Cabot to Double PA Gas Production by 2019 – Without Constitution
It’s no secret that Marcellus and Utica drillers need new pipelines–and they need those pipelines urgently. Especially in Pennsylvania where lack of pipelines is keeping inventories high and prices for natural gas the lowest in the country. However, drillers must deal with reality as it is–today. Pipelines take time to build, and recent efforts to block pipelines are delaying important projects like the Constitution and PennEast pipeline projects. The good news is that some pipeline projects *are* being built in the northeast, some of which are almost done. Drillers like Range Resources are ramping up new drilling now, about six months in advance of when new pipelines are due to go online. That’s about how long it takes to put the pieces in motion. The other good news is that some drillers, like Cabot, are finding new markets that DON’T require new pipelines–like selling a tremendous volume of natgas to new gas-fired electric generating plants situated in close proximity to Cabot’s wells. Here’s an update on which drillers are picking up the pace with the prospect of new pipelines (or new nearby markets), and which drillers are waiting a little longer before they pick up the pace…
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While many drillers across the U.S. have cut their gas drilling programs back to the bare bone, even temporarily halting new drilling, two Marcellus/Utica drillers didn’t get the memo. CONSOL Energy and Rice Energy continued to break new records for natural gas production through the first six months of this year. Even though CONSOL and Rice may spend less and drill less than they previously did, natgas production from both companies continues to increase–due to new strategies, new efficiencies, and smart people. Here’s a peak behind the curtain at what CONSOL and Rice, both currently focused on the Utica Shale, are doing to boost production…
If you’ve read MDN for any length of time, you already know of the ongoing soap opera of corporate raiders attempting to pressure Williams, a huge pipeline company in the northeast (and in the rest of the country) into selling itself to Energy Transfer Equity–a deal that fell apart in June (see 
Imagine this: a backhoe sinks its bucket into the ground, scoops out some dirt, and the dirt is used to build a road. No big deal. Now imagine this, a very long drill goes down into the earth and digs out dirt. Because the dirt comes from deep down, some of it may be mixed with minerals not found near the surface, so a company processes the deep down dirt to remove any extra minerals, and the dirt is then essentially the same chemical composition as the dirt from near the surface–and it’s used to build a road. The dirt from deep down is called drill cuttings. Environmental Nazis repeat the magical incantation, “It’s been fracked!” and therefore they begin to hyperventilate that “fracked waste” is being used to build a road. Our example illustrates antis’ intellectual dishonesty about what drill cuttings are. When we spotted a story that a private hunting club in Lycoming County (Williamsport area) in PA will build a new road using processed drill cuttings, and the spin job done by the anti-drilling shills at the taxpayer-funded PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania, we had to laugh…
Listen up Ohio landowners and drillers: there are important new changes coming in the way oil and gas reserves are taxed, starting THIS YEAR. One such change: tax bills will now only be issued to producers (i.e. drillers) and NOT to royalty interest holders (i.e. landowners). Therefore drillers will be responsible to collecting taxes owed by landowners. The new changes will “significantly change how the ad valorem tax is collected” and because of the changes, it will be “very important” for drillers to accurately report production volumes to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR). Here’s a rundown of the changes from the legal beagles at top energy law firm Vorys…
In June MDN reported on yet another new unlegislated law (called a “rule”) issued by the rogue federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that bans the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas drilling via public wastewater/sewage treatment plants (see 
Recently a group of 12 Pennsylvania state representatives held a hearing in Armstrong County, PA on the topic of separate regulations for PA’s small conventional vs large shale drillers. You may recall that new drilling rules from the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) have been approved for shale drillers, called Article 78a, but not for conventional drillers, called Article 78 (see 
PDC Energy, a driller in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Utica in Ohio, paused their Utica drilling program in 2015 (see 
Duke University, as MDN has chronicled, has a long history of pumping out faux research that bashes fracking and fossil fuels, “research” that’s bought-and-paid-for by the Park Foundation, one of Duke’s major contributors (see 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: The amazing Marcellus (& Permian); Cuomo’s crony solar project going down; rig count in PA highest since March; DEP appoints new regional director for NWPA; Duke-Piedmont deal almost done; natural gas recovery; fight ISIS by fracking; o&g states struggle with taxes during downturn; and more!