Energy Services

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco & Carlyle Group Ink Joint Venture for Philly Refinery
July 2, 2012July 2, 2012

Apparently the merger underway between Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco is going well enough, and the promise of Marcellus and Utica Shale big enough, that Sunoco has inked a deal with The Carlyle Group to form a joint venture to keep the Philadelphia refinery operating. The new joint venture will save 850 jobs at the plant. Wording in the extensive press release below indicates that shale—Marcellus, Utica and Bakken—will all play an important role for the refinery moving forward.

This is good news for the workers at the refinery, and good news for consumers who will continue to have access to low-cost oil, natural gas and other petrochemical products that will be produced by the refinery. Here’s the press release announcing the deal:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Williams

Exterran Wins Contract to Build 3 WV NatGas Processing Plants
July 2, 2012July 2, 2012

A big “get” for Exterran Holdings. They’ve won the contract to build three natural gas processing plants being built by Williams Partners in West Virginia.

From the Exterran press release:

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Delaware County (PA) | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Sunoco Logistics

Will Marcellus Shale Save Philly Marcus Hook Refinery?
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

Last year the Philadelphia region was hard-hit when both Sunoco and ConocoPhillips announced they would shut down a combined three refineries in the area. Since then, ConocoPhillips sold its refinery for $180 million to Delta Air Lines which will convert and use the plant for jet-fuel production. Sunoco is in talks to sell its one of two refineries (in Philly) to a joint venture headed by the Carlyle Group—but if that doesn’t develop, they’re going to shut it down.

And then there’s the Marcus Hook refinery, which closed it doors “for good” in April. Officials from the town of Marcus Hook and Delaware County are working hard to get it reopened. As part of that process, they commissioned a $100,000 study, just released, from IHS Consulting. The study identifies seven possible uses for the idled refinery, and pegs its best chances of reopening based on the abundance of natural gas and gas liquids coming from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region.

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream

EQT Midstream IPO Rakes in the Cash
June 27, 2012June 27, 2012

EQT Corp, one of the larger drillers in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, has spun off its midstream (pipeline and processing plant) operations into its own company. Shares of the new EQT Midstream started selling yesterday in an initial public offering (IPO), and today those shares will start to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol EQM).

What does it mean? It means EQT’s midstream activities will have a nice new pot of cash to expand with—somewhere around $260 million (put another way—over a quarter of a billion dollars). EQT’s drilling activities will now be serviced by a bigger, more robust midstream operation to get their gas to market.

From the EQT press release:

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Stone Energy

Who is GreenHunter Water’s New Mystery Marcellus Customer?
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

GreenHunter Water has picked up a new drilling company for their water management services (see the full press release below). The new customer is an independent driller somewhere in the Marcellus Shale play that owns leases on approximately 90,000 acres in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and is looking to expand. Thing is, GreenHunter won’t (or can’t) disclose the identity of this new mystery customer they’ve just signed on. But MDN thinks it can! There’s one independent driller who claims to have 90,000 acres of leases in PA/WV and is looking to expand, and that company is…

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Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide NY

Sierra Club Attacks FERC for Approving NYC Pipeline
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

Recently the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the construction of a 20-mile pipeline from New Jersey to New York City (see this MDN story). Spectra Energy is constructing the pipeline to the tune of $1.2 billion (a mini-economic boom for NJ/NY). The new pipeline and the cheap natural gas it will bring to NYC will reduce oil burning, which will be mandated starting in 2015 when NYC residents and landlords will no longer be allowed to burn No. 6 fuel oil. The new pipeline will be the equivalent of taking the emissions of 1 million cars off city streets per year. A good thing, no?

According to Sierra Club, that is a “no.” The Sierra Club doesn’t want cheap natural gas delivered to NYC, saving customers millions of dollars and saving the environment, because they don’t like fracking and the gas will mostly come from the Marcellus Shale. And that doesn’t fit with the the Sierra Club’s “attack everything natural gas” philosophy. So they’ve begun the process of protesting the approval for the pipeline, a process that will eventually end in federal court. Stunningly, in the paperwork they filed last week, they blame FERC for doing its job!

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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Pipelines | West Virginia

Marshall County, WV Pipeline Installation Problems
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

George Lagos and his small staff of water department employees who work at Marshall County (WV) Public Service District No. 4 (PSD No. 4) have a problem—too many gas pipelines being laid, not enough workers to inspect the process.

PSD No. 4 serves a large area of the county between Moundsville and Cameron. Lagos and two others are responsible for inspecting and maintaining 200 miles of water and other types of pipelines. When new natural gas pipelines are installed, Lagos is supposed to get 48 hours notice so they can monitor the installation. According to Lagos, that isn’t happening.

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Aither Chemicals | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Aither Chemicals Still Trying for a Cracker Plant in WV
June 22, 2012June 22, 2012

Will West Virginia ever get its own ethane cracker plant? It will if Aither Chemicals, based in South Charleston, WV has any say in the matter. MDN has been following the Aither story for some time. Aither Chemicals, a spin-off/subsidiary of Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research & Innovation Center, was established to build and operate ethane cracker plants that use modern technology making the plants smaller and less expensive to build and operate than tradition cracker plants (see this MDN story for background).

Aither had a deal in principle with Bayer CropScience and MarkWest Energy to build one of these “new” kinds of cracker plants in the Charleston, WV area. That deal was set to be officially announced in mid-March (see this MDN story). But then the wheels came off the wagon and all was silent. No deal, no announcement. Until now.

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Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | U.S. Silica

New Deal Brings Midwest Sand to Marcellus/Other Shale Areas
June 22, 2012June 22, 2012

Sand is a key ingredient in the hydraulic fracturing process. A special kind of sand, referred to as crystalline sand, is injected into cracks made during fracturing and stays in the cracks, propping them open so the gas can continue to come out (which is why it’s called a “proppant”). More sand will be on the way to the Marcellus and Utica region due to a new agreement between U.S. Silica, the nation’s second-largest sand producer, and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP will be the exclusive rail shipper for U.S. Silica’s new frack sand facility being constructed in Wisconsin.

From the CP press release announcing the exclusive deal with U.S. Silica:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners

PVR Sells Pipeline in East Texas, Concentrating on Marcellus
June 19, 2012June 18, 2012

Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR), a midstream company, yesterday announced it’s selling off a small natural gas gathering system and processing plant in east Texas to DCP Midstream Partners for $63 million. The reason? To concentrate more on the Marcellus Shale region (and to focus more on PVR’s other area of focus—the panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma).

From the PVR press release:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

Commonwealth Pipeline Open Season Exceeds Expectations
June 19, 2012June 18, 2012

Inergy Midstream, UGI Energy and Capitol Energy Ventures are partnering to build a new 200-mile natural gas pipeline from Lycoming County, PA all the way to Rockville, MD (see this MDN story). Called the Commonwealth Pipeline, the new $1 billion pipeline will connect with several major interstate pipelines along its route.

Yesterday, Inergy et al reported that their non-binding open season to sign up customers to use the pipeline went better than expected. From the Inergy press release:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County | Williams

The Next Battleground for Shale Drilling: Compressor Plants
June 18, 2012June 18, 2012

As the number of Marcellus gas wells increase in Pennsylvania, so too do the number of pipelines to move the gas and the number of natural gas compressor stations. Compressor stations push the gas along the pipeline until the pipeline connects to a larger pipeline. Compressor stations are the next battleground for anti-drillers who want to plant the seeds of doubt.

For example, 29 permits have been or are being considered for compressor stations in northeastern PA, and of those, nearly two dozen of them are within a 15-mile radius of Dimock, PA. Since 2005, 383 permits have been issued statewide, but not all of them have been or will be built. The issue of contention is air pollution. Each station emits some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). How much they emit, and their combined effect in a region, is what is in dispute.

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | National Fuel | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Seneca Resources

Trout Run Pipeline Goes Operational, Seneca Wells Connect
June 15, 2012June 15, 2012

National Fuel Gas Midstream’s new Trout Run Gathering System (Lycoming County, PA) came online May 30 and is now delivering natural gas to the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco). Because the new pipeline is now operational, Seneca Resources has brought online four new wells. As of a few days ago, the wells were producing a combined 45 million cubic feet of gas per day.

National Fuel Gas’ press release:

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Energy Services | Fayette County | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Peregrine Keystone Gas Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Peregrine Pipeline Withdraws Public Utility Application
June 14, 2012June 14, 2012

Peregrine Keystone Gas Pipeline had planned to construct a gathering pipeline in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties in western PA. They filed an application with the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) in 2010 to become a public utility which would grant them the right to use eminent domain to force landowners to allow them to build a pipeline across their property.

Last month an administrative law judge ruled against Peregrine’s application, and on June 8 Peregrine withdrew the application. Although they believe they have a strong case, with the low price of natural gas and the high likelihood of an extended court battle, Peregrine has given up on public utility status.

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Bradford County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sullivan County

Court Clears Way to Build MARC 1 Marcellus Pipeline in PA
June 13, 2012June 13, 2012

A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the construction of the MARC 1 Marcellus Shale pipeline to be built in northeastern Pennsylvania. The court released a decision yesterday rejecting claims by “environmental” groups to stop the pipeline. Part of their argument revolved around “the broader impacts” caused by natural gas drilling—that is, pipelines make more drilling likely and that’s not a good thing (according to them). The court rejected that argument.

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Energy Services | Smart Sand

Smart Sand Lands Big Name for Board of Directors
June 13, 2012June 13, 2012

Smart Sand Inc., headquartered in Fairless Hills, PA, is a supplier of industrial sand, primarily serving customers in the oil and gas industry including drillers in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. Sand—the right kind of sand which is crystalline—is a critical part of the hydraulic fracturing process. Most of the frack sand mined in the U.S. comes from the Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. Smart Sand owns and operates a facility in Oakdale, WI.

What’s the big deal about Smart Sand? They’ve just landed former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a new board member, raising their visibility in the industry considerably. You may recall that Pawlenty ran for the Republican nomination for president not all that long ago.

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