count went down by one. Once again in July we had a Marcellus/Utica rig count of 36, same as June and the same as May. Hey, at least it didn’t slide backward! That’s progress of a sort…
EXCO Resources, a Dallas, TX-based driller with drilling operations in Texas, North Louisiana and the Marcellus/Utica, has been inching toward bankruptcy. So far the company has stayed out of bankrutpcy and hopes they can continue to do so. Their strategy, as we reported in May, is to hire new board members and try to wiggle out of long-term pipeline contracts (see 
In July MDN told you about exciting new publicly-financed research at West Virginia University that finds waste from Marcellus/Utica drilling (“frack waste”) is not radioactive or hazardous (see 
Last week we pointed out the inconsistency of Donald Trump in his public comments during an interview in Denver on frack bans. Trump said he believes local municipalities and even states should be able to ban fracking if they don’t want it–even though he personally supports fracking (see 
Since we’re taking Donald Trump to task over his wrong-headed thinking on local frack bans, we’d like to be an equal opportunity basher. Hillary Clinton’s position on fracking is far worse than The Donald’s position. If Hill has her way, she’ll end the practice. Oh, not with an Executive Order banning fracking, as Crazy Bernie promised he would do if he got elected. No, Hill is promising to enact new regulations (either via Congress or via Executive Orders) so strict, that “By the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place.” Her words. Although Hillary is a known and proven liar, we happen to believe those words coming from her mouth. First up for Hill, “fix” the so-called “Halliburton loophole.” In 2005 Congress passed new environmental standards for the Safe Drinking Water Act (managed by the out-of-control Environmental Protection Agency) and chose not to include the oil and gas industry in those standards because the EPA has no right to regulate the oil & gas industry–only the states can regulate the o&g industry under the U.S. Constitution. The proper recognition of not expanding the EPA’s authority (illegally) somehow has been twisted into a “loophole” for the industry, and Halliburton’s name was applied to the loophole in an attempt to smear then-Vice President Dick Cheney, who was previously the CEO of Halliburton. Hillary has resurrected the same old Democrat lie and smear campaign from years gone by. She says if she becomes Prez (God forbid), she’ll jam the EPA right up the o&g industry’s….operations….as far as she can…
Last week MDN highlighted a survey from Evercore ISI looking at attitudes and behaviors of displaced workers in the oil and gas industry (see 
Kudos to EQT for being a good corporate citizen. EQT, through its charitable subsidiary the EQT Foundation, doled out $1.3 million to 43 non-profit organizations located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky during the first half of 2016. During one of the worst downturns in the oil and gas industry in a generation. The Foundation, established in 2003, has donated a cumulative $37 million since it was founded. Astonishing! Here is a partial list of the very-worthy organizations receiving money in 1H16…
Events related to drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling.