Enbridge Zeros in on Cause of Kentucky TETCO Pipe Explosion
On August 1, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) pipeline exploded in Lincoln County, Kentucky–killing one and sending six to the hospital (see TETCO Pipe Explodes in Kentucky Killing 1; Southbound M-U Gas Stops). Since that time one of the three TETCO pipes in the area has returned to service. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) continues to investigate. As is typical for such an investigation, we won’t have an official determination for months, maybe even a year, as to what caused the explosion. However, Enbridge is saying the explosion is likely due to a certain kind of pipe manufactured back in the 1950s.
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In New York State it’s not popular–frankly it’s not safe–if you’re a Democrat who opposes mob boss Andrew Cuomo for any reason/any issue. Yet six Long Island State Senators, all Democrats, are doing just that. The six sent a letter to Basil Seggos, who runs the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and does whatever Cuomo tells him to do, asking Seggos to provisionally approve the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project.
On Monday MDN brought you the news that NextEra Energy, largely a renewables company, has made the bold move of buying 39% of the Central Penn Line, otherwise known as Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project (see 
Our friends at RBN Energy launched a new mini-series of blog posts delving into Marcellus/Utica gas processing and fractionation back in August. The first post in the series dealt with an overview of processing and fractionation in the wet gas region–meaning southwest PA, eastern OH, and the northern panhandle of WV (see 
Two very important (perhaps we should say critically important) cases now sit before the U.S. Supreme Court–cases that have a direct bearing on the Marcellus/Utica region. Both cases deal with pipelines. The first case we’ve written about before: Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline case to overturn a nutty decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that judicially creates a new law that pipelines can’t cross under the Appalachian Trail without (no kidding) an Act of Congress. The other case involves the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe in California–a case that has profound implications for the Constitution Pipeline from Pennsylvania into New York.
Superior Energy Services serves the drilling, completion and production-related needs of oil and gas companies worldwide through a number of subsidiaries including Wild Well Control, International Snubbing Services, and SPN Well Services. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) warned Superior in August that its share price had fallen below $1/share for more than 30 consecutive days and was in danger of delisting. Superior said at the time they have a plan to boost the per-share price. However, NYSE delisted their stock as of last Friday (six weeks later) and the stock now trades over-the-counter.
Here we go again. “Activist investor” Elliott Management is pressuring Marathon Petroleum to split itself up into three companies–retail (Speedway convenience store chain), refining, and midstream (or MarkWest Energy). Recall that Marathon bought out and merged in MarkWest just a few years ago, in December 2015 (see 
Last December Williams announced its Leidy South Project, a new expansion of the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania (see 
Sunoco Logistics Partners, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer, is still on the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environment Protection’s (DEP) naughty list. In February, PA Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the DEP to suspend all reviews of clean water permit applications and other pending approvals for ALL of ET/Sunoco’s pipeline projects in the state–including the Mariner East and Revolution pipeline projects. The ban on approving reviews has not yet been lifted and means that in 33 locations across the state (most of them in the Philadelphia area) Sunoco can’t complete underground horizontal direction drilling (HDD) work for its Mariner East pipeline projects.
Not everyone who lives in the Greater New York City area is falling for the bogus line by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that he’s not to blame for a natural gas shortage plaguing the region. As we’ve chronicled, endlessly, Cuomo ordered his Dept. of Environment Conservation to reject the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project (see 
Here’s a story that slipped under our radar for the past few months, but is now out in the open for all to see. In June Blue Racer Midstream, a gathering and processing system with 700 miles of pipelines in Ohio and West Virginia in the “heart” of the Marcellus/Utica, began the process to file for an initial public offering (IPO)–to become a publicly traded company. Blue Racer hopes to raise $600-$750 million with an IPO, money to expand. Midstream giant Williams, which owns roughly 29% of Blue Racer, sued in July to block the IPO.
Most of the drama surrounding Williams’ Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project has centered on New York State and its corrupt Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who denied a federal Clean Water Act Section 401 water crossing permit for the project (see