New Research Helps Locate Abandoned O&G Wells in PA
In March we highlighted the issue of abandoned oil and natural gas wells in Pennsylvania (see Who Pays for Abandoned O&G Wells in PA?). PA state officials estimate there are as many as 200,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the state–the vast majority of them conventional wells drilled over 50 years ago. Most of them are not mapped or known. Some of them are hazards for shale drillers who stumble across them when drilling new wells. If you drill horizontally and clip an old/abandoned well, it becomes like an elevator pumping fluids and gas to the surface. Not good. Everyone is committed to finding and marking and capping these old wells–the question is, how do you pay for it? The shale industry says it’s not fair to put the economic burden solely on the shoulders of the Marcellus industry. A new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by researchers at Stanford and Princeton says the number of abandoned PA wells is actually much higher–as many as 700,000! The paper is titled “Identification and characterization of high methane-emitting abandoned oil and gas wells” (full copy below). The researchers are motivated by global warming flummery–desiring to locate abandoned wells which emit varying amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Whatever. The useful thing about this research is that they have discovered a way of sniffing out abandoned wells and determining which ones are emitting the highest levels of methane. Our interest is in the ability to locate, map and avoid drilling through old wells–we welcome this research…
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For a number of years we’ve had our eye on Fairmont Brine Processing, headquartered in Fairmont, WV. We originally started writing about the company in 2010 when it was AOP Clearwater (see 
The big Texas law firm Bracewell, which until earlier this year was Bracewell & Giuliani (Rudy left in January), has put together an helpful analysis of what changes we can expect under a President Trump Administration. Although they tackle a number of areas, we were interested to read their predictions for what will be happening with energy and the environment under President Trump. What’s in store for pipelines? Obama’s Clean Power Plan? EPA’s onerous regulations? The Bracewell legal beagles haul out their crystal ball and give us a glimpse…
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently approved changes to environmental regulations that requires “mandatory disclosure of fracking chemicals, baseline water testing and monitoring, and spill prevention and response planning.” While leftie Big Green groups love the new rules, the drilling industry is working to ensure trade secrets (exact combinations of chemicals) can’t be discovered by using Freedom of Information Act laws. The big news, for MDN, is that with the enactment of these new rules (see a copy below), it appears shale fracking is a huge step closer to happening in the Old Dominion…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a 7.8 mile off-shoot pipeline from the mighty Millennium Pipeline in Orange County, NY that will feed a new natgas-fired electric plant being built in Wawayanda. The pipeline will supply 130 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of Marcellus gas to feed the new power plant. This is the Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) $900 million plant being opposed by rich Hollywood actor James Cromwell, who lives near the plant site (see 
Hey, it’s great when the oil and gas industry is booming (figuratively)–when the drill bits are chewing away at rock and dirt and when fracking is blasting rocks apart. Love it! But it really sucks when the drill bits go quiet–especially for companies in the supply chain, those who sell goods and services to the industry. Obviously it helps to be diversified–to sell your goods and services to customers outside the o&g industry. That’s the approach taken by the prescient MMR Constructors Inc. MMR services a number of industries, but they LOVE the oil and gas industry–upstream, midstream and downstream. MMR, based in Baton Rouge, LA, is building a sizable new office in Lawrence, PA. They sell to the Marcellus/Utica industry. MMR is “hoping” Marcellus/Utica activity picks up again. But what they really have their eye on is the coming manufacturing boom that will follow Shell’s ethane cracker plant, once it is up and running…
We’ve long held that believing in man-made global warming is an act of irrational faith. In fact, it takes MORE faith to believe in global warming than it does to believe in God. We have long said that global warmists are, in fact, no different from religious zealots. We’re not comparing warmists to sane folks who believe in God, but those who take faith to an extreme–motivating them into rhetoric (and actions) that leave the realm of sanity. Such is it with some (not all) in the man-made global warming movement. Example: Some 40 far left, liberal “faith leaders” in Maryland this past weekend dispensed with delivering the Sunday sermon on God and Jesus, and instead elected to preach global warming hellfire and brimestone. That is, they have forsaken their first love, having been lured away by a false Gospel…
It was tough deciding on a headline for this post about Sunoco Logistics Partners third quarter 2016 update. In the end we opted to highlight the news that Mariner East 2–a $2.5 billion, 350-mile natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will run from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, carting ethane, butane and propane to the facility from both the Utica and Marcellus region–will be delayed nine months from the original plan due to permit delays. Which is frustrating and disappointing. However, other important news was shared during yesterday’s update. On the earnings call Sunoco LP’s top brass said even though the prices Marcellus and Utica drillers get for their NGLs (natural gas liquids) is lower in the northeast than if they can cart it to the Gulf Coast, when you factor in transportation costs to get product to the Gulf, drillers end up making MORE money by selling their NGLs in the northeast via Sunoco’s Marcus Hook facility–$0.10 to $0.20 per barrel more. At least, that’s the claim made by Sunoco LP’s CEO Michael Hennigan…
As MDN previously reported, the dupes in Waterville, OH voted to pass a resolution on Tuesday that would block the construction of the NEXUS Pipeline, planned to go through city property (see 
You know how Democrats in Pennsylvania vilified and viciously attacked pro-energy Republicans over the past two years, especially with regard to a severance tax. PA Gov. Tom Wolf has been one of the worst. The media in PA has stood behind Wolf and his calls to enact a Marcellus-killing, so-called severance tax, on top of the existing impact fee + corporate income tax which amounts to a rate higher than a severance tax in states like Texas. We were told, repeatedly, that Republicans blocking Wolf’s desire for a new tax (to pay back teachers’ unions) would be political death for the Republicans. The Republicans, most of whom have held firm and resisted such severance tax lunacy, have been called every name in the book and told “at the next election, you’re gone.” Guess what? After Tuesday’s elections, Republicans in PA now hold the LARGEST MAJORITIES in both the House and Senate than they have held IN DECADES! The voters in PA have spoken, and anti-fossil fuel numskulls have been drummed out of power. And not just in PA…