Patterson-UTI Rig Count Count Slips by 1 Rig to 161 in Sept
As we do every month (and have for more than two years), MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for rig count health in general and rig count health in the Marcellus/Utica in particular. Patterson recently bought out and merged in Seventy Seven Energy (see Patterson-UTI Energy Completes Merger with Seventy Seven Energy). The addition of SSE’s rigs served to rocket Patterson’s rig count number in April and May much higher (see Patterson-UTI Rig Count Continues to Rocket Skyward – 159 in May). With SSE now fully absorbed into Patterson, the rig count number settled down. In June, Patterson’s count went up by a single new rig in North America, to 160. The trend continued in July, with Patterson picking up another 2 active rigs for 162 in North America–the 14th month in a row. Patterson reported last month that in August the rig count held at 162–no new rigs were added (see Patterson-UTI Rig Count Holds at All-Time High of 162 in August). And what about September? It had to happen sooner or later–what goes up must come down. In September, Patterson’s rig count slipped by one, to an average of 161 operating rigs. Hey, it was a great ride that went from June 2016 to July 2017…
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On Monday, Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, president and CEO of PTT Global Chemical (Thailand’s largest petrochemical company) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with JobsOhio regarding PTT’s proposed ethane cracker plant. The MOU pledges to “enhance the well-being and quality of life” for those living in the area near the proposed cracker plant. PTT announced in April 2015 they are interested in building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see 
There’s lots of acronyms in that headline, so right up front let us restate the headline in clearer language: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has just taken the next step to advance a project by Kinder Morgan to reverse a portion of the mighty Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) to reverse its flow, to go from the northeast to the southwest, in order to haul Marcellus/Utica natural gas liquids (NGLs) to the Gulf Coast. Currently TGP hauls natural gas (not liquids) from the Gulf to the northeast. With a bumper crop of natural gas produced by the Marcellus/Utica, gas from the Gulf is no longer needed. Kinder Morgan, the owner/operator of TGP, first floated the idea to reverse 964 miles of their pipeline back in 2013 (see 
Last week MDN reported the Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) had approved of TransCanada’s plan to lowball the price to haul natural gas all the way from Alberta (in western Canada) to the Toronto Dawn Hub in eastern Canada (see 
The deep pockets of the radical Big Green group, the Sierra Club, continue to vex the oil and gas industry. The Sierra Club is involved in so many lawsuits against our industry, you literally need a score card to keep track. Three of the cases the Clubbers have on deck come before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in two weeks–on Oct. 18th. The three cases involve Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved LNG export projects. One of the three is Dominion’s Cove Point project, which is due to export its first shipment this month or next (see 
A group of lawless anarchists–people calling themselves “anti-capitalists” from the Philadelphia area, have admitted in a blog post that they engaged in illegal, criminal (we’d call it eco-terrorist) activities against construction equipment being used in Media (Delaware County), PA for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project. The criminals, from the anti-American group Philly Anti-Capitalist, said they filled the fuel tanks of a flatbed truck and several excavators with sand and sugar–meant to ruin the engines. They even outline how to inflict maximum damage to the engines by removing the fuel filters. These idiots justify their criminal actions by saying, “Human-caused ecological collapse and mass extinction are upon us.” In other words, they’re loony tunes. Crazy. Driven to commit criminal acts because they’ve been brainwashed into believing mankind is poisoning Mom Earth by extracting and using fossil fuels. And brainwashed against liberty and freedom as personified in the United States. They are serious (and dangerous) nutjobs. We sincerely hope the FBI, Homeland Security and other police organizations hunt them down and jail them for destroying private property…
Police in Lancaster County, PA are trying to get out in front of what they expect may be a tense situation. Big Green groups along with local nutters in the Lancaster area have pledged so-called non-violent action to stop work on the now-fully permissioned Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. 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. Lancaster Against Pipelines, headed up by Mark Clatterbuck (who participated in the ineffective protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline) and his wife Malinda. The clattering Clatterbucks have made threats that they and their “many” followers will enter private land and do whatever it takes–lock arms, chain themselves to something, etc.–to stop the backhoes and bulldozers. Several local town police departments, wanting to be prepared, sent a form letter/survey to residents where the pipeline will cross, to ask them (a) if they (the landowners) plan to allow antis onto their property, and (b) if they don’t plan to allow antis, will they consent to allowing the police to arrest antis on their property. Manor police Chief Todd Graeff says his department is neutral with respect to the pipeline–they just want to know where they have permission to enter and arrest people, and where they don’t. In West Hempfield “many” of the questionnaires have been signed and returned. Every single returned questionnaire gives the police permission to arrest antis on their property. Which is a VERY loud and clear signal to the troublemakers: You WILL get arrested and jailed for your shenanigans…
Back in May MDN told you about the antis running the City of Green, Ohio (see 
In July, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a favorable final environmental impact statement (EIS) for Dominion’s $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)–a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. At least, we *thought* the pipeline would end in North Carolina–at Lumberton. However, Dominion vice president and general manager for Southern pipeline operations, Dan Weekley, seems to have spilled the beans at an industry conference that Dominion has designs on extending Atlantic Coast beyond North Carolina–into South Carolina. He said “everybody knows” that Atlantic Coast is not going to stop in Lumberton, “despite” what current plans say. It was just two months ago that FERC issued a final, favorable environmental impact statement for the project–a project that terminates in NC (see 
One of the interesting breakout sessions MDN editor Jim Willis attended at last week’s Shale Insight event in Pittsburgh was a panel of lawyers discussing recent rulings in the Marcellus/Utica related to eminent domain and royalties. Sitting with the lawyers was a non-lawyer panelist from Williams. Aaron Blair is right-of-way manager for Williams in the northeast. He managed securing easements for the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project, Williams’ $3 billion, 198-mile 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. The lawyers on the panel peppered Blair with questions about his strategy for securing rights. Blair’s strategy boils down to this: if/when you need to file for eminent domain, do so in federal, NOT Pennsylvania state court (and certainly not with appointed commissions). Blair finds federal judges know the law and stick to the law–and the case law with regard to eminent domain, whether you like it or not, is quite clear when it comes to pipelines. Atlantic Sunrise began with needing leases from about 950 landowners. In the end, just under 50 of them had to be settled with eminent domain proceedings in court. Here’s an overview of what Blair said on the panel…
We love to connect the dots and reveal information (news) that others miss. Sometimes we get it wrong–but more often we get it right. Here’s another connect-the-dots story. Yesterday we brought you the news that a huge South Korean conglomerate, SK Group, had purchased itself a $100 million slice of ownership in Marcellus/Utica midstream company Eureka Midstream (see 
A group of Catholic nuns in Lancaster County called Adorers of the Blood of Christ have tried several strategies to derail the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline (ASP) project. One of stunts they have pulled, in league with a radical Big Green group, is to stick a few wooden park benches in the middle of a corn field that they own (leased to a local farmer), and call it a “chapel” (see 
Last week MDN brought you the news that Ohio EPA’s director, Craig Butler, has kind of tipped over into the deep end with his rantings and ravings about Rover Pipeline (see 
In early September, a Broome County, NY judge ruled that the Town of Fenton (Binghamton area) Planning Board did not take a hard enough look at environmental and traffic issues related to their approval of NG Advantage’s plan to construct a facility in the town to compress and load natural gas onto tractor trailers for delivery to regional customers who desperately need the gas–what is called a “virtual pipeline” (see 
Eureka Midstream, which was once called Eureka Hunter (a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources) popped back up on the radar screen earlier this month (see