Energy Companies

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    DEP: No Contamination from 63K Gal. Inflection Energy Brine Spill

    Around 63,000 gallons of treated brine (naturally occurring, very “salty” water that comes out of a well long after it’s drilled) spilled in an accident at an Inflection Energy well pad in Eldred Township, Lycoming County, PA in mid-November (see 63K Gal. Brine Spill at Inflection Well Pad in Lycoming County). Inflection blamed a contractor and operator error for the spill, which happened after an already-full tank was overfilled. Some of the brine reached a nearby unnamed creek that flows into the Loyalsock Creek. In a followup to that story, tests done since the spill on eight private water wells close to the Inflection well pad show no contamination. Zero. We’re still waiting on test results for four other wells. The tanks holding the brine (that overflowed) have been removed from the well pad. No contamination was found in the Loyalsock or in the Susquehanna River, which the Loyalsock empties into. It’s never a good thing to have a spill like this, but the good news is that there is no lasting environmental impact from it. Here’s an update on the November spill and its cleanup…
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    MDN Guide to Finding a Job at the Shell Cracker Plant

    Although Shell’s mighty $6 billion ethane cracker chemical complex won’t be completed until around 2020, Shell is not waiting with respect to recruiting talent to operate the plant. Shell recently launched a page on their main website dedicated to recruiting people for cracker plant jobs (see that page here). Please note these are not jobs building the plant, but instead are jobs working at the plant, after it’s built. The CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, KDKA Channel 2, noticed the Shell jobs page for the cracker project and reports that “there are no job listings yet, those interested can sign up to receive email alerts when job listings are posted to the site.” It’s true folks can now sign up to receive new job postings via email. However, KDKA missed the fact that there are several jobs already posted related to the cracker facility…
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    Small Marcellus Well Pad Fire in Somerset PA Leads to Evacuations

    This is the second day in a row we’ve had to bring you news of a fire at a Marcellus Shale well site. Yesterday we told you about a fire at an EQT well pad in Marshall County, WV (see Fire at EQT Well Pad in Marshall County, WV). That fire started in gas processing equipment near the well. Like yesterday’s WV news, today’s news of a fire in Pennsylvania also concerns equipment being used at the well pad–NOT a fire in the actual well itself nor anything to do with drilling or fracking. The well pad in question is the first location where Marcellus wells were drilled in Somerset County–a decade ago. Yesterday a fire ignited around 9 am at the Menhorn well pad, owned by Xtreme Energy. The fire “was in a flange next to the cooling tower” at the well pad. The fire was out within an hour. Nobody was injured, although firefighters did evacuate four nearby homes (eight people) just to be safe. The all-clear was given by 10:30 am. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is on the site and a preliminary report concludes “the equipment associated with the well failed and caught fire, but the wellhead was not on fire.” Here’s the details as we have them…
    Read More “Small Marcellus Well Pad Fire in Somerset PA Leads to Evacuations”

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    ECA Sells Marcellus/Utica Assets to ArcLight Capital – Shareholders Shafted

    Greylock Energy CEO Kyle Mork

    Big news concerning Energy Corporation of America (ECA), a privately owned company founded in 1963 with corporate headquarters in Denver, CO. The company owns (or rather owned) and operated approximately 4,600 (mostly vertical) wells, 5,000 miles of pipeline, and leases more than 1 million acres in North America–most of it in Appalachia. We spotted a press release yesterday that says ArcLight Capital has acquired substantially all of ECA’s natural gas production and pipeline assets. But here’s where it gets interesting. ArcLight has set up a subsidiary called Greylock Energy, which will own the assets–all of the ECA natgas/pipeline assets will go to Greylock. The former CEO of ECA, Kyle Mork, will become the CEO of Greylock. Many (most?) of top management from ECA will become part of Greylock. The existing ECA palatial headquarters building we told you about back in 2014 (see ECA’s New Regional HQ in Charleston: More WV Drilling on the Way?) will become the new HQ for Greylock. In other words, it’s all still ECA, but there’s a new nameplate on the door. So what really happened? What happened, according to an MDN source, is that ECA did something akin to what we’ve seen a number of times before: they converted debt into equity (ownership) and shafted existing shareholders out of millions of dollars. Except in this case we’re not sure ECA actually had large debts. There’s no way to know since it’s a private company. But the pattern is the same. ECA gave the keys to new owners, leaving the previous owners (i.e. shareholders) standing on the curb…
    Read More “ECA Sells Marcellus/Utica Assets to ArcLight Capital – Shareholders Shafted”

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    Fire at EQT Well Pad in Marshall County, WV

    Yesterday, gas processing equipment at a Trans Energy well pad (now owned by EQT) in Marshall County, WV caught fire. The important things to know: (1) The fire was quickly extinguished, (2) nobody was injured, (3) this was not a well fire and was not related to drilling or fracking. There is a single operating Marcellus well at that location–drilled back in 2011. The well has been producing natural gas and other hydrocarbons since that time. As is common, some of the hydrocarbons (like condensate) are separated right at the well location, by equipment located near the pad. The fire began in that processing equipment. No residents were evacuated and the fire was out within a few hours. However, workers at the nearby Williams Fort Beeler natural gas processing plant were evacuated for a brief time, out of “an abundance of caution”…
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    CONSOL Energy Split Done – Meet “New” Gas Driller CNX Resources

    CONSOL Energy, headquartered in Pittsburgh, began life as a coal company some 150 years ago. For the past half dozen years MDN has reported on CONSOL’s transformation from coal company to natural gas company. That transformation, as of yesterday, is complete. In July CONSOL filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission that laid out a plan to split the company in two, into a coal company and a natural gas exploration and production company (see CONSOL Energy’s Split into 2 Companies Nearly Complete, New Name?). Yesterday was the first day for the separated companies. CONSOL the coal company retains the CONSOL Energy name and get various coal mines and other coal-related assets. The CEO of the coal company is Jimmy Brock. Meanwhile, CONSOL the natural gas driller got a new name–CNX Resources–and retains all of the other assets. Nick DeIuliis, former president and CEO of CONSOL Energy when it was all one company, is the president and CEO of CNX Resources. In speaking about the newly separated gas drilling company, CNX Resources COO Tim Dugan said this: “You’ll see the Utica becoming a larger and larger part of our development.” Here’s the big news that CONSOL is now split into two different companies…
    Read More “CONSOL Energy Split Done – Meet “New” Gas Driller CNX Resources”

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    U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of WV EQT Royalty Case

    The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of an important West Virginia case, which means the current ruling stands that allows EQT and other drillers to deduct “reasonable” post-production expenses from landowner royalty checks. It is a victory for drillers and a blow to some landowners. How did we get here? A brief history: Last December MDN reported on the huge WV Supreme Court decision against 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). In February this year, 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). In May the WV Supreme Court ruled on the reheard case, overturning its previous decision from last December. The court ruled to allow EQT to deduct “reasonable” post-production expenses (see WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK). Those who won the original case (and lost the reheard case) say newly elected Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Walker had 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. Newly elected Justice Walker, with (according to the losing side) conflicts of interest, voted in favor of EQT. On the basis that Walker should not have been part of the process at all, the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in September (see Lawyers ask US Supreme Court to Hear WV EQT Royalty Case). On Monday, with no explanation, the Supremes denied the request for an appeal…
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    Canadian Antis Threaten to “Defend” Against Quebec Utica Drilling

    Advocating for anarchy (a doing away of laws and letting the mob rule) is not unique to radical environmentalists in the United States. Such anarchy is alive and well in the Canadian environmental movement too. The Utica Shale, which underlies much of the Marcellus Shale, also underlies part of Canada’s Quebec province. From time to time we highlight news concerning the Utica in Canada. There hasn’t been much news to highlight over the years since Quebec has had a moratorium on fracking since 2012. But as we reported in December 2016, something of a minor miracle happened–the Quebec National Assembly voted to pass Bill 106, ostensibly to support Quebec’s “clean power plan” (see Fracking in Canadian Utica Shale Takes Big Step Closer to Reality). The bill includes a section that “lays out a framework for oil and gas development” in Quebec. Then in September, Quebec did the unthinkable (for radical environmentalists)–they published draft Utica drilling regulations (see Quebec Government Publishes Draft Utica Fracking Regulations). Canadian driller Questerre believes Utica drilling can begin sometime next year (see Questerre Plans 8 Initial Well Pads in Canadian Utica 2018-2019). That news has antis in Canada going berserk. They’re now threatening that “the public will defend itself” if drilling is allowed. What do they mean by that? Sure sounds like a threat to us…
    Read More “Canadian Antis Threaten to “Defend” Against Quebec Utica Drilling”

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    Federal Court Clarifies Ohio Law for Calculating Gas Royalties

    A month ago MDN brought you the news that the U.S. District Court in Akron, OH had made a major ruling that affects all Utica landowners and drillers (see Federal Court Says Chesapeake Royalty Deductions Allowed in Ohio). The case, known as Lutz v. Chesapeake Appalachia, is about whether or not drillers (Chesapeake in this case) are allowed to deduct certain post-production costs from landowner royalty checks. The Ohio Supremes were asked to decide whether Ohio follows the “at the well” rule, which permits the deduction of post-production costs, or if the state follows the “marketable product” rule, which limits the deduction of post-production costs under certain circumstances. The Supremes refused to tackle the ultimate issue, which is: What does “at the well” really mean? How is it defined? Instead, the Supremes bounced the issue back to the U.S. District Court in Akron for further clarification. The federal court defined what is meant by “at the well.” The court’s decision means that Chesapeake Energy (and by extension other drillers) CAN deduct post-production expenses from landowner royalty checks–at least in certain instances. We spotted an explanation of the case and the decision by the Akron court from our friends at powerhouse energy law firm BakerHostetler. They do a great job putting the ruling in language we laypeople can understand…
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    PA Supreme Court Hears Arguments in EQT Wastewater Leak Case

    Buckle up while we explain the background for this story. 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. Not long after that ruling, the Environmental Hearing Board, a special “court” set up to hear appeals of DEP decisions, decided to reduce the original $4.5 million fine down to $1.1 million (see PA Hearing Board Reduces EQT Fine from $4.5M to $1.1M). We thought that would be the end of it. But no! Both the DEP and EQT appealed the matter back up to the PA Supreme Court and yesterday the Supremes heard the case once again…
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    Rex Energy Once Again Threatened with NASDAQ De-listing

    Rex Energy, a driller focused mainly on the Marcellus/Utica (headquartered in State College, PA), has had its share of financial challenges. In the past it has swapped out old IOUs for new IOUs, converted debt (IOUs) into equity (shares of stock), sold off assets in other basins–a whole lotta stuff to keep on drilling (see our Rex Energy stories here). The company’s stock has taken a hit over the past five years. Rex’s stock (REXX) is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange and last December Nasdaq threatened Rex with de-listing the stock (see Rex Energy Stock Threatened with De-Listing by Nasdaq). The company would remain listed if they could meet the minimum requirement of a per share price trading for at least $1/share for 10 consecutive trading days . Nasdaq gave Rex until June 17 of this year to comply, or get banished to the penny stock pink sheets. Rex pulled a rabbit out of the hat and avoided de-listing (see Rex Energy’s Stock Out of Woods, NASDAQ Won’t De-List). However, Rex is back in the woods again. Two weeks ago the company filed a Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K alerting investors that Nasdaq has once again told the company they will get de-listed if they can’t turn things around by Jan. 2nd. However, the price per share is well above $1. The problem this time (the violation of listing standards) is that stockholder equity in the company is less than $2.5 million…
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    Carrizo O&G Now Gone from Marcellus/Utica, Totally Focused on Texas

    Carrizo Oil & Gas no longer owns any assets in either the Marcellus or Utica Shale. Carrizo, a Houston-based driller, actively drills in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Delaware Basin in West Texas, the D-J Basin in Colorado (more on that in a moment), and until mid-year in 2015, they had an active drilling program in the Ohio Utica and Pennsylvania Marcellus. We told you back in May that Carrizo was shopping its Marcellus/Utica assets (see Carrizo O&G Puts Up ‘For Sale’ Sign on Marcellus/Utica Assets). In September Carrizo announced a deal to sell their Utica acreage for $62 million (see Carrizo Sells 26K Prime Utica Acres for $62M), and in October they announced a deal to sell their Marcellus acreage for $84 million–their portion of a joint venture with India’s Reliance Industries Limited (see India’s RIL, Carrizo Sell NEPA Marcellus Assets for $210M). Yesterday Carrizo announced both deals have closed. Carrizo, along with Elvis, has left the building. They also announced a new deal to sell off all of their assets in the Colorado D-J Basin. Carrizo will totally focus on oil drilling in the Eagle Ford Shale (South Texas) and the Permian Basin (West Texas)…
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    Monroeville Seismic Testing Ordinance Court Case Settled

    Monroeville, PA (Allegheny County, suburb of Pittsburgh) is hostile toward the shale industry. In September, Monroeville Council voted to enact a super-restrictive seismic testing ordinance (see Monroeville, PA Passes Restrictive Seismic Testing Ordinance). The ordinance is meant to hassle Huntley & Huntley (H&H), which wants to conduct seismic testing in two rural areas of the municipality. In October, the contractor hired to do the seismic work for H&H, Geokinetics, took Monroeville Council to court over their punitive seismic ordinance (see Monroeville Seismic Testing Ordinance Challenged in Court). In the complaint, Geokinetics said, “Monroeville’s intransigence is not motivated by any legitimate concerns for the health and safety of its citizens, but rather by its council’s concerns about November elections.” The elections have come and gone and the hostile-to-shale Monroeville Council has settled the court case with Geokinetics. And yes, seismic testing will now begin!…
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    FBI Investigates EnerVest for Ohio Utica Lease Fraud

    The FBI has been drawn into what was once a civil case in Ohio. EnerVest once owned nearly one million acres in the Ohio Utica Shale. It was unintentional. Most of the acreage came from owning old conventional/vertical oil and gas wells in the state. Belmont County, OH landowner, Matt Crislip, says EnerVest perpetrated a fraud on him by pretending his long inactive/dead conventional well was once again producing. The practice is known as “back-fed”–running gas from a pipeline back to the well, so it appears the well is still producing gas. Why do something crazy like that? So the driller can claim the well is producing and is “held by production”–allowing that driller to turn around and sell the lease to someone else (Ascent Resources, in this case) for “millions” according to Crislip. The result is Crislip didn’t see a penny in new lease-signing bonuses, and he didn’t get the opportunity to negotiate a new royalty rate. EnerVest flatly denies the back-fed charge and said they will defend themselves “vigorously.” So far the FBI has only investigated Crislip’s claim, and no charges have been filed. Yet. Here’s a look at Crislip’s claim and the FBI’s ongoing investigation, which may expand beyond Belmont County…
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    PA Class Action Royalty Lawsuit Against XTO Settles for $11M

    A journey which began for Pennsylvania landowners in Butler County, PA in July 2015 is nearing an end. Two Butler County, PA landowners with a combined 245.7 acres of land leased to XTO Energy sued XTO in 2015 claiming that XTO is breaking the lease agreement by paying royalties below 1/8 of what XTO receives in revenue for the gas (see PA Landowners Sue XTO Energy for Shorting Them on Royalties). The case, known as Marburger et al V. XTO Energy Inc., asserted the lease signed with landowners did not include language that would allow XTO to deduct post-production charges (that they had been deducting). The two landowning families that launched the lawsuit, the Marburgers and the Thieles, sought to turn the lawsuit into a class action, involving potentially hundreds or thousands of others. It didn’t take long for XTO to oppose the lawsuit and its certification as a class action (see XTO Files Motion to Dismiss Royalty Lawsuit in Butler County, PA). Since that time we’ve not heard much of anything about the lawsuit. And then out the blue comes word that via arbitration, XTO has agreed to settle the lawsuit. The settlement includes turning it into a class action, and paying out a total of $11,010,000. As part of the settlement, XTO admits to nothing. That is, they do not concede the plantiffs have a valid case against them. It’s simply cheaper to settle it and move on rather than to keep fighting. Below we have the relevant court documents with the details of the settlement…
    Read More “PA Class Action Royalty Lawsuit Against XTO Settles for $11M”

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    Rice Energy CEO Dan Rice Gets $2.6M Golden Parachute from EQT

    The golden parachute has popped open for Rice Energy’s former CEO, Dan Rice IV. And it’s worth $2.6 million. EQT filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week to say that Dan Rice IV has been terminated (as an employee) as of the day the two companies merged. In a deal worked out prior to the merger, Dan is getting a check for $2.6 million–$1.91 million as a severance payment and $704,000 in lieu of his annual bonus. Which frankly doesn’t sound like a whole lot, given Dan was one of the shareholding owners of Rice Energy. His salary in 2016 was $3.35 million. But don’t shed any tears for Dan. We suspect his stock in the newly-merged EQT is worth a fortune. And Dan gets a seat on the EQT board of directors, a gig that will pay him. What’s next for Dan and the other Rice boys? We don’t have the particulars for all of the Rice boys, but we do know (from the SEC filing) that Dan signed a 3-year non-compete agreement, so we won’t see Rice Energy II in the northeast for at least three years. Other than that, we suspect the boys already have something up their proverbial sleeve. The Rice boys don’t strike us as the lounge-around-the-pool types…
    Read More “Rice Energy CEO Dan Rice Gets $2.6M Golden Parachute from EQT”