An update on the latest drilling permits (issued the past two weeks) for the Utica Shale in both western PA and eastern Ohio, by driller and county:
Each year Platts publishes a list of the top 250 energy companies in the world. They evaluate companies using four metrics: asset value, revenue, profit, and return on invested capital. It probably won’t surprise you to find out that 7 of the top 10 energy companies in the world have a presence in the Marcellus or Utica Shale.
Here’s the Platts list of the top 10 energy companies in the world for 2012:
Read More “Top 10 Energy Companies & Top 10 Drillers Worldwide”
The low price of natural gas may not be good for drillers, but it’s great for manufacturing companies who power their plants with it. The fact that manufacturers are increasingly converting to natural gas to power their operations, and relocating to areas with an abundant supply of low priced gas—like Pennsylvania—is a good thing for Shell and their proposed ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA. Why?
Read More “Low NatGas Price Will Benefit Shell’s Ethane Cracker Plant”
In order to lure Shell to build its multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA, the state passed a law granting Shell tax exempt status for the next 25 years. Problem is, the place where they will build the plant currently pays school and town taxes ($344,000 per year) that would disappear under the state plan. So Shell has offered to pay 110% of those taxes over the next 25 years—to avoid a PR problem and to support the local community where it will be doing business for at least the next generation.
Here’s the details:
Read More “Shell Volunteers to Pay Local Taxes on PA Ethane Cracker”
Although we’ve known for a while that the embattled Chesapeake Energy has been shopping some of it’s shale basin and other assets in order to pay down debt, they’ve made a huge announcement today. Chesapeake has sold most of its Permian Basin acreage along with “substantially all of its midstream” assets for $6.9 billion. The buyers for the Permian were Shell, Chevron and EnerVest. Most of Chesapeake’s remaining midstream assets were sold to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
Chesapeake previously announced they would sell off assets in areas where they were not number one or two in an attempt to repay loans and concentrate their drilling in core areas. Two of the core areas where Chesapeake is sticking around are the Marcellus and Utica Shale.
From the Chesapeake Energy press release:
Read More “Chesapeake Sells Permian Basin, Midstream Assets for $6.9B”
Last Wednesday night, a Shell general manager spoke to a gathering of people in Monaca, PA about Shell’s plans to build an ethane cracker plant in the community. As MDN has said numerous times, Shell’s deal to build a cracker plant in Monaca is a) not a sure thing, and b) will take years to complete when it does happen.
The Shell general manager, while reiterating those points, gave Monaca residents reason to be optimistic that the project will indeed happen in their community.
Read More “Shell Rep Tells Monaca Residents Cracker Plant Looking Good”
As MDN has previously cautioned, although the proposed ethane cracker plant Shell wants to build near Pittsburgh is looking good, it’s still not a foregone conclusion that Monaca, PA will be the location (see this MDN story). That message of caution was reaffirmed by Shell at an industry conference yesterday, as reported by the Youngstown Business Journal:
Read More “Shell Reaffirms PA Cracker Plant Still Planned, Not Certain”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett went to Monaca in Beaver County, PA yesterday to talk about a planned ethane cracker plant that Shell says it wants to build there. He was joined by a number of officials—bipartisan in makeup. Corbett’s message? “We’re not there yet.” He said that although a great deal has been done, more will need to be done before Shell pulls the trigger and builds the plant.
The press release from the governor’s office talking about his trip to Monaca:
Read More “PA Gov. Corbett Goes to Beaver County to Talk Cracker Plants”
In March 2012, the village board in Painted Post (Steuben County), NY voted to sell water to Shell for use in fracking operations across the border in Pennsylvania. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) gave its blessing to Painted Post to sell up to 1 million gallons of water day. But the decision doesn’t sit well with anti-drillers.
According to NGI’s Shale Daily, the Sierra Club and several area organizations sued the village board in late June to stop the sale from taking place.
Read More “Sierra Club Sues to Stop Water Sales in Steuben County, NY”
At 11:45 pm Saturday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, for the second year in a row (and his second year in office), signed into law an on-time budget for the state—a budget that does not raise taxes. No small feat given the current sad state of the economy.
One of the biggest victories for Corbett in this year’s budget (supported by both Republicans and Democrats) was the passage of a tax credit for Shell and other companies who invest in an ethane cracker plant for the state:
Read More “PA Budget with Shell Cracker Plant Tax Credit Passes”
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating a possible case of methane migration due to drilling by Shell in Union Township, Tioga County (PA). A drinking water well in the area was reported to be bubbling with methane.
Read More “PA DEP Investigates Methane Migration from Shell Drilling”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett continues to push hard to get his package of tax incentives for a Shell ethane cracker plant passed before the state legislature goes on summer break at the end of June. Looks like it’s paid off. Word has come out the legislature will pass his proposed package.
Read More “PA Gov. Corbett Press Conference on Shell Cracker Plant”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett officially launched his public relations effort yesterday to get the PA legislature to pass a package of tax credits for Shell to build an ethane cracker plant in the state. The package of tax credits will amount to $1.7 billion over a 25-year period (up to $66 million per year) and will not begin until 2017 at the earliest.
Three of Corbett’s cabinet secretaries held a forum at the Beaver County community college yesterday, near the location of the proposed plant (in Beaver County), to push for the tax credits. When the new plant is built, it will result in 20,000 new jobs throughout the region.
Corbett is making a push to get the legislature to adopt the package by the end of June, before legislators adjourn for summer recess. But many legislators complain they don’t know enough about the plan (yet) to cast a vote either way. This effort by Corbett and his administration is an attempt to bridge that gap.
Read More “Gov. Corbett’s PR Campaign for $1.7B Cracker Plant Tax Break”
Some more details about how the tax break would work that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is planning to offer Shell to build it’s ethane cracker plant in PA:
Read More “More Details about Proposed Ethane Cracker Tax Break”
MDN previously warned that the final decision of where Shell will build an ethane cracker plant is not a done deal. It certainly is looking good—they selected a site in Beaver County, northwest of Pittsburgh—and they are deep into planning for that site. But Shell CEO Peter Voser was quoted as saying it would be “several years” before a go/no decision on whether to build it would be made (see this MDN story).
That timeline of several years was reaffirmed by a Shell representative yesterday in comments to the Pittsburgh Business Times:
Read More “Shell: Final Decision on Cracker Plant Still 18-24 Mo. Away”
In brief public comments yesterday, both Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley supported and defended a plan to grant Shell a 25-year, $1.7 billion tax forgiveness plan if they will build and operate an ethane cracker plant in the state. For those new to the issue, ethane is one of the chemicals that comes out of the ground from natural gas drilling. Ethane can be “cracked” or converted in ethylene, a raw material used to make plastics.
The plant that Shell proposes to build will generate some 20,000 jobs and create an economic impact of $17-$20 billion. Investing $1.7 billion to get $17-$20 billion is a no-brainer.
Read More “PA Gov, Lt Gov Speak Out on Shell Cracker Plant Tax Break”