Marcellus Drilling News

Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | TC Energy/TransCanada | UGI Energy Services

TC Energy Sells Columbia Midstream M-U Assets to UGI for $1.28B
July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

Exactly three years ago, TransCanada Corporation (now renamed TC Energy) completed a deal to buy out and merge in Columbia Pipeline Group for $10 billion (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). Columbia (now TC Energy) owns significant assets in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday TC Energy announced it is selling some of those M-U assets to PA-based utility UGI for $1.275 billion.
Read More “TC Energy Sells Columbia Midstream M-U Assets to UGI for $1.28B”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

DC Court Allows NEXUS Case (to Emasculate FERC) to Proceed
July 3, 2019April 20, 2022

Yesterday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the court that handles challenges to regulatory agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), refused to toss out a case filed by the City of Oberlin, OH and a regional anti group (with the backing of Big Green lawyer$). The lawsuit challenges FERC’s approval of the NEXUS Pipeline project. Even though NEXUS is built and flowing, and even though Oberlin settled with NEXUS, meaning there is no longer a reason to sue, that doesn’t matter to antis. There’s a larger issue at play, and the D.C. Circuit played right into the hands of Big Green manipulators.
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Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines

Another Supreme Court “Quick Take” Eminent Domain Case – Using MVP
July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

Global warming fundamentalists certainly are a persistent lot. They can’t win elections, and they can’t force state or federal legislatures to pass laws banning pipelines (and shale drilling), so they do the next best thing. They twist our own court system against us in an attempt to block pipelines. Which has worked to some degree, at least in the northeast. The aim is to block all pipelines everywhere, eventually. Even in Texas. One of the ways antis attack the ability to build pipelines is by challenging what they pejoratively call “quick take” eminent domain–the right for a pipeline company to access and build a pipeline on property ahead of actually settling how much money the landowner will receive (in the case of landowners who refuse to negotiate).
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Rice Energy

Handicapping the EQT/Rice Proxy Fight – Does it Matter Who Wins?
July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

Photo credit: LA Times

Who’s winning the proxy war to control the board of EQT Corporation? According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the ultimate outcome doesn’t much matter, at least for investors. “Investors love a proxy fight,” begins the article. Why? Because the share price for the company’s stock almost always rises during a proxy fight. As for who has more momentum going into next week’s July 10 annual meeting, it’s hard to deny that the Rice brothers have the big mo. The #1 shareholder in EQT, T. Rowe Price (owns 10% of all EQT stock), along with two other “top 10” EQT shareholders, are backing the Rice plan.
Read More “Handicapping the EQT/Rice Proxy Fight – Does it Matter Who Wins?”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Rice Energy

EQT & Rice Trade Barbs Again, EQT Releases Refreshed Slide Deck
July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

Yesterday saw the latest round of shareholder letters from both sides in the proxy war to control the board of EQT Corporation–the largest natural gas producing company in the United States (not to mention they are focused 100% on the Marcellus/Utica). The Rice brothers, Toby and Derek, crowed about the fact the country’s most prominent shareholder advisory service, ISS, has sided with them, along with three of the top 10 EQT shareholders. EQT made the case that current management and the coming “refreshed” board mean that EQT is essentially a new company, and now is not the time to screw it up (our words, their sentiment).
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Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

Will EPA Allow Treated Frack Wastewater Disposal in Lakes, Rivers?
July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

In May the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a draft report titled “Study of Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management Under the Clean Water Act” (see EPA Draft Study re Disposing Frack Wastewater in Lakes, Rivers). The study examines the possibility of treating oil and gas wastewater and releasing the cleaned-up wastewater into lakes and rivers, instead of injecting it back down holes in the ground. EPA accepted public comments on the draft report until last Monday. The oil and gas industry provided comments last week supporting the plan to recycle and dispose of wastewater on the surface.
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

House Dems & RINOs Vote to Block Trump LNG by Rail Plan
July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

Rep. Bill Posey (RINO)

In April President Trump signed and issued an Executive Order (EO) directing the Secretary of Transportation to write a new rule allowing specially constructed tanker cars for railroads to ship LNG, i.e., liquefied natural gas (see Here Come the “Bomb Trains” – Trump to Allow LNG by Rail). The plan makes eminent good sense. Yet liberal Democrats and swamp-dwelling RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) who oppose anything Trump does, are actively opposing this plan. In fact, a Flordia RINO, Rep. Bill Posey, is bragging that with his help the House recently passed an amendment to a budget bill that will specifically disallow LNG tanker cars by rail. Disgusting.
Read More “House Dems & RINOs Vote to Block Trump LNG by Rail Plan”
Best of the Rest

Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jul 3, 2019
July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PA, NY, NJ shortchange Delaware River Basin Commission budget $1.1 million; Dear New Yorkers complaining about no gas; It’s your governor, stupid!!; Gas agreement readies Mahoning County, OH for next shale boom; Analysts say Philadelphia refinery, shut down after fire, unlikely to find a willing buyer; State regulators question Roanoke Gas Co.’s need for new pipeline; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere readies first cargo from Corpus Christi LNG Train 2; Building LNG-powered ships newest industry along U.S./Mexico border; NATIONAL: Lower 48 natural gas injections into underground storage fields have been on a record-setting pace; LNG exports will keep floor under US natural gas prices; INTERNATIONAL: Oil plunges in worst reaction to OPEC since 2014 on demand woes; Is this the beginning of the end for OPEC?; Russia and OPEC draw closer on oil, joining other producers to manage market.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jul 3, 2019”