Industrywide Issues

Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Sand/Proppant | West Virginia | Wetzel County

EQT Call: Fracking 1st Utica Well in June; Changing Proppant
April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

Last week MDN brought you EQT’s report on their first quarter earnings and performance (see EQT 1Q15: Production Volume Up 37%, but Price Received Down 33%). As is often the case with publicly traded companies, EQT’s top management hopped on an analyst phone call to discuss the results. And as sometimes happens, extra details came out on the call. During last Friday’s call, EQT management revealed in prepared comments and in a series of questions and answers that: (1) the company will begin fracking its first Utica well (in Greene County, PA) in early June; (2) the second Utica well EQT plans to drill will be in Wetzel County, WV; and (3) the company is considering a change to ceramic proppant instead of using sand–a move that will cost them an average of $2.5 million more per well than what they pay now using sand…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Onondaga County | Research

Syracuse Prof Targeted in Effort to Discredit Drilling Research
April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

How’s this for the pot calling the kettle black: A Syracuse anti-drilling attorney says a Syracuse University professor who co-authored a research report published in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology is ethically challenged because the prof didn’t declare a “financial interest” with Chesapeake Energy. Chesapeake is the company providing years and years of data used as the basis for the study (the only available data of its kind). With advance apologies to our many lawyer subscribers…An attorney accusing a professor of being ethically challenged? If that doesn’t beat all! We highlighted the important Syracuse research study in March (see Syracuse U Study: Fracking Doesn’t Cause Methane in PA Water Wells). The lead author is Syracuse University professor Donald Siegel. Dr. Siegel’s good work comes to the “wrong” conclusion (for anti-drillers), so he instantly became a target. Apparently Siegel “has a contract” with Chesapeake and he makes a little extra coin on the side doing work for private companies like Chesapeake (a common practice among professors). Because Siegel didn’t declare the small fees paid to him by Chesapeake as a conflict of interest when filing his research report, he’s now being targeted for reputation assassination by an anti-drilling squad…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Congressmen Send Letter to Army Corps Over Pipeline Delays
April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

A majority of the Republican Congressman representing the great state of Pennsylvania sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers earlier this month encouraging the Corps to get off it’s collective rear-end and begin authorizing midstream/pipeline projects in the Keystone State. Nine of the 13 Republican Congressman from PA, and one of its senators (Republican Pat Toomey) sent a letter on April 8 to Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Jo-Ellen Darcy, to complain that the Baltimore District of the Army Corps is dragging its feet (our words) and their actions are putting PA at a competitive disadvantage compared with other states. One of the problems seems to be overreach by the Corps–in redefining projects and project scope. Here’s the letter that no PA partisan Democrat would sign (shame on them)…
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CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

IHS CERAWeek Prediction: Marcellus will Produce 30 Bcf/d by 2035
April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

A useful update and prediction on how much natural gas will be produced in the Marcellus by the early 2020s and eventually, by 2035 at the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston last week. In addition, another analyst outlined the pipeline/midstream situation in the northeast. You’ll want to read what they had to say about how much gas will be produced in the Marcellus, and where it will get used/sold…
Read More “IHS CERAWeek Prediction: Marcellus will Produce 30 Bcf/d by 2035”
CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

Navigant: US Natgas Output Will Rise to 110 Bcf/d by 2035
April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

The energy practice for global consulting firm Navigant recently published a new report titled “North American Natural Gas Market Outlook, Year-End 2014” that examines the state of the natural gas industry and provides forecasts for supply and demand through 2035. Among the highlights: Navigant says U.S. natural gas supply will increase from 72 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2015 to nearly 110 Bcf/d by 2035. Navigant says the big users of all that extra production will be LNG export facilities and electric generating plants that will be built new or converted from burning coal…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

Cornell Prof Admits He’s Anti-Drilling Advocate, Not Impartial
April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

Tony Ingraffea

When someone says “a professor of hydraulic fracturing from Cornell University” is bad mouthing shale drilling, it certainly grabs your attention. Cornell is a storied institution and professors at Cornell face tough competition to teach there. We’ve written plenty about Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, the Cornell prof with a bachelors degree in aerospace engineering from Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder–and an “expert” in hydraulic fracturing. Ingraffea has a nice sideline business of bashing fracking whenever and wherever he can–and when he does so, it is with the full reputation and backing of Cornell University behind him. We still remember the first time we heard Ingraffea in person (see Cornell Hydraulic Fracturing Expert Headlines First Meeting of New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) in Vestal, NY). Ingraffea spoke about everything at that meeting–except the science of fracking. And therein is the bait and switch that Ingraffea engages in. He trades on his reputation as a geologist and scientist, and on the reputation of Cornell–yet he never attacks the actual science of fracking. To do so would be intellectual and professional suicide. It is the other, tertiary issues Ingraffea attacks–like “boom and bust” cycles, and truck traffic, and theoretical damage to water aquifers. Recently Tony finally admitted, on the record, that he’s not an impartial scientist at all when it comes to fracking. Tony himself said he’s an advocate and that he engages in advocacy–not science…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Pipelines | Regulation | West Virginia | Williams

Williams Locates WV Condensate Pipeline Leak, Remediation Begins
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

Last Friday Williams finally found the break/leak in a 4-inch condensate pipeline that ruptured nearly two weeks ago (see 2 Williams Pipelines Rupture in Marshall County After Heavy Rains). That’s the good news. The bad news is that testing done of a nearby unnamed stream (that empties into Little Grave Creek) four days after the rupture occurred contained evidence of some nasty chemicals: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. Fortunately none of those chemicals have turned up in Little Grave Creek. Williams is now cleaning up and telling the neighbors that as they dig and remove soil from the area of the rupture, the neighbors may smell some foul odors. The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they “don’t believe” nearby residents are in any danger…
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Beck Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Summit County

Munroe Falls, OH Repeals “Home Rule” O&G Regulations
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

In March 2011 Beck Energy drove a bulldozer onto private property in Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH with the intent of building a road to a drill pad where Beck had proper permits and permission from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to drill a well. Munroe Falls slapped Beck with a stop work order and said, in essence, “Uh uh uh, you need to jump through our municipal ‘Mother May I?’ hoops and get our permission for everything you do before you can proceed.” Beck pushed back and sued Munroe Falls and the case was appealed, eventually, all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. In February of this year, the Ohio Supremes ruled that Munroe Falls cannot impose so-called “home rule” laws over top of the ODNR’s rules with respect to oil and gas drilling (see OH Supreme Court Strikes Down Home Rule in Gas Drilling Case). Last week Munroe Falls finally repealed their onerous oil and gas regulations, a fitting end to this years-long story…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dauphin County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Charges Against 2 PA Anti-Drillers Dismissed on Technicality
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

Yesterday MDN told you about two Pennsylvania anti-drilling protesters who, among six others, were arrested in January for disorderly conduct at the inauguration ceremony of Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf. The two appealed their conviction (see Anti Protesters Who Disrupted Wolf Inauguration Appeal Conviction). There was a hearing yesterday in Dauphin County Court and, unfortunately, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office failed to produce witnesses to finger the two as lawbreakers. So the judge (whom we presume is anti-drilling) used that as an excuse to dismiss the charges against the pair of hippies, er, ah, protesters…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Randolph County | Regulation | West Virginia

USFS Approves Survey for Marcellus Pipeline in Mon Natl Forest
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

In January MDN told you that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) was considering a plan to allow surveyors into the Monongahela National Forest (see USFS Seeks Comment on Pipeline Survey in Monongahela Natl Forest). At the time, USFS was seeking public comment on a plan to allow surveyors into the forest to chart a potential route through 17 miles of the Mon National Forest for the Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a 550-mile, $5 billion pipeline that will carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas from West Virginia through Virginia and into to North Carolina. The section of the forest to be surveyed is located in Randolph and Pocahontas counties in WV. Good news! The USFS has decided to allow the survey to go forward…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Michigan | Statewide MI

Michigan Succeeds in Shaking Down Chesapeake for Measly $25M
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

The shakedown is complete. In June 2012 Reuters tried to stir up trouble against Chesapeake Energy by broadcasting “leaked” (Watergate anyone?) emails that somehow magically appeared on the Reuters doorstep that supposedly show Chesapeake trying to collude with Encana Energy to keep the price of Michigan state land oil and gas leases artificially low (see Did Reuters Break the Law with Latest Chesapeake Story?). Eventually Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed charges against Chesapeake, even though the federal government investigated and didn’t find anything worth pursuing. Schuette put his reputation on the line and was hell-bent to ensure he got something/anything out of Chesapeake. Schuette finally has a settlement–for a measly $25 million. It likely cost his department more than that to pursue Chesapeake. But, Schuette’s shakedown for $25M lets him save face, and it lets Chesapeake move on from this sham charge in Michigan…
Read More “Michigan Succeeds in Shaking Down Chesapeake for Measly $25M”
CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Canadian LNG Project Woos Europeans with Promise of Marcellus Gas
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

You may recall MDN has tracked the issue of potential LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports from Canada that would use, in part, Marcellus Shale gas. There are five such possible LNG projects, four of them based in Nova Scotia (see List of LNG Export Projects for Marcellus/Utica Shale Gas). You may also recall the article we brought you in which Moody’s Investors Service said the vast majority of LNG projects, including the ones in Canada, will not get built (see Moody’s: “Vast Majority” of LNG Export Projects Will be Canceled). Don’t tell that to Pieridae Energy Canada, the company with plans to build the Goldboro LNG project in Goldboro Industrial Park in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. The US$8.6 billion (C$10 billion) project is 5-6 years away from beginning operation according to a presentation by Pieridae’s CEO Alfred Sorensen to a delegation of economic counsellors from the European Union in Halifax on Monday. One of the keys to the project giving it a “high probability of success” will be Marcellus gas delivered via the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline, according to Sorensen…
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CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Frackless Nova Scotia Wants to Sell Fracked U.S. Gas to Europe
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

On Monday a delegation of European Union economic counsellors visited Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) to hear, among other things, about potential LNG exports from a plant proposed by Pieridae Energy Canada (see today’s companion story). Pieridae’s CEO Alfred Sorensen told the visitors about multiple sources of natural gas they can use to liquefy and export–chief among them gas from the Marcellus. Also with Sorensen on the dais was Nova Scotia’s energy minister Michel Samson, there to reassure the Europeans that Pieridae Energy’s Goldboro LNG project has the full backing and support of Nova Scotia. Which we find kind of hypocritical. Last November Samson’s liberal government banned fracking in Nova Scotia. So NS is happy to liquefy and sell fracked gas coming from the U.S., but they won’t allow fracking in their own province. We wonder if the Europeans know about Nova Scotia’s rank hypocrisy? Or if it bothers them if indeed they do know it? We also wonder how truly supportive NS is when it comes to these projects since the fickle liberal government has an anti-drilling streak running through it…
Read More “Frackless Nova Scotia Wants to Sell Fracked U.S. Gas to Europe”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Global Warming Meme has Been Around Nearly 100 Years
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

Ever get the feeling of “been there, heard that” when it comes to anti-fossil fuel nutters? Maybe we’re all so dreadfully tired of the same old crapola because we’ve heard it repeatedly–for the past 100 years–as pointed out in a letter to the editor of the Scranton Times-Tribune…
Read More “Global Warming Meme has Been Around Nearly 100 Years”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Artist “Channels” Grandma Moses to Paint Anti-Fracking Pictures
April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

FWIW…There is an upstate New York artist who claims famed (and dead) American folk artist Grandma Moses took over her body and guided her hand to produce–yes–anti-fracking art. You really cannot make this stuff up, it’s so off the charts bizarre. She claims her art shows the effects big oil and gas companies have had on upstate New York–except there have been no effects because there’s been no drilling! But facts never get in the way of good fiction, either on the page or on the canvass. Apparently the anti-fracking artist can’t find any museums in New York to show her Moses-inspired art, so she’s displaying (right now) at a museum in Vermont…
Read More “NY Artist “Channels” Grandma Moses to Paint Anti-Fracking Pictures”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Frack Ban Regs “at Printer”; Is There a Potential Loophole?
April 27, 2015April 27, 2015

New York State’s anti-drilling Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner, Joe Martens, is doing his best to concoct a litigation-proof Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS). The SGEIS is the document that will find too many “troubling” aspects of fracking to allow it in New York. Except there’s potentially a loophole coming in the SGEIS, if press reports can be believed. Fracking WILL be allowed IF it uses under 300,000 gallons of “liquid”–the liquid most likely being water. (A typical well takes 5-8 million gallons of water to frack.) The NY loophole of using up to 300,000 gallons of liquid leads pro-drillers like MDN to muse: Is there an alternative liquid, other than water, that can be used to frack a well economically at under 300K gallons? What if the substance is foam and not liquid–is foam exempt from the 300K gallon cap? Or how about this: Can a driller use 299,999 gallons of water to frack a well and get enough gas out of it to break even and wait until the idiot we have in office now (Gov. Andrew Cuomo) is gone and go back later and re-frack the same well once the 300K gallon restriction is lifted? Hey, it’s fun to speculate. We’re not trying to foster false hope, but we do wonder if there’s a loophole in the SGEIS that can be exploited so landowners and drillers (the good guys) can beat extremist environmentalists like Cuomo, Martens and Yoko Ono (the bad guys)…
Read More “NY Frack Ban Regs “at Printer”; Is There a Potential Loophole?”