Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | EQT Corp

Rice Boys’ First 100 Days at EQT – Where Do Things Stand?
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

Last Friday, Oct. 18, was the 100th day since Toby and Derek Rice took over the leadership at EQT, the country’s largest natural gas-producing company. The Rice boys won a proxy fight in July to elect a new board (and themselves) to lead the company (see Rice Bros. Win Proxy War to Control EQT – Toby Rice New CEO). Prior to winning, Toby Rice touted a “100-day plan” to turn the company around. How is that plan going?
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Bradford County | Energy Services | Eureka Resources | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

Eurkea Gets $1.5M Grant to Expand Lithium from Wastewater PA Plant
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

Eureka Resources, which owns and operates a centralized treatment/recycling facility in Bradford County, PA to process Marcellus watewater, is getting a $1.5 million state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Projects grant to help the plant launch a high tech solution to recover lithium from Marcellus wastewater. Yes, lithium, like that used to manufacture rechargeable batteries.
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Allegheny County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Intl Airport to Generate Electricity Using Shale Gas
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

In March 2018 MDN brought you the news that Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) was exploring the possibility of producing its own electricity (see Pittsburgh Airport Plans NatGas Microgrid to Attract New Business). You may recall that CONSOL Energy (now CNX Resources) previously drilled a bunch of wells on airport property and now produces a boatload of natgas every day. The plan would be to use some of that gas to power a microgrid to lower the cost of electricity at the airport complex–a complex where officials are attempting to attract businesses to locate. The possibility is becoming a reality.
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Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Another Small Mariner East Pipe Sinkhole Develops Near Philly
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

Sinkhole develops near soccer field (Credit: Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety)

Another sinkhole developed last Friday near Philadelphia related to underground drilling done to install the Mariner East 2 pipeline. The new sinkhole developed in Middletown Township (Delaware County), in Sleighton Park. Fortunately this latest hole was only about 18 inches in diameter, which is much better than a 15×15 foot hole that developed in September, also in Middletown Township (see Another Mariner East 2 Pipe Sinkhole Opens in Delaware County). However, the 18-inch hole fanned out to four feet wide and 30 feet deep underground. Sunoco immediately filled it with “flowable fill” (i.e. concrete)–to the tune of 48 yards of material.
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Empire Pipeline | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Erie County | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources

NFG’s New CEO David Bauer Schools Reporter on Benefits of NatGas
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

NFG’s new CEO David Bauer

Last week National Fuel Gas Company’s new CEO David Bauer, who just took the reins of the company from the previous CEO Ronald Tanski in July (see NFG CEO Tanski Retiring in July, Replacement Named), attended a luncheon in Erie, PA. He spoke to a local reporter to answer questions about NFG and the industry at large. Although NFG is a large utility company, it also owns Seneca Resources, a shale driller, and Empire Pipeline. The conversation with the reporter mostly centered on shale questions.
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Industrywide Issues | Storage

NatGas in Storage Goes Above 5-Yr Average Pressuring Prices Lower
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

click for larger version

Storage isn’t as sexy as “fracking” when talking about the natural gas industry. But storage, the amount of gas stored during summer months for use during winter months, is a closely watched number. Last year storage numbers ran below the 5-year average (see EIA: Underground Natural Gas Storage Declined in 2018). If there’s less of a commodity (like natgas) available, given the same or increasing demand, prices will go up. Prices didn’t really go up all that much over the last year because, as we’ve pointed out, the ability of drillers to quickly open the spigots any time they want and let it flow is now a new kind of “storage” (see Utilities Now Depend More on Pipelines, Less on NatGas Storage).
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Duke Energy | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues

Duke Energy Plans Lots of New Gas-Fired Plants in NC/SC/Elsewhere
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

Duke Energy loves natural gas-fired electric plants. Duke plans to build up to 4.7 gigawatts (GW) of new natural gas electric capacity in North and South Carolina between 2029 and 2034. In Florida, Duke plans to increase the amount of gas in its electric generation mix to 77% in 2027, up from 64% in 2017. And in Indiana, Duke wants to build a new natural gas plant in 2028, and another in 2034. Duke’s VP of state energy policy, Diane Denton, recently sang the praises of natgas at an Energy Bar Association meeting–saying natural gas “is critical to decarbonization strategy.”
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Best of the Rest

Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Oct 21, 2019
October 21, 2019October 21, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: New York’s man-made natural-gas crisis; Groups vent concerns about RestorePa plan; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Alliant plant near completion in town of Beloit; NATIONAL: New name, same story from Baker Hughes: U.S. rig count down again; Trump nominates Dan Brouillette to replace Energy Secretary Rick Perry; Big U.S. liquefied natgas players move fast; smaller ones try to keep up; INTERNATIONAL: China is the world’s largest oil & gas importer.
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