Energy Services

Energy Services | MarkWest Energy

MarkWest 2012: Profits Up Slightly, Processing Volumes Up a Lot
March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

On Wednesday, MarkWest Energy Partners, the largest midstream (pipeline/processing plant) company in the Marcellus and now in the Utica Shale, released an update for 2012 along with comments about where they are headed in 2013. A few highlights: MarkWest made $528 million in profit for 2012, up slightly from the $515 million they made in 2011. Overall processing volumes went up by 23% in 2012. Processing volumes at their Liberty (Marcellus) operation were up an eye-popping 86% in 4Q12 over 4Q11. They now have their eye on the Utica Shale in multiple joint ventures including a deal with EMG to build two new processing facilities in the Utica.

Select portions of the MarkWest update relevant to the Marcellus and Utica:

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Anadarko | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide PA | Western Gas

Western Gas Enters the Marcellus, Buys 2 Pipeline Systems in PA
March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

Western Gas Partners, a master limited partnership created by Anadarko to “own, operate, acquire and develop midstream energy assets” has until now built and expanded pipeline and processing plants in the southwest, west and mid-continent region. They are now players in the Marcellus Shale as well by paying $623.5 million for a one-third ownership of two natural gas pipeline gathering systems in north-central Pennsylvania. Together, the two systems have a combined throughput of 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

The company’s announcement about the two deals and how they will finance them:

Read More “Western Gas Enters the Marcellus, Buys 2 Pipeline Systems in PA”
Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Sand/Proppant | Stark County | Unimin

New Utica Frack Sand Terminal Opens Near Canton, OH
March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

Frack sand company Unimin Corporation announced yesterday they have opened a new proppant (or frack sand) distribution terminal in Navarre (Stark County), Ohio—near Canton. Unimin will provide frack sand to Utica Shale drillers from the facility. This is the company’s seventh terminal in the Marcellus and Utica region (see the complete list below).

The company’s announcement:

Read More “New Utica Frack Sand Terminal Opens Near Canton, OH”
Access Midstream Partners | Blue Racer Midstream | Commodity Price | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH

Live from Columbus, OH… Utica Shale Confab – Day 1
February 27, 2013February 27, 2013

MDN editor Jim Willis is in Columbus, Ohio attending the 2nd Utica Shale Development & Growth Forum. Jim is moderating a panel today (Wednesday) called “Utica from the Media’s Perspective.” On the panel with me are Bob Downing, staff writer with the Akron Beacon Journal, Rick Stouffer, editor of Platts Gas Business Briefing, and Peter Behr, reporter with EnergyWire. All top notch writers from premier publications. I feel honored to sit on a panel with them!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day of the main program and speakers tackled the Utica Shale from their unique perspectives. We heard from the relatively new Access Midstream (formerly Chesapeake Midstream); a geologist; Blue Racer Midstream; and an economist who is head of the Ohio State University’s Sub Surface Energy Resource Center (“Utica Shale Center” for short). Since most MDN readers couldn’t be here, I took good notes to pass along. Below are highlights and interesting tidbits from Day One…

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Aqua America | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Penn Virginia Corporation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PVR Water Services – Now Pumping 3M Gal of Water/Day for Drilling
February 26, 2013February 26, 2013

Aqua America is one of the largest U.S.-based, publicly-traded water utilities with almost 3 million residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana, Virginia, Florida and Georgia. They also have a joint venture with Penn Virginia Resource Partners called PVR Water Services which provides water to Marcellus drillers in Pennsylvania. So far business is good.

A short section of Aqua America’s annual financial and operations report updates us on PVR Water Services:

Read More “PVR Water Services – Now Pumping 3M Gal of Water/Day for Drilling”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pike County | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Praying for Dead Trees – The Nutty Gas Protesters of Pike County
February 25, 2013February 25, 2013

Columnist Beth Brelje has penned a must-read editorial on the nutters in Pike County, PA protesting construction of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 323 Line. Brelje says the protesters have scheduled a—get this—prayer vigil, to pray for the “fallen trees.” Yeah, Twilight Zone stuff.

Instead of praying over dead wood, Brelje says protesters might actually want to do something constructive with their time, like:

Read More “Praying for Dead Trees – The Nutty Gas Protesters of Pike County”
EMG | Energy Services | MarkWest Energy

MarkWest: We Just Banked $450M from EMG, Another $2.8B Available
February 22, 2013February 22, 2013

A couple of weeks ago MDN told you the news that MarkWest Energy and Utica Shale joint venture partner EMG had struck a deal to infuse extra cash into their Utica projects which seemed to be running low on money (see Cash Runs Low – MarkWest Floats $150M Loan in Utica Midstream JV). MarkWest issued another press release yesterday to say the deal with EMG is now done, and an extra $450 million will soon be in the bank from EMG to keep the Utica projects going.

Also in yesterday’s announcement, MarkWest says they’ve raised $1.5 billion over the past three months from “debt and equity transactions” including the $450 from EMG; they still have an untapped $1.2 billion line of credit; and they have the ability to issue $600 million in common stock, should they need to (a $3.3 billion pile of cash from all sources). Translation: MarkWest seems to be allaying investor concerns about cash flow problems for their active projects. “No overextension happening here,” seems to be the mantra.

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American GTL Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Reserve Environmental Services | Statewide PA

Shale Wastewater Operator Proposes Marcellus Gas-to-Liquids Plant
February 22, 2013February 22, 2013

American GTL Energy wants to build a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale to convert methane (“dry gas”) into diesel fuel. Such a plant, if built, would require about $1 billion of investment—so American GTL is trying to catch the interest of companies like Exxon Mobil—companies with deep pockets.

Read More “Shale Wastewater Operator Proposes Marcellus Gas-to-Liquids Plant”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trucking | Washington County (OH) | Wastewater

Protesters Get Violent, Shut Down OH Frack Water Plant
February 21, 2013February 21, 2013

GreenHunter Energy operates a bulk storage and shipping facility near New Matamoras (Washington County), Ohio for salt water (“brine”) that comes from shale wells long after they are drilled and fracked. Brine is naturally occurring water from deep below the ground—water without chemicals from fracking—it just contains a lot of minerals. That fact doesn’t seem to matter to some obtuse protesters.

Yesterday, a group of 100 or so protesters, organized by an extremist group called Appalachia Resist!, stormed the New Matamoras brine facility and shut it down. They engaged in criminal acts by plugging the toilets, stealing keys and in general terrorizing the employees at the facility. Ten of the protesters were arrested (their names, ages and home cities are listed below). More will be charged once police are done reviewing video tapes of the incident.

You may be interested to know that almost all of the people arrested were from other states—not even Ohio residents. GreenHunter is pressing charges, which includes felony counts and possibly charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Read More “Protesters Get Violent, Shut Down OH Frack Water Plant”
Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | NiSource

NiSource Spending $1.8B over 5 Years on Pipeline Upgrades
February 20, 2013February 20, 2013

NiSource Inc., parent company and operator of the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline which runs throughout the northeast including Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and New Jersey, released their 2012 financial and operating statement yesterday. The update and investor phone call (see presentations below) also provides updates on future plans. Among the interesting highlights: NiSource will spend $1.8 billion on pipeline improvements through 2017.

NiSource is not only pipelining natural gas in the Utica and Marcellus, they’re drilling wells too…

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Access Midstream Partners | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Williams

Access Midstream’s 2012 Numbers: Chesapeake Deal Nets 1 Bcf/d
February 20, 2013February 20, 2013

In December, MDN told you about a complex 3-way deal in which Chesapeake Energy sold off its remaining midstream subsidiary (pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants), including midstream assets in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, to Access Midstream Partners. Access immediately turned around and sold 50% of itself to Williams. In essence, Chesapeake sold its midstream assets to Williams using Access as an intermediary (see Chesapeake, Access & Williams in Complex 3-Way Midstream Deal). No doubt there are certain tax advantages to structuring the deal the way they did. The Chesapeake acquisition netted an additional 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day for Access.

Access issued its fourth quarter and full year 2012 report yesterday. They spent $735 million and made $478 million in revenue for 2012. Access predicts capital spending in 2013 will be $1.6-$1.7 billion and they expect to make around $850 million in revenue. They predict the revenue number will grow to over $1 billion by the end of 2014, more than doubling revenue from 2012 (in just two years).

Read More “Access Midstream’s 2012 Numbers: Chesapeake Deal Nets 1 Bcf/d”
Belmont County | Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | NGLs | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Bomb Threat at Natrium, WV NGL Plant Doesn’t Slow Construction
February 19, 2013February 19, 2013

A $500 million natural gas liquids processing plant in Natrium (Marshall County), WV will go online in the next few weeks—even with a temporary stoppage of construction last Saturday due to a bomb threat (no word on who made the threat or why). The Natrium plant is part of Blue Racer Midstream, a $1.5 billion joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy (see Dominion, Caiman in $1.5B Utica JV: Blue Racer Midstream). The new plant was originally scheduled to go online by end of 2012.

Some of the construction for the plant is happening across the border in Belmont County, Ohio:

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Bradford County | Energy Services | Eureka Resources | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

Eureka Resources Building PA’s Biggest Marcellus Wastewater Plant
February 19, 2013March 7, 2019

Eureka Resources currently operates a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment facility in Williamsport, PA that processes 8,000 barrels of wastewater per day. The company announced today it is building a new, second facility near Towanda, PA. The new plant will have the capacity to treat up to 10,000 barrels of wastewater per day. Target completion date is October of this year…

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Patriot Water in Warren, OH Objects to ODNR Directive
February 19, 2013February 19, 2013

A feud that stretches back to June 2011 between shale wastewater treatment company Patriot Water Treatment of Warren, Ohio and the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources continues.

The latest skirmish in what has become a legal battle is over the ODNR’s order to D&L Energy to stop shipping wastewater to Patriot’s Warren plant:

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Arrowhead Utica Pipelines | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trucking | Utica Shale

Hilcorp Subsidiary Leases Property for Utica Transfer Facility
February 19, 2013February 19, 2013

The Columbiana County Port Authority operates an industrial park in Wellsville, Ohio. Tucked into a story about road improvements the Port Authority is making at the park we learn that two subsidiaries of Utica Shale driller Hilcorp have leased two different parcels in the park: Arrowhead Utica Pipelines and Harvest Pipeline Co. The Port Authority is spending over $900,000 on road upgrades, largely to expand a road to the future site of a new shale gas transfer facility that will be built by Arrowhead.

The details:

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Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnerVest | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | Momentum | Ohio | Processing Plants

Kensington, OH NGL Processing Plant Construction Progress
February 18, 2013February 18, 2013

Midstream build-out will be the big story of 2013 in the Utica Shale. One of the big projects under way is a natural gas processing facility in Kensington, Ohio, being built by a partnership between M3 Midstream (better known as Momentum), Chesapeake Energy and Enervest. The entire project will take five years to build, with the first portion going online sometime this year.

The latest on the Kensington project, being built in Columbiana County:

Read More “Kensington, OH NGL Processing Plant Construction Progress”