Shell-BG Megamerger Approved by US Federal Trade Commission
Well that was quick! On Tuesday Shell announced they’re received approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to proceed with their buyout/takeover of BG, the former British Gas. You may recall we brought you the news about the Shell-BG deal in April, pointing out at the time the deal is mainly about LNG (see LNG Love Story: Shell Makes Play to Buy BG in $69.7B Megamerger). Getting approval from the FTC this fast is a good sign, according to Shell CEO Ben van Beurden. Shell needs to obtain approval from every country where BG does business–not just the U.S. According to Shell, they’re still on track to complete the merger in “early 2016″…
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Last September Range Resources was assessed a then-new record high fine of $4.15 million for a series of leaking frack wastewater impoundments in southwestern Pennsylvania (see 
Does Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP)–the new company he founded after being unceremoniously booted from Chesapeake Energy–have cash problems? You certainly wouldn’t think so. At last check in May 2014, McClendon had raised a staggering $8.7 billion in little more than a year (see 
Surprisingly, a very perceptive article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News asks the question, Why hasn’t there been a peep on the part of anti-drillers over the nomination of EQT’s Andrew Place to become a member of the board for the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC)? Indeed, it’s a great question. EQT is a major Marcellus Shale driller based in Pittsburgh. The PUC is charged with collecting impact fees from shale drillers. The author of the article says imagine this headline, if it were 2014: “Corbett administration taps shale industry exec for key regulatory post.” Mainstream (Democrat) media would have a field day! We would have been treated to nonstop exposés on how Tom Corbett is in the back pocket of the drilling industry…political payoff…political patronage…backroom dealing…conflict of interest…et cetera ad nauseam. A year later it’s a Democrat governor doing the appointing, so the obedient Democrat media hasn’t breathed a word questioning the appointment. We’ve seen wingnut groups disagree with Wolf when it comes to drilling–they’d rather have no drilling than tax it, given the option. So why are these same “environmental” groups, like PennFuture which is opposed to the drilling industry and anyone/anything connected to it, apparently OK with the nomination of Andrew Place?…
There’s no denying that compressor stations located in populated neighborhoods create problems. We have two examples to share–one from Lawrence County, PA, and one from Broome County, NY (MDN’s backyard). The usual complaint about compressor stations–required to compress natural gas and send it on its way through a pipeline system–is the noise. Noise seems to be the chief issue with a compressor station in Lawrence County, PA where landowners, many of them (most? all?) have signed leases with Hilcorp, the company that owns the compressor station in Mahoning Township, a township that borders Ohio. Although noise has also been an issue at the compressor station in the Town of Windsor, NY (Windsor borders Pennsylvania)–about five miles from the border of the City of Binghamton–noise at the Williams compressor station is now largely mitigated. In the case of the Williams compressor, the concerns by those who live closest to it are regular releases of mercaptan and constant truck traffic to and from the station…
One of MDN’s favorite pastimes is reading the tea leaves. Connecting the dots. Warning: sometimes the dots we connect end up not connecting. 🙂 We don’t bring you every personnel announcement, especially new appointments to boards of directors, because, well, how does that affect the average landowner, driller or business that wants to profit from the Marcellus/Utica? We try to bring you relevant news–things that impact you. Today we have an observation–purely speculative–about a new board of directors appointment. National Fuel Gas Company, a Buffalo, NY-based utility that also has a big drilling division (Seneca Resources) and a large midstream (pipelines) operation, has just named Joseph N. Jaggers to its board of directors. Who is he and what does his appointment portend?…
Earlier this week Marcellus Drilling News launched the fourth series of our 
We have major news coming from Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP). A lot of news. So buckle in. First we’ll tell you the news, then we’ll give you our take on that news–what it means. In brief, the news coming from AEP HQ in Oklahoma City is this: (1) AEP’s Marcellus/Utica AEP subsidiary, American Energy Appalachia Holdings, has been spun out into a 100% standalone company and has changed its name to Ascent Resources; (2) the CEO of Ascent is the same guy who was the CEO of American Energy Appalachia Holdings–trusted McClendon lieutenant Jeffrey A. Fisher; (3) Ascent has cut a deal with Gulfport Energy to sell 35,000 prime Utica Shale acres for $407 million; and (4) Ascent has just sold shares in the company and taken out new loans for $977 million, giving them $700 million in cash after they pay off certain other loans. Whew! Here’s the details, along with a little news of our own about AEP…