Energy Companies

Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT & Gas Utility Company Deal Gets Federal "Approval"
April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

On March 1, MDN told you about the complex deal agreed to between EQT and People’s Natural Gas. EQT wants to swap its gas utility division, called Equiptable Gas Company, to People’s in return for cash and a midstream company owned by Peoples called Allegheny Valley Connector (see Pittsburgh Driller & Gas Utility Co Want to Swap Assets). Good news today from EQT. They report the Federal Trade Commission has “not objected” to (meaning it approves of) the transfer–a big hurdle to completing the deal. However, there’s still a number of other approvals from state agencies that need to be obtained before the deal can be finalized.

The announcement today from EQT about the FTC “approval”:

Read More “EQT & Gas Utility Company Deal Gets Federal "Approval"”
Anadarko | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bradford County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Sullivan County

Manufactured Controversy over Drilling in Loyalsock State Forest
April 24, 2013June 6, 2013

A new manufactured “controversy” is being ginned up by PA Democrat officials and anti-drillers over Anadarko Petroleum’s plan to drill on land they legally own the mineral rights to—25,000 acres in Loyalsock State Forest that covers parts of Lycoming, Sullivan and Bradford counties in PA. Here’s the first time we’ve heard this phrase: The forest contains a “critical bird nursery.” I mean, who could possibly drill in a nursery? Drilling will also happen underneath part of the Old Logger’s Path—not the New Logger’s Path, not the Plain and Simple Logger’s path, but the Old Logger’s Path. And drilling may include portions of the exceptional value stream known as Rock Run. We wonder, are other streams unexceptional? And (OMG!) it may include the lumber ghost town of Masten. DO NOT disturb ghosts—they don’t like it.

Isn’t language in an anti-drilling demagogue’s hands a marvel to behold?…

[Please see an update/note at the end of this article.]

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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Noise | Ohio | Trucking | Trumbull County

Trumbull County Mobile Home Park Doesn’t Like Utica Drilling
April 24, 2013April 24, 2013

The down sides of drilling, if you happen to live close to a drill site, are noise, flood lights for working at night, and truck traffic. Residents of the Westwood Lake Mobile Home Park in Trumbull County, OH can attest to that. The good news is, drilling only lasts a short time—typically a month or less. Still, someone banging on your door at 3 a.m. in the morning is a bit much…

Read More “Trumbull County Mobile Home Park Doesn’t Like Utica Drilling”
Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy | Westmoreland County

Marcellus Drill Cuttings Set Off Radiation Alarm at SW PA Landfill
April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

A truck with Marcellus Shale drill cuttings entering a landfill in Westmoreland County, PA triggered a radiation alarm last Friday. The truck was quarantined and after finding that yes indeed, the cuttings were a tad too radioactive for disposal at the landfill, the truck was sent back to the drilling site in Greene County.

The details:

Read More “Marcellus Drill Cuttings Set Off Radiation Alarm at SW PA Landfill”
BP | Energy Companies | Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trumbull County

ODNR Awards 2 New Forced Pooling Orders in OH – to BP
April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) recently issued two new “unitization” (or forced pooling) orders, bringing the total number of unitizations to four that they’ve issued in the Utica Shale. Both of the new orders were issued on behalf of BP and both were in Trumbull County. Here’s the details of the two orders, including how much the reluctant landowners were awarded as a bonus and how much they’ll make in royalties:

Read More “ODNR Awards 2 New Forced Pooling Orders in OH – to BP”
Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration

Gastar Sells East Texas Assets, Will Concentrate on Marcellus
April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

Yesterday, Houston-based Gastar Exploration Ltd announced they’re selling their East Texas “assets” (land, wells, etc.) to Cubic Energy, Inc. for $46 million. Why? So they have more money for Marcellus drilling…

Read More “Gastar Sells East Texas Assets, Will Concentrate on Marcellus”
Belmont County | Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Utica Shale

Chesapeake Opens New Regional Office in Belmont County, OH
April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

Chesapeake Energy has just opened a new field office in Belmont County, OH at the Fox Commerce Park, just west of St. Clairsville:

Read More “Chesapeake Opens New Regional Office in Belmont County, OH”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues

PA Anti-Drilling Groups Demand EQT Give Up Right to Free Speech
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

A group of extremist anti-drilling organizations, including PennPIRG, PennEnvironment, Public Citizen, Keystone Progress, One Pittsburgh, Common Cause PA, University of Pittsburgh students and “others” held a press conference outside EQT’s annual shareholder meeting in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to unilaterally call for EQT to forfeit their rights to free speech under the U.S. Constitution. These extremist groups want to muzzle EQT’s right to contribute money to political candidates who would stick up for the legal rights of industry to drill for natural gas and oil. Thing is, these extremist groups aren’t willing to give up their right to free speech (i.e. spending money on political campaigns), so why should EQT?

A very twisted press release from said groups:

Read More “PA Anti-Drilling Groups Demand EQT Give Up Right to Free Speech”
Butler County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy

Rex Energy Makes Lease Offers to Western PA Towns
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

You don’t read much these days about new land deals and offers being made in the PA Marcellus. Oh it happens, but not nearly as much as it used to. So when MDN runs across mention of a new offer, we figure that’s news you want to know about—particularly where and how much?

Rex Energy has just made an offer to Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA to lease some or all of the town’s 20-plus acres located on Browns Hill Road. Rex is just floating the idea at this stage to Middlesex—no specific numbers were thrown on the table. However, Rex did recently make an offer to neighboring Clinton Township, so it stands to reason the numbers for lease bonus and royalties would be similar. Here’s the details:

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Energy Companies | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

EVEP’s Utica PR Offensive: Good Oil Pressure, Low Drilling Costs
April 18, 2013April 18, 2013

Yesterday, MDN told you about EV Energy Partners/EnverVest’s (EVEP) mission to sell at least some of the 539,000 acres of Utica Shale leases they hold in Ohio (see EV Energy Partners Deal to Sell 104K Utica Acres Dead, What Now?). As part of the investor update call with EVEP on Tuesday, company chairman John Walker went on a PR offensive by saying drillers are watching how much oil will be produced by a well in Tuscarawas County (where EVEP is trying to unload acreage), and by saying the cost to drill a Utica well has come down, by up to 50%, from what it was when drillers first started in the Utica just a few years ago.

Walker’s comments from Tuesday:

Read More “EVEP’s Utica PR Offensive: Good Oil Pressure, Low Drilling Costs”
Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Mercer County | Pennsylvania | Venango County

Halcon Resources Completes 2 Utica Shale Wells…in PA!
April 18, 2013April 18, 2013

Halcon Resources, a driller headquartered in Houston, TX, is active in half a dozen different shale plays in the U.S., including the Utica Shale. The surprise part is that Halcon is drilling in the Utica in Pennsylvania as well as Ohio. Yes the Utica does underlay a large part of PA as well as eastern OH, but only a handful of Utica wells have been drilled in PA (from all drillers) because the prolific Marcellus Shale layer under PA has commanded the most attention.

Halcon’s CEO Floyd Wilson says the company has two rigs drilling in the Utica now, but it’s still very early days for “one of the most exciting unconventional resources plays in the lower 48.” Two of the eight wells they’ve spud (i.e. drilling) in the Utica are now completed—both of them in PA:

Read More “Halcon Resources Completes 2 Utica Shale Wells…in PA!”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

EQT Sheds Divisions/Assets to Focus on Marcellus Shale
April 18, 2013April 18, 2013

In a shareholders meeting held Wednesday at EQT Corp in Pittsburgh, the company laid out a strategy of focusing on drilling for shale gas in southwestern PA. That means they will continue to divest from other businesses, like their Equitable Gas utility company (waiting for regulatory approval to sell it), and the sale of their coalbed methane acreage in Virginia.

EQT plans to focus like a laser on the Marcellus Shale:

Read More “EQT Sheds Divisions/Assets to Focus on Marcellus Shale”
Energy Companies | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

EV Energy Partners Deal to Sell 104K Utica Acres Dead, What Now?
April 17, 2013April 17, 2013

EV Energy Partners/EnerVest Executive Chairman John Walker admitted yesterday that a deal to sell the company’s interest in 104,000 Utica Shale acres has fallen apart. MDN has chronicled the journey thus far in a number of articles. In September 2013, EVEP announced they had put 539,000 Utica acres on the auction block and were confident they would sell it by year’s end and receive in the neighborhood of $6 billion (see EnerVest Puts 539,000 Utica Shale Acres on Auction Block). That didn’t happen.

Earlier this year, EVEP seemed to pull back from the original offer and instead push 104,000 acres concentrated in Stark, Tuscarawas and surrounding counties (see EnerVest Strategy: Sell Utica, Drill Vertical, Expand Midstream). That smaller deal has now also “failed” according to yesterday’s call. Apparently the price was right, but the terms were not. So what happens now?
Read More “EV Energy Partners Deal to Sell 104K Utica Acres Dead, What Now?”
Accidents | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Tyler County | West Virginia

Second Death from Flash Fire at WV Pipeline Station
April 17, 2013

A second man has now died from injuries received last Thursday in a flash fire at a “pig receiving station” along a Eureka Hunter pipeline near Wick (Tyler County), WV (see Flash Fire at Pipeline Station in WV Kills 1, Injures 3 Others for our original report and background details).

We mourn with the families of Raymond Miller and Bruce Phipps:
Read More “Second Death from Flash Fire at WV Pipeline Station”
Accidents | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Tag Team Grudge Match: Jesse White/Patch v Range Resources/DEP
April 17, 2013

The ongoing grudge match between western PA Rep. Jesse White (from Cecil) and Range Resources continues and has grown. Last week White made a formal “Right to Know” request with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (another favorite target of White) over the alleged leakage of 30 gallons of…fresh water? frack wastewater?…it’s not clear to MDN which it is–from a Range impoundment located in Cecil Township.

Regardless of the tiny amount of whatever leaked, the DEP has not responded to White, yet, so he’s turning up the pressure by going to his favorite media stenographer, Canon-McMillanPatch:
Read More “Tag Team Grudge Match: Jesse White/Patch v Range Resources/DEP”
Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Utica Shale Darling: Gulfport Rings the Closing Bell for NASDAQ
April 17, 2013

Times Square in New York City is always a favorite place to visit for MDN editor Jim Willis. He gets there at least 3-4 times a year, passing through on business. For those who have never been, the first time you visit, it’s sensory overload. So many lights, so many people–all in an organized chaos. It’s fun!

We’re not sure if Jim Palm, CEO of Gulfport Energy (a rising drilling star in the Ohio Utica Shale) has previously visited Times Square, but he was there yesterday–ringing the closing bell for the NASDAQ MarketSite.*
Read More “Utica Shale Darling: Gulfport Rings the Closing Bell for NASDAQ”