Tioga County, PA Leased Landowners Lose Case to Block Gathering Pipe
Last Friday a federal judge in Pennsylvania rejected arguments from three Tioga County, PA landowners who claimed Marcellus driller Repsol did not have a right to install a gathering pipeline across their property. The landowners leased their property for oil and gas development and their property now flows gas, for which they’re paid royalties. Even so, the landowners claim Repsol does not have the right to build a pipeline because it flows gas from other properties not part of their unit. Like all lawsuits, this one is complicated, but instructive for landowners (and drillers) when it comes to pipelines and leases.
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Yesterday MDN editor Jim Willis attended the 12th Annual Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum in New York City. Christmastime is a great time to visit NYC. The conference opened with a talk given by Paul Ferneyhough, Repsol’s executive director for North America. The big news from Ferneyhough’s talk and subsequent remarks later in the day is that Repsol plans to ramp up production on their Marcellus acreage located in northeastern Pennsylvania by another 50% by 2020. Ferneyhough said the company, just last week, added a second drilling rig in the Marcellus. That one extra rig will allow them to quickly ramp up production. Several other news outlets, including Reuters, published news of the 50% increase. What they don’t tell you is how Repsol will manage to get that increased production to market, and what they can’t tell you is the added information Ferneyhough told Jim in a private conversation following his presentation.
Yesterday we brought you the “Top 10” drillers in southwestern Pennsylvania, as ranked by the number of permits issued (see