Repsol Picks Up Abarta’s Non-Op Working Interest in PA Marcellus
Abarta Energy (aka Abarta Oil & Gas Co.) was a privately-owned company based in Pittsburgh with assets including wells and pipeline systems located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky. In November 2021, Abarta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reporting liabilities of $25.4 million and assets of $4.2 million (see M-U Driller Abarta Energy Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy). Abarta said it wanted to liquidate/sell all of its remaining oil and gas assets. Some of those assets included a non-operated working interest with Repsol in the northeastern Pennsylvania Marcellus. It appears Repsol bought out Abarta’s interest in the joint venture the two companies had. The transaction happened before June 30, 2022.
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An interesting episode on Friday illustrates the power of social media and fake news. The NYMEX natural gas futures price for the “front month” December contract plunged as much as 7.4% on Friday morning after someone identifying themselves as a commodities trader posted on Twitter that “cracked pipes” were discovered at the Freeport LNG terminal, potentially delaying the company’s plans to restart exports. Interest in the tweet took off after being shared by another Twitter user that is widely followed by gas traders and analysts.
Environmentalist wackos from around the world are meeting in Egypt for the UN’s 2022 Climate Change Conference, called COP 27. Egyptian authorities have confirmed that some 400 private jets have landed (so far) for the event. So much for leading by example, eh? They’re so very concerned about surplus CO2 in the atmosphere, but they can’t be bothered to actually practice what they preach. Anywho…Some of the jet setters to arrive and talk at COP27 was a group of Congressional Republicans, there to promote the use of fossil fuels! Yes, Daniel went into the lion’s den of crazy environmentalist wackos.
This is rare. The CEO of Williams (Alan Armstrong), one of the largest pipeline (midstream) companies in the U.S. and on the planet, sent an open letter (an official filing) to the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Richard “Dick” Glick, using pretty abrupt language to tell Glick FERC needs to approve the Regional Energy Access expansion project by November 30th or the project WILL be delayed by a full year. The letter has the look and feel of an ultimatum.
EQT Corporation, the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S, has cut a deal to send 15 petajoules (PJ) of RSG (responsibly sourced gas) from the Marcellus/Utica to Canada’s largest natural gas distribution company, Enbridge Gas, over the next 12 months. This is a major deal. Running the numbers, 15 petajoules works out to be roughly 14 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of Marcellus/Utica gas.
Earlier this year, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth’s attempt to block a proposed frack wastewater treatment plant in Dimock (hours away from her own district) has completely bombed out. Muth tried to challenge and block a permit for the plant, an effort which was mostly rejected in court back in June (see 
A press release issued yesterday announced the partnership between an Appalachian driller we aren’t familiar with, Oil Well Shares (OWS), and Canada-based OYA Renewables to form a joint venture called Chrysalis Energy. The new company will use OWS’s 1.5 million leased acres across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia to build solar farms, wind farms, and “energy storage infrastructure projects.” We have some thoughts about this partnership and how it may impact landowners.
MDN editor Jim Willis lives in the Binghamton, NY, area. While traveling local highways and local town roadways, he often sees XNG tractor-trailers passing through the area (like the one pictured at left). XNG (Xpress Natural Gas) is a “virtual pipeline” company, compressing and hauling CNG (compressed natural gas) to customers in the northeastern United States. The company has a major depot in Montrose, PA, not far from MDN HQ, compressing and then transporting Marcellus gas to customers that don’t have the benefit of using pipelined gas. XNG has just ordered more CNG trailers.
In our opinion, Pennsylvania voters made a major mistake in electing Attorney General Josh Shaprio as their next governor (see 
EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who President Joe Biden picked to lead the agency in early 2021, has been every bit the radical we feared he would be. An investigation by Fox News Digital found Regan has held secret meetings with the leaders of Big Green groups–including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and League of Conservation Voters (LCV)–groups that actively seek to destroy the U.S. fossil fuel industry and are funded with foreign “dark money.” If this were a different administration and Donald Trump’s EPA was found to be having secret meetings anti-renewable energy organizations, it would be plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the land–for weeks. But Regan meeting with and colluding with these foreign-backed groups? Not a peep.
EQT has sued its own (former) law firm, Baker Botts, and one of the partners at the firm, for allegedly giving the company bad advice with respect to the Hammerhead Pipeline gathering system owned by Equitrans Midstream (EQT’s former subsidiary). The lawsuit seeks at least $1 million in damages. Baker Botts is based in Texas, so the lawsuit was filed in the 61st District Court in Harris County, TX. Hammerhead is a $555 million, approximately 190-mile gathering system created by Equitrans to gather EQT’s production in southwest PA and haul it (64 miles) to Mobley, WV, where it will connect with the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and EQT’s Ohio Valley Connector pipeline (see 
The Catholic nuns of Lancaster County’s Adorers of the Blood of Christ are still, all these years later, trying to shake down Williams for more money because of a pipeline that runs underneath a cornfield owned by the sisters (hence our nickname for them). Using lawyers from Big Green groups, the nuns argued their “religious beliefs” were offended by the pipeline because it flows a nasty, filthy fossil fuel that causes global warming. We’ve lost track of how many lawsuits the sisters have filed, using OPM (other people’s money). The most recent lawsuit, filed in the Philadelphia-based U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, was just shot down by the court.