Energy Services

Energy Services | Summit Midstream

Volume Steady in Mountaineer Midstream’s WV Pipeline @ 547 MMcf/d
August 7, 2015August 7, 2015

Summit Midstream has a small but growing presence in the Marcellus/Utica region largely through purchasing pipeline systems from other companies (see our list of Summit stories here). Yesterday the company issued its second quarter 2015 financial results. Below is a financial update for Mountaineer Midstream, Summit’s Marcellus-area pipeline system in Doddridge County, WV. Of note, volumes of gas flowing through Mountaineer were down 0.9% from 1Q15. In essence, volumes are steady through the pipeline at 547 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) on average…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Tioga County (PA)

Sad Day: Pipeline Worker Killed in Tioga County, PA Accident
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

It’s always a sad day when MDN has to report on the death of a worker related to the Marcellus/Utica Shale. On Tuesday, Ricky Dettman was operating a bulldozer on a steep grade in Tioga County, PA working on installing a pipeline for Energy Transfer Partners when the bulldozer rolled over, several times, killing Ricky. We’re not sure exactly which pipeline project it is Ricky was working on, but its a 36-inch pipeline (a big pipeline) that will flow Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, according to the PR agency working for ETP. Below are four news accounts of the accident. They all have slightly different accounts, including a discrepancy on Ricky’s age–he was either 54 or 55 years-old. Ricky hailed from Nebraska…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Spectra Energy Provides Important Update for NE Pipeline Projects
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

Spectra Energy, a major pipeline company with major operations existing and planned for the northeast, issued its second quarter 2015 update yesterday. For this review we’re leaving behind the financial talk. The thing that caught our eye is an update on Spectra’s pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica. In the update they tell us about the Uniontown to Gas City project, the OPEN project, the AIM project in New England, the NEXUS project, the Lebanon Extension project, the $3 billion Access Northeast project and several others. Across all of their pipeline projects, both in the northeast and elsewhere, Spectra Energy has an astounding $20 billion worth of projects currently in the works. By the end of this decade (by 2020) they will have spent an eye-popping $35 billion on new pipeline projects. Let’s get right into the good stuff–updates on important northeast pipeline projects in the Spectra portfolio…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Summit County

NEXUS Pipeline Files Lawsuits for Survey Access in Summit County
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

Yesterday MDN told you about the City of Green in Summit County, OH and their leaders’ opposition to (and lies about) the NEXUS pipeline (see NEXUS Pipeline Sends Armed Guards with Surveyors to Protect Them). NEXUS is sending out armed security guards with surveyors because they’ve been threatened. Apparently a number of landowners in Green are refusing to allow surveyors access to their property, so NEXUS is, today, filing lawsuits in Summit County to force landowners to allow surveyors on their property to make a simple survey for potential pipeline routes…
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Energy Services | Patterson-UTI

Patterson-UTI Active Rigs Finally Hits Bottom in July? Maybe
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

Since March MDN has been watching the active number of rigs operated by Patterson-UTI Energy as a proxy for whether or not we’ve “turned the corner” on falling rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica. Patterson is a major drilling contractor with operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. In March, Patterson ran an average of 142 U.S. rigs and 4 Canadian rigs. In April, they ran an average of 131 U.S. rigs and 2 Canadian rigs. In May, Patterson ran an average of 122 U.S. rigs and 1 Canadian rig. In June, Patterson ran an average of 112 drilling rigs in the U.S. and one rig in Canada. What about July? The number in the U.S. slide by one, to 111 drilling rigs. But the number in Canada increased–back up to 4 active rigs operating. Have we finally hit rock bottom on the lay down of drilling rigs?…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Logistics has Best Quarter Ever, Thanks to Marcellus NGLs
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

In contrast to the bad news we read in quarterly report after quarterly report for exploration and production (E&P) companies, i.e. “drillers”, it’s a starkly different story for some pipeline companies. Take Sunoco Logistics Partners, for example. Sunoco LP’s second quarter 2015 update boasts record earnings for 2Q15. That is, Sunoco LP made and distributed more profit to shareholders in 2Q15 than ever before. What was the “key contributor” to their growth, according to Sunoco LP’s CEO? The company’s three NGL (natural gas liquids) pipelines: Mariner West, Mariner South and Mariner East 1. Both the Mariner West & East pipelines are located in the Marcellus/Utica region. In addition to the rosy financial picture, we learn in the 2Q15 update that Sunoco LP has decided that the Mariner East II project will be two pipelines. We previously told you of Sunoco’s “tentative” plans to build two Mariner 2 pipelines (see Mariner East 2 Giving Birth to Twin Pipelines). Judging from the language in the Q215 update, tentative is sounding a lot more like definite…
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Energy Services | Marathon Petroleum | MarkWest Energy

MarkWest Energy 2Q15: Operating Inc. Up 26%, Net Inc. Down 562%
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

MarkWest Energy, the premier midstream (pipelines and processing plants) company in the Marcellus/Utica, issued their second quarter 2015 update yesterday. MarkWest, you may recall, is in the process of selling itself to Marathon Petroleum (see Midstream Bombshell: MarkWest Sells Itself to Marathon Petroleum). MarkWest shows a slight decrease of 11% in revenue from 2Q14 to 2Q15. But after expenses, income from operations actually went up 26% on record volumes flowing through their pipes and processing plants. But after you add in all of the accounting machinations including things like “loss on redemption of debt”, MarkWest had a net income loss of $86.4 million for the quarter (down 562% from 2Q14). However, that’s not what really interests us. What interests us is an operations update for the Marcellus and Utica regions and what this midstream giant has been up to…
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Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services

Crestwood Midstream 2Q15: Slight Net Loss; MARC II Still Alive
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

Crestwood Midstream Partners issued their second quarter 2015 update yesterday. Unlike Sunoco Logistics Partners which generated and distributed the most money ever in a single quarter (see today’s Sunoco LP story), Crestwood experienced a net loss of $42 million over the same quarter last year. But when you dig deeper you find that $40 million of that was a devaluation of its assets on paper. In other words they only lost around $2 million of cash in operations. Compared to the deep hole drillers are in, Crestwood’s shortfall is nothing. Crestwood has operations in the Marcellus as well as several other major shale plays. One bit of news we noticed from this update: Crestwood “continues to move forward with customer discussions and preliminary design work for the 1.0 Bcf/d MARC II pipeline project to interconnect with the announced Penn East Pipeline project in 2017.” We first told you about the MARC II in October 2014 (see Crestwood Announces Successful Open Season for MARC II PA Pipeline). No mention in the 2Q15 update about the Seneca Lake propane storage project that is still, inexplicably, not approved by the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation now going on six years…
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CONE Midstream | Energy Services

CONE Midstream 2Q15: Revenue & Net Inc. Almost Double
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

CONE Midstream, the pipeline joint venture between CONSOL Energy and Noble Energy, is a small but growing company. Yesterday’s second quarter 2015 update shows both revenue and net income for the company just about doubled year over year between 2Q14 and 2Q15. Below is the good news update from CONE, with details about their expansion projects in southwestern PA and the northern panhandle of WV…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Summit County

NEXUS Pipeline Sends Armed Guards with Surveyors to Protect Them
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

The City of Green (Summit County), OH is proudly working to prevent a much-needed pipeline, the NEXUS pipeline, from crossing through any of its residents’ properties. Proudly ignorant, we’d day. It’s a shame, but these days workers doing their job–surveying for a pipeline–are sometimes threatened (see FBI Investigates Death Threats Against PennEast Pipeline Workers and Medina, OH Landowner Says He’ll Meet NEXUS Surveyors Packing Heat). So some pipeline companies, like NEXUS, now send armed security guards out with surveyors and pipeline workers–to protect them. City of Green officials seem to imply the armed guards are there to intimidate residents who don’t want to allow a survey of their property. Not true. The guards are there to protect the surveyors who feel threatened for simply taking measurements for a pipeline. What has this world come to?…
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CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

UGI Provides Update on PennEast & Other New PA Pipeline Projects
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

During the AmeriGas Partners quarterly analyst conference call yesterday, Pennsylvania utility giant UGI Corporation CEO John Walsh gave an update on several projects of interest for those in the PA Marcellus Shale. Oh! We should point out AmeriGas is the country’s largest propane company and a subsidiary of PA-based UGI, which is why Walsh was on the call. And what did he say? Walsh provided an update on UGI’s $60 million project to build a new LNG production plant in Wyoming County, PA (see UGI Building LNG Plant in NEPA, Local Marcellus Gas to Feed It). He also spoke in glowing terms about the PennEast Pipeline and how he sees that project unfolding (it should be operational by late 2017). Walsh also updated analysts on several pending pipeline projects that will feed electric plants being built in the Marcellus. Here’s what he said yesterday…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Update on Halliburton/Baker Hughes Wedding Plans
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

Whatever happened to the Halliburton merger/buyout (i.e. shotgun wedding) with Baker Hughes? As we told you in July, the two “love birds” have set a December 1st wedding date (see Halliburton & Baker Hughes Announce a December Wedding Date). In the meantime there’s a lot to do: caterers have to be contracted, a DJ, wedding photographer–you know the drill. Oh! And let’s not forget the Dept. of Justice. They have to be consulted too. It appears that (so far) everything is on track with both the DOJ here at home, and with the European Commission overseas. Both groups have to grant their permission for the two companies to wed. There may be one slight wrinkle (last minute nerves?): Notice in the latest Halliburton update below that the two love birds may decide to push off the wedding date until early 2016–but only if absolutely necessary (they’re just so in love)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Small Group Shows Up to Speak Against NED Pipeline in Dracut, MA
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

If you were to glance at the headline and first graf (“paragraph” for those not in the publishing industry where we use a lot of lingo) of a story in the liberal Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, you would think there is a huge, crushing, mammoth, tidal wave (!) of opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project–certainly by people in the Dracut, MA area and possibly by almost every MA citizen in the commonwealth with the exception of a few freakish conservatives who may happen to still live in the state. The headline in yesterday’s issue blares: “In Dracut, public unloads on gas pipeline plan.” The first graf details all of the nightmares that will come true if the pipeline is built: “From the impact on crop yields and watersheds to diminishing property values and the demise of the eastern brook trout, elected officials and citizens from across the commonwealth aired their concerns about the proposed Kinder Morgan natural-gas pipeline before a state regulatory board Monday night.” It’s not til near the end of the second graf you discover there were maybe 100 people who showed up to the meeting–and since it’s a liberal rag with a tendency to inflate the numbers, that means there were actually 50-75 people who showed up to gripe and moan about the pipeline…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services

Columbia Pipeline 2Q15: Investing $1.2B in NE Projects This Year
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

We don’t often or usually report on quarterly earnings/operational updates for pipeline companies since most of them operate across large parts of the country and they usually don’t break down their operations in their updates by region. But this one is different. Columbia Pipeline Group is the newly minted, completely independent company that was formerly a subsidiary of NiSource but now stands on its own two feet (see NiSource/Columbia Pipeline Divorce is Final). We believe it’s accurate to say that most of Columbia’s operations are concentrated in the Marcellus/Utica region. So we bring you a portion of their second quarter 2015 earnings/operations update below. Among the highlights: Columbia is on track to invest approximately $1.2 billion during 2015 and expects to triple its net investment level (over $3B!) by 2020–much of that dedicated to projects in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco

Antis Use Their Own Children as Cheap Props at FERC Hearing in NH
August 4, 2015August 5, 2015

A picture truly is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes. So let’s show you a picture and see what you think (view it below). It is a picture of young children tricked out in “Stop the Pipeline” yellow shirts and red Stop the Pipeline hats–sitting on the floor playing with toys at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hearing in southern New Hampshire last week. Two hearings were held to gather public comments on Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct natural gas pipeline. As they usually do, anti-fossil fuelers turned the hearings into freak shows–using (we’d call it abusing) children as props. We ask: Who would do something like that to their own children? Why would you brazenly use your own child as a cheap prop in a sleazy attempt to gain attention and sympathy for a political viewpoint? How low can you go?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Antis “Shocked” One of Their Own Sent Death Threats to PennEast
August 3, 2015August 3, 2015

Last Friday MDN told you about an ongoing FBI investigation into death threats made by anti-drilling zealots against workers of the PennEast Pipeline (see FBI Investigates Death Threats Against PennEast Pipeline Workers). Multiple choice question: When one of their own tips over the edge into violence or proposed violence, anti-drillers (a) act shocked and surprised, (b) deny it’s true, implying it’s a made-up story by the pipeline company, or (c) both. If you guessed (c) you would be correct…
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