Energy Companies

American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

McClendon Gets Sued in OH Over New Company’s Name
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

It’s no secret that coal has taken a beating from abundant, cheap shale gas. Natural gas burns cleaner than coal–there’s just no disputing that fact. And because of it, natural gas has displaced coal at a number of electrical generating plants around the country. However, coal remains a very important fossil fuel that powers much (in fact most) of American electricity. So it’s no surprise that the owner of a number of Ohio coal mines is a bit miffed with Aubrey McClendon.

Robert Murray operates a coal mine near Beallsville (Monroe County), OH under the name American Energy Corp. Aubrey McClendon named his new shale oil & gas company American Energy Partners. Murray is miffed enough with McClendon to sue him for misappropriation of the name American Energy. He believes McClendon has intentionally tried to confuse the marketplace…
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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Hess | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Ohio | Pipelines | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners | Utica Shale

PVR Partners to Build $150M Utica Shale Pipeline System for Hess
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Midstream company PVR Partners has been selected by Hess to construct 45 miles of gathering pipelines in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale region. In an announcement issued today, PVR said the new pipelines will be built to cover Belmont, Jefferson and Harrison Counties where Hess holds a substantial acreage position. The new pipeline project will end up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $125-$150 million and will be completed in 2015.

The PVR announcement:
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Resources Gets Extra $250 Million Credit Line
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Antero Resources was recently crowned as the driller with the most productive Utica Shale well in Ohio, a single well that will provide the company with an enormous amount of revenue (see WVU Prof Says Antero Well will Generate $300K Revenue…Per Day!). Apparently the publicity has been good for Antero, who announced today they’ve upped their line of credit at the bank–from $1.75 billion to a whopping $2 billion. So far Antero has used about $1 billion from their line of credit to finance drilling operations in the Utica and Marcellus Shale.

Must be the bankers at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were impressed with the performance of Antero’s latest wells–$250 million impressed…
Read More “Antero Resources Gets Extra $250 Million Credit Line”
American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

More Evidence that Aubrey McClendon Loves OH’s Utica Shale
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Aubrey McClendon is former CEO of Chesapeake Energy and now CEO of an upstart competitor he started named American Energy Partners (see AEP’s just launched website here). Aubrey is high on the Ohio Utica Shale. He’s rumored to be close to signing a deal with Shell for 50,000 OH Utica Shale acres, and is also rumored to be the unnamed buyer for EnerVest’s 22,535 OH Utica Shale acres sold just a few weeks ago (see He’s Baaaack! Aubrey McClendon is Back in OH Shale Country).

More evidence that Aubrey is focusing on Ohio: A bunch of advertisements AEP is running in OH media seeking to sign leases in the following counties…
Read More “More Evidence that Aubrey McClendon Loves OH’s Utica Shale”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Monroe County | Utica Shale | West Virginia

WVU Prof Says Antero Well will Generate $300K Revenue…Per Day!
August 30, 2013August 30, 2013

The Yontz 1H well may not produce at these unheard-of levels for an extended period, but heck, if a gas well is bringing in $300,000 per day in revenue, it doesn’t have to last long! That’s the staggering amount of revenue that a West Virginia University professor predicts will be produced by the monster well recently drilled by Antero Resources in Monroe County, WV (see Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d). At the rate the gas and gas liquids are flowing from the well right now, it will bring in over $2 million per week in revenue for Antero. If royalties are 20% for the landowner, that’s $400,000 per week for the Yontz family!

With those kinds of numbers, no wonder Antero is willing to “roll the dice” and spend a half billion dollars to build a new water pipeline (see Antero Resources Rolls Dice on 1/2 Billion Dollar Marcellus Pipe)…
Read More “WVU Prof Says Antero Well will Generate $300K Revenue…Per Day!”
Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

NIMBY Town to Provide Water for Fracking at Pittsburgh Airport
August 30, 2013August 30, 2013

Two towns located near the Pittsburgh Airport are set to make big money from the drilling that will happen at the airport–even though the drilling is not within their own boundaries. How? They’re going to sell water to CONSOL Energy to be used for fracking 47 wells at the airport–up to 300 million gallons of water.

One of the towns selling water, Findlay, recently approved three new shale wells in the town–the first three to be drilled there (see Findlay Twp, PA Approves First 3 Marcellus Wells, Range to Drill). Findlay’s approval of Marcellus wells indicates they are favorable to shale drilling. The second town that will sell water for fracking at the airport, Moon Township, is not so favorable toward fracking. Last December the Moon Board of Supervisors voted to ban drilling in 75% of the their town (see Moon Twp, PA Votes to Ban Fracking in 75% of the Town). We find it interesting that a town that leans against drilling is willing to sell water for drilling–as long as the drilling is not in their backyard…

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

Norse Energy 2Q13: Concerned About Remaining ‘a Going Concern’
August 30, 2013August 30, 2013

MDN told you a few days ago about the sad state of affairs at Norse Energy (see Norse Can’t Dump NY Leases at Auction, Creditors Get Ready to Sue). The company released their second quarter update today (full copy embedded below). The update is based on the assumption the company will remain “a going concern.” They state that if they can’t sell their 130,000 acres of New York leases at a decent price, they’ll have to turn the lights off and walk away. The company is currently under bankruptcy protection and has been ordered to sell their last remaining asset–the leases.

One item from the 2Q13 update that caught our attention is that a group of approximately 60 landowners with a collective 6,000 acres are suing Norse to end their leases. Norse had invoked force majeure on the leases–a legal maneuver that states, roughly, “due to a circumstance beyond our control we’re extending the original lease term.” Of course the unforeseen circumstance is the now 5+ year moratorium on drilling in New York. If Norse starts losing already-signed leases left and right, they’ll have no assets left to sell at auction, so they are vigorously fighting the action by the landowners…
Read More “Norse Energy 2Q13: Concerned About Remaining ‘a Going Concern’”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d
August 29, 2013

Somehow the following news (now a few weeks old) slipped by our usually-good radar. Antero Resources has taken the top spot away from Gulfport Energy as having the most productive Utica Shale well in Ohio. Gulfport had what was dubbed their “alpha dog” well, the Wagner 1-H well producing 14 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (Mmcf/d). Then came Gulfport’s Shugert 1-1H, which MDN dubbed the “King of Utica Shale wells” producing a whopping 20 Mmcf/d. After that was the Shugert 1-12H well, sister well to the 1-1H. We called that one “the Emperor well” producing 28.5 Mmcf/d (see Gulfport’s New Utica Well Produces Mind-blowing 28.5 Mmcf/d!).

We’re now officially out of metaphors and labels. Antero Resources’ Yontz Utica Shale well recently saw a peak rate of a truly mind-blowing 38.9 Mmcf/d. Gulfport’s Shugert wells are in Belmont County. The Yontz well is located in Monroe County, just south of Belmont…
Read More “Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d”
Carroll County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Sierra Buckeye

Sierra Buckeye Responds: We Didn’t Default on Carroll County Lease
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

Last week MDN told you about a kerfuffle in Ohio between Carroll County commissioners and Sierra Buckeye, a driller with whom the county signed a lease in July 2012 for 481 acres of county-owned land (see Carroll County, OH Says Sierra Buckeye in Default on Utica Lease). The county says Sierra was supposed to drill by a certain deadline and did not do so, throwing the lease agreement “in default” and implying Sierra is subject to make extra penalty payments under the lease terms.

Sierra Buckeye contacted MDN to tell their side of the story. They claim that yes, they did ask for an extension of the lease terms until Nov. 1 of this year, but that Carroll County commissioners went silent and did not respond to multiple requests, and that no, they are not in default and don’t owe a penny more. In fact, they have canceled (or “released”) the lease per Carroll County’s request–transmitting the release last week. What miffs Sierra Buckeye is that they had to learn about the commissioners’ intentions by reading about it in the newspaper…
Read More “Sierra Buckeye Responds: We Didn’t Default on Carroll County Lease”
BP | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Utica Drilling Innovation: Plastic Pipelines Replace Water Trucks
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

An interesting innovation that we have not heard of before: BP is using temporary, plastic pipelines to transport water to the test wells they’re drilling in Trumbull County, OH. When a series of wells are finished being drilled, the pipes can be rolled up and used somewhere else without having to dig a trench and leave a permanent pipeline underground. No more thousands of trips by water trucks to drill a well!

Could this be the start of yet another new, environmentally-friendly innovation by the shale drilling industry?…
Read More “Utica Drilling Innovation: Plastic Pipelines Replace Water Trucks”
Access Midstream Partners | Chief Oil & Gas | Electrical Generation | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | PVR Midstream | Statewide PA

Chief Strikes Deal to Provide Marcellus Gas for Electric Plants
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

Chief Oil & Gas announced yesterday they have crafted a deal to supply some of the Marcellus Shale gas they produce in PA to IMG Midstream. You may think IMG is a pipeline company because of the word “midstream” in its name–but you would be wrong. IMG Midstream (formerly known as Iron Mountain Generation) develops, owns, and operates small-scale electric generation plants powered by natural gas. As part of the new deal, Chief will use pipelines from Access Midstream and PVR Midstream to get the gas from their wells to IMG’s new electric plants (to be built) in northeastern PA.

With that explanation to clear up who the players are, here’s the (somewhat confusing) press release announcing the deal…
Read More “Chief Strikes Deal to Provide Marcellus Gas for Electric Plants”
Allegheny County | Chesapeake Energy | CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Shale Coalition Gets New Chairman of the Board
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

It appears that Chesapeake CEO Doug Lawler’s massive firings throughout the company (no doubt demanded by corporate raider and Chessy board member Carl Ichan) have not only affected Chesapeake itself, but also the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC)–the premier group representing the drilling industry in Pennsylvania and the entire Marcellus region.

The chairman of the board of directors at the MSC had been David Spigelmyer, VP of government relations for Chesapeake. Spigelmyer is now gone from Chesapeake and gone from the board of the MSC. In his place, the board has appointed the current vice chairman, Randy Albert, COO of CNX Gas, to be chairman until Spigelmyer’s term was due to end in November…
Read More “Marcellus Shale Coalition Gets New Chairman of the Board”
Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell Announces “Open Season” for Potential PA Ethane Cracker
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Time for Shell to get serious about whether or not they plan to build a $2 billion ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA. Shell announced yesterday they will have something akin to a pipeline open season, a period of time when drillers can bid on capacity to send the plant (should it be built) their locally-produced ethane supplies. The bidding period will run from August 27 through October 4 and will give Shell a good idea of just how much ethane will be available for them to “crack” at the plant.

Shell reports they already have commitments from CONSOL Energy, Noble Energy, Seneca Resources and Hilcorp Energy should they decide to build the cracker. Shell is still about a year away from a final final final final decision (see our June 2012 story – Shell: Final Decision on Cracker Plant Still 18-24 Mo. Away). The next few months are likely to be crucial to that decision…
Read More “Shell Announces “Open Season” for Potential PA Ethane Cracker”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Can’t Dump NY Leases at Auction, Creditors Get Ready to Sue
August 28, 2013August 30, 2013

Norse Energy, the little energy that ultimately couldn’t (drill, because of Andrew Cuomo), bet big on New York State. It was the wrong bet. Norse holds 130,000 acres of leases in New York and literally bet the company’s future on New York’s willingness to allow fracking. The company lost the bet when they went into bankruptcy last year and finally had to put the only assets they had left on the auction block–130K leased acres–earlier this year (see Bankrupt Norse Energy to Sell NY Leases – Who Will Want Them?). As we stated at the time, who would be willing to purchase the Norse leases with a) Cuomo still not decided on whether drilling can happen in NY, and b) the courts still not decided about whether towns can ban drilling. Our answer: no one will be willing.

Norse has confirmed our logical deduction. The company issued a short statement yesterday stating they received a few low-ball bids for the leases, but the bid amounts are not near enough to satisfy creditors left holding the bag. Those creditors are now looking at filing lawsuits against Norse and its management…
Read More “Norse Can’t Dump NY Leases at Auction, Creditors Get Ready to Sue”
Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

CONSOL Energy Reveals Drilling Plan for Pittsburgh Airport
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

CONSOL Energy and Pittsburgh Airport officials held a joint press conference yesterday to share more of the details for CONSOL’s plan to drill on airport-owned property. You may recall the airport authority signed a deal with CONSOL in February of this year, netting the airport a nifty check for $50 million as the signing bonus (see $50M Check in the Mail: Pittsburgh Airport Lease a Done Deal). However, the signing bonus is just an hors d’oeuvre. All done and told–after receiving royalties for years to come–the airport expects the project to bring in a staggering $1 billion or more.

The proposed drilling plan (see the map below) calls for 6 well pads, 47 Marcellus Shale wells on those pads (with the possibility of drilling Upper Devonian wells later on), three fresh water ponds (“impoundments”) and 17 miles of gathering pipelines. CONSOL said that seismic testing in and around the airport property will begin in late October of this year, however, the first test wells will not be drilled until third quarter of 2014…
Read More “CONSOL Energy Reveals Drilling Plan for Pittsburgh Airport”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Education | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Cabot to Teach Hazelton, PA 9th Graders How to Frack
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Ninth-grade students at a new magnet school opening this fall in the Hazelton, PA area will be taught a series of lessons on the technology, economics and environmental issues related to fracking and shale gas drilling. The plan calls for the school’s teachers to lead four lessons in the series, an “environmentalist” (i.e. anti-driller) will teach one lesson, and someone from Cabot Oil & Gas, the northeast PA driller funding the program, will teach two of the lessons. There’s sure to be stiff opposition to Cabot’s involvement from the anti-drillers. “Fair” to them would be Cabot pays for the whole thing but anti-drillers are the only voices heard in the classroom. Not this time!

MDN finds it amusing the program will feature a mock town hall meeting complete with squabbling neighbors and people falsely claiming their water wells have been contaminated. We need to learn ’em young, ya know…
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