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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

MSC’s Dave Spigelmyer Says Rough Few Years Ahead for Marcellus
January 29, 2016January 29, 2016

David Spigelmyer, who once headed up Chesapeake Energy’s efforts in the Marcellus Shale region, is and has been head of the Marcellus Shale Coalition for the past couple of years. Great guy. Smart guy. Dave published an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in today’s issue. It’s titled, “Shale hits a rough patch: But natural gas remains a boon to Pennsylvania.” The sobering news, according to Dave, is that the price northeast drillers (drillers everywhere) are getting for their gas will remain low in 2016 and 2017 “and perhaps longer.” Businesses are “in survival mode” and and the slowdown in drilling is being felt by “tens of thousands of men and women” who work for this marvelous industry. The statistics, according to Dave, are “numbing.” Sobering words. But we have to face the reality and not look away and pretend otherwise. But, according to Dave, there is hope and we will get through it. Here’s a portion of his no-rose-colored-glasses op-ed…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Corbett Official Destroys Hanger’s Claims of Low Marcellus Jobs
January 29, 2016January 29, 2016

Earlier this week MDN brought you the reckless and baseless allegations by John Hanger that former PA Gov. Tom Corbett had “cooked the books” when it came to how many jobs the Marcellus industry has created (see John Hanger Says Gov. Corbett “Cooked the Books” re Marcellus Jobs). Perhaps it’s totally unrelated, but we’d like to point out that Hanger, when he ran for governor in the primary, campaigned on a platform of legalizing marijuana in the Keystone State (see Pass One Last Joint for John Hanger). Anywho… Dennis Roddy used to work for Corbett as a speech writer. Roddy knows the jobs issue very well and was personally involved with the Corbett administration’s efforts to accurately account for the economic benefits the Marcellus industry was (and is) creating in the state. Roddy recently published a rebuttal to Hanger that completely destroys Hanger’s claims of inflated jobs figures…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | M&A | Shell

Shell Shareholders Vote in Favor of BG Buyout/Merger
January 28, 2016January 28, 2016

Shareholders in Shell just voted to cut 10,000 jobs. Well, not exactly. Shell’s shareholders voted yesterday to approve Shell’s plan to buy BG Group in a $69.7 billion megamerger. As we explained in April 2015 when the deal was first announced, this is a deal about LNG (see LNG Love Story: Shell Makes Play to Buy BG in $69.7B Megamerger). Why the snarky remark about voting to cut 10,000 jobs? Because last week that’s what Shell said they would do once the merger is approved. They plan to ax 10,000 jobs in Shell and at BG (see Shell to Cut 10,000 Jobs After Buying BG; Exiting Shale Drilling). One down, one to go. BG shareholders vote on the merger today. If they vote “yes” as is expected, the merger will be complete on Feb. 15. Expect the pink slips to appear in the mailbox starting Feb. 16. Happy Valentine’s Day…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

John Hanger Says Gov. Corbett “Cooked the Books” re Marcellus Jobs
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

What is it about Democrats that they blame current problems on the last Republican administration. They NEVER blame themselves or their own policies. Ever notice that? Some national Dems still blame George W. Bush for today’s bad economy–even though Obama has owned this economy for seven years now. John Hanger, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection and a former Democrat candidate for governor in PA (someone who wants to legalize pot smoking in PA) blames the Corbett administration for a lack of Marcellus jobs. According to Hanger, currently PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s Policy Secretary, in speaking about the number of rapidly-dwindling drilling-related jobs in the state: “Governor Corbett’s office cooked the books. Everyone knows Corbett was in bed with the Marcellus Shale industry.” Right. John Hanger is perhaps the biggest partisan hack in the Wolf administration, after Wolf himself…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Southwestern Energy Cuts Workforce 44%, 200 Marcellus Jobs Gone
January 22, 2016January 22, 2016

We have some very sad news to share today. Yesterday Southwestern Energy Company, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica and the third largest independent natural gas driller in the U.S., announced it will lay off 1,100 people and pause its drilling program. That 1,100 is out of 2,500 employees–or 44% of the company. It was just a few weeks ago that Southwestern got a new CEO, Bill Way (see Southwestern Energy Gets New CEO – What’s Ahead for 2016?). We mused at the time: “When there’s a change in leadership, it has the potential to impact company strategy. So we’re always interested when changes of this type come along. The question now is, what’s ahead for 2016 with Bill Way at the helm?” Indeed. We can see what kind of changes Mr. Way is bringing. In October 2014 Southwestern announced a deal to buy 413,000 Marcellus/Utica acres from Chesapeake Energy, most of it in West Virginia (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Then in December 2014, Southwestern bought 46,700 net acres of leases in northeastern PA from WPX for $300 million (see First Shoe Drops: WPX Sells 1/2 Marcellus Assets to Southwestern). Southwestern holds about 755,000 acres total in the Marcellus/Utica region. When everyone else was slowing down, Southwestern was doubling down on their drilling program (see Southwestern’s Contrarian Plan: Double Down on Drilling in the Marcellus). It seems that the wind has finally gone out of Southwestern’s sails. The company did not post an official press release on their website, so we’ve pieced together coverage from a number of sources to try and give you a complete picture of what they said yesterday…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | M&A | Shell

Shell to Cut 10,000 Jobs After Buying BG; Exiting Shale Drilling
January 20, 2016January 20, 2016

In April 2015 MDN brought you the announcement that Shell was buying BG Group (the former British Gas) in a megamerger worth $69.7 billion (see LNG Love Story: Shell Makes Play to Buy BG in $69.7B Megamerger). As we alluded in the title of that post, the deal is all about LNG–liquefied natural gas. The merger will make Shell THE dominant player in LNG worldwide. The process to obtain regulatory approval in multiple countries has been long and arduous. Later this month, on Jan. 28, BG shareholders will cast a final vote on the plan. In an update issued this morning by Shell, the company says they expect to complete the BG transaction in the next few weeks, and after they do, there will be a total of 10,000 layoffs between the two companies. Don’t you just love mergers? Ax and hack away. Toss a few thousand jobs here and a few thousand jobs there. We know, times a tough. Companies must cut in order to stay in business. We just want to remind you that behind these abstract numbers are 10,000 real people with real families that depend on them. Shell also said they’re hightailing it out of shale…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

API 2016 State of American Energy Report
January 8, 2016January 8, 2016

Earlier this week the American Petroleum Institute (API) released its annual report, the State of American Energy (full copy below). Several themes are prominent in the report: shale energy’s creation of jobs, the economic growth we’ve experienced due to shale energy, and the fact we are now more secure than we’ve been in generations with respect to energy. We’re far less dependent on foreign oil than we were just a few years ago. That’s great news!…
Read More “API 2016 State of American Energy Report”
Energy Companies | EnerVest | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | M&A | Range Resources Corp | Statewide VA | Virginia

Range Res. Completes Sale of VA Assets to EnerVest, 55 Lose Jobs
January 4, 2016January 4, 2016

In November MDN reported that Range Resources would sell 3,500 operated wells and approximately 460,000 net acres in the Nora/Haysi combined fields located in southwestern Virginia for $876 million to an unnamed buyer (see Range Sells Coal Bed Methane Wells in VA, Focusing on Marcellus). The stated reason for the sale is to pay down debt and use the money for more Marcellus drilling. The deal is done and dusted. The final price turned out to be $865 million, $11 million less than announced. Although Range has remained tight-lipped about who the buyer was, EnerVest admitted they are the buyer. At the time Range first announced the impending sale, they issued a WARN notice that up to 158 people would lose their jobs when the sale was completed (see 158 Range Resources Employees in SW VA May Lose Jobs by Dec 30). The sale was completed on Dec. 30, but fortunately not all 158 jobs were axed. “Only” 55 jobs were axed while 103 people were extended offers to work for EnerVest. Of course the 55 people who lost their jobs had a sucky Christmas…
Read More “Range Res. Completes Sale of VA Assets to EnerVest, 55 Lose Jobs”
Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania

Marcellus Christmas Miracle – PA Immigrants Find Jobs, Open Arms
December 28, 2015December 28, 2015

Here’s a story to warm your heart during the Christmas holiday season. It did ours. It is the story of real, live foreigners–from the island nation of Fiji–who came to America to make a better life for themselves. They didn’t arrive looking for welfare handouts. They didn’t arrive by illegally sneaking across our borders. They arrived like so many throughout our history–simply asking for an opportunity to work and create the life of their dreams. Those kinds of folks are Americans–in heart and spirit–in our book. We welcome them with open arms. Some 150 Fijians arrived three years ago in California and decided to seek their dream life in western Pennsylvania, working in the Marcellus industry…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Utica Shale

Turns Out “Foreigners” Working in OH are a Good Thing After All
December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

For years MDN has poked fun at RINO Ohio Gov. John Kasich for his jingoistic talk about not wanting “foreigners” in his state working at Utica drilling sites (see this story from three years ago – OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers). Don’t tell Kasich, because he hates hearing this, but some are now saying that because Ohio has been employing “foreigners” from exotic places like Texas and Louisiana to work at Utica drilling sites, it has actually turned out to benefit the state. Why? Because in this downturn Ohio businesses are not as adversely affected. If all of those people now laid off had been Ohioans, the Ohio economy would have taken a much harder hit than it has. That’s one of the points in a Cleveland Plain Dealer article. Another point in the article is that because the Ohio Utica is much smaller and was just ramping up as the current price crash hit, when prices recover (and they will recover, eventually), Ohio will take off much faster than the big, old, decrepit Marcellus in Pennsylvania…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Here’s How Drilling Slowdown Affects the Marcellus Supply Chain
December 14, 2015December 14, 2015

Yes, the slowdown in drilling IS having effect–everywhere, including the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale. Supply chain companies–those companies not directly involved with drilling but supply goods and services to other companies that are directly involved–are feeling the effects. From hotels and restaurants to a men’s clothing store, the slowdown is having an effect. But it’s not all bad news…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Federal EPA’s New Ozone Standard: Air Not Cleaner, PA Jobs Killer
December 10, 2015December 10, 2015

In the name of protecting us, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues rogue actions in regulating the oil and gas industry–against the express dictates of the U.S. Constitution. The latest violation from the EPA is a new regulation lowering ozone levels. As David Williams from the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and a Pennsylvania native explains below, the “simple” act of lowering the ozone standard from 75 parts per BILLION to 70 ppb won’t do much at all to actually clean the air, but will directly result is lost jobs in Pennsylvania…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Marshall County | Supply Chain | West Virginia

New Pipeline Threading/Inspection Facility Opening Near Wheeling
December 9, 2015December 9, 2015

Yes, new businesses do start up to serve the Marcellus/Utica industry–even in this down cycle. And they’re successful. The latest example comes from the Wheeling, WV area where a new state-of-the-art facility is starting up in Benwood to “inspect and place threading on pipe used to carry natural gas.” JLE Industries, based in Dunbar, PA, is investing $6 million to convert the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel facility into a facility opening in January that will, when fully operational, employ 45 people…
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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain

Cinci Law Firm Opens New Office/Energy Practice in Pittsburgh
December 4, 2015December 4, 2015

Just last week we told you it’s getting so bad out there because of the low price of oil and gas, that even some law firms are closing down. We told you that Burleson LLP, headquartered in Houston but with a sizable office they opened in Pittsburgh six years ago, is shutting down all of their offices, including Pittsburgh (see Prominent Energy Law Firm Closing Down – Lack of Business). That puts 31 Burleson employees (including 26 lawyers) in the unemployment line. But just like that, another law firm, this one from Cincinnati, has just announced they are OPENING a new office in Pittsburgh. And guess what? They’ve hired 10 of those Burleson lawyers for their new Pittsburgh office…
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Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Shell

Shell Closing Pittsburgh Office, Moving 180 People to Houston, TX
December 2, 2015December 2, 2015

Shell is closing its Pittsburgh-area office and moving “most of” the 180 workers who worked there to its U.S. HQ in Houston, Texas–so says a Shell spokesperson. A few workers may remain and redeploy to various field offices that Shell intends to keep open–including a field office in Tioga County, PA where they have an active drilling program. Shell drilled just eight wells in PA this year, compared to 17 last year and 31 the year before that. Notice a pattern? Perhaps most importantly Shell stresses the office closure has nothing to do with the work on a proposed ethane cracker plant in Beaver County…
Read More “Shell Closing Pittsburgh Office, Moving 180 People to Houston, TX”
Economic Impact | Guernsey County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Supply Chain

Guernsey County, OH a Microcosm for Shale Economics in Northeast
November 30, 2015November 30, 2015

Have we entered the oil and gas apocalypse? If you’re one of some 230,000 oilfield workers out of a job in the past year, you may think so (who can blame them?). The reality is, however, that although rig counts are down (way down), permits issued are down, and in general drilling of new wells is down–drilling IS still happening. Businesses in the supply chain–those servicing the upstream and midstream sectors–are still making money. Not as much money, but we haven’t entered the apocalypse–not yet anyway. Example: Cambridge (Guernsey County), Ohio, where drilling happens less these days–but drilling still happens and local businesses like restaurants make more money than they did prior to the Marcellus/Utica fracking miracle…
Read More “Guernsey County, OH a Microcosm for Shale Economics in Northeast”