Energy Services

Energy Services | FTS International | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Washington County

FTS Intl Fires All Drivers & Mechanics in Sand Hauling Business
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

On Tuesday MDN told you that FTS International, the largest private well-completion company in North America with offices and employees in the Marcellus/Utica, has laid off workers in Eighty Four and Venetia, both sites in Washington County, PA (see FTS International Lays off PA Workers – Won’t Say How Many). We now have a few more details on what is happening at FTS–and what’s happening is that FTS is in the process of selling their sand-hauling business, which is located in Eighty Four and Venetia. The company still won’t say how many people they’ve laid off, but an inside source told the Washington Observer-Reporter that 34 sand-truck drivers and seven “coordinators” were let go at Venetia last Friday. A company memo from FTS CEO Michael Doss says they laid off all of the truck drivers and mechanics involved in their sand hauling business. Here’s an update on FTS “adjusting head count,” as they euphemistically put it…
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Energy Services | Williams

Williams 2015: $1.6B Loss in 4Q15, $1.4B Loss Full Year 2015
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

Drillers (the “upstream”) are not the only companies being negatively affected by the crash in oil and gas prices and the resulting slowdown in drilling. Midstream companies (pipelines and processing plants) are also affected. If drillers drill less and shut-in wells, that means less gas flowing through pipelines. Although certain minimums are charged, contracts with pipeline companies are complex and involve many factors, among them the price received for the gas flowing through them. Williams, which is in the process of being sold to/merged with Energy Transfer Equity (see Williams Board “Unanimously” Committed to Selling to ETE), rivals MarkWest Energy (which was sold to Marathon Petroleum) as the biggest midstream company in the Marcellus/Utica. Williams released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 financial update yesterday. The company lost $1.6 billion in 4Q15 alone, but because they made money in other quarters, Williams “only” lost $1.4 billion for the entire year in 2015. Here’s yesterday’s 2015 financial update…
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CONE Midstream | Energy Services

CONE Midstream 2015: Operates in the Black, No Losses
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

Perhaps the smaller the better when it comes to midstream companies. Today we shared with you the news that Williams, perhaps the largest midstream company operating in the Marcellus/Utica, lost $1.6 billion in fourth quarter 2015 and lost $1.4 billion for full year 2015 (see our companion story). However, for one of the smallest midstream companies operating in our neck of the woods, CONE Midstream, the opposite was true. Yesterday CONE, a joint venture between CONSOL Energy and Noble Energy, released their financials for fourth quarter and full year 2015. Not a loss in sight on their income statement. Granted, compared to Williams, CONE is tiny, but hey, maybe the mighty Williams can learn a thing or two about operating in the black from CONE. Here’s the CONE update issued yesterday…
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Energy Services | Seventy Seven Energy

Seventy Seven Energy 2015: Revenue Down 45%, $221M Loss
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

Last week MDN told you that Seventy Seven Energy, the old Chesapeake Energy Oilfield Operating unit that was spun into its own company a few years ago, had released some selected 2015 financial numbers with no context (see Seventy Seven Energy Releases Cherry-Picked Numbers). Which led us to speculate, “It must be worse at oilfield services company Seventy Seven Energy (SSE) than we thought.” SSE released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 financials yesterday, and our speculation was spot on. SSE lost $221 million in 2015 (with $61 million of that loss coming in 4Q15). In 2014 SSE had $2 billion in revenue. In 2015, they had $1.1 billion in revenue–nearly cut in half. Which we suppose should not come as a surprise, that a company which supplies the rigs and people to drill and frack has seen business disappear since energy companies pulled way back in 2015. Still, you have to wonder how long they can hold on with losses like this. SSE has a large operation in the Marcellus/Utica, which is why we track them. Below is SSE’s 4Q15 and full year 2015 update…
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Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NGLs | Pipelines | Williams

Bluegrass Pipeline Aborted Before It was Born – RIP
February 17, 2016February 17, 2016

Is it time to declare the Bluegrass Pipeline dead? It certainly appears that way. The Bluegrass, you may recall, was a $1.5 billion joint venture between Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners project that would have piped natural gas liquids (NGLs, mostly ethane) from the Utica/Marcellus all the way to Gulf Coast for processing and sale. Some 200 miles of the pipeline was due to be built through Kentucky–the Bluegrass State. But the wacky libs of Kentucky pushed back, suing Bluegrass over its plan to use eminent domain. In March 2014, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled Bluegrass could not use eminent domain (see Judge Rules Bluegrass Pipeline Cannot Use Eminent Domain in KY). At that point Williams and Boardwalk squabbled over the future of the project (see Williams Stops Work on Bluegrass Pipeline, Boardwalk Says “It’s Not Dead”). The case moved on to the Court of Appeals. In May 2015, a three-judge panel agreed with Franklin Circuit Judge Shepherd that only pipeline companies that are or will be regulated by the state’s Public Service Commission can use eminent domain (see Appeals Court blocks Bluegrass Pipeline eminent domain). The case went all the way to the Kentucky Supreme Court where, last week, the high court ruled the lower court rulings will stand. Case closed…
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CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Maryland | Statewide MD

Radical Enviro Groups Continue Lawsuit Against Cove Point LNG
February 17, 2016February 17, 2016

Big Green groups, including the nutty Sierra Club and left-leaning Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the odious Earthjustice continue to pump money and lawyers and time into an effort to stop progress on Dominion’s construction of an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland. Last June Earthjustice and its co-conspirators filed a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission claiming that FERC was wrong to issue a permit for the facility (see Earthjustice Asks Court to Stop Construction at Cove Point LNG). The lawsuit has progressed to the point that oral arguments will be made on April 19 before the Court of Appeals. An update on the shenanigans from fossil fuel haters ahead of this important court date…
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Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

UTOPIA Ethane Pipeline Faces Virtually No Opposition in OH
February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

This is not a story you often hear these days: A natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline slated to be built in Ohio is facing virtually no opposition. Last month we updated you on Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA (Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access) ethane pipeline (see Kinder Morgan Ready to Move Forward with UTOPIA East Pipeline). The 12-inch ethane pipeline will run 240 miles and will only be built in Ohio–therefore the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) won’t be involved in permitting the project. The pipeline will connect to another pipeline (in Ohio) and that pipeline will carry ethane all the way to Ontario to a cracker plant. Perhaps lack of FERC involvement is the secret to limited opposition? Who knows! Construction won’t begin on the project until 2017 and UTOPIA won’t be online until early 2018. But before that can happen, Kinder Morgan has to secure easements from approximately 900 landowners in Ohio. A full one-third of the deals are ALREADY DONE. Some 98% of landowners granted permission for Kinder Morgan to survey their property. Seems to us like a textbook case of how to build a pipeline! Now if Kinder could only duplicate that success with their Northeast Energy Direct pipeline running through New England (sigh). Here’s an update on UTOPIA’s rapid progress…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Randolph County | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Atlantic Coast Pipeline Proposes New Route to Save the Salamanders
February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

MDN told you last month that the US Forest Service, drunk on its own power, vetoed a path through a few miles of national forests for the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (see US Forest Service Blocks Atlantic Coast Pipeline in National Forests). Using cow nob salamanders and red spruce as their excuse, USFS said “nyet comrade” to Dominion in their quest to build a natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina. Dominion had requested a special permit to cross teeny tiny sections of the Monongahela and George Washington national forests in West Virginia and Virginia. So now what? Last week Dominion announced an alternate route for the pipeline (see map below) that avoids most of (not all of) the forests–adding another 30 miles to the 564-mile pipeline, and disrupting 249 landowners in Pocahontas and Randolph counties who will now need to sign easements to allow the pipeline across their land. All to avoid a few miles of forestland. Here’s the latest on the mighty Atlantic Coast Pipeline, re-routed because of a salamander…
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Energy Services | FTS International | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

FTS International Lays off PA Workers – Won’t Say How Many
February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

More job causalities from the slowdown in Marcellus/Utica drilling to report. FTS International, the largest private well-completion company in North America with offices and employees in the Marcellus/Utica, has laid off workers. But they’re not saying how many. There were reports FTS had closed their offices in Eighty Four and Venetia–but FTS says that’s not true. Here’s what’s known (which isn’t much)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Philly Judge Says Case Against Mariner East 2 Can Proceed
February 12, 2016February 12, 2016

A Philadelphia judge for the Court of Common Pleas (low-level court in PA) has ruled in favor of the anti-drilling Clean Air Council against Sunoco Logistics Partners and their Mariner East 2 pipeline. The ruling is nothing more than “this case has merits” (in the eyes of the judge) and can proceed. The case itself is challenging the right of Mariner East 2 to use eminent domain against landowners in building the new pipeline. The Clean Air Council’s argument is that since most of the natural gas liquids that will flow through the pipeline will get exported or otherwise not used in PA itself, that moves Mariner East from being a public utility with eminent domain power to an interstate pipeline more properly reviewed and permitted by federal authorities. It’s a delay tactic, because if Mariner East 2 were to come under the aegis of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and eventually permitted, they would also be entitled to use eminent domain. But a FERC review would take years. Which is what the Clean Air Council wants. Here’s the latest minor setback for Sunoco, whose eminent domain has been upheld in other PA courts and who is beginning to clear trees for the Mariner East 2 pipeline right now…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Sand/Proppant | U.S. Silica

U.S. Silica Introduces New Resin-Covered Sand for Fracking
February 12, 2016February 12, 2016

A key ingredient in fracking is a “proppant” like sand. But not just any old sand. The sand used in fracking typically used in fracking is silica and comes from the Midwest–Wisconsin and other states. U.S. Silica is one of the largest sand companies in the world. Strangely enough, it’s headquartered in Maryland. Proppants are so-named because after being washed into fractures the sand stays behind to “prop open” the cracks, allowing oil and gas to escape from shale. Always looking for an edge, particularly against competitors that manufacture ceramic proppants, U.S. Silica recently announced a new resin-covered sand product line…
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Energy Services | Seventy Seven Energy

Seventy Seven Energy Releases Cherry-Picked Numbers
February 10, 2016February 10, 2016

It must be worse at oilfield services company Seventy Seven Energy (SSE) than we thought. The former Chesapeake Energy Oilfield Operating unit that was spun into its own company a few years ago. In January SSE announced they had hired a turnaround expert (see Seventy Seven Energy Hires Turnaround Expert, Hopes to Stay Afloat). Not long after that, also in January, the New York Stock Exchange threatened the company with delisting (see Seventy Seven Energy’s Stock Threatened with Delisting from NYSE). Although third quarter 2015 results were bloody, it seemed to us the situation was improving at SSE (see Seventy Seven Energy 3Q15: Still Losing Money, But Not as Much). However, SSE has just released a preliminary fourth quarter and full year 2015 update–and the update is nothing more than a few cherry-picked facts and figures. No financials. No updates for their various divisions. No context at all. Just a few facts and figures plucked to make the company look as good as it possibly can–until the other shoe drops when they have to release their financials…
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Chesapeake Energy | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Marathon Petroleum | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Williams

Pipeline Companies May Lose Big-Time if Chessy “Restructures”
February 9, 2016February 9, 2016

Yesterday’s free fall of Chesapeake Energy’s stock based on rumors that the company may be considering bankruptcy (see today’s lead story) is not only affecting Chesapeake’s stock price. It’s also affecting the stock price of Energy Transfer Equity and Williams, two huge midstream companies. Why? ETE, you may recall, is in the process of buying Williams for $37.7 billion (see Looks Like a March 2016 Wedding for ETE & Williams). The main reason ETE is buying Williams, with its major presence in the Marcellus/Utica, is because of long-term contracts to use its pipelines in the northeast. One of Williams’ main customers with those long-term contracts is (yes) Chesapeake Energy. What if Chessy is forced to renegotiate or cancel or otherwise can’t honor those contracts? Whoops. There goes one of the big reasons for the deal in the first place. Which may explain why ETE’s stock went from $7.01 on Friday to closing at $4.09 yesterday (down 42%), and why Williams’ stock went from $17.11 on Friday to closing at $11.16 yesterday (down 35%). Here’s how/why Chesapeake’s troubles will not only affect ETE and Williams, but other midstream companies like Spectra Energy, Columbia Pipeline Partners and Marathon Petroleum as well…
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Calhoun County | Columbia Pipeline Group | Doddridge County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jackson County | Pipelines | Taxation | West Virginia

Mountaineer XPress Pipeline Seeks Tax Break from WV Counties
February 9, 2016February 9, 2016

Columbia Pipeline Group is trying to convince counties in West Virginia where its proposed Mountaineer XPress Pipeline will be built, to reduce the amount of property tax they will have to pay under WV state law. Mountaineer XPress Project (MXP) includes 165 miles of new pipeline from Marshall County, WV to Wayne County, WV with approximately 2.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of transportation capacity from existing and future points of receipt along or near CPG’s system (see Columbia Pipeline’s Mountaineer XPress Project Accepted by FERC). In addition to new pipeline, the $2 billion project also includes constructing three new compressor stations and upgrading three existing stations. Columbia is shopping the concept of a PILOT–a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes. Such a plan essentially means they will pay less money than a county would otherwise collect in regular property taxes on the pipeline. Here’s the strange thing–the counties and school districts affected would end up keeping more of the money collected from PILOT payments than they would from regular property tax payments. It’s actually a win/win–Columbia pays less and more of the money paid stays local. Go figure…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Lawyer Tells NH Landowners ‘7 in 10 Chance’ Pipeline is Coming
February 9, 2016February 9, 2016

A lawyer meeting with a group of New Hampshire landowners in New Ipswich, NH last night gave them a dose of cold, hard reality. He told them, “There’s a seven out of 10 chance this pipeline is going to come” through their town, referring to Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct pipeline. He told those present they can fight it, they can not negotiate with Kinder Morgan, and if they do so, it’s to their own peril. His solution? Band together as a group and negotiate good terms and conditions for the pipeline. Have a say in the matter. In other words, don’t be jerks–be reasonable and understand whether you want it or not, it’s coming. And if you negotiate now, you’ll get a better deal than if behave like petulant children…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Rig Counts for World, US & Marcellus/Utica Continue to Tumble
February 8, 2016February 8, 2016

The number of active drilling rigs worldwide, in North America and in the Marcellus/Utica continued to tumble in January. Baker Hughes released their average rig count data for January last Friday. The news, as we expected (but nevertheless hoped wouldn’t be the case) was not good. Worldwide the number of active oil and gas rigs fell by 78. In North America the rig count went down by 28 rigs, but that’s not the full story. Rig counts in the United States fell by a whopping 60 while the rig count in Canada went up by 32. So here at home the story was bloodier than the top level numbers indicate. What about in the Marcellus/Utica? Once again MDN brings you the exclusive chart for Marcellus/Utica rig counts over the past 12 months. Region-wide rigs went down another by seven in the Marcellus/Utica. All three states that we track–PA, OH, WV–had rig count losses in January…
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