Industrywide Issues

Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

2 Bills Favorable to Drillers Advance in WV Senate – SB 508 & 565
February 22, 2016February 22, 2016

Two bills that favor the drilling industry in West Virginia have recently advanced in the WV Senate. One of the bills we previously told you about–Senate Bill (SB) 508, a bill that would stop endless, frivolous lawsuits from being filed against drillers (see WV Senate Bill Stops Frivolous Nuisance Lawsuits Against Drillers). The other bill is new for us, SB 565, a bill that “would allow oil and gas drillers to begin building well pads and access roads prior to getting a well work permit approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection.” SB 508 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, and SB 565 was passed in the Senate Energy Committee. They are both on their way and likely to pass the full Senate and House…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

John “Severance Tax” Hanger Quits Tom Wolf Administration – Why?
February 22, 2016February 22, 2016

One of the most left-wing partisans in Harrisburg, serving in the Tom Wolf Administration, is calling it quits. John Hanger, whom we once considered a reasonable man but who later proved he is not, is Wolf’s Secretary of Policy and Planning. Hanger has been one of the most shrill voices in Harrisburg in demanding a Marcellus-killing severance tax. Wolf is making a second ill-fated run at a severance tax and by all accounts Hanger was pushing it hard. And then he up and quit. Why? He says it’s because his wife and daughter live in Massachusetts (where she is vice-provost for faculty affairs at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.) To his credit, John has been married for 36 years to the same woman (she must be a saint!). However, we think he’s leaving for a different reason…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lewis County | U.S. Well Services | West Virginia

US Well Services Lays Off Nearly 50 in Jane Lew, WV
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

U.S. Well Services, headquartered in Houston, TX but with a sizable office in Jane Lew, WV, is an oilfield services company providing hydraulic fracturing services in unconventional oil and natural gas basins–including the Marcellus and Utica Shale. According to their website, U.S. Well Services operates both diesel and electric fracking fleets. On Wednesday, with no warning, they laid off most of their workers in the Jane Lew office–just under 50 people, meaning the company was not required to give advance notice under the WARN Act. Here’s what happened on Wednesday, what U.S. Well Services calls an “unfortunate reduction”…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Pipeline Task Force Report: 658 Pages, 184 “Recommendations”
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

In May 2015 Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and his underling Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Quigley created a “Task Force on Pipeline Infrastructure Development” (see Disaster on the Horizon: PA Gov Wolf Creates Pipeline Task Force). The purpose of the group was “to identify best practices for pipeline siting, permitting and safety.” We won’t recount all of the twists and turns–of how the Task Force was packed with government employees beholden to Wolf, etc. Along the way antis tried to protest and derail the meetings held by the Task Force (see PA DEP Sec. Quigley Calls Pipeline Protesters “Badly Misinformed”). The final meeting has been held and the final report is now in. Yesterday Quigley released the Task Force’s Final Report, all 658 pages of it with 184 recommendations (full copy below). Along with the release of the final report, Quigley also issued what he calls the top 12 recommendations coming from the Task Force for how PA can and should handle a coming expansion of gathering pipelines in the state…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Rice Energy

Drillers Leaving Wet Gas Areas of Marcellus/Utica for Dry Gas
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

An excellent article appearing on the World Oil Magazine website explores an interesting phenomenon at work in the Marcellus/Utica. The article is wide-ranging and provides an update on the activities and strategies for many of our region’s top producers. But the beginning of the article is what really caught our attention. The author states that there is a shift happening away from drilling in the liquids-rich (i.e. areas with a higher concentration of natural gas liquids, like ethane, propane and others) to the “core” dry gas areas of the Marcellus/Utica. He quotes Rice Energy CEO Dan Rice in saying, “…there has been a noticeable shift in producer activity away from liquids-rich and non-core dry gas Marcellus and Utica areas, and into the Marcellus and Utica’s dry gas cores.” We have to confess that’s the first time we’d heard that. We thought it was the reverse–that there was more drilling headed to the wet gas areas. Huh. Here’s more from the article…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Wastewater

Athens, OH Antis Lose Appeal in County Court re Injection Well
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

In January 2015 (over a year ago) the radical antis of the Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN) in Athens County, OH filed an appeal with the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission opposing a permit issued to K&H Partners to drill a new/second wastewater injection well in Athens County (see Athens County, OH Anti-Drillers Sue to Stop New Injection Well). The Oil and Gas Commission rejected the complaint because, they said, they don’t have jurisdiction over permits to drill wells. The case was appealed to county court and last week the county court judge sided with the Oil and Gas Commission. That is, ACFAN’s request to overturn the permit to drill the well has been rejected. The next move by ACFAN losers is to appeal it to a higher court–the 10th District Court of Appeals. No word yet if they want to waste their money on an appeal. However, they appear to have endless resources from Big Green groups to keep them going with endless lawsuits…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Judge Hears Eminent Domain Case Against Mariner East 2
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

Five Washington County, PA property owners had their day in court yesterday with their case against Sunoco Logistics Partners and the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. The attorney for the plaintiffs argued that Mariner East 2 is an interstate pipeline (begins in Ohio, crosses the northern panhandle of West Virginia and then crosses Pennsylvania from west to east) and therefore it does not fit the definition of a public utility under PA law. Public utilities in PA have the right to use eminent domain, which is what this case appears to be about–denying Sunoco the right to use eminent domain in cases where it cannot come to an agreement with the landowner. But as you’ll see below, we don’t think that’s what this case is REALLY about. Sunoco argued that the pipeline is both an interstate and intrastate pipeline with “numerous public benefits.” He hastened to add one of those benefits is a $1.9 billion investment that will result in a $4.2 billion economic impact on the state…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Columbia Pipeline 2015: $267M Income; Project Updates Galore
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG) turned in their fourth quarter and full year 2015 financial and operational update yesterday. Unlike Williams that lost $1.4 billion in 2015, CPG made $267.6 million in 2015. Along with a financial update, CPG also gives an extensive update on a number of Marcellus/Utica pipeline projects. Well worth the read! Here’s yesterday’s CPG update…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

More on Wolf/Quigley 4-Point Plan to Reduce Methane Emissions
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

In January Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced a 4-point plan to supposedly reduce the amount of methane leaking from various oil and gas related activities–like drilling, compressor stations, etc. (see PA Gov. Wolf’s Plan to Kill Drilling via Methane Emissions Regs). A few days later Wolf’s Secretary for the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, further expounded on this manifestly poor idea (see Quigley Expounds on Methane Emissions Plan: Drillers to Get Hosed). The concern is that methane is a so-called greenhouse gas and that “fugitive” methane escapes into the atmosphere and will toast ole Mom Earth. Dumb as rocks–but there it is. To prevent old Mom Earth from toasting, Wolf and Quigley’s answer is the same as every liberal Democrat’s answer: more regulation. Last week the DEP revealed a little bit more about where they’re going with this…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

EPA Science Advisory Board *Affirms* Fracking Study
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

An interesting public relations battle is happening in mainstream media. Last June MDN brought you the news that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a long-awaited, four-year study of fracking and water–and found that fracking does not impact groundwater supplies (see EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies). That sent anti-fossil fuel radicals to their psychiatrists for increased dosages of Thorazine. Since that time antis have been looking for a way to reverse the finding. And we thought they had found it. The EPA appointed a Science Advisory Board (SAB) to re-evaluate the report (see Will EPA Whore Itself to Antis and Change Fracking Water Study?). From their initial meetings and comments, we though the fix was in (see EPA Science Advisory Board Engaging in Fraud re Fracking Study). The mainstream media trumpets the SAB’s statements as indicating the original report and its conclusions are wrong. But if you read what the SAB is saying, you come to a different conclusion. Can it be that the SAB is actually strengthening the case that fracking doesn’t contaminate water supplies?…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Taxation

“Independent” Fiscal Office Says PA Impact Fee Revenue Drops 17%
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) is the organization charged with assessing and collecting the state’s impact fee on Marcellus drillers–PA’s equivalent of a severance tax. But that doesn’t stop the the extremely partisan, Democrat-controlled, so-called “Independent” Fiscal Office, or IFO from trying to steal the PUC’s thunder when it comes to announcing revenue from the impact fee. Each year the Dems at the IFO release their estimates for how much revenue will be collected for the impact fee months ahead of the PUC. The IFO doesn’t disappoint this year. Yesterday the IFO released their estimates for the fees to be collected from 2015 drilling (full report below), and the IFO estimates revenues will go down by $38 million over 2014 revenue–to $185.5 million. That’s a 17% decrease, even though the number of wells drilled in 2015 versus 2014 went down 43%. And that’s IF the IFO’s numbers are accurate, which is questionable given their extreme bias…
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Energy Services | FTS International | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Washington County

FTS Intl Fires All Drivers & Mechanics in Sand Hauling Business
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

On Tuesday MDN told you that FTS International, the largest private well-completion company in North America with offices and employees in the Marcellus/Utica, has laid off workers in Eighty Four and Venetia, both sites in Washington County, PA (see FTS International Lays off PA Workers – Won’t Say How Many). We now have a few more details on what is happening at FTS–and what’s happening is that FTS is in the process of selling their sand-hauling business, which is located in Eighty Four and Venetia. The company still won’t say how many people they’ve laid off, but an inside source told the Washington Observer-Reporter that 34 sand-truck drivers and seven “coordinators” were let go at Venetia last Friday. A company memo from FTS CEO Michael Doss says they laid off all of the truck drivers and mechanics involved in their sand hauling business. Here’s an update on FTS “adjusting head count,” as they euphemistically put it…
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Industrywide Issues | Research

Lower 48 NatGas Production Rose 0.5 Bcf/d in January
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

Bentek Energy, the energy analytics arm of Platts, released their prediction for total natural gas production in the lower 48 states yesterday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) won’t release their final numbers until the end of February. What did Bentek find? Natural gas production went UP in January, over December, by about one-half a billion cubic feet per day (0.5 Bcf/d). The leading reason was an increase in output from the Utica/Marcellus region, but other regions increased slightly too. Here’s the low down on how/why natgas production rose last month…
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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell Leases 76,000 Sq Ft Office Space Near Cracker Plant Site
February 17, 2016February 17, 2016

We believe there’s little doubt remaining that Shell will commit to building a $3 billion ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA. The evidence continues to mount. Shell is spending big bucks on a variety of activities related the project, as we’ve previously indicated (see Shell Begins Hiring for Monaca, PA Ethane Cracker Plant). The latest evidence comes from the Pittsburgh Business Times who has an inside source telling them that Shell has cut a deal with Michael Baker International to lease a 76,000-square-foot building with a 400-car parking lot sitting on 100 acres near the proposed cracker site in Beaver County…
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Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Pitt Brats “Demand” Endowment Divest from < 1% Fossil Investments
February 17, 2016February 17, 2016

This is how retarded (yes, we’re using the “r” word) students are at the University of Pittsburgh. We use the “r” word because something has retarded or stunted their intellectual growth. They are substandard–stupid–dumb. How else can you explain why spoiled rotten brats attending Pitt are “demanding” that the university divest their endowment from fossil fuels? The Pitt endowment is $3.6 BILLION. How much of that is invested in dirty, filthy, evil fossil fuel companies? $26 million. That’s 0.007 of the fund (seven tenths of one percent) invested in fossil fuels. It’s a rounding error. Fossil fuel insanity is rampant on the campus of Pitt. Stay away or you may catch it too!…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Newspaper Claims 25 House Repubicans Want Severance Tax
February 17, 2016February 17, 2016

The unofficial campaign staffer for PA Gov. Tom Wolf working at the Democrat-controlled Harrisburg Patriot-News is Candy Woodall. She calls herself a reporter but in reality she’s a propagandist. Woodall loves to bash the Marcellus industry. Her latest creative writing efforts (otherwise called “reporting”) is to say, essentially, “PA elected Republicans want a severance tax after all–they really wanted it last year, but they voted it down because they didn’t want higher income taxes. They really want to pass a tax on the Marcellus industry this year.” This is pure fiction/fantasy. Woodall claims there are 25 elected Republicans in the PA House who are ready to sign on to a severance tax proposal–yet she doesn’t list their names. Her main source appears to be Wolf’s policy secretary, John Hanger, who ran for governor on a platform of legalizing marijuana. In her latest fiction, Woodall and Hanger savage a truly great Pennsylvanian, House Speaker Mike Turzai, because of Turzai’s steadfast opposition to a tax that would assassinate the Marcellus industry. Woodall implies Turzai is in the pocket of the industry. Hey Candy–did you investigate whether pot growers donated money to Hanger’s campaign the way you “investigated” Marcellus drillers donating money to Turzai’s campaign? No, we didn’t think so…
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