Guest Post

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    Legislative Bill Lights Up Possibilities for a Philadelphia LNG Port

    Today we bring you a guest post from MDN friend Garland Thompson, a gifted reporter/writer who covers energy and technology issues for US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine, the Philadelphia Tribune, and other periodicals. State Sen. Gene Yaw will host a hearing in Philadelphia on Thursday to explore LNG, its role on the world stage, and the potential role Philly can play in providing it. Using the upcoming hearing as a jumping-off point, in this post, Garland connects the dots between proposed House Bill 2458 (see PA Bill Looks to Convert Port of Philly into LNG Export Terminal), Philadelphia, the Panama Canal, LNG, Putin, and second chances. Garland provides us with the history and context to understand how and why LNG exports from Philly fit into the world picture.
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    Chester County, PA Leaders Continue to Sow Fear of ME2 Pipeline

    Chester County, PA commissioners are, once again, attempting to instill irrational fear into county residents over the construction and operation of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline. ME2 runs hundreds of miles across the state, from eastern Ohio all the way to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. The pipeline runs through Chester on its way to Marcus Hook. Chester commissioners are preparing to pay big bucks to hire a consultant to help the county draw up emergency plans for the pipeline in case it blows up or leaks. It’s a scare tactic. “The sky is falling!” MDN friend Garland Thompson has written a cogent and devastating response to an article highlighting news of the commissioners’ attempt to amplify people’s fears about ME2. His response offers the bigger (and truer) picture about ME2 safety.
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    Solution to TETCO (& Other) Southbound Pipes? New NE Refineries

    As we report today, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline will not be back to full pressure flowing Marcellus/Utica gas south (some of it to the Gulf Coast) until the end of summer. Last week MDN brought you the news that TETCO was denied permission to continue operating its pipeline system (three pipelines, actually) at full pressure (see PHMSA Forces TETCO Pipe to Throttle 40% of M-U Southbound Gas). The reduced pressure of 20% means some 40% of the gas that was flowing from the Marcellus/Utica to the Gulf Coast via TETCO is now gone. Following that post, we received an email from one of our favorite industry observers, Garland Thompson, who proposes the ultimate solution to the problem of decreased flows on TETCO (and other pipelines) to the Gulf Coast.
    Read More “Solution to TETCO (& Other) Southbound Pipes? New NE Refineries”

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    Guest Post: Biased vs Unbiased Polls in Fracking and Politics

    New polls arrive each day now to proclaim that Donald Trump is toast and sleepy/creepy Uncle Joe Biden is going to win big. New polls arrive just about every week to announce that Americans are suspicious of shale fracking and would, in a heartbeat, dump fossil fuels. Don’t believe either the political or fracking polls so-called mainstream media releases. Why? Because the polls themselves are constructed not to determine public opinion, but to shape it. Almost all polls today are push-polls.
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  • Global Warming Theology – Enemy of Climate Science, Reason

    We’ve often said if we could have anyone else’s brain who writes about the Marcellus/Utica, it would be Tom Shepstone’s brain. Tom, who has become a good friend over the years, writes the Natural Gas Now blog site. Tom has just penned a new post about global warming that frankly we wish we had written! He says all the things we think about when we think about this topic. It’s just so darned good, there’s nothing to do but bring you his entire post, below.
    Read More “Global Warming Theology – Enemy of Climate Science, Reason”

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    An Opposing View on Waiving the Jones Act for US LNG Shipments

    Last week we brought you the news that President Trump is considering a waiver to the 1920 Jones Act for LNG to be shipped from port to port in the U.S., even if the ships used are foreign flagged (see Trump Considers Waiving Jones Act to Allow Domestic LNG Shipments). We like the idea because it means we may be able to move more of our Marcellus/Utica gas to New England without using pipelines. However, MDN friend Garland Thompson, a talented reporter and magazine writer, has a different take on the Jones Act and potential waivers to it.
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    OH Fractivist Claims Obliterated with Cold, Hard Facts from NEPA

    MDN friend Chris Acker, standing in front of a rig about 200 yards from his house in NEPA

    In December MDN brought you the news that Cabot Oil & Gas is sniffing around Ashland County, OH, with plans to possibly drill in a rock layer even deeper than the Utica Shale (see Cabot O&G Considers Drilling in Ashland County, OH). Cabot’s activity in the area was met with resistance by anti-fossil fuelers. Nothing new about that. What is new, however, is that some of the antis (a handful) in the Ashland area formed a faux landowner coalition, trying to fool landowners into joining them (see Warning to Ohio Residents: Beware Fake Landowner Coalitions). The faux landowner coalition has been busy spreading lies about Cabot, making wild accusations about what will happen if Cabot is allowed to drill in the county. MDN friend (and right arm) Chris Acker, a northeast PA landowner signed with Cabot, has written a guest post/rebuttal that obliterates the lies being spread by Ashland antis. Buckle up, this one will be fun to read!…
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    Cabot O&G Continues Tradition of Philanthropy in NEPA Communities

    The following guest post was written by Rick Hiduk:

    Cabot Warming Hearts at Coldest Time of Year

    It has been a particularly cold couple of months, and those most effected by winter’s bite tend to be the less fortunate families in our region and their children. Since Thanksgiving, Cabot Oil & Gas has been reaching out to the community in a variety of ways and brightening the lives of hundreds of area residents. While Cabot has become known for its ongoing philanthropy, the initiatives covering the holiday season were especially well received, helping more than 800 families in northeast Pennsylvania…
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    It’s Time We Stop Missing the Point About the Mariner East Pipes

    Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection suspended all work on the Mariner East 2 NGL Pipeline project (see today’s lead story, PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). The project has been vigorously opposed by antis in the greater Philadelphia area from the beginning. Their opposition stems from a deeper philosophical preference to end the use of fossil fuels. Last September, MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Garland Thompson at the Shale Insight event in Pittsburgh. Garland, who lives in Philly, has written for the Career Communications Group of publications, including US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Hispanic Engineer & IT, and their siblings Woman of Color and Science Spectrum, for many years. He’s covered the shale revolution for those publications since 2008–before MDN began writing about it! Jim had an interesting conversation with Garland, about the need to educate folks, particularly the folks in the greater Philly area, about the benefits of pipelines. Springboarding on yesterday’s news, Garland has written a great opinion piece pointing out that opposition to the Mariner East pipelines (plural) is misguided and shortsighted. Garland builds a case for why everyone in the Philly region should want to see these important projects get built…
    Read More “It’s Time We Stop Missing the Point About the Mariner East Pipes”

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    Further Thoughts on PA’s Severance Tax “Mess”

    Dan Markind

    Last week MDN published an opposing viewpoint about the current severance tax debate in Pennsylvania (see Guest Post: An Opposing View of PA’s Severance Tax “Mess”). Please take time to read it. MDN editor Jim Willis has high respect for the author, Dan Markind (a partner with law firm Weir & Partners). When we published his post, we introduced it with our own thoughts. Dan had asked for the opportunity to respond to our intro, which we readily agreed to. Below is Dan’s response. We bring it with no further commentary necessary here, other than we like Dan and appreciate his views, even the ones we may not agree with…
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    Guest Post: An Opposing View of PA’s Severance Tax “Mess”

    Dan Markind

    You know how MDN feels about a new/extra severance tax in Pennsylvania–we’re dead set against it. We have been from the beginning. We think the impact fee (i.e. tax) is doing just fine, having raised over $1 billion in revenue from 2013 to 2017 (assuming the Independent Fiscal Office’s 2017 projections are accurate). The best part of the impact fee is that 60% of it stays local–in counties where drilling happens–instead of going to the black hole of Harrisburg overspending. However, there are Republicans in the state legislature addicted to spending, just like Democrats, and they continue to lobby for a new severance tax, to be placed on top of the existing impact fee. As we saw yesterday, PA’s rig count has been static to slightly down all year long (see Marcellus/Utica Rig Count Race Tightens: OH Count Closes in on PA). Does PA want to drive even more business out of the state and into neighboring Ohio and West Virginia? That, in our humble opinion, is exactly what a severance tax will do. Although, MDN doesn’t play favorites, we love all our state children equally! We don’t want PA to make a serious mistake. However, there are opposing opinions on the severance tax issue from people we respect. One of those people is Dan Markind, a partner with law firm Weir & Partners. Dan writes a regular email newsletter covering the Marcellus Shale in PA. Last week he wrote about the budget negotiation collapse and the (admitted) debacle of House Republicans clutching at alternative straws–first a warehouse tax and then a hotel tax–anything but a severance tax. Dan believes the shale industry in PA has alienated other industries, and has boxed itself into a corner by not accepting some form of a severance tax. We disagree with Dan’s view on this matter–but his view is shared by many. Which is why we bring you his email newsletter from last week (with his permission), to present an alternative view on the severance tax issue…
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    Guest Post: The Real Record of Ex-EPA Sec. Gina McCarthy

    Depending on whether you’re a hardened leftist, or a common sense conservative, Gina McCarthy (former head of the Environmental Protection Agency) was either Savior or Satan. We tend toward the latter–someone who (ab)used her office to push a far-left political agenda. During her tenure, McCarthy oversaw the ramrodding through of the horrible Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and Clean Power Plan (CPP) regulations. It’s taken Team Trump a while, but both measures are being taken apart, plank by plank. Most people from agencies like the EPA retire quietly after their tenure. Not McCarthy. She’s out there in the media attempting to whitewash and cover up her mistakes, and castigating her successor, Scott Pruitt. Mainstream media, which tilts left of Attila the Hun, loves it (and her), giving her a voice. MDN friend Steven Heins, an energy and regulatory consultant and former vice president of communication for Orion Energy Systems, sets the record straight about Ms. McCarthy’s tenure as head of the EPA. Steve reminds us all of some rather uncomfortable truths about the EPA as it was under McCarthy…
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    PA Sending Wrong Message to O&G, Petrochemical, Manuf Industries

    Charlie Schliebs – Stone Pier Capital Advisors

    Over the years MDN editor Jim Willis has had the pleasure of meeting many great people–both in the shale industry and in other industries that overlap with shale energy. One such person is Charlie Schliebs, managing director of the Pittsburgh-based Stone Pier Capital Advisors. Charlie is a long-time MDN subscriber (and friend). He’s a money guy, having had a hand in a number of deals to finance Marcellus/Utica drilling. He’s also smart, and a mover-and-shaker–well-connected with many of Pennsylvania’s top business and political leaders. Recently Charlie composed an editorial to share with his clients and friends. The original intent was to write about the severance tax and the sellout by PA’s Republican Senate. However, the editorial grew to encompass the state’s treatment of the petrochemical and even construction industries. We asked Charlie for permission to bring you his editorial, and he graciously agreed. In it, he offers some insight into his original support for Tom Wolf during the last gubernatorial election, his profound disappointment with Wolf (be sure to read about the event Charlie hosted in which then-candidate Wolf participated and made an arrogant fool of himself), and how Wolf settled on a 5% severance tax plan, based on an off-hand remark by EQT. This is great stuff–real behind-the-scenes stuff only someone like Charlie can write about. Take time to read the whole editorial…
    Read More “PA Sending Wrong Message to O&G, Petrochemical, Manuf Industries”

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    Coming GE-Baker Hughes Merger – World’s First “Full-Stream” Co.

    You’ve heard of upstream, which that portion of the industry that finds and drills for natural gas and oil. You’ve heard of midstream, the pipelines and processing plants portion of the industry. And you’ve heard of downstream, which includes petrochemical plants, industrial users, and homeowners who use the stuff found and transported. But have you ever heard of “full-stream?” That would be a company that is involved, in a major way, in all three major areas of the energy business. Companies like Exxon Mobil and Shell come close, but they don’t really fit that description. They drill for oil and gas (upstream), and they have some pipelines (minimal). They do have a big presence in the downstream, with cracker plants and other petrochemical facilities. However, the first truly full-stream company is about to be born, from the merger between GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes. It will be a “molecule to megawatt” company. MDN friend Steven Heins, an energy and regulatory consultant and former vice president of communication for Orion Energy Systems, shares his observations about the impending merger and what it means…
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    Guest Post: A Possible Solution for the PA Royalty Issue

    ChrisAcker.jpgMDN is pleased to bring you another guest post from our very good friend Chris Acker. Chris is a geological engineer with an MBA. He grew up in the oil fields of Venezuela where his father, a petroleum engineer, was a drilling contractor for all the major players, onshore and off. Chris’ interest in energy economics and policy found him working for Exxon, Petroleum Industry Research Associates and Petroleos de Venezuela. He bought a parcel of land in the PA countryside twenty-five years ago and later semi-retired to work on antique pianos (see www.PianoGrands.com). A few years ago, it was established that Chris’ property in Susquehanna County sits atop one of the Marcellus shale’s most prolific areas. He leased with Cabot Oil & Gas and has a well sitting off his front porch not more than 200 yards away. Chris is now happily engaged once again in energy economics, with an emphasis, naturally, on gas. Chris is MDN editor Jim Willis’ right arm when it comes to scanning for stories, something Jim is profoundly grateful for. Chris sent Jim a note about the royalty issue, just a couple of paragraphs–and Jim found more wisdom in his few sentences than he has seen to date. So Jim asked Chris for permission to post his pearls of wisdom, and Chris decided to expand it. Below is a very thoughtful, intelligent, useful post on the royalty issue currently causing a schism between landowners and drillers in the Keystone State. We encourage everyone with an interest in this issue to read it. It contains a few new ideas we’ve not heard either side float–ideas that may help us find a way out of the current mess…
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    Explaining the Rift Between Saudi Arabia & Iran; Impact on Oil

    Daniel Markind
    Daniel Markind, Esq.

    You may have noticed a flare-up of tensions in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The “crisis” as it’s being called by news organizations like CNN has quickly escalated with other Arab countries taking sides–most of them siding with Saudi Arabia. The flare-up initially caused an uptick in the price of oil based on fears there may be oil disruptions in the region–but those fears quickly died down and along with it, the price died down too. What is this conflict all about? And how might it affect the price of oil (and gas) in 2016? MDN reader Daniel Markind, an attorney and partner in the Philadelphia law firm Weir and Partners, provides us with an excellent summary/overview of what this conflict is about…
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