Energy Services

American Water Management | Earthquakes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Trumbull County | Wastewater

OH Minority Report: Shut Down Wells Before They Cause Earthquakes
August 14, 2015August 14, 2015

The Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management for the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (currently Rick Simmers) is a man with a lot of power. He has the power, according to a ruling just handed down on August 12, to make his own decisions about suspending permits to operate in the absence of specific violations of a law or regulation. In September 2014 Simmers suspended permits for two wastewater injection wells in Trumbull County, OH after a very low level earthquake was detected close to those wells (an earthquake that couldn’t be felt at the surface and caused no damage of any kind). American Water Management Services sued saying they hadn’t violated any laws or regulations on the books and their permits could not just be arbitrarily revoked like that. But the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission said nope–Tom Cruise, er, a, Mr. Simmers can arbitrarily do what he wants when there is no specific rule or guideline or law–because he has the best interests of the people at heart…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

CELDF Tries to Shut Down GreenHunter’s OH Injection Wells
August 14, 2015August 14, 2015

The radical leftist PA-based group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is making mischief in neighboring Ohio. The CELDF is using some of its millions of Big Green dollars to file a lawsuit against Meigs County, OH Commissioners because the commissioners refuse to put an illegal ballot measure up for a vote in November. The CELDF pressured the citizens of Highland Township in Elk County, PA in 2013 to pass a so-called Community Bill of Rights–the same kind of law they want Meigs County to adopt (see today’s companion story about the ecosystem that speaks). Meigs County already has two injection wells recently brought online by GreenHunter Resources, with plans to bring another two online in the near future (see GreenHunter Brings 2 New Injection Wells Online in Meigs County, OH). GreenHunter has built out a barge terminal along the Ohio River in Meigs County where they plan to unload barged brine for disposal (see GreenHunter Resources 1Q15: Bets the Ranch on OH Injection Wells). The CELDF so-called Community Bill of Rights would stop GreenHunter’s injection wells and the barge terminal from operating. Can you imagine the lawsuits and the amount of money Meigs County residents would have to pay out if that happened? It would likely bankrupt the county. Meigs County commissioners rightly seek to protect the citizens they were elected to represent from this horrific economic apocalypse. And so now, the CELDF is suing Meigs commissioners because they won’t allow the ballot measure to proceed…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Wayne County (OH)

Is Wayne County, OH Sheriff Breaking the Law re NEXUS Pipeline?
August 14, 2015August 14, 2015

It appears that an anti-pipeline member of the Wayne County, OH sheriff’s department, Capt. Doug Hunter, has convinced his boss, Sheriff Travis Hutchinson, to ride roughshod over the members of the department–telling deputies they can’t, in their off-duty hours, moonlight as security guards for the NEXUS Pipeline. Hunter’s argument to Hutchinson is that a member of the sheriff’s department going out with surveyors, who have been threatened by anti-pipeline wackos, somehow “intimidates” landowners. Even though the sheriff’s deputies are not in uniform, not driving a police car, and are otherwise unrecognizable to landowners as belonging to the sheriff’s department when they tag along to be sure the surveyors don’t get accosted by the peace-loving landowners the sheriff is “sworn to serve.” Sheriff Hutchinson bought Hunter’s argument hook, line and sinker. And so Sheriff Hutchinson has told his deputies what they can and can’t do in their off-duty hours. Hmmm. We wonder how the deputies like being told what they can and can’t do when they’re off the clock? We wonder if they like the sheriff preventing them from earning extra money working for a private company (a common practice with off-duty law officers)? Could the sheriff himself be breaking the law by disallowing his deputies from working for one specific private company, when (we presume) he allows the very same practice for other private companies?…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Summit County

Stark County, OH Judge Orders Sheriff to Assist NEXUS with Surveys
August 14, 2015August 14, 2015

In Summit County, OH, a county judge has denied NEXUS Pipeline’s request to force recalcitrant landowners to allow surveyors on their property (see Summit County, OH Judge Denies NEXUS Request to Survey Properties). In neighboring Stark County, it’s the reverse. A judge in Stark County granted NEXUS a court order allowing them to survey properties where the pipeline may potentially run. And whereas in Wayne County (borders both Summit and Stark) the Wayne County Sheriff won’t let his deputies work as off-duty security guards for NEXUS (see today’s story questioning the legality of the Sheriff’s action), the judge in Stark County has ORDERED the sheriff there to enforce NEXUS’ right to enter properties to survey them. The Stark County sheriff is telling his on-duty deputies to accompany surveyors to protect them. Is your head spinning yet?…
Read More “Stark County, OH Judge Orders Sheriff to Assist NEXUS with Surveys”
Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Pipelines | Utica Shale

MarkWest to Build $1B OH Utica Dry Gas Gathering System for Ascent
August 13, 2015August 13, 2015

Although it seems there is no end of bad news in drilling company financials right now, here’s a spot of good news: MarkWest Energy, the premier midstream/pipeline company in the Marcellus/Utica (selling itself to Marathon Petroleum), has just announced they are investing $1 billion over the next three years to install a new gathering pipeline system in eastern Ohio–particularly in Belmont and Jefferson counties–mostly for Ascent Resources. Ascent, backed by major investor EMG, was once Aubrey McClendon’s subsidiary company called American Energy Appalachia Holdings that has since broken free of McClendon and American Energy Partners and is now its own 100% standalone company. The MarkWest/Ascent deal is to build a 250-mile pipeline system in the Utica dry gas region that will gather more than 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas not only from Ascent, but also from other producers in the area. Here’s the details from MarkWest…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Regulation | Summit County

Summit County, OH Judge Denies NEXUS Request to Survey Properties
August 13, 2015August 13, 2015

Last week NEXUS Pipeline filed court cases against landowners in Summit County to force them to allow NEXUS surveyors access to their property (see NEXUS Pipeline Files Lawsuits for Survey Access in Summit County). The City of Green and other municipalities have stirred up so much resentment against NEXUS that the pipeline company is forced to send armed security guards out with their surveyors, fearing for their safety (see NEXUS Pipeline Sends Armed Guards with Surveyors to Protect Them). Although NEXUS needs access to survey so they can complete their application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a Summit County judge yesterday denied the request by NEXUS, setting up a court battle in October…
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American Energy Partners | Ascent Resources | EMG | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Ascent Resources/EMG Sues Aubrey McClendon’s Law Firm for Fraud
August 12, 2015August 12, 2015

Everybody’s suing everybody. That about sums up the mess created (sadly) by none other than Aubrey McClendon. The subsidiary businesses that were once part of McClendon’s new company, American Energy Partners (AEP), continue to run away from Aubrey as fast as they can. On Monday, Ascent Resources, once called American Energy Appalachia Holdings but separated from the AEP mothership in June (see Big McClendon News: Sells 35K Utica Acres, Creates New Company), sued the law firm representing Aubrey in the “stolen data” case brought by Chesapeake Energy. Yes it’s complicated and it’s a mess. We’ll attempt to sort this all out so it’s understandable…
Read More “Ascent Resources/EMG Sues Aubrey McClendon’s Law Firm for Fraud”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PennEast Pipeline Launches Public Relations Counteroffensive
August 12, 2015August 12, 2015

PennEast Pipeline, the $1 billion, 114-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline that will deliver 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Marcellus gas fields of northeastern Pennsylvania (in Luzerne County) to southeastern PA and New Jersey (terminating in Mercer County, NJ), continues to fight for its life. Lies are constantly spread in mainstream media about PennEast by Big Green groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and nutty Sierra Clubbers, and their smaller siblings including Stop the PennEast Pipeline and Berks Gas Truth. As we previously reported, one or more antis have crossed the line into criminal behavior (see FBI Investigates Death Threats Against PennEast Pipeline Workers). So PennEast continues to fight the lies and smears with its own public relations efforts, including a meeting with the editorial board of the reliably anti-drilling Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice and the following article/letter issued yesterday by PennEast Chairman Peter Terranova…
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Energy Services | Huntingdon County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Sunoco Files Eminent Domain Cases in PA Courts for Mariner East 2
August 12, 2015August 12, 2015

Two days ago MDN told you that Sunoco Logistics Partners had settled, out of court, cases in Harrison and Jefferson counties (Ohio) that will allow the company to build a pair of new pipelines called Mariner East 2 through the area (see Sunoco Settles Case with OH Landowners to Allow Mariner East 2). As we said at the time, Sunoco still faces stiff opposition in other places–particularly in Pennsylvania where the bulk of the pipeline will be built. And sure enough, a new article has popped up about Sunoco LP taking landowners in Washington and Huntingdon counties (PA) to court using eminent domain to gain access to their properties. The problem is, the issue of whether or not Mariner East is a public utility with the right to invoke eminent domain is still an unsettled issue and likely headed to the PA Supreme Court…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Transco

Holy Potatoes & Finnish Immigrants – Latest Tactic to Stop Pipeline
August 11, 2015August 11, 2015

Ever hear the phrase, “diggin’ deep”? That’s what anti-drillers are doing in New Hampshire with their opposition to a pipeline slated to come through their area in Hillsborough County. As plans for Kinder Morgan’s $6 billion Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project that will stretch from Pennsylvania through New York into Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and back into Massachusetts near Boston progress, more and more articles appear in newspapers, like the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, attempting to convince people the pipeline is from Satan himself. In fact, according to the latest article, NED may just be from Satan! The Ledger-Transcript claims the pipeline, if it follows the same route as already-built high voltage electric lines, would cut through a hay field that (151 years ago) used to be a potato field and is the site of a miracle of importance to Seventh-Day Adventists…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream

Magnum Hunter About to Close 2 Deals Worth $1 Billion Cash
August 11, 2015August 11, 2015

Last Friday Magnum Hunter Resources CEO Gary Evans along with other top MHR executives held a quarterly earnings call. On that call we learned some very important information. According to Evans, MHR is very close to raking in around $1 billion in cash from two initiatives: a joint venture on their Utica Shale acreage, and the sale of MHR’s ownership in their midstream subsidiary Eureka Hunter. Here is what Evans said about the two initiatives, their timing, and potential partners/buyers…
Read More “Magnum Hunter About to Close 2 Deals Worth $1 Billion Cash”
Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Baker Hughes July Rig Counts – U.S. May have Bottomed, but Not NE
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

On Friday Baker Hughes, which is being forced into a merger with Halliburton by the end of this year/early next year, issued a summary of rig counts last Friday. At first blush it appears to be good news, but when you dig under the surface, it’s not–at least for the Marcellus/Utica. The international rig count was 1,118, down 28 from the 1,146 counted in June 2015. However, the average U.S. rig count for July 2015 was 866, up 5 from the 861 counted in June 2015. It appears we’ve turned the corner on how low rig counts will go–we’ve bottomed and are either holding steady (in the U.S.), or perhaps every so slightly gaining ground again. But then we ran the numbers for the Marcellus/Utica and found rig counts continue to decline month over month…
Read More “Baker Hughes July Rig Counts – U.S. May have Bottomed, but Not NE”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Virginia

One US Forest Service Employee Sends Questions to FERC re Pipeline
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

We spotted a story last week published by the Associated Press with a first sentence that begins this way: “The U.S. Forest Service has raised hundreds of concerns about a proposed natural gas pipeline that would carve a 30-mile swath through national forests in Virginia and West Virginia.” The pipeline is Dominion’s $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline from West Virginia into Virginia and onward to North Carolina. We read the story and then dug a bit further. It seems it’s not the monolithic U.S. Forest Service that is questioning the pipeline, but a single U.S. Forest Service worker–H. Thomas Speaks Jr., forest supervisor for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. Mr. Speaks was fed anti-pipeline propaganda from the head of an anti-pipeline organization who is a semi-retired researcher from the University of Virginia–Rick Webb. Webb continues to use his UVA official email account to promote his anti-pipeline viewpoints, implying UVA also opposes the project (see Researcher Uses Official UVA Email to Oppose Dominion Pipeline). We Googled and found a letter from Webb to Speaks which (we assume) include some (many?) of the same talking points Speaks used when submitting his “335 questions, comments and corrections” to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with regard to running a pipeline through 30 miles of the George Washington and Monongahela national forests…
Read More “One US Forest Service Employee Sends Questions to FERC re Pipeline”
Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Settles Case with OH Landowners to Allow Mariner East 2
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

Sunoco Logistics Partners still has an uphill battle to get certain communities to approve pump and valve stations for the Mariner East 1 and 2 pipelines, but is making progress (see Sunoco Reconciles Differences with Municipalities re Mariner East). Sunoco can cross off one problem area in Harrison and Jefferson counties (in Ohio) with respect to the Mariner East 2 set of pipelines. A group of landowners in those two counties have just settled with Sunoco out of court for 50-foot-wide permanent easements the company will place on their property to build the second set of Mariner pipelines. What happened is that the landowners (wisely) held out and got more money out of Sunoco. Everyone is now happy–the landowners get a better (more reasonable) price for permanent easements, and Sunoco is that much closer to beginning construction on the next Mariner project…
Read More “Sunoco Settles Case with OH Landowners to Allow Mariner East 2”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Washington County

New $3M Electric Line for MarkWest Compressor in Robinson Twp, PA
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

West Penn Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., is building a new $3 million electric transmission line in Washington County, PA to aide the Marcellus industry. The new electric line, running 1.3 miles in Robinson Township, will connect to a MarkWest compressor station due to be built (see Robinson Twp Delays MarkWest Compressor, Approval Coming Soon). According to FirstEnergy, they will spend close to $50 million on new electric transimission line projects in support of the Marcellus gas industry in western PA over the next three years…
Read More “New $3M Electric Line for MarkWest Compressor in Robinson Twp, PA”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Rice Energy | Rice Midstream

Rice Energy 2Q15: Another PA Utica Monster Well on the Way?!
August 7, 2015August 7, 2015

Rice Energy, a relatively young but rapidly growing and important driller in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays, turned in their second quarter 2015 update yesterday. Like virtually every other North American driller the bad news is Rice experienced a net loss after expenses of $63.5 million in 2Q15 vs. a net loss of $7.9 million in 2Q14. But there was plenty of good news in the Rice update. For one thing, 2Q15 production was up an amazing 120% over 2Q14–to an average 529 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d). For another thing, Rice turned in to sales 11 operated Ohio Utica and 14 operated Pennsylvania Marcellus wells–the most active quarter in the company’s young history. Perhaps most exciting of all, Rice reports they have drilled their first Pennsylvania Utica well in Greene County and will hook that well up to sales sometime in the next month or two. Greene County is the location for the current ruling champ of Utica wells, drilled by EQT (see EQT’s 1st Utica Well Shatters Record – 72.9 MMcf/d IP Rate!). Will this Rice well beat it? Come close? We’re on pins and needles waiting to see!…

UPDATE: Rice Energy said on their earnings call yesterday that although they will hook up their new Greene County, PA Utica well to production in 3Q15, they will not run an initial production (IP) test on the well. Why? “Recently reported IP tests in close proximity to our position have proven our geologic model’s expectation that this area is highly prospective for Utica development. From other data we’ve gathered during the drilling and completion of this well, we would fully expect similar IP results, but our main focus is determining long-term production potential.” Bummer!
Read More “Rice Energy 2Q15: Another PA Utica Monster Well on the Way?!”