Economic Impact

CNG/LNG | Economic Impact | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Air Products Wins Contract for TX LNG Plant, Marcellus Connection?
September 18, 2014September 18, 2014

This is the kind of story MDN enjoys telling–connecting dots that others haven’t noticed. In broad brush strokes, Air Products announced on Tuesday that they have won the contract to provide two massive liquefied natural gas heat exchangers for Freeport LNG in Freeport, Texas. The heat exchangers will take two years to build and both will be built at their Wilkes-Barre, PA plant. At first blush you may not think there is a connection to the Marcellus/Utica, but there is. Here’s how the Air Products announcement all ties together for the Marcellus Shale (and what you won’t find anywhere else)…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research | Supply Chain

API Research/List of Shale Supply Chain Companies for PA/OH/WV
September 10, 2014September 10, 2014

Important new research has just been released by the American Petroleum Institute on the role of supply chain businesses in oil and gas. In particular, not only how many such businesses exist–but who they are, by name. MDN has glanced through the report and has pulled the writeups for Pennyslvania, Ohio and West Virginia (all three below). The research shows that the oil & gas industry in PA is contributing $34.7 billion to the economy each year–a staggering number. The average salary for a PA worker is $48,785–but the average salary for o&g workers in PA is $78,898 per year. Similar numbers are found for both OH and WV as well…
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Economic Impact | Education | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Penn State to Study Effects of “Mailbox Money” in PA Marcellus
September 3, 2014September 3, 2014

Have you ever heard the phrase “mailbox money” used to describe royalty checks (and singing bonuses) landowners receive for Marcellus Shale wells? We hadn’t either–but apparently that’s the phrase that’s used, somewhat pejoratively, to describe this economic miracle. We wonder how money flowing to snotty rich people who inherited their wealth is described–maybe “lazy money” or “daddy’s money” or “trust fund money”? But we digress. Researchers at Penn State University have received a $150,000 grant (“grant money”) to research whether or not Marcellus money going to previously poor, dumb farmers in PA (our interpretation) makes a difference to the health and well being for the kids in those households, vs. the poor, dumb farmer kids across the border in NY who are kept in poverty by the actions of NY’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, who refuses to allow Marcellus drilling. The study will evaluate whether or not Marcellus money affects a child’s well-being–ranging from behavior, psychological and health factors to school success…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Research

Report: Marcellus Worth Another $90 Billion, 25K Wells Thru 2035
August 29, 2014August 29, 2014

Wood Mackenzie (WM) is a global energy, metals and mining research and consulting company based in Edinburgh, Scotland with 25 offices around the world, including Houston, TX. The company has just released a new report on the Marcellus Shale. The report, titled “Marcellus Key Play Analysis,” contains some interesting findings. Among them: WM analysts say there is $90 billion left in the Marcellus Shale. That number is calculated as how much revenue drillers will derive from selling the gas they mine from the play minus development costs. The report estimates that the top 20 drillers in the Marcellus will drill 25,000 wells in the play through 2035. Improved efficiency has lowered drilling costs according to WM. But the real secret, according to WM, to unlocking value in both the Marcellus and other shale plays is…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Economic Impact | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Washington County

New Heinz-Funded “Study” on Marcellus Boom/Bust in SWPA
August 4, 2014August 4, 2014

Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, PA (Pittsburgh suburb) has a Center for Energy Policy & Management–which makes sense since Washington County, PA sits in the middle of the wet gas Marcellus drilling zone. W&J recently teamed up with the Washington, DC-based Environmental Law Institute (ELI) to study the “boom and bust” cycle that communities face with resource extraction like the Marcellus Shale. The thought was to produce a document–in this case a series of documents–that can guide local and state politicians as they plan for the future. How can, and even *can* a community avoid a “bust” after a huge boom? That’s what the documents aim to answer. The only problem is, the ELI seems to tilt anti-drilling, and the entire study was funded by Mamma Teresa Heinz-Kerry and her Heinz Endowments–a strongly anti-drilling organization. So you know where this is headed…
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Braskem | CNG/LNG | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Processing Plants | Supply Chain | West Virginia | Wood County

Odebrecht Cracker Plant Will be Magnet for Downstream Development
July 30, 2014July 30, 2014

David Peebles, VP of business development for Odebrecht, presented a plan for downstream development related to his company’s proposed ethane cracker plant in Parkersburg, WV at the Department of Energy Quadrennial Energy Review Public Meeting held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on July 21st. The presentation shows how the proposed Odebrecht $2B+ ethane cracker plant is just the beginning of “clusters” of downstream manufacturing facilities that will be built. The cracker plant will act as a magnet for other businesses. Peebles presented the plan to DOE Sec. Ernest Moniz. And, we happen to have a copy!…
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Alternative Energy | Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

Bloomberg: Natgas, Solar Big Winners for New Investment by 2030
July 2, 2014July 2, 2014

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has just published a new report titled “2030 Market Outlook” in which they predict there will be $1.3 trillion of investment in new power generation capacity over the next 15 years. The big winner for that pile of new investment ($314 billion of it) will go to–you guessed it–natural gas-fired electric generating plants. Also a big winner, according to BNEF, will be solar ($231 billion for rooftop solar panels) and wind ($200 billion spent for onshore wind farms). BNEF also makes some gutsy predictions with respect to coal…
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Allegany County | Economic Impact | Garrett County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Maryland | Research | Statewide MD

Maryland Study: Marcellus Drilling Huge Benefit for Western MD
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

A new study recently released by the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) at Towson University says if Maryland would only allow Marcellus Shale drilling, two western MD counties would reap huge benefits. The study, “Impact Analysis of the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative” (full copy embedded below) says Allegany and Garrett counties would benefit from thousands of new jobs and hundreds of million dollars in newfound revenue…
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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Scranton Newspapers “Me Too” Articles on Moxie Energy Power Plant
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

It’s not often that MDN “breaks news” as in we bring you the story first. But sometimes we do, as we did last Friday when we told you that Moxie Energy is in the hunt for a third Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant project–this one in Luzerne County (see Moxie Energy in Hunt for Third Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant?). We spotted a very brief mention from a local Wilkes-Barre TV station and sketched out the story for you, providing the background and detail–connecting the dots no one else noticed. So it gives us great pleasure to point out that after we broke the story, both the Scranton Times-Tribune and the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader then picked it up…
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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Moxie Energy in Hunt for Third Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant?
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

A very interesting news tidbit to pass along. Is Moxie Energy considering a third, new natural gas powered electric generating plant for Pennsylvania–this one near Wilkes-Barre? Quite possibly…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

Phila. Gas Works Deal in Jeopardy Due to Vacationing City Council
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

In March, the Democrat mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, announced a deal to sell the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) for $1.86 billion (see Phila. Gas Works Deal for $1.86B – Marcellus/Utica One of Keys). UIL Holdings Corporation, a Connecticut-based investor-owned gas and electric utility, is the potential buyer. However, it didn’t take long for the union and a former Enron executive to make a play to screw the deal (see Former Enron Exec Makes “Unethical” Play to Derail PGW Deal). City Council has had three months to review the deal put together by Nutter, but now they’re heading out of town on summer vacation and not coming back until September. Will UIL stick around that long?…
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Chautauqua County | Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Taxation

Western NY Power Plant Approval to Convert from Coal to Natgas
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

Last December His Lordship, the man-child Andrew Cuomo, slogged through the nasty snow in western New York to grant a wish to some of his subjects. He told Dunkirk that they have his permission to convert a coal-burning electric generating plant to burn natural gas (see Dunkirk, NY Electric Plant Saved – Converting from Coal to NatGas). It may not sound like a big deal, but that plant was a whisker away from closing–and if it did, it would have gutted the region’s budget. The power plant contributes 42% of the revenue the City of Dunkirk collects in taxes, and 30% of the budget for the local school district. How did Dunkirk repay NRG Energy for keeping the plant open? By shoving a big stick in their eye with a vote to ban fracking (see Dunkirk, NY City Council Bites Off the NatGas Hand that Feeds It). How’s that for gratitude?! Last week the state Public Service Commission announced their final approval on NRG’s $140 million plan to convert the coal-burning plant to natgas…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Regulation

150 Members of Congress Sign Anti-Dumping Letter to Commerce Sec.
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

MDN has chronicled the recent story of other countries “dumping” steel pipes in the U.S., selling them at below what it costs to manufacture them in order to corner the market and drive U.S. manufacturers out of business (see “Dumping” Leads to 177 Jobs Lost at PA Marcellus Pipeline Plant). In an effort to keep up the pressure, 150 members of Congress, from both major parties, have signed a letter by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) to the Dept. of Commerce urging them to make a full and complete investigation of the dumping practices by South Korea and other countries…
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Dominion Exploration | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Muchas Gasias: Beaver Run Reservoir Hires Auditor for Royalties
June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

Waaaaay back in March 2009, when MDN was still in it’s blog infancy, we told you that Westmoreland County, PA supervisors had voted to lease land at the Beaver Run Reservoir to Dominion to drill five Marcellus Shale wells (see Westmoreland County, PA Supervisors Vote to Approve Drilling on County Land). The reservoir provides drinking water to some 60,000+ customers in five southwestern PA counties. What! Marcellus wells next to–even under–a fresh water reservoir? Say it ain’t so!! But it is, and it’s worked out so well (with NO water contamination issues), that over the years those initial five wells have sprouted to become 37 wells with more on the way. The wells at Beaver Run Reservoir are raising so much money for the county they’ve hired a “drilling auditor” to keep track of royalty revenues, which this year will exceed $6 million…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

New Duke Study Shows Shale Drilling Benefits Municipalities
June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

In the past, researchers at North Carolina’s Duke University have published some really sloppy research when it comes to shale drilling (see What’s Missing in Latest Duke “Radioactive” Study? Real Science). Then at other times, it seems as if a different set of profs and students would turn around and do some real research (see Duke/Kent State Publish New Research on Marcellus Wastewater). We always felt like Duke picked on the Marcellus as a way to score more grant money. So when we saw a new Duke study–this one on the economic benefits or lack thereof for municipalities–we were skeptical. However, the new study, titled “Shale Public Finance: Local government revenues and costs associated with oil and gas development” (full copy embedded below) seems to indicate all in all, shale drilling is a benefit to local municipalities…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

OH Schools Save $60M, PA Schools Save $45.5M Last Year from Shale
June 9, 2014June 9, 2014

The American Petroleum Institute released a new study at the end of May titled, “The Unconventional Energy Revolution: Estimated Energy Savings for Public School Districts and State and Local Governments” (full copy embedded below). The study shows school districts and government offices have saved a boatload of money thanks to the ongoing shale revolution. BIG money. To further drive the point home and make it understandable, the API has released a number of press releases breaking down the numbers state by state. For example, the study says schools in Ohio saved $60 million on their utility bills last year thanks to shale, and Pennsylvania schools saved $45.5 million on utility bills last year thanks to shale…
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