Energy Services

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Schuyler County

Steingraber, 2 Others Sent to Jail for Refusing to Pay Fine
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

The increasingly shrill (and irrational) Sandra Steingraber, a so-called “scholar in residence” who’s paid to gallivant and protest shale drilling and related fossil fuel issues by Ithaca College, was (once again) arrested, refused to pay her fine, and carted off to jail for refusing to pay a fine because she illegally blocked the entrance to a legally running business that one day hopes to house underground storage of natural gas. The facility is a depleted salt cavern along the shore of Seneca Lake (near Watkins Glen, NY). Steingraber has pulled this stunt before (see NY Anti-Drilling Protesters Jailed After Refusing to Pay Fine). Since she gets no media attention and you wouldn’t know about it otherwise, we thought we’d share the news with you…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | UGI Energy Services | Wyoming County (PA)

UGI Turns on New Pipeline for Cabot in NEPA
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

In May MDN told you that UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI (a utility company in northeast PA) would build two new pipelines in northeast PA for $80 million that will allow them to transport cheap, abundant, locally mined natural gas from Cabot Oil & Gas in Susquehanna County to residents in the greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area (see UGI Energy Building 2 New Pipelines in NEPA for Cabot O&G). Today UGI announced one of those pipelines is now completed and flowing cheap Marcellus Shale gas to NEPA residents, which will result in lower rates. The other will be completed in the spring of next year. Now what was that about the “lucky few landowners” who are the only ones to benefit from Marcellus Shale gas?…
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Access Midstream Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Williams

Access Midstream CEO Replaced by COO Under Williams Ownership
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

Mike Stice is the current CEO of Access Midstream, which used to be the old Chesapeake Midstream before it was spun off into its own company. Access has a large footprint in the Marcellus/Utica region. In June, Williams announced a deal to buy Access Midstream and fold it into their own operation (see Big News: Williams Partners Buying Access Midstream for $6B). The deal is now done and all that’s left are some regulatory approvals and lawyers generating mountains of paperwork back and forth (see Deal Details for Williams/Access Midstream Merger – TTV of $50B!). Williams expects to put its own name plate on the Access door “by early 2015.” So what does that mean for Access CEO Mike Stice? Sayonara, apparently. Williams issued an innocent-looking personnel press release yesterday that says Stice’s #2 man, the current Chief Operating Officer, Robert Purgason, will take over running the Access Midstream division of Williams…
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Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

PGW Sale Still on Life Support – Will City Council Pull the Plug?
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

The corrupt Philadelphia City Council continues to be, well, corrupt. Although UIL Holdings, the Connecticut utility company doing its darnedest to purchase the municipal owned Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), has told City Council that they are willing to amend the terms of sale originally worked out by Philly’s Mayor Michael Nutter–to address Council’s so-called “concerns.” UIL is bending over backwards, forwards, sideways–any way it can to make the deal happen. And the response from the corrupt City Council? Crickets. The deal expires Dec. 31 and it looks, as of right now, as if it’s dead…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PennEast Tells DRBC Not So Fast, FERC has Final Say on Pipeline
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

An interesting battle is shaping up over just who has what say with respect to the PennEast Pipeline and their plan to build a $1 billion, 108-mile pipeline from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ–part of it through the Delaware River Basin area. Yesterday MDN told you that the Delaware River Basin Commission has notified PennEast that the pipeline is “subject to DRBC jurisdiction and must obtain a docket before it can proceed” (see DRBC Tells PennEast They Need DRBC (Not Just FERC) Approval). The DRBC seems to be saying if they don’t approve it, the pipeline won’t get built. But yesterday officials with PennEast pushed back and said, point blank, that while they welcome the DRBC’s review, the DRBC is not the agency that will approve whether or not the pipeline gets built…
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DTE Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County

DTE Expanding NEPA Pipeline System for Southwestern Energy
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

DTE Energy and Southwestern Energy Co. signed an agreement yesterday to “significantly expand” their relationship in northeast Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna County area. DTE provides gathering pipelines for Southwestern’s wells in Susquehanna County. Southwestern, along with Cabot Oil & Gas, is a top producer in Susquehanna County. The agreement calls for DTE to increase “gathering assets by approximately 50 percent in Susquehanna County” by 50%–meaning build new gathering pipelines. DTE will also increase the capacity of their Bluestone Pipeline which connects to both the Millennium Pipeline (in Broome County, NY) and to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (in Susquehanna County). Here’s the announcement from yesterday…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Permit Filing Reveals NGL Mix Expected from Mariner East Pipelines
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

Earlier this month MDN told you that Sunoco Logistics has decided to move forward–if they get regulatory approval–with building the Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline which will stretch from eastern Ohio all the way to the Philadelphia area (see Sunoco Logistics Will Build $2.5B Mariner East 2 Pipeline). The pipeline and associated upgrades will cost Sunoco $2.5 billion. Some of the “associated upgrades” will be to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philly. A Reuters investigation, released yesterday, unearthed new details about Sunoco’s plans for the Marcus Hook refinery. Reuters got a hold of permit applications Sunoco filed with the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in September which discloses the capacities and types of storage tanks Sunoco plans to build to hold all those incoming NGLs, which tells us what they expect to receive via the Mariner East I & II pipelines once both are operational…
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Braskem | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County

WV Trip to Brazil Reaffirms Cracker Plant: “Comfort Level Strong”
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Last week West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin led a trade delegation on a junket to Brazil to talk with officials from Odebrecht and Braskem about the $3 billion proposed ethane cracker plant/petrochemical complex the companies are planning for Parkersburg, WV (see WV Gov. Tomblin Leads Trade Mission to Brazil re Cracker Plant). Accompanying Tomblin on the trip were his wife, Secretary of Commerce Keith Burdette and several others. Fresh back from the trip both Tomblin and Burdette have very encouraging comments. Burdette in particular effused about the ASCENT cracker plant project, saying: “Our comfort level [that the project will happen] is very strong.” Burdette also said (perhaps in response to criticisms about an expensive taxpayer-funded trip to Brazil) that it was important for WV officials to spend time in their offices–as a courtesy and to show commitment to a project that the company is spending beaucoup bucks on in WV…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crestwood Midstream | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Schuyler County

Progress with Proposed Seneca Lake Propane Storage Facility
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Some positive movement (finally) for the proposed LPG (liquefied petroleum gas, or propane) storage facility proposed by Crestwood Midstream for a depleted salt cavern along Seneca Lake, near Watkins Glen, NY. We’ve been covering this story for years (see our articles on Inergy and Crestwood). In 2009 Inergy, which has since been sold to Crestwood, applied for a permit to store LPG in the depleted salt caverns on Seneca Lake. Since then, the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation, under a series of Democrat governors, has intentionally delayed issuing a permit for the facility. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave their blessing for the facility last month, and early last week the DEC finally issued draft permit conditions–the next step in the process…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

DRBC Tells PennEast They Need DRBC (Not Just FERC) Approval
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Looks like all those phone calls and emails and letters and complaining by THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, about the PennEast Pipeline that will carry cheap, abundant, clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas from northeast PA to NJ, have had their intended effect. The Delaware River Basin Commission, under the new leadership of Steve Tambini, has notified PennEast that they will need to get the DRBC kiss of approval before they can build the pipeline through the Delaware River Basin area. Let’s hope it’s not the (typical) DRBC kiss of death…
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Energy Services | EnLink Midstream

EnLink Midstream Job Promotion Signals Rapid Growth Ahead
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Personnel changes at upstream and midstream companies aren’t usually something we cover here at MDN. But there are times when personnel changes signal something important. This is one of those times. EnLink Midstream is the renamed Crosstex Energy that was merged with Devon Energy’s midstream division– a merger that happened in March 2014 (see Time to Congratulate Devon & Crosstex on the Birth of EnLink). Eight months later and the company, with a large presence in the Marcellus/Utica, is on a tear. They are raising money and buying assets and expanding rapidly. One of the key people in the merger and subsequent growth is Benjamin D. Lamb, who joined Crosstex in 2012. Prior to that Lamb worked for an investment bank. Lamb has just been promoted to senior vice president but retains his role in leading the company’s mergers, acquisitions and financing transactions. In other words, it’s his job to find the money and buy smaller fish. EnLink’s CEO wants to (gasp) double the size of the company in the next three years, so Lamb has his work cut out for him…
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Dominion Energy | Education | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Dominion Awards $1M in Grants to Colleges in Marcellus/Utica
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Each year Dominion, a major midstream and utility company with operations throughout the northeast, donates money in education grants via their Dominion Foundation to schools ranging from pre-K through college in the states where Dominion does business: Ohio, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Dominion, you may recall, is the company building the East Coast’s first LNG export facility, investing $3.4-$3.8 billion (see Dominion Breaks Ground on Cove Point, MD LNG Export Facility). They also want to build the 550-mile, $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline from WV to NC (see Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline). The company pumps a lot of money back into local communities where they operate with their investments. They also pump a good bit back via charitable contributions, including $1 million for colleges in the Marcellus/Utica region in 2014…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Shotgun Wedding: Halliburton Forces Baker Hughes to Sell
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

That was fast. Last week MDN told you the scuttlebutt that the second largest oilfield services company in the U.S., Halliburton, was “in talks” to buy the third largest oilfield services company in the U.S., Baker Hughes (see Big News: Halliburton in Talks to Buy Baker Hughes). The “talks” advanced quickly. Yesterday the two companies announced they will tie the knot in something of a shotgun wedding (which we explain below). Halliburton is paying a dowry of $34.6 BILLION in stock and cash to buy out Baker Hughes, lock, stock and barrel…
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Earthquakes | Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

GASFRAC Says LPG Waterless Fracking May Prevent Earthquakes
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Last week MDN was the first to bring you the news that Canadian company GASFRAC has (after two years) finally begun fracking an Ohio Utica Shale well using liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG (see GASFRAC Begins Waterless Fracking Job in OH Utica). GASFRAC’s senior management held an analyst call last week to discuss the company’s performance (the company’s financials are not good). As part of that call was a Q&A in which the Utica well they’re now working on was discussed. We found the banter interesting. One of the more interesting aspects was GASFRAC’s contention that LPG fracking used in places where earthquakes are a concern (like Ohio) may reduce the likelihood of a fracking-induced earthquake from occurring…
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Energy Services | MarkWest Energy

MarkWest Energy Floats Notes to Raise 1/2 Billion in Cash
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

MarkWest Energy needs some more cash–like a half a billion dollars of cash–so they’re floating pieces of paper (unsecured notes) that they promise to pay back by 2024. No word on the interest rate they’ll give you for your money. We’re assuming some (most?) of that money will be put to good use in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation

4 Mass. Legislators Brag About Opposing Kinder Pipeline
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Here’s four Massachusetts state representatives that residents of MA may want to consider voting out of office for their rigid stance against the Kinder Morgan Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, a pipeline aimed at delivering cheap, abundant clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas so desperately needed in MA and the other New England states: Rep. Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington), Sen. Eileen Donaghue (D-Lowell), Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), and Rep. Sheila Harrington (R-Groton). They boast that they pressured current/out-going governor Deval Patrick to back away from supporting the pipeline. The Democrat candidate for governor in November’s election, Martha Coakley (Patrick decided not to run again), opposed the pipeline too. She lost. Even in the face of defeat and the prospect of rolling blackouts (see the story below), these dimwits continue their push to prevent more natural gas from reaching their region due to their own misguided prejudice against fossil fuels…
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