EQT Corp

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    Mountain Valley Pipeline Final Enviro Impact Statement Due Today

    The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a $3.5 billion, 303-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. The project, which filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October 2015, is being built by EQT, NextEra Energy and several other partners. The project has faced stiff opposition from landowners in both West Virginia and Virginia. Although the project is not yet fully approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the project did get a favorable Draft Environmental Impact Statement from FERC last September (see FERC Gives WV to VA Mountain Valley Pipeline Provisional Thumbs Up). MVP had wanted a final Environmental Impact Statement by March 10th, but that didn’t happen. Instead, FERC delayed a final EIS until today, June 23rd. What happens after MVP gets a (presumably) favorable final EIS? Right now FERC doesn’t have a quorum of commissioners who can vote to allow construction to begin. However, the hope around Washington, DC is that the Senate will take a final vote on two new commissioners before the July 4th holiday. If that happens, FERC may well vote to allow MVP to begin at any time following a quorum…
    Read More “Mountain Valley Pipeline Final Enviro Impact Statement Due Today”

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    More Details on EQT/Rice Merger – Who Stays & Who Goes?

    On Monday EQT announced what is some of the biggest news MDN has covered in the past few years: EQT is buying Rice Energy (see EQT Buys Rice Energy in $8.2B Deal, Becomes #1 Gas Producer in US). The resulting merger, which will be completed later this year (if regulators and shareholders approve), will result in the country’s largest natural gas-producing company, eclipsing Exxon Mobil and Chesapeake Energy. Yesterday we brought you the initial details of the deal, along with some early analysis and reaction by analysts. Today we dig deeper. Rice Energy filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining the deal and its components–a 171-page document! No, we haven’t read the whole thing. However, the Pittsburgh Business Times apparently has, and they’ve come up with “seven things you should know” about the deal. One of the things the PBT found in the Form 8-K are details about non-compete clauses for Rice Energy’s top management. What it indicates to us is that the Rice boys and a few others at the top are getting golden parachutes and will leave the company when it merges with EQT…
    Read More “More Details on EQT/Rice Merger – Who Stays & Who Goes?”

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    EQT Buys Rice Energy in $8.2B Deal, Becomes #1 Gas Producer in US

    Move over Exxon Mobil and Chesapeake Energy. There’s now (or soon will be, when the transaction is complete) a new #1 natural gas producer in the United States: EQT. In a deal you’ve no doubt heard about from multiple sources by now (because the news broke yesterday, just after MDN published for the day), EQT and Rice Energy announced that EQT will purchase Rice Energy, lock, stock and barrel, for $6.7 billion in cash and stock, and assume $1.5 billion in debt, for a total deal price of $8.2 billion. Along with 187,000 net acres in the PA Marcellus, and 65,000 net acres in the OH Utica Shale, EQT will get 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of Rice Energy natural gas production. When added to its own prodigious production (EQT was already one of the biggest and brightest shale companies), the combined output for the newly merged company will eclipse #2 Exxon and #3 Chesapeake Energy’s output to become the largest natural gas producing company in the country. Wow! Rice’s midstream (i.e. pipeline) assets are part of the deal. If you peg the midstream part of the deal at $1.8 billion, which some analysts say is the right number, and then calculate the per acre price of the deal, it works out to be around $9,900 per acre. Below we have the EQT/Rice announcement, the PowerPoint slide deck they used for a conference call held yesterday, and plenty of analysis about the deal–why it happened, and why now…
    Read More “EQT Buys Rice Energy in $8.2B Deal, Becomes #1 Gas Producer in US”

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    Top 10 Natural Gas Producers in the U.S., Post-EQT/Rice Merger

    As we were reading about yesterday’s big news of EQT buying Rice Energy, we came across a couple of lists (same list, different sources) listing the top 10 natural gas-producing companies in the United States. The list was reworked to show that the combination of EQT and Rice will create the #1 largest natural gas-producing company in the country. An astonishing feat. But what caught our eye in looking over the “top 10” list was just how many of the companies in that list have operations in the Marcellus/Utica. At one time or another, all 10 of the top 10 owned leases and/or drilled in the Marcellus/Utica. By our count, 8 of the top 10 still do. You already know that EQT/Rice will become the #1 producer. But who is #2, and #3? And what about the rest of the list? We have it for you below…
    Read More “Top 10 Natural Gas Producers in the U.S., Post-EQT/Rice Merger”

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    Radicals File Lawsuit Against WV DEP for Approving MV Pipeline

    A group of profoundly radical “environmental” organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last Friday against the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection–for doing their job. Sierra Club, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Indian Creek Watershed Association, Appalachian Voices and Chesapeake Climate Action Network has sued the DEP because the department had the audacity to conduct a very thorough review, and then issue a stream and water-crossing permit (demanded under federal law) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). MVP is a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. The project, which filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October 2015, is being built by EQT, NextEra Energy and several other partners. This is now SOP–standard operating procedure–for Big Green groups with deep pockets. Sue and keep suing in an attempt to slow and eventually kill off any project that remotely involves fossil fuels. Yes, they are RADICAL, they are EXTREME, waaaaaay outside the mainstream of American society. And they MUST BE STOPPED. When will someone launch weekly lawsuits against these Big Green organizations? Here’s the latest maddening development…
    Read More “Radicals File Lawsuit Against WV DEP for Approving MV Pipeline”

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    Is Virginia Governor Race a ‘Referendum on Pipelines’?

    Will Virginia in the south become what New York is in the north: a block to Marcellus/Utica gas leaving the region? Perhaps. At least, that’s what radical environmentalists are hoping is what happens. On June 13 Virginia will hold a primary. We recently wrote about its importance (see Fate of 2 Important Pipelines May Rest in Virginia Governor Race). Former Congressman Tom Perriello (far-left Democrat) says he’ll block both the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the $3.5 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline if he wins the primary and the general election. He may well win it. Antis are positioning this primary and the election as “a referendum on pipelines.” The brutal truth is that most people in the Old Dominion could care less about pipelines. It is only a small cadre of gentry-class horse farmers and radical anti-fossil fuelers who oppose the pipeline projects. But if you read local news, you wouldn’t know that. We’d like to say, “Hey, it doesn’t matter who wins, the law is the law and a governor can’t stop a federal pipeline project.” But then, we’re from New York where that is exactly what has happened! At least so far. Both the Constitution Pipeline (Williams) and the Northern Access Pipeline (National Fuel Gas Company) have been blocked by Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo for political reasons. Both pipelines have taken the state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation to court, where it’s quite possible, even likely, the state will lose. However, nothing is 100% certain–and because of Cuomo’s actions, both pipelines are now years delayed. Our concern is that a major delay may happen in Virginia too, if the state elects someone like Perriello…
    Read More “Is Virginia Governor Race a ‘Referendum on Pipelines’?”

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    WV Drillers & Landowners Want New Law re Post-Production Issue

    Earlier this week MDN reported on the recent West Virginia Supreme Court decision to reverse it’s earlier decision and allow EQT (and by extension, other drillers) to deduct some post-production expenses from royalties paid to landowners (see WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK). The Leggett v. EQT case turned on the meaning of three short words: “at the wellhead” (see WV Supreme Court Post-Production Royalty Case Hinges on 3 Words). This latest final final decision must be the…well…final decision, right? Not so fast. There is another Supreme Court case from 2006, Tawney v. Columbia Natural Resources, which also dealt with post-production expenses and found drillers do not have the right to deduct them from royalties. But there are differences. “Leggett deals with the statute on royalties, while Tawney is about lease contracts.” It’s a pretty safe bet that a new case will be filed challenging Tawney in light of the Leggett decision. All of this back and forth in the courts is unsettling for both drillers and landowners. Both sides are in agreement about one thing: They both want the WV legislature to pass a new law clarifying the issue of post-production deductions…
    Read More “WV Drillers & Landowners Want New Law re Post-Production Issue”

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    PA Hearing Board Reduces EQT Fine from $4.5M to $1.1M

    In October 2014, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Marcellus driller EQT a whopping $4.53 million for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County, PA (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). While EQT did not say there wasn’t a problem with leaks at the site, they did say the way the DEP calculated the fine is unreasonable and arbitrary. EQT appealed the fine and the case all the way to the PA Supreme Court. In December 2015, the high court handed EQT a “procedural victory” by saying EQT has a point about the manner in which the DEP is calculating the fine (see PA Supreme Court Gives EQT “Procedural Victory” in $4.5M Fine Case). The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court, PA Commonwealth Court, for follow up work, and in January 2017, a three-judge panel ruled that the method the DEP currently uses to assess fines–by how many days pollution lingers, instead of by how many days the initial release of pollution lasted–is not legal nor common sense (see EQT Wins Court Case Against PA DEP re $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine). The judges said such a method in fining, “would result in potentially limitless continuing violations.” Under the old way of calculating fines, the DEP was considering upping the fine on EQT to an insane $157 million. Calculating it under the new way will mean a fine of around $120,000. We thought with that ruling it was all done and dusted. Not so. The soap opera continued when the DEP appealed the Commonwealth Court panel’s ruling back up to the PA Supreme Court where the Supremes will consider it all over again (see DEP Appeals $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine Against EQT to Supremes). Into this mess, let’s now throw in another wrinkle. While the courts have been grappling with issues of procedure and whether or not the DEP can assess fines the way it claims it can (that is, Constitutional issues), at the same time the matter was brought up before the PA Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a sort of quasi-court set up to hear appeals of decisions made by DEP. The EHB has decided to adjust the fine down significantly–from the DEP’s initial levy of $4.53 million down to $1.1 million. Here was their reasoning… Read More “PA Hearing Board Reduces EQT Fine from $4.5M to $1.1M”

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    WV Supreme Court Justice: EQT Royalty Ruling “Legal Sophistry”

    Last December the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled in a case to disallow Marcellus driller EQT from deducting post-production expenses from royalty checks, even with signed contracts in place (see WV Supreme Court Rules EQT Can’t Deduct P-P Costs from Royalties). The justices, in their ruling, said that drillers can “not deduct from that (royalty) amount any expenses that have been incurred in gathering, transporting or treating the oil or gas after it has been initially extracted, any sums attributable to a loss or beneficial use of volume beyond that initially measured or any other costs that may be characterized as post-production.” Last week, just five months later, four of five justices (including a newly elected judge) reversed their December decision (see WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK). The lone judge voting against the decision was Robin Jean Davis. Yesterday she released her dissenting opinion. In very strong language, Judge Davis said the court’s other four members “used legal sophistry” to prop up their decision, and that “the majority opinion is simply wrong.” Here’s what else Judge Davis had to say… Read More “WV Supreme Court Justice: EQT Royalty Ruling “Legal Sophistry””

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    WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK

    In a decision that will thrill drillers, but anger landowners, the West Virginia Supreme Court decided last week to overturn its own previous decision (from just last December) and allow driller EQT to deduct post-production expenses from royalty payments. Last December MDN reported on the huge West Virginia Supreme Court decision against driller EQT that disallows EQT from deducting post-production expenses from royalty checks, even with signed contracts in place (see WV Supreme Court Rules EQT Can’t Deduct P-P Costs from Royalties). The justices, in their ruling, said that drillers can “not deduct from that (royalty) amount any expenses that have been incurred in gathering, transporting or treating the oil or gas after it has been initially extracted, any sums attributable to a loss or beneficial use of volume beyond that initially measured or any other costs that may be characterized as post-production.” A really big deal. Then in February, with a brand new justice on the bench, the WV Supreme Court agreed to rehear the case after an appeal filed by EQT–a rare and unusual step (see EQT Catches Big Break in WV Supreme Court re Royalty Deductions). Those who won the case say newly elected Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth D. Walker has conflicts of interest and should not have been allowed to vote to rehear the case in the first place (which she did). On that basis, they tried to avoid the rehearing altogether, but that failed, and lawyers were in court arguing the case earlier this month. As it turns out, the lawyers mainly argued over the meaning of three short words: “at the wellhead” (see WV Supreme Court Post-Production Royalty Case Hinges on 3 Words). On Friday, the justices reversed their earlier decision, voting 4-1 in favor of allowing EQT to deduct “reasonable” post-production expenses (copy of the decision below). Newly elected Justice Beth Walker, with (according to the other side) conflicts of interest, voted in favor of EQT. This has BIG implications for landowners and drillers in the Mountain State… Read More “WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK”

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    Peters Township Votes to Allow Fracking Under Town Property

    Peters Township, the most populous township in Washington County, PA, is one of the seven selfish towns that sued the state in 2012 over the zoning provisions in the then-new Act 13 law, eventually winning at the PA Supreme Court level (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). The Act 13 victory gave townships like Peters the right to pass local zoning ordinances that restrict, but don’t outright ban, Marcellus/Utica drilling. Peters has been adept at using the victory to keep a defacto ban in place by “studying” the issue to death (see Peters Twp, PA Pretends to Debate Ordinance to Allow Drilling and Peters Twp, PA Continues to Delay Drilling by “Studying” It). Sooner or later you have to come down on one side or the other, and last September Peters decided to screw Marcellus drillers. Town council passed a new drilling ordinance (4-2) that says drilling is ONLY allowed in areas zoned for industrial uses, which rules out areas zoned for agricultural uses, where most drilling happens (see Peters Twp Gives the Middle Finger to Drillers One Final Time). Even the theoretical drilling that would happen in industrial areas, a grand total of 138 acres in the township, will have to be a “conditional use” with loads of permits and reviews. So we found it quite ironic that Peters Township Council threw their lordly “principles” right out the window last Tuesday when they voted (5-2) to give EQT a five-year lease on some of the township’s own land–for a signing bonus of $4,750 per acre, with 18% royalties–something they’ve denied every other landowner in the township…
    Read More “Peters Township Votes to Allow Fracking Under Town Property”

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    PA Appeals Court Clears Way for EQT to Drill Jefferson Hills Well

    In December 2015 MDN told you about EQT’s application to drill a single shale well in Jefferson Hills (Allegheny County), PA (see Jefferson Hills, PA Antis Oppose EQT Well Near Future School Site). The well would be drilled “near” where a new school is due to be built, which provided anti-fossil fuelers with an excuse to oppose the project. As part of the a conditional use permit, EQT agreed to (a) not use Borough roads during construction, (b) use a pipeline from a local water company instead of trucks for the water needed to drill and frack, greatly reducing the amount of truck traffic, (c) pledged the project would not impact local streams and wetlands, (d) comply with local lighting regulations, and (e) install sound walls if needed. In other words, EQT bent backwards, forwards, sideways, jump through numerous hoops and turned itself inside out to comply with requests from the town. The Borough Planning Commission unanimously approved the conditional use permit request. But then the town, bowing to pressure from local antis, rejected the request in December 2015, saying the proposed project would endanger local health and the environment. In other words, they had no basis for rejecting the permit. EQT sued and won in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in June 2016. Jefferson Hills appealed and last week, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the EQT verdict saying the town arbitrarily rejected the permit and EQT should be allowed to drill…
    Read More “PA Appeals Court Clears Way for EQT to Drill Jefferson Hills Well”

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    Frack Crew Shortage Hits Nationwide, Including the Marcellus

    Once upon a time (in 2013), the oil and gas industry was expanding so rapidly that in places like North Dakota workers at the local McDonalds were getting a singing bonus and making $20/hour. No lie. Workers on drilling rigs and frack crews were paid a premium to keep working. But we became victims of our own success. So much oil and natural gas was produced, the market became saturated and prices crashed. And along with the price crash, rigs were idled and workers were laid off–in the tens and eventually hundreds of thousands. By the time of the deepest, darkest part of the down cycle (early 2016), some 350,000 workers in the industry had received a pink slip (see Big Oil’s Footprint in Washington Shrinks With Price of Crude). Oil and gas is a boom and bust business–that’s the reality. And guess what? The boom times are back. There are now not enough workers and some crews are leaving one company and going to work for another–lured away by higher wages. It’s happening across the Fruited Plain. It’s also happening in the Marcellus. One (very big) Marcellus driller was “left short of fracking crews during the first quarter when some pumping companies walked away for higher-paying contracts.” What does it all mean? It means the good times are here again. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts… Read More “Frack Crew Shortage Hits Nationwide, Including the Marcellus”

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    DEP Appeals $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine Against EQT to Supremes

    There’s a reason hospitals and court rooms are frequently the settings for soap operas on TV–there’s always so much drama surrounding medicine and the law–the latter of which is our focus today. In January MDN reported what seemed like the final chapter in a long, drawn-out case between Marcellus driller EQT and the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). In October 2014, the DEP fined EQT a whopping $4.53 million for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County, PA (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). While EQT did not say there wasn’t a problem with leaks at the site, they did say the way the DEP calculated the fine is unreasonable and arbitrary. In fact, EQT says the DEP levied the fine and took EQT to court because a few weeks prior EQT had sued the DEP over a different matter–that is, sour grapes. EQT appealed the fine and the case all the way to the PA Supreme Court. In December 2015, the high court handed EQT a “procedural victory” by saying EQT has a point about the manner in which the DEP is calculating the fine (see PA Supreme Court Gives EQT “Procedural Victory” in $4.5M Fine Case). The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court, PA Commonwealth Court, for follow up work, and in January 2017, a three-judge panel ruled that the method the DEP currently uses to assess fines–by how many days pollution lingers, instead of by how many days the initial release of pollution lasted–is not legal nor common sense (see EQT Wins Court Case Against PA DEP re $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine). The judges said such a method in fining, “would result in potentially limitless continuing violations.” Under the old way of calculating fines, the DEP was considering upping the fine on EQT to an insane $157 million. Calculating it under the new way will mean a fine of around $120,000. We thought with that ruling it was all done and dusted. Not so. The soap opera continued when the DEP appealed the Commonwealth Court panel’s ruling back up to the PA Supreme Court where the Supremes will consider it all over again. When you read the “friend of the court” brief just filed by those supporting the DEP in their case, it’s a Who’s Who of Big Green organizations and virulent anti-drillers–which tells you all you need to know about which side is in the right in the case of EQT v DEP… Read More “DEP Appeals $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine Against EQT to Supremes”

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    VA Landowner Uses State Police to Eject Pipeline Surveyors

    Increasingly landowners (and anti-fossil fuelers, sometimes one and the same) are attempting to employ the use of local law enforcement to prohibit pipeline companies from surveying their land–especially in Virginia. Survey crews for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA, have the right under Virginia State law to enter a property without the property owner’s permission to survey–as long as they have sent a prior notice to the landowner with target dates of when they will be on location. However, some landowners (very small percentage) don’t want the pipeline and don’t want surveyors on their property–and have had their lawyers tell them so. When surveyors recently turned up on one property, the landowners called the State Police. The State Police (as well as local police) have a stated policy that they do not interfere with non-criminal matters. And surveying a property legally is not a criminal matter. However, the troopers came out and had a quick talk with the surveyors. The troopers did not eject the surveyors per se, but soon after the troopers left the surveyors did too. This is troublesome and problematic. Did the troopers put undue pressure on the surveyors to leave? Should the troopers have come to the property at all? Does the landowner have culpability in calling the cops for a non-criminal matter, wasting the troopers’ time?… Read More “VA Landowner Uses State Police to Eject Pipeline Surveyors”

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    WV Supreme Court Post-Production Royalty Case Hinges on 3 Words

    Yesterday the five justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court reheard a case involving post-production deductions from royalty payments. Last week we reported that the court *might* rehear the case this week–if they didn’t grant a late-breaking motion to dismiss the rehearing (see WV Supreme Court to Rehear EQT Post Production Royalty Case, Maybe). In December MDN reported on the huge West Virginia Supreme Court decision against driller EQT that disallows EQT from deducting post-production expenses from royalty checks, even with signed contracts in place (see WV Supreme Court Rules EQT Can’t Deduct P-P Costs from Royalties). The justices, in their ruling, said that drillers can “not deduct from that (royalty) amount any expenses that have been incurred in gathering, transporting or treating the oil or gas after it has been initially extracted, any sums attributable to a loss or beneficial use of volume beyond that initially measured or any other costs that may be characterized as post-production.” A really big deal. Then in February, with a brand new justice on the bench, the WV Supreme Court agreed to rehear the case after an appeal filed by EQT–a rare and unusual step (see EQT Catches Big Break in WV Supreme Court re Royalty Deductions). Those who won the case say newly elected Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth D. Walker has conflicts of interest and should not have been allowed to vote to rehear the case in the first place (which she did). On that basis, they tried to avoid the rehearing altogether, but that failed, and yesterday the lawyers were in court arguing. As it turns out, the lawyers mainly argued over the meaning of three short words: “at the wellhead”… Read More “WV Supreme Court Post-Production Royalty Case Hinges on 3 Words”