Some major news coming from yesterday’s Utica Midstream conference held in North Canton, Ohio. A rep from Marathon Petroleum (which is based in Ohio) told conference attendees his company is contemplating building an underground NGL storage facility in Harrison County, OH–to store ethane, butane and propane.
Read More “Marathon Considers Building NGL Storage Hub in Harrison County, OH”
Next Wednesday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection will hold a public hearing on plans to drill a shale well(s) on the property of U.S. Steel Corporation’s Edgar Thomson Plant in a Pittsburgh suburb. What’s so unusual about the well(s) is that U.S. Steel itself will be “the sole consumer of the natural gas extracted.” That is, U.S. Steel will use the gas to power/feed the steel plant.
Read More “PA DEP Hearing for Shale Well at U.S. Steel Plant Near Pittsburgh”
In 2016 Crestwood Equity Partners formed a joint venture with New York City’s largest utility company, Consolidated Edison Inc., to operate a critical link of pipelines and storage facilities in the heart of the Utica/Marcellus, called Stagecoach Gas Services (see Con Ed & Crestwood Seal the Deal on Marcellus Pipeline/Storage JV). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has launched an investigation into the fees charged by that service, which may now be too high following the Trump tax cuts.
Read More “FERC Launches Investigation into Overcharging by Stagecoach Pipe”
Penn Virginia, an oil and gas driller headquartered in Radnor, PA (near Philadelphia) announced last October it had found someone to buy the company–Denbury Resources (see Penn Virginia Finally Sells Itself, Denbury Buys for $1.7 Billion). As of a few weeks ago both companies filed proxy statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission to announce a final merger vote set for April 17. That’s now off–because some Penn Virginia shareholders got cold feet.
Read More “Denbury/Penn Virginia Merger Aborted – PV Shareholder Resistance”
In February Pennsylvania State Sen. Lisa Baker introduced Senate Bill (SB) 305, which would make a proposed Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) frack ban officially a government “taking” under eminent domain (see PA Bill Requires Landowner Compensation if DRBC Bans Fracking). A similar bill has been introduced in the PA House. Yesterday the House held a committee hearing on House Bill (HB) 827, and our buddy Tom Shepstone was one of the star experts who testified.
Read More “PA House Advances Bill Against DRBC Frack Ban – 1st Vote Next Week”
Two weeks ago the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted a request to Kinder Morgan to “introduce feed gas, back-up fuel, and BOG fuel” to the first of what will be 10 production units at its Elba Island, Georgia LNG export facility (see One Step Closer: FERC OKs Feed Gas to Elba Island LNG). We told you in February that Kinder said it will launch the first of its 10 LNG export mini-trains by the end of March this year (see Kinder Morgan Takes Another Baby Step with Elba Island LNG). Scrap that.
Read More “Kinder Morgan Elba Island LNG Exports Delayed – Again”
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) will hold a public hearing on April 15 to consider draft permits the agency has floated to allow two frack wastewater injection wells (Class II) in Coshocton County to be reclassified as Class I wells, allowing them to accept waste other than frack waste.
Read More “Ohio Hearing re Making Coshocton Class II Injection Wells Class I”
We’re a tad confused, but only a tad. Three weeks ago MDN brought you the news that construction has begun to build the 60-mile Risberg Pipeline from Crawford County, PA into Erie County, PA, and from there into Ashtabula County, OH (see Construction Begins on “Massive” PA to OH Risberg Pipeline). It is a tiny (not “massive”) project, but important nonetheless. Risberg will flow 55 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natgas to northeastern Ohio.
Read More “Wood Wins $34M Contract to Build PA to OH Risberg Pipeline”
Local media in Charles County County, Va. is shocked and surprised at how little opposition there is to a planned new mammoth Marcellus-fired electric generating plant coming to the county. The Chickahominy Power Station, as it’s called, will be a 1,650 megawatt state-of-the-art natural gas-fired power plant (see Huge New Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Coming Near Richmond, VA). A public comment period closed yesterday and by all appearances, this project will indeed receive state approval and will get built–with little opposition.
Read More “Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Project Near Richmond, VA Advances”
Reuters is reporting that the price of natural gas selling at the Waha Hub in the Permian Basin (West Texas) averaged just $0.12 (12 cents) per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) yesterday, a new record low. But wait! MDN reported last November the price at Waha had hit minus 1 cent/Mcf–people paying someone else to take their gas (see Permian Gas at Waha Hub Briefly Trades at $0, Implications for M-U). True–but that was for a three-hour period last November. Yesterday’s low price was the average for the entire day.
Read More “Permian NatGas Price Falls to $0.12/Mcf Following Equipment Failure”
Last December a federal judge in New Jersey upheld eminent domain power for PennEast Pipeline for ALL of NJ, where there are 136 holdout landowners who have refused to allow PennEast surveyors on their property (see Federal Court in NJ Grants PennEast Pipeline Eminent Domain). However, PennEast still isn’t totally out of the woods. The State of NJ appealed the decision because some of the land PennEast wants to build across belongs to the state (see NJ’s Dem AG Lectures Fed Judge re PennEast Eminent Domain).
Read More “3rd Circuit Court Grants NJ Request to Pause PennEast Pipe”
Yesterday was a sad day in Harrisburg, PA. A group of virulent anti-fossil fuelers (maybe 200 or so) attended a staged rally where several shameful members of the state legislature, including Andy “Tony Soprano” Dinniman, and Tom “token RINO” Killion advocated shutting down the legal, legitimate, fully functioning and safely operating set of pipelines known as Mariner East 1 & 2–just to pander to their kook voting base. A counter-rally was held by Republican legislators (i.e. adults) who support the Mariner East pipelines.
Read More “Shameful PA Lawmakers Rally to Shut Down Safely Operating ME Pipes”
Equitrans’ 300-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from West Virginia to southern Virginia is now 70% done (see Shocker: Mountain Valley Pipeline Now 70% Built, Online by 4Q19). Last November MVP filed a new project plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand MVP *another* 70 miles south, into North Carolina (see EQT Makes it Official, Files with FERC to Extend MVP into NC).
Read More “FERC Issues Timeline to Decide on Mountain Valley Pipe Expansion”
Yesterday IHS Markit released a study commissioned by Shale Crescent USA and JobsOhio that finds natural gas produced in the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will be 45% of the nation’s production by 2040, up from 31% this year. This is truly big news with lots of ramifications.
Read More “New Study: 45% of U.S. Natural Gas Will Come from M-U by 2040”
Anti-fossil fuelers really have no shame. We recently spotted an article that purports to lay out the case, chapter and verse, for how “frackers” are engaging in “accounting shenanigans” covering up true reserve estimates and depreciation expenses. In other words, they’re cooking the books, lying to investors. And ultimately America’s fracking boom as been “a bust.” Nonsense.
Read More “Big Green Lies: Frackers Cook the Books Using Depreciation”
An Indiana County, PA man was working at a Hilcorp drill pad in North Beaver Township (Lawrence County), PA, helping to load “large sections of steel pipeline and drilling equipment” onto a truck when the load became unstable and a large pipe fell from the truck and struck/killed the man. Leonard Clair Long, Jr., 60 years old, died at the scene. He worked for Hilcorp subcontractor Ziegenfuss Drilling.
Read More “Man Killed in Accident at Hilcorp Well Pad in Lawrence County, PA”