Dominion Energy

Accidents | Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | NGLs | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Blueracer Natrium Wet Gas Plant Remains Offline, How Much Longer?
January 13, 2014January 13, 2014

Last September there was an explosion and a fire “isolated to a small area” at the Blueracer Natrium processing and fractionation facility in Marshall County, WV (see Explosion/Fire at Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV Processing Plant). The fire, which “burned itself out,” knocked the plant offline until this January. Because of the outage, at least two (and perhaps more) companies found other sources to process their wet gas (see Blue Racer’s Natrium Plant to Remain Offline Until Jan 2014). However, not all drillers have had success in finding other sources to process their wet gas and are stuck, waiting for the Blueracer Natrium plant to re-open.

The latest word from Blueracer on when they will reopen the plant, which doesn’t seem encouraging…
Read More “Blueracer Natrium Wet Gas Plant Remains Offline, How Much Longer?”
CONSOL Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

CONSOL/Dominion Acreage Deal Includes Pipeline Contract Too
December 10, 2013December 10, 2013

MDN brought you today’s CONSOL press announcement that they have closed a deal with Dominion Resources to take over 90,000 acres of Marcellus and Upper Devonian Shale leases for $190 million (see separate story today). Not mentioned in the CONSOL announcement is the deal also includes CONSOL using Dominion to pipeline their West Virginia production to market. Dominion reports in addition to the deal with CONSOL they’ve signed agreements with several other companies too, and will deliver WV production to pipelines in Ohio.

Here’s the “complimentary/competing” press announcement issued today from Dominion. Their side of the story, if you will…
Read More “CONSOL/Dominion Acreage Deal Includes Pipeline Contract Too”
Accidents | Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Blue Racer’s Natrium Plant to Remain Offline Until Jan 2014
November 19, 2013November 19, 2013

Blue Racer Midstream, a joint venture between Dominion Resources and Caiman Energy II, had an explosion and fire at its Natrium, WV processing plant/fractionation facility in September (see Explosion/Fire at Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV Processing Plant). Since then, at least two Blue Racer customers have found alternatives to using the Natrium facility: Rex Energy and Atlas Resources. More drillers adversely affected by the facility being offline (some of whom complained about the plant closure last week at the DUG East conference in Pittsburgh) may also be in the hunt for alternatives, especially with the announcement the plant will remain offline until “at least January” of 2014. That’s bad news for drillers and for Blue Racer, although they obviously have to repair the facility and ensure whatever caused the explosion/fire does not happen again.

As part of upgrades at the facility, Blue Racer is installing an emergency siren system in the neighboring community of Kent–to warn them of any problems at the plant. The latest on the closed facility and its prospects for re-opening:

Read More “Blue Racer’s Natrium Plant to Remain Offline Until Jan 2014”
Accidents | Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Processing Plants | Rex Energy | West Virginia

Natrium, WV Fractionation Plant Still Closed After Explosion/Fire
October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

As MDN previously reported, an explosion and fire was reported at the Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV natural gas processing plant early Saturday on Sept. 21 (see Explosion/Fire at Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV Processing Plant). It’s a week and a half later and the plant, which both processes or separates wet gas and further fractionates it into its component compounds remains closed while an investigation continues. WV officials and the plant’s owners (Blue Racer is owned by Dominion and Caiman Energy II) still don’t know what caused the explosion and fire.

Meanwhile, at least one Natrium customer has found an alternative source to process their wet gas…
Read More “Natrium, WV Fractionation Plant Still Closed After Explosion/Fire”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

WashPo Turns on Anti-Drilling Friends Over Cove Point LNG Exports
September 20, 2013September 20, 2013

MDN told you the happy news that the Dept. of Energy, under new Secretary Ernest Moniz, has approved a project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). However, Dominion is not yet out of the woods with respect to putting shovel to ground–there are another 60 or so signoffs required by various agencies before they can begin to build. Anti-drillers, like the Sierra Club, have vowed to fight Dominion tooth-and-nail every step of the way, hoping they can block the LNG export facility.

In an amazing (to us) editorial, the Washington Post editorial board turns on anti-drillers (whom they usually support) and tells them, in essence, to get a life and leave it alone. The Post says we need that LNG export facility and we need it now…
Read More “WashPo Turns on Anti-Drilling Friends Over Cove Point LNG Exports”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants

Dominion Will Spin Off Cove Point LNG Plant + Blue Racer as MLP
September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

Yesterday, the day after Dominion Resources learned of the approval from the Dept. of Energy for their proposed LNG export facility at Cove Point, MD, Dominion’s CEO Thomas Farrell announced that Dominion would spin off the new LNG facility along with their share in the Blue Racer Midstream joint venture in Ohio into a master limited partnership (MLP). An MLP is a special kind of company structure that issues “units” instead of shares of stock. MLPs are set up by the government specifically for the natural resources/mining industry–usually for oil and gas companies.

MLP units are traded on public securities exchanges combining the tax benefits of a limited partnership with the liquidity of publicly traded securities. Dominion’s MLP announcement caused its own shares of stock to reach a record high yesterday…
Read More “Dominion Will Spin Off Cove Point LNG Plant + Blue Racer as MLP”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility
September 12, 2013

It’s been a long, hard fight. Dominion has finally won approval from the Dept. of Energy (thank you new Secretary Ernest “Hair” Moniz!) to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at their Cove Point, Maryland location. The LNG facility will allow Dominion to super-cool and condense natural gas to a liquid state–Marcellus and Utica Shale gas–and export it to India and Japan, countries who are allies of the United States but don’t have a free trade agreement with us. This is great news for those two countries who previously signed deals with Dominion to take 100% of the LNG the Cove Point facility can produce (see Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones). It’s also great news for Maryland: Dominion will spend between $3.4-$3.8 billion to build the plant.

The new facility has been opposed by the Sierra Club and other well-known anti-drilling organizations because they believe the facility will encourage more fracking (see Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal). With this approval from the DOE, Dominion says they plan to begin construction next year, in 2014, and that the facility will be online and shipping in 2017…
Read More “Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility”
Chemung County | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Millennium Pipeline | New York | Pipelines

Millennium Pipeline Looks to Move More Marcellus Gas with Dominion
September 9, 2013September 9, 2013

The story of the northeast: Too much Marcellus Shale natural gas, not enough pipelines to move it all to market. More pipelines are on the way like the Constitution, but in the meantime, how to move the enormous amount of gas already flowing?

On Friday, the Millennium Pipeline, a major transmission pipeline that traverses New York State from Steuben County in the western part of the state to Rockland County in the southeastern part of the state, announced a binding open season through September 13 on a proposal to ship more Marcellus gas by creating an interconnect between Dominion Transmission’s pipeline and the Millennium at or near Horseheads, NY (close to Elmira)…
Read More “Millennium Pipeline Looks to Move More Marcellus Gas with Dominion”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

When Will DOE Approve Cove Point, MD LNG Export Facility?
August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

In early August the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) approved a project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) via a facility along the Gulf Coast–in Lake Charles, LA (see Third Houston company gets LNG export approval). No doubt the DOE’s newly minted secretary, Ernest “Hair” Moniz, had a great deal to do with it (we affectionately call him Hair, if you’ve seen his picture, you know why). So far, Lake Charles is the third LNG export facility to receive a green light from the Obama administration over the past two years–all of them along the Gulf Coast.

What about a little LNG action along the East Coast–so we can export some of this abundant (and cheap!) Marcellus Shale gas? Dominion is still waiting for a green light from the DOE for their Cove Point, MD LNG project–a project heavily protested by the likes of the Sierra Club and other anti-fossil fuel groups. Japan and India–two good allies of the U.S.–are lined up and waiting, ready to buy the entire output of the Cove Point facility when/if it starts to ship…
Read More “When Will DOE Approve Cove Point, MD LNG Export Facility?”
Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Blue Racer Gets $1B Line of Credit for More Utica Projects
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

Blue Racer Midstream, a 50/50 midstream joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy II, was formed last December (see Dominion, Caiman in $1.5B Utica JV: Blue Racer Midstream). One of the assets that belongs to the Blue Racer jv is the newly online Natrium, WV NGL plant (see Dominion Sells $500M Natrium NGL Plant to… Itself).

In order to expand and fulfill their vision of becoming the leading midstream company in the Utica Shale, Blue Racer needs money to build things. They now have it. Blue Racer announced yesterday they’ve secured an $800 million line of credit with a group of banks–a line of credit which can be (under certain conditions) expanded to a whopping $1 billion. That kind of money will easily build you another couple of Natrium NGL plants…
Read More “Blue Racer Gets $1B Line of Credit for More Utica Projects”
Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Dominion Sells $500M Natrium NGL Plant to… Itself
August 13, 2013August 13, 2013

Dominion, a huge energy company that does everything from shale drilling to pipelines and processing plants to selling gas and electric as a utility, has just sold the newly built and operating $500 million NGL processing plant in Natrium, WV to…itself. The Natrium plant was due to go online late last year. Then it was forecast be online in the spring of this year. The plant, which separates natural gas liquids from methane in the Marcellus/Utica Shale, finally went online in late June (see Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV NGL Plant Now Up & Running).

Blue Racer Midstream officially took title to the Natrium plant as of August 9th. Blue Racer is a joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy II. Dominion essentially owns Blue Racer, ergo Dominion sold the plant to itself. These things happen on paper–no doubt for more favorable tax and accounting purposes for investors. Dominion’s announcement from yesterday:
Read More “Dominion Sells $500M Natrium NGL Plant to… Itself”
Dominion Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Gulfport Energy | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Gulfport Signs Pipeline Deal to Sell Utica Gas to Midwest Market
August 8, 2013August 8, 2013

Straight off a conference call yesterday comes the news that Gulfport Energy has just signed a 10-year contract with Dominion Transmission to transport the natural gas Gulfport produces in the Ohio Utica Shale to the Midwest–using Dominion’s pipelines. The agreement is to ship 100 million cubic feet per day of gas (100 Mmcf/d), ramping up to 150 Mmcf/d by late 2014. Gulfport’s CEO James Palm made the announcement yesterday.

Palm also said on the conference call that Gulfport continues to lease acreage in Ohio and plans to drill “at least” 70 new wells next year in the Utica. More from yesterday’s call:
Read More “Gulfport Signs Pipeline Deal to Sell Utica Gas to Midwest Market”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Enviro Groups Once Again Ask FERC to Refuse Cove Point LNG Plant
July 10, 2013July 9, 2013

A small group of individuals pretending to be large groups of many people yesterday sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking them to reject the Cove Point, Maryland LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility Dominion is planning to build because they, said groups, believe in scary climate change fairy tales (oceans rising, tornadoes swirling, hurricanes churning), and so, because they believe these fairy tales, FERC should refuse a permit to Dominion. Uh, right.

Bonus observation from the press release below from said so-called “environmental groups”: any time you see the word “Riverkeeper” in a group name, run the other way. Any time you see “Sierra Club” in the name, run the other way. They are radicals and frankly, off their collective rocker. Here’s the letter they sent yesterday:
Read More “Enviro Groups Once Again Ask FERC to Refuse Cove Point LNG Plant”
Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | NGLs | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV NGL Plant Now Up & Running
July 5, 2013

Blue Racer Midstream, a joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy, was supposed to have a new $500 million wet gas (natural gas liquids) processing plant online in Natrium, WV last December (see Dominion $500M NGL Processing Plant in WV to Open in December). The date was then changed to “late spring” (see Natrium, WV NGL Plant Behind Schedule, Will Open “Late Spring”). Blue Racer finally stopped predicting when the plant would open, but MDN told you in late May the signs were there for an “imminent” opening (see Natrium, WV NGL Processing Plant Start-up Close).

Strike up the band! Even though Blue Racer has decided not to make a public announcement, the Akron Beacon Journal is reporting the plant has been up and “quietly” operating for the past several weeks…
Read More “Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV NGL Plant Now Up & Running”
Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | NGLs | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Natrium, WV NGL Processing Plant Start-up Close
May 28, 2013May 28, 2013

Processing plants in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region are a critical component of the drilling picture that frankly is holding up further development right now. Without the ability to separate “wet gas” (gas containing compounds in addition to methane, like ethane, butane, propane and pentane), drillers in wet gas areas are either drilling and capping their wells, or not drilling them in the first place. All eyes are on infrastructure projects like the processing plant in Natrium, WV being built by Blue Racer Midstream, a joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy.

The $500 million Natrium plant was due to be finished last December. Then the start-up date was changed to be “late spring” of this year (see Natrium, WV NGL Plant Behind Schedule, Will Open “Late Spring”). It’s almost summer and the plant is still not open. However, the signs point to an imminent start:
Read More “Natrium, WV NGL Processing Plant Start-up Close”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

A group of the same old, tired “we’re against all progress” groups–including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and a variety of X Riverkeeper groups–keeps making noise (increasingly just ignored by everyone) that, “OMG! the Cove Point LNG terminal in Maryland will kill off life as we know it in the Chesapeake!” Their tone is shrill and their argument (“because we hate fracking and this will cause more it”) is fallacious.

Here’s the latest claptrap to be issued by the Sierra Club, et al:
Read More “Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal”