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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Regulation

Obama’s Faint Praise of Natgas in State of Union, Inhofe’s Rebuttal
January 21, 2015January 21, 2015

Last night was the second-to-last State of the Union speech to be given by our Dear Leader, Barack Hussein Obama (hallelujah!). While Obama gave credit to the oil and gas industry for generating most of the jobs created during his pathetic presidency, he also said he wants to regulate it more. Typical. He persists in calling carbon, the stuff you breathe out with every breath, “pollution” and he’s hellbent on regulating it–even though at the same time he admits we’re producing less of it! Go figure. Below we have the section of Obama’s speech where he talks about energy, including shale gas, along with the response from Sen. Jim Inhofe, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. We love Inhofe–he doesn’t suffer fools well and he minces no words about Obama’s out-of-control regulatory mandates. We like Inhofe’s take: Americans are resilient. Together we can survive the Obama Administration…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Schlumberger

Schlumberger Firing 9,000 to Reduce Head Count, “Low Oil Prices”
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

Wow…is about all we can say. Yesterday Schlumberger (pronounced Shlum-Bur-Zhay), the world’s (and the U.S.’s) largest oilfield services company, issued its fourth quarter 2014 and full-year 2014 operating results. Although revenues in 4Q14 rose 6.2 percent to $12.6 billion, earnings, what they pay investors, decreased by 82%–to $302 million for the quarter, largely because of “one-time charges.” The radical drop in oil prices has deeply affected Schlumberger. However, it wasn’t their financial results but this short mention in yesterday’s update that caught everyone’s attention: “In response to lower commodity pricing and anticipated lower exploration and production spending in 2015, Schlumberger decided to reduce its overall headcount to better align with anticipated activity levels for 2015. Schlumberger recorded a $296 million charge associated with a headcount reduction of approximately 9,000.” Ouch. It makes Doug “the ax” Lawler over at Chesapeake look like a junior achiever by comparison. Schlumberger employs about 120,000 worldwide, so 9,000 represents 7.5% of their workforce. Gone…
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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Trumbull County

Lordstown Gas-Powered Electric Plant Moves Up Construction Timeline
January 15, 2015January 15, 2015

In April 2014, MDN told you about a proposal from Clean Energy Future to build an $800 million electric generation plant in Lordstown (Trumbull County), OH. The plant will be fired by natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus (see Clean Energy Plans NatGas Electric Generation Plant in Lordstown). At that time, the plan was to begin construction in December 2015 and complete the plant by the end of 2018. There was initial opposition to the plant because the site on Salt Springs Road would need to be re-zoned from residential to industrial. That didn’t go down well with the neighbors. Clean Energy Future has changed the plan to a different location. Those who once opposed the plant now embrace it and want it as a jobs-creator for the area. This is a happy story of industry and residents working together for a positive solution. It illustrates what happens when adults behave like adults…
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Allegheny County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

Williams Spending $100 million Per Month in the Marcellus/Utica
January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

There’s an excellent regional television program in Pittsburgh called “Our Region’s Business” hosted by veteran reporter Bill Flannigan. On December 7, Jim Scheel, Senior Vice President for Northeast G&P for Williams, appeared in a segment on the program (video embedded below). Scheel shared some eye-popping statistics about the Marcellus/Utica, and about Williams and their commitment to the region. Scheel said, among many things in the short 7-minute segment, that in 2014 Williams spent an astonishing $100 million per month on pipeline projects in the northeast region. They currently employ 750 people in the northeast and over the next year or so expect to add another 160 people to the payroll. What an exciting, dynamic company! Here’s a few more stats Scheel mentioned…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Antero Resources Lays Off 250 Landmen, Blames Low Oil Prices
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Antero Resources said on Monday it will lay off more than 250 contract land brokers operating in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The layoffs will not affect any Antero employees–only contract workers (landmen and others) who work to get leases signed, sealed and delivered for future drilling. Antero blames the low price of oil, which causes the price they get for their Marcellus/Utica natural gas liquids to be low, which means they’ll stick to drilling on the half million plus acres they already have under lease…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lorain County | Ohio

US Steel Lays off 642 in OH & 142 in TX, Blames Low Oil Prices
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

A second mass layoff ostensibly due to low oil prices is affecting Ohio and Texas. U.S. Steel will lay off more than 600 workers at its plant in Lorain, OH and more than 140 in their Houston, TX plant. Both plants make steel pipes used in shale drilling in the northeast and beyond. Shale drilling is slowing down, and now too are the companies that supply them…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Remarkable Change in PA Jobs Since Pro-Gas Corbett Lost Gov Race
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Funny how prior to the election on Nov. 4 you couldn’t read, watch or listen to a mainstream media report about employment in Pennsylvania without hearing how the job market under the Satantic Gov. Tom Corbett (Republican) sucked big-time. Ole Tom had sold his soul to Big Gas, ya see, with the promise of jobs jobs jobs. And guess what? No jobs. And if there were more jobs–they all went to foreigners–people from exotic places like Texas and Oklahoma and Louisiana. We can’t count how many such (false) stories we saw. After Nov. 4? Voilà. Something changed. Even though the pure-as-the-wind-driven-snow Angelic Gov.-elect Tom Wolf (Democrat) hasn’t yet taken office–somehow, magically, unemployment is at historic lows and there’s jobs popping up everywhere in the Keystone State. Why? The Marcellus Shale, of course…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Ethane | Housing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Odebrecht | Ohio | Processing Plants | Washington County (OH) | West Virginia | Wood County

WV/OH Officials Going on Field Trip to Prepare for Cracker Plant
December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

The Odebrecht ethane cracker plant planned for the Parkersburg, WV area continues to walk/smell/act/behave like it’s the real deal. The latest evidence: Odebrecht has told area officials around Parkersburg, you need to be prepared for when the 100% official announcement comes, cause at that point, things will happen fast. So area officials are boning up now to be prepared for an influx of people and jobs–both a good thing, and a challenge. Area officials from Wood County, WV and neighboring Washington County, OH will head to the bitter-cold north country–Minot, North Dakota–in January (!) to see how that community has dealt with a rapidly expanding population and influx of new jobs due to the Bakken Shale…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Unemployment “Plummets” in SWPA, Thanks to the Marcellus
December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

All we heard about, endlessly, from mainstream media in Pennsylvania during the 2014 PA campaign for governor is how Corbett (Satan himself) can’t do anything right, and even his so-called best buddies in the energy industry couldn’t cover up the fact that Pennsylvania is losing jobs like crazy. Unemployment in the Keystone State sucks. Where are all those promised shale jobs? Yada yada yada. So went the narrative. But that was then, this is now. Now that the media’s candidate (Tom Wolf) has won, it’s time to start telling the truth again. The truth? In places where there’s active drilling, like southwestern PA, unemployment numbers are way down, at historic lows…
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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

CBO Report: Enormous Positive Impacts of US Shale
December 18, 2014December 18, 2014

While Andrew Cuomo and his buddies were busy banning fracking in New York, the Congressional Budget Office (certainly no bastion of conservatism) issued a report on fracking. The new report, titled “The Economic and Budgetary Effects of Producing Oil and Natural Gas From Shale” (full copy embedded below) says we now get 30% of our oil and 40% of our natural gas from home-grown American shale. The report says without safe, clean, fracked American shale, our natural gas prices would be 70% higher than they are. Do you like those low gasoline prices we’ve seen lately? That’s because of American-produced oil from shale deposits. The enormous amount of supply from right here at home is flooding the market and causing prices to drop like a rock. If Cuomo & co had their way, all fracking across the country would stop tomorrow. Dangerously stupid is about the only thing we can think of to say to the strange attitude being exhibited by New York’s so-called leaders. Here’s a high level overview of the CBO study, followed by a full copy of the study…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

PwC Report: “Shale Effect” has Major Effect on U.S. Manufacturing
December 12, 2014December 12, 2014

A new report released yesterday by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) says not only is the “shale effect” changing the energy picture globally, it’s also boosting U.S. manufacturing by saving money boatloads of money and creating tons of new jobs. The new report titled, “Shale Gas: Still a boon to US manufacturing?” (full copy of the 12-page report below) estimates that the continued shale effect on U.S. manufacturing could bring an annual cost savings of $22.3 billion by 2030, assuming a high natural gas recovery and low price scenario. In terms of job creation, PwC estimates that continued shale gas activity will create 930,000 shale gas driven manufacturing jobs by 2030 and 1.41 million by 2040. Talk about a boom! (Meanwhile, the anti-drilling nuts in NY are bleating about banning fracking with their Not One Well campaign–go figure.) According to PwC’s managing partner in the Pittsburgh office…
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Anadarko | Chesapeake Energy | Citrus | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

DOL Action: Several Marcellus Drillers Pay $4.5M in Back Wages
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

In a multi-year so-called “investigation” that cost more money that was “recovered,” the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) announced yesterday they’ve forced Chesapeake Energy, Citrus Energy and Anadarko Petroleum (and perhaps others) to pay $4.5 million in back wages to some 5,300 oil and gas workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The apparent “violation” is that these workers, working for subcontractors (not directly for the energy companies themselves), in some cases worked more than 40 hours in a given week but didn’t get time-and-a-half wages. We’re certainly not against playing by the rules, but it sure seems like utter folly to hype this as some sort of victory by Obama’s Labor Department–to work for more than two years and come up with a thimble-full of violations and carp and complain about how fractured the energy industry is–the same industry that, because of all those many subcontractors, has generated several hundred thousands new jobs in PA & WV that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Here’s the press release by the DOL…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Litigation | Supply Chain

Thorny Issues in Using Independent Contractors in Shale Drilling
December 5, 2014December 5, 2014

Most exploration & production (E&P) companies–the ones who risk the money to have oil and gas wells drilled–don’t actually DO the drilling themselves. They hire it done by using oilfield services companies like Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. In addition, they hire just about everyone done–from security at well pads to earth moving to water trucking to you name it. The shale drilling industry, particularly in the Marcellus and Utica, is a bonanza for local businesses or “independent contractors” that plug in to the industry supply chain. However, there are some negatives for E&Ps when it comes to using independent contractors rather than having employees on the payroll do the work. The sharp lawyers at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease say lawsuits alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act are now more common than employment discrimination cases for oil and gas companies. They’ve just issued an alert/advisory on the pros and cons of using independent contractors in the oil and gas industry…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Taxation

Property Tax Revenue/Economic Impact from ET Rover Pipeline in OH
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Seems like “all of a sudden” large pipeline projects planned for the northeast have begun talking about how much property taxes (and economic impacts) their projects will pay out. Yesterday it was the 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline project from Dominion (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline: $25M/Yr in Prop. Tax, $70M/Yr Econ Impact). Today? Energy Transfer Partners’ Rover pipeline, a 620-mile pipeline that will carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas west, through Ohio into Michigan and on to Ontario, Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). How much of an economic impact and how much in property tax will it pay out? We have some numbers…
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Dominion Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Atlantic Coast Pipeline: $25M/Yr in Prop. Tax, $70M/Yr Econ Impact
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

The arguments by anti-drillers against pipeline projects, like Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline which is slated to run from West Virginia to North Carolina, usually amount to this: “There’s no long-term benefit to the communities through which the pipeline runs. We have to ‘put up’ with the darned thing, but we see no benefit from it.” Benefit meaning money–other than a one-time fee paid to landowners through whose land it runs. Dominion is attempting to counter those criticisms by pointing out that once the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is fully operational, it will be paying in excess of $25 million per year to counties and local municipalities in property taxes (see the list below). During construction, the pipeline will generate nearly half a billion dollars per year in economic impact in WV, VA and NC. Once the construction phase is over, through permanent jobs created and associated ongoing operating costs for the pipeline, Dominion projects the pipeline will spur nearly $70 million per year of ongoing economic activity (see full report below)…
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American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Aubrey McClendon Raises Another $500M for More Leases
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Low oil prices don’t seem to be affecting Aubrey McClendon’s ability to raise cash. He’s just landed another half a billion dollars, which he plans to use to lease more land in the Utica, Marcellus and two other shale plays. McClendon and his American Energy Partners is also looking for new employees. Hey Chesapeake workers–tired of answering to Carl Icahn and seeing your friends axed from the payroll (wondering if you’re next)? Send your resume to Aubrey! Here’s the AEP announcement from yesterday…
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