Energy Services

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    FERC Gives Rover Phase 1B Permission to Begin Service, 1.7 Bcf/d

    Energy Transfer Partners (ET) announced on Friday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has granted ET permission to bring Rover Pipeline Phase 1B online–as of now. Building the mighty Rover, a $4.2 billion, 713-mile Utica/Marcellus natural gas pipeline that will stretch from PA, WV and eastern OH, through OH, into Michigan, and eventually on to Canada, has always been a two-phase project–Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase 1 was further broken down into 1A and 1B. Phase 1A, which is the main line through most of Ohio, went online Sept. 1 (see Big Portion of Rover Pipeline Now Up & Running – Thru Most of Ohio). Phase 1B is the completion of several important “laterals” (or offshoot pipelines), along with compressor stations. This new segment will serve to feed more gas to the main Rover pipeline. It was Phase 1B that got approved on Friday, and is presumably now up and running as you read this. With the addition of Phase 1B, Rover now has the capacity to flow 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas. When Phase 2 is done in 1Q18, the pipeline’s full capacity of 3.25 Bcf/d will go online…
    Read More “FERC Gives Rover Phase 1B Permission to Begin Service, 1.7 Bcf/d”

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    Leach XPress Starting Up Jan 1 – Marc/Utica Gas Heading to the Gulf!

    Last week Columbia Pipeline Group (now part of TransCanada) filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin service on their Leach XPress pipeline. This is BIG and important news. In August 2014, MDN told you that Columbia Pipeline Group decided to move forward with investing $1.75 billion dollars for two new projects: Leach XPress and Rayne XPress (see Columbia Gas: $1.75B for 2 Projects to Send Marcellus Gas to Gulf). The Leach XPress project involves building ~160 miles of natural gas pipeline and compression facilities in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia’s northern panhandle, flowing 1.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas all the way to Leach, Kentucky (hence the name). Rayne XPress works hand in glove with Leach. There is an existing natgas pipeline from Leach, KY all the way to the Louisiana Gulf Coast, called Rayne. The pipeline is named for the location it flows to: Rayne, Louisiana. The Rayne Xpress project beefs up the Rayne pipeline with new compressor stations to add an additional 1 Bcf per day of capacity–Marcellus and Utica Shale gas capacity that will flow to the Gulf Coast. Rayne went online in early November (see FERC Clears 1 Bcf/d Rayne Xpress Pipe to Begin Service). When Leach goes online Jan. 1, 2018 (yes, we expect FERC will approve it), Marcellus/Utica gas will begin flowing along the combined pipelines all the way to the Gulf. That’s big news!…
    Read More “Leach XPress Starting Up Jan 1 – Marc/Utica Gas Heading to the Gulf!”

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    FERC Gives Rover OK to Resume All HDD Work, Incl. Tuscarawas River

    We have been waiting for this day for a LONG time. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order to Rover Pipeline allowing Rover to restart all outstanding underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) projects, including the location at Tuscarawas River. All Rover HDD projects were stopped back in April following a string of “inadvertent returns” (i.e. leaks) of drilling mud, the most serious being a ~2 million gallon spill at the Tuscarawas River HDD location (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). Several months after stopping Rover HDD work, following investigations and corrective action, FERC slowly began to allow Rover to restart HDD work in some (not all) locations. There have been perhaps 4-5 tranches of “go ahead and restart HDD work at these couple of locations.” But until yesterday, Rover could not restart HDD at the location of the worst spill site, near the Tuscarawas River. With yesterday’s order, all sites are cleared. Craig “Captain Ahab” Butler, director of the Ohio EPA, blew a gasket. He’s still trying to harpoon the Rover “Moby Dick” Pipeline as it travels through Ohio. A few weeks ago Butler asked Rover (and FERC) to STOP all HDD work (see Ohio EPA Continues Vendetta Against Rover Pipe, Demands HDD Stop). A few days later Rover asked FERC for permission to restart the balance of their HDD work (see Rover Ignores Shrill Ohio EPA, Asks FERC to Continue HDD Drilling). On Monday, Rover sent a letter to Butler (and FERC) saying Ohio EPA “grossly mischaracterizes Rover’s activities.” Yesterday FERC very loudly and clearly ignored Butler and sided with Rover…
    Read More “FERC Gives Rover OK to Resume All HDD Work, Incl. Tuscarawas River”

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    CNX to Buy Noble’s 50% Share of CONE Midstream for $305M

    On Monday MDN shared news with you that we believe was exclusive news–nobody else picked up on it. The news was that Noble Energy’s original plan to sell its 50% stake in CONE Midstream to Quantum Energy Partners for $765 million, announced back in May, is in trouble (see Noble’s 50% CONE Midstream Sale in Trouble – Shopping Deal to CNX). We told you that according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing Noble had begun negotiations with CNX Resources (formerly CONSOL Energy), which is the other 50% owner of CONE, to sell Noble’s share to them. It seems we were prophetic. This morning CNX issued a press release to announce they have cut a deal to buy Noble’s 50% CONE share–for $305 million. That’s 40% of the deal price Noble previously worked out with Quantum. Must be it’s a buyer’s market for midstream assets…

    12/18/17 Update: On Friday, following CNX’s announcement about buying the rest of CONE from Noble Energy, Noble also issued an announcement (below). Noble’s announcement amusingly leaves out the purchase price–less than half of the previously deal they had with Quantum.
    Read More “CNX to Buy Noble’s 50% Share of CONE Midstream for $305M”

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    LNG Tanker Docks at Cove Point Terminal – To Offload Nigerian LNG?

    We have to confess, the LNG (liquefied natural gas) world is sometimes confusing for us. The overall theory is pretty simple. Huge plants super-cool natural gas into a liquid state (called liquefaction) and load it onto tankers. The tankers (typically ships, sometimes rail) convey the LNG to a distant port somewhere and it’s unloaded. At the receiving end, the gas is then reheated back into a gaseous state (called regasification). However, the technology that both cools and reheats the gas is complex. Dominion began working on the Cove Point LNG export plant in October 2014 (see Dominion Breaks Ground on Cove Point, MD LNG Export Facility). Cove Point will liquefy 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica shale gas and load it onto ships bound for India and Japan. It took something like $4 billion and just over three years, but earlier this month the facility began to accept an initial quantity of gas as part of the “commissioning” process–which we take to mean the shakedown process, make sure everything is working OK (see Dominion Cove Point LNG Export – Dress Rehearsal Begins). Now comes word that a tanker has docked at the Cove Point facility. The tanker is already filled with LNG–from Nigeria. Apparently the Nigerian LNG will get offloaded at Cove Point, which is a bit mysterious for us. Experts say this is a “cool down” cargo, used as part of the commissioning process. We assume, like it’s name, this cargo will “cool down” the equipment that needs to be cooled down in order to begin operations. Like we said, the LNG world is sometimes confusing for us…
    Read More “LNG Tanker Docks at Cove Point Terminal – To Offload Nigerian LNG?”

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    FERC Rejects Antis’ Request to “Rehear” Atlantic Sunrise Decision

    In March of this year, a variety of anti-fossil fuel Big Green groups filed a rehearing request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asking the agency to reconsider its decision to approve the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project (see Antis Attempt to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Pipe by Attacking FERC Order). Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. Before Big Green groups can sue FERC in federal court to try and stop a project, they must first file a request for rehearing. If the antis can get FERC to agree to a re-hearing, it effectively slows, even stops, an active pipeline project. So in an effort to prevent important projects from being slowed or stopped, FERC developed something called a “tolling order” which grants FERC more time to consider whether or not a full rehearing is justified. During the time of the tolling order, work on a pipeline continues. Sometimes the work even gets completed! Which of course drives antis bonkers. By using a tolling order, FERC can drag out the process of deciding to deny a rehearing, avoiding the inevitable frivolous lawsuit that follows. That is, work on important projects actually gets done. Even though a tolling order was in place for the Atlantic Sunrise decision, antis still sued in federal court (several times, for a myriad of reasons), in an attempt to stop Atlantic Sunrise. It hasn’t worked. Construction is going strong. Last week FERC finally responded to the original request for a rehearing lodged back in March. FERC denied the request. When you read through FERC’s response, you’ll find many of the people and groups who requested a rehearing didn’t follow the rules and were simply dismissed as not having standing in the case. For those who do/did have standing, FERC methodically, meticulously, patiently explained why they are full of it…
    Read More “FERC Rejects Antis’ Request to “Rehear” Atlantic Sunrise Decision”

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    EQT Begins Process of Separating Midstream…into New Company?

    Yesterday EQT released details about their plans for 2018 (see our lead story today, EQT Drills Longest Marcellus Well Ever, Reveals 2018 Plans). Plenty of news sources covered that news. However, EQT Midstream, the pipeline subsidiary of EQT, also released an announcement, which received almost no media coverage. And yet there is, for us, some big news in the EQT Midstream announcement. As you know by now, EQT recently bought and merged in Rice Energy, creating the largest onshore natural gas producing company in the United States (see EQT Buys Rice Energy in $8.2B Deal, Becomes #1 Gas Producer in US). EQT bought not only Rice the driller, but Rice the midstream company too. EQT has it’s own EQT Midstream subsidiary. And yet, EQT (the driller) still owns a number of midstream/pipeline assets, on paper, separate from EQT Midstream. Same with Rice Energy–they had Rice Midstream Partners as a subsidiary. It’s all kind of a mish mash–with pipeline assets spread around four (or more) different entities on paper. Yesterday’s announcement by EQT Midstream said (a) the EQT parent company is considering “dropping down” (shifting ownership on paper) for all remaining midstream assets to EQT Midstream, and (b) EQT is also considering combining EQT Midstream and Rice Midstream Partners into one single entity–one division for all midstream assets. Which certainly makes sense. Why not tidy up the operations and get everything under one umbrella? Except we think there may be another reason for combining all of the midstream assets into one, neat, lovable bundle: spinning off the midstream division into its own standalone company, completely separate from the EQT parent…
    Read More “EQT Begins Process of Separating Midstream…into New Company?”

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    E Goshen Twp Asks PA to Step in and Authorize Anarchy re Pipelines

    A township supervisor in East Goshen (Chester County), PA doesn’t like a pipeline coming through a portion of his township. So he’s asking PA Gov. Tom Wolf and state legislators to overturn 200+ years of law in the United States to empower him to either prohibit the pipeline from coming through his town, or drastically alter its course (making it unfeasible). Apparently Supervisor Marty Shane missed an important civics lesson in his elementary school social studies class. (Maybe he was taught in a Philadelphia school–that would explain it.) Mr. Shane wants municipal ordinances to supersede state and national regulations when it comes to pipelines. That is, he wants to reverse the way the law has worked for over 200 years–which is federal on top, then state, then local. Apparently Mr. Shane wants to grant his local fiefdom the same powers as (in this case) the state government. What Shane advocates, perhaps without realizing it, is a path to anarchy–where mobs of people determine what happens. The ultimate end of that is Lord of the Flies (read it sometime). Our founders, who (ironically) met in Philadelphia, crafted a system that created the single greatest country on earth. We the people elect representatives to represent us (called a republic, NOT a straight up democracy). Mobs do not make good decisions and our founders knew it. Under the U.S. Constitution, the federal government reigns over all. Then the state. And finally, local governments. The federal government reserves the right, under laws and statutes, to regulate interstate pipelines–precisely to prevent small-minded people from blocking them. After the feds come the states, who regulate oil and gas activity, and any pipelines not regulated by the feds (which covers the pipeline going through East Goshen). Local governments can and do pass ordinances on land use–but not ordinances that supersede the power of the state or the feds to site and regulate pipelines. Shane wants to reverse the order…
    Read More “E Goshen Twp Asks PA to Step in and Authorize Anarchy re Pipelines”

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    Atlantic Coast Pipeline Delayed in Virginia by Water Board Vote

    Last week Virginia’s Water Control Board issued a water permit/certification for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA (see Virginia Water Board Approves Mountain Valley Pipe – Antis Erupt). Antis erupted with threats and bullying following that decision. Perhaps that was on the minds of Board members when they voted yesterday to “approve” Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project–a $5 billion project from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. Water Control Board members voted 4-3 to approve issuing the same water permit/certification for the project, except there are very long strings attached. The Water Board’s approval is conditional, the condition being approval “is dependent on a final review of several environmental studies.” Those studies won’t be done until March or April of next year. ACP planned to begin construction, now, this year. So the Water Board wimped out–caved to pressure from bullying extremists (people who behaved like bullies at the hearing). The Board appeared to approve the project without actually approving it–have your cake and eat it too. There’s no way to sugarcoat that the Board’s non-approval approval yesterday is a (temporary) setback for ACP–and a (temporary) win for enviro Nazis…
    Read More “Atlantic Coast Pipeline Delayed in Virginia by Water Board Vote”

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    OH Sand Producer Fairmount Santrol Merging w/Unimin in $170M Deal

    Fairmount Santrol, an Ohio-based sand producer that sells sand as a proppant for use in Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling, announced yesterday it has accepted an offer to sell itself to another sand company–Unimin, a subsidiary of Belgium-based SCR-Sibelco. Fairmount Santrol shareholders will get a $170 million payment and 35% ownership in the newly combined company. The new company will have revenues approaching $2 billion per year. Fairmount Santrol’s CEO, Jenniffer Deckard, is expected to become the CEO of the new company (the name of the new company has not yet been decided). However, make no mistake–Fairmount is selling itself. The board of directors for the new company will have 6 members picked by Unimim parent SCR-Sibelco and 4 members picked by Fairmount Santrol. The location of the headquarters is still up in the air. A lot of unknowns at this point. However, one thing that IS known is that this is a done deal…
    Read More “OH Sand Producer Fairmount Santrol Merging w/Unimin in $170M Deal”

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    Ashtabula, OH Residents Give New Pipeline Thumbs Up @ Open House

    Click for larger version

    RH energytrans, which plans to build a short 60-mile pipeline from Pennsylvania to Ashtabula County, OH, recently held an open house for government officials, landowners who will be affected by the pipeline, and “interested residents.” The event was held in Conneaut (Ashtabula County), OH, and was remarkable for what didn’t happen. What didn’t happen was antis protesting. Local officials (those who spoke) unanimously support the project and the fracked natural gas it will bring to the county. We didn’t spot a single negative comment–from officials, landowners or interested residents. In October MDN brought you details about the proposed $86 million Risberg Line Project (see New 60-Mile Pipeline Proposed from NW Pa. to NE Ohio). The project will use approximately 32 miles of existing pipeline in an established Right of Way originating in the Meadville, PA area. Approximately 16 miles of new pipeline will be installed in Pennsylvania and approximately 12 miles of new pipeline will be installed in Ohio–meaning 28 miles of brand new “greenfield” pipeline needs to get built. Two school districts in Ohio where the pipeline will traverse have agreed to reduce the amount of property tax the pipeline would need to pay by 75% over a 15-year period–a huge vote of confidence (see Update on Proposed 60-Mile Pipeline from NW Pa. to NE Ohio). Here’s what happened last week at the RH energytrans open house for the Risberg Line Project…
    Read More “Ashtabula, OH Residents Give New Pipeline Thumbs Up @ Open House”

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    PTT Global Final Decision re Belmont Cracker Plant Late Again

    An MDN reader recently asked us, “Hey, what’s up with the Belmont County, OH ethane cracker? We haven’t read anything in a while.” You haven’t read anything on MDN, nor anywhere else, because there’s been nothing to read. PTT Global Chemical, based in Thailand, announced in April 2015 they are interested in building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). In May 2016, a story in the Bangkok Post said the final investment decision (FID) will definitely come in 2017, but they called the decision “delayed.” PTT disagreed with that assessment, saying a decision coming in 2016 or 2017 is not “delayed” (see PTT Global Says Belmont, OH Ethane Cracker NOT Delayed). In December 2016, Belmont County officials said the FID would come by the end of March this year (see OH Cracker Final Decision Coming Soon, Site Now Cleared & Ready). But in February, PTT said the FID won’t come until “late 2017,” which is “several months later than we originally announced” (see PTT Global Delays Final Investment Decision for OH Ethane Cracker). It’s pretty “late” in 2017, wouldn’t you say? A company representative says the company will make some sort of an announcement “by the end of the year,” but that’s all he will say. It certainly doesn’t seem as if an FID is in the cards in the next three weeks…
    Read More “PTT Global Final Decision re Belmont Cracker Plant Late Again”

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    Millennium Begins Building 7.8 Mile Pipeline in Orange County, NY

    Last Thursday the the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) request to block of construction of Millennium Pipeline’s Valley Lateral Project (see Fed Court Denies NY DEC Bid to Block Power Plant Pipe Construction). As a quick reminder, Valley Lateral is a tiny, 7.8 mile pipeline in Orange County, NY that will connect the main Millennium pipeline to the CPV Valley Energy Center gas-fired electric plant, currently under construction. Even though there is still a court case hanging out there (DEC suing FERC) scheduled for a hearing in late January, we said this on Friday: “Construction will likely begin TODAY.” We were right. Millennium fired up the chainsaws and began cutting down trees along the pipeline’s future path, on Friday, the day after the court ruling. Millennium plans to have all trees cleared along the path of the pipeline by Dec. 31. This is a major victory for truth, justice and the American way…
    Read More “Millennium Begins Building 7.8 Mile Pipeline in Orange County, NY”

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    Noble’s 50% CONE Midstream Sale in Trouble – Shopping Deal to CNX

    In May MDN brought you the news that Noble Energy dropped a bombshell, selling its 100% interest in 385,000 Marcellus/Utica acres and wells producing 415 million cubic feet equivalent of natural gas in West Virginia and Pennsylvania for $1.225 billion to HG Energy (see Noble Energy Sells Remaining M-U Assets for $1.2B – Who Bought?). A couple of weeks later the other shoe dropped when Noble announced they would sell their 50% stake in CONE Midstream, a 50/50 joint venture with CONSOL Energy (now CNX Resources), to Quantum Energy Partners for $765 million, meaning a total exit for Noble from our region (see Noble/CONSOL Breakup Continues: Noble Sells 50% of CONE Midstream). When we say Noble “sold” their CONE stake we mean “will be sold after all the lawyers and bean counters get done with drawing up the necessary paperwork.” Fact is, the CONE sale has still not happened, even though there is a Dec. 31 deadline for the deal to be completed. It appears Noble’s deal to sell it’s CONE stake to Quantum is now in jeopardy. We base that observation on information from a filing Noble made with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. In an 8-K filing, Noble said (a) they’ve extended the deadline to complete the deal to sell CONE to Quantum from Dec. 31, 2017 to June 30, 2018, and (b) Noble has opened up discussions/negotiations with CNX to sell their half of CONE to CNX instead of selling it to Quantum–which would make CNX the 100% owner of CONE…
    Read More “Noble’s 50% CONE Midstream Sale in Trouble – Shopping Deal to CNX”

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    Atlantic Coast Pipe Gets Ready to Build: Union Help, Eminent Domain

    We have a couple of important signs that Dominion and Duke Energy, the main sponsors of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, are getting ready to begin building the pipeline. Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a $5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. Years after the project filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), it was finally approved by FERC in October (see FERC Approves Atlantic Coast, Mountain Valley Pipeline Projects). In November, the U.S. Forest Service granted its blessing for the pipeline to traverse small portions of two national forests (see USFS Approves Atlantic Coast Pipeline Thru 2 National Forests). Although some of the state water crossing permits are still an issue, it’s a pretty much foregone conclusion WV, VA and NC will not hold up construction of this important project. An announcement from Dominion on Friday to say the company has cut deals with four labor unions for workers, and a story in NC about the pipeline being forced to use eminent domain proceedings with some holdout landowners, combine to paint the picture that this project will soon begin construction…
    Read More “Atlantic Coast Pipe Gets Ready to Build: Union Help, Eminent Domain”

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    Fed Court Denies NY DEC Bid to Block Power Plant Pipe Construction

    Yesterday the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s request to slap an ongoing block of construction for Millennium Pipeline’s Valley Lateral Project. As a quick reminder, Valley Lateral is a tiny, 7.8 mile pipeline that will connect the main Millennium line to the CPV Valley Energy Center gas-fired electric plant, currently under construction, due to be completed in the first quarter of next year. The DEC doesn’t like the power plant project (approved by the State of New York), and is using the pipeline as a political football to try and keep the plant from opening–no doubt at the direction of our corrupt governor, Andrew Cuomo. The DEC arbitrarily, after more than one year of review, ruled against issuing a federal water crossing permit for the pipeline. In an historic decision, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) overruled the DEC in September (see History Made! FERC Overrules NY DEC on Millennium Pipe Permit). The DEC, in a snit fit, demanded FERC not OK the beginning of construction until an army of DEC lawyers figures out a way to appeal, delay, obstruct and otherwise stop the project anyway (see NY DEC Appeals FERC Override of Millennium Pipe Decision). FERC didn’t listen to DEC, instead giving Millennium the go-ahead to begin construction (see FERC Humiliates NY DEC, Millennium Can Begin Construction on Pipe). NY sued FERC in federal court requesting an emergency stay of construction activities. The Second Circuit implemented a temporary stay. Yesterday the court dissolved that temporary stay and denied DEC’s request for a long-term stay until the full case against FERC is heard. Bottom line: Construction will likely begin TODAY…
    Read More “Fed Court Denies NY DEC Bid to Block Power Plant Pipe Construction”