Industrywide Issues

  • | | |

    Supreme Court Shocker – Justices Halt Obama’s Clean Power Plan

    On January 26, 2016, 29 states and state agencies, including Ohio and West Virgina, filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay of President Obama’s EPA Clean Power Plan (see 29 States Ask Supreme Court to Stop Obama Clean Power Plan ASAP). A week before that a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied such a stay, so the states had no alternative but to take their case all the way to the top. Yesterday, in a surprise decision, the High Court granted their request! That is, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped Obama’s draconian EPA regulations dead in their tracks. Now an extended and protracted court case will ensue. What it means is that CPP is dead for this year, and likely dead altogether…
    Read More “Supreme Court Shocker – Justices Halt Obama’s Clean Power Plan”

  • | | | | | | |

    EIA Feb DPR: Utica NatGas Output Continues to Increase

    Earlier this week our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The February 2016 report shows what the EIA predicts oil and natural gas production will be in March from the seven largest commercial shale plays in the U.S. What does the report (full copy below) show? Very broadly, it shows that the decline in natural gas production is picking up speed, while the decline in oil slowed (reversed, actually). In January’s report, the EIA said for February the combined output of natgas would decline by 405 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). In this report, forecasting March production, the EIA says the decline will go down another 451 MMcf/d over the February number. That is, the rate of decline is increasing. There’s only one shale play of the seven with an increase in natgas output from the previous month. Can you guess which one? That’s right–the Utica…
    Read More “EIA Feb DPR: Utica NatGas Output Continues to Increase”

  • | | |

    Philly Council President Says Green Jobs Plan to Create 10K Jobs

    Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke was one of the chief opponents of a deal that would have sold the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to Connecticut utility company UIL for $1.86 billion. Clarke, more than anyone, torpedoed the deal (see UIL Makes it Official: $1.86B Deal to Buy Phila. Gas Works is Dead). Clarke is, in our opinion, corrupt and in the pockets of unions and others who benefited from that deal falling through. So it was with some amusement we noticed that Clarke announced on Monday that somehow, somewhere, he’s going to magically put his hands on $1 billion to “invest” in a “green jobs” boondoggle that will, supposedly, create 10,000 jobs over the next 10 years. This would be fall-off-your-seat funny if it weren’t so sad and angering. The city could have had a legitimate infusion of non-taxpayer money–$1.86 billion to be exact–but instead has chosen to continue its corrupt ways of using taxpayer money to line the pockets of political supporters…
    Read More “Philly Council President Says Green Jobs Plan to Create 10K Jobs”

  • | |

    Obama’s Final Disastrous Budget Targets Fossil Fuels

    In a final, parting shot at the fossil fuel industry, President Obama yesterday introduced what will be his final budget (thank God!). The plan calls for a new 25 cents per gallon tax on gasoline, cleverly disguised as a $10 per barrel “fee”–to be phased in over five years, long after Obama has retired to the links on some golf course in Hawaii. The fee would go to pay for the highway fund, and (of course) to fund Big Green projects (i.e. line the pockets of his supporters). The man knows no shame. The plan is clearly meant to force America away from using fossil fuels as an energy source, what the American Petroleum Institute calls Obama’s “leave it in the ground” strategy. The thing is, we don’t know of more than half a dozen Republicans on Capitol Hill (who happen to control Congress) who still possess their male equipment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is the Emasculated-in-Chief himself. Will McConnell oppose this plan? Probably not. And that’s scary…
    Read More “Obama’s Final Disastrous Budget Targets Fossil Fuels”

  • |

    Natural Gas Breaks Another Record in Generating Electricity

    One of the ongoing stories over the past year or more has been the tightening relationship between natural gas and electric power. What do they have in common? Last year natgas edged out coal to become the number one fuel source that powers electric generating plants in the U.S. The electric generation market is already a hugely important market for natural gas, and it’s only going to increase in the coming years. Especially now that Obama’s Clean Power Plan has been put on hold by the Supreme Court (see today’s companion story). Our friends at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) have authored another great story for their Today in Energy series–this one about natgas use in power generation. According to the EIA, “So far this winter, natural gas consumption in the electric power sector (gas burn) has been higher than in any previous winter.” Here’s the full story from the EIA…
    Read More “Natural Gas Breaks Another Record in Generating Electricity”

  • |

    New CNG Tanks on the Way for Passenger Vehicles – Game Changer?

    There’s been a break through in technology used for compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel tanks used in cars and trucks. Until now, the typical CNG fuel tank must be big and bulky and holds compressed gas at a pressure of 3,600 pounds per square inch (psi). United Technologies Corp. has innovated a new tank that is much smaller, using “activated carbon adsorbents” technology that will allow CNG to be stored at 1,000 psi. United Technologies has licensed their technology to Adsorbed Natural Gas Products, Inc. which will manufacture the new fuel tanks. If this catches on, it has the potential to up-end the passenger vehicle market by making CNG as attractive and convenient as gasoline–which would expand natural gas demand…
    Read More “New CNG Tanks on the Way for Passenger Vehicles – Game Changer?”

  • | | | | | | | | |

    Pipeline Companies May Lose Big-Time if Chessy “Restructures”

    Yesterday’s free fall of Chesapeake Energy’s stock based on rumors that the company may be considering bankruptcy (see today’s lead story) is not only affecting Chesapeake’s stock price. It’s also affecting the stock price of Energy Transfer Equity and Williams, two huge midstream companies. Why? ETE, you may recall, is in the process of buying Williams for $37.7 billion (see Looks Like a March 2016 Wedding for ETE & Williams). The main reason ETE is buying Williams, with its major presence in the Marcellus/Utica, is because of long-term contracts to use its pipelines in the northeast. One of Williams’ main customers with those long-term contracts is (yes) Chesapeake Energy. What if Chessy is forced to renegotiate or cancel or otherwise can’t honor those contracts? Whoops. There goes one of the big reasons for the deal in the first place. Which may explain why ETE’s stock went from $7.01 on Friday to closing at $4.09 yesterday (down 42%), and why Williams’ stock went from $17.11 on Friday to closing at $11.16 yesterday (down 35%). Here’s how/why Chesapeake’s troubles will not only affect ETE and Williams, but other midstream companies like Spectra Energy, Columbia Pipeline Partners and Marathon Petroleum as well…
    Read More “Pipeline Companies May Lose Big-Time if Chessy “Restructures””

  • | | |

    PA Republicans Commit Adultery with Severance Tax – Again

    What is it with Republicans in Pennsylvania? They’ve just won a major victory by not putting a bullet in the head of the Marcellus Shale industry, i.e. by not implementing Gov. Tom Wolf’s horrible idea of a severance tax. Major victory. But then they return to a severance tax like a cheating spouse who is serially unfaithful. Some Pennsylvania “Republicans” in the state legislature are once again committing adultery with a Marcellus-killing severance tax plan–the day before Wolf re-introduces such a losing plan for a second year in a row. The PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held an informational meeting yesterday to consider two Republican-backed severance tax bills. One bill is being floated by Rep. Kate Harper, RINO-Montgomery County, the other by Rep. Scott Petri, RINO-Bucks County. Notice both RINOs are from the Philly vicinity, which is where most of the nonsense typically comes from. Even House Majority Leader David Reed, R-Indiana County, seems to be going squishy. His mouthpiece said, “It’s just prudent to kind of go through these bills and see what they do.” We disagree. The chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, Rep. John Maher, RINO-Allegheny County, is a sellout too, saying: “I think that there are many people who are open to the idea of a properly crafted severance tax.” With “Republicans” like these, who needs Democrats?…
    Read More “PA Republicans Commit Adultery with Severance Tax – Again”

  • | | | | | | | |

    Mountaineer XPress Pipeline Seeks Tax Break from WV Counties

    Columbia Pipeline Group is trying to convince counties in West Virginia where its proposed Mountaineer XPress Pipeline will be built, to reduce the amount of property tax they will have to pay under WV state law. Mountaineer XPress Project (MXP) includes 165 miles of new pipeline from Marshall County, WV to Wayne County, WV with approximately 2.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of transportation capacity from existing and future points of receipt along or near CPG’s system (see Columbia Pipeline’s Mountaineer XPress Project Accepted by FERC). In addition to new pipeline, the $2 billion project also includes constructing three new compressor stations and upgrading three existing stations. Columbia is shopping the concept of a PILOT–a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes. Such a plan essentially means they will pay less money than a county would otherwise collect in regular property taxes on the pipeline. Here’s the strange thing–the counties and school districts affected would end up keeping more of the money collected from PILOT payments than they would from regular property tax payments. It’s actually a win/win–Columbia pays less and more of the money paid stays local. Go figure…
    Read More “Mountaineer XPress Pipeline Seeks Tax Break from WV Counties”

  • | | | | | | | |

    Antis Not Happy with Results of OH Fracking Study They Funded

    Researchers from the University of Cincinnati have been studying fracking and its potential affects on water wells in five Ohio counties for the past three years. The lead researcher, Dr. Amy Townsend-Small, shared the results at a recent meeting of the anti-drilling Carroll Concerned Citizens. She said, “The good news is that our study did not document that fracking was directly linked to water contamination.” Oh oh. That’s NOT good news for antis–and frankly, they didn’t like her telling them the truth of what her study found. Townsend-Small also said this, “I’m really sad to say this but some of our funders, the groups that had given us funding in the past, were a little disappointed in our results.” You can be sure that any future funding for studies Townsend-Small wants to make, at least from radical environmentalists, will be nonexistent. She had the temerity to tell the truth–to the people who hired her to not tell the truth. That takes courage…
    Read More “Antis Not Happy with Results of OH Fracking Study They Funded”

  • | | | |

    Lawyer Tells NH Landowners ‘7 in 10 Chance’ Pipeline is Coming

    A lawyer meeting with a group of New Hampshire landowners in New Ipswich, NH last night gave them a dose of cold, hard reality. He told them, “There’s a seven out of 10 chance this pipeline is going to come” through their town, referring to Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct pipeline. He told those present they can fight it, they can not negotiate with Kinder Morgan, and if they do so, it’s to their own peril. His solution? Band together as a group and negotiate good terms and conditions for the pipeline. Have a say in the matter. In other words, don’t be jerks–be reasonable and understand whether you want it or not, it’s coming. And if you negotiate now, you’ll get a better deal than if behave like petulant children…
    Read More “Lawyer Tells NH Landowners ‘7 in 10 Chance’ Pipeline is Coming”

  • | | |

    Goldboro LNG Project Gets Final DOE Approval – Good for Marcellus

    The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) has been pedal to the medal lately with approvals for LNG exports. Yesterday we told you that the Bear Head LNG project in Nova Scotia, Canada received DOE approval to export U.S. natural gas from their facility to non-U.S. free trade agreement counties (see Bear Head LNG Exports Get Final DOE Approval – Good for Marcellus). Today we bring you the news that another Nova Scotia LNG project, Goldboro LNG, has also received approval from the DOE to export natgas to non-free trade agreement counties. Like Bear Head LNG, Goldboro LNG is now fully permitted and permissioned by the U.S. and Canada. Also like Bear Head, the Goldboro project will depend on natural gas coming from the Marcellus/Utica, and that won’t happen until the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline reverses its flow, and until either Kinder Morgan or Spectra Energy (or both) build pipelines that connect to it. There’s a lot of ifs/ands/buts that still remain–but sign-off by the DOE is a necessary and positive sign…
    Read More “Goldboro LNG Project Gets Final DOE Approval – Good for Marcellus”

  • |

    IHS Says Drillers Need to Cut Spending 50% *This Year*

    Yesterday MDN highlighted a couple of “bad news for the Marcellus” stories: The Dismal Outlook for Marcellus/Utica Drilling in 2016 and Rig Counts for World, US & Marcellus/Utica Continue to Tumble. We’re aware that at least one anti group picked up and repeated our stories to their email list–no doubt as a twisted celebration of some sort. So be it. At MDN we don’t sugarcoat the truth. It is bad out there and will continue to be most likely for this year and into next year. We’re not the only ones who don’t sugarcoat the truth. IHS, a highly respected oil and gas research firm, is out with more analysis of their IHS Energy Comparative Peer Group Analysis of North American E&Ps. In this latest analysis, IHS uses words like “gloomy outlook” and says drillers (E&Ps), in order to stay afloat, will need to spend about 50% less in 2016 than they did in 2015…
    Read More “IHS Says Drillers Need to Cut Spending 50% *This Year*”

  • | | |

    PA DEP Sec. Quigley Keeps Secret Key Part of New Drilling Regs

    There is still a chance, beyond a lawsuit, that onerous new oil and gas regulations proposed by Pennsylvania Sec. John Quigley will not be adopted as they have been promulgated. We frankly thought it was a done deal–just get them printed in the Pennsylvania Register, wait 45 days and voila–new laws are born, without the involvement of the state legislature. But the state legislature DOES play a role after all. The House and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy committees will both take a look and approve, disapprove or take no action on the new regs that separate existing regulations, referred to as Chapter 78, into two sets of regulations, 78 and 78a (for conventional and unconventional, or shale). However, Gov. Wolf seems to have the last say in the matter and he’ll likely sign off on the new rules regardless of what the people, via their representatives in the legislature, want. That’s how Dems govern–against the will of the people. Dictatorial. Here’s the thing. Sec. Quigley is intentionally withholding 29 new forms that the industry will have to fill out as part of the new regulations. Legislators are asking how, in any sense of the word, it is fair to vote on something when you haven’t seen the full language, including these 29 forms? Quigley’s action is (in our opinion) illegal–disclosure of the forms is required under PA’s Right-to-Know law. This is yet another abuse of power by PennFuture PA DEP Sec. Quigley…
    Read More “PA DEP Sec. Quigley Keeps Secret Key Part of New Drilling Regs”

  • | | | | | |

    Actor James Cromwell Admits He’s Clueless, Fights Pipeline Anyway

    James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane
    James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane

    Hollywood stars are some of the dumbest people on the planet. We’ve seen it again and again. They glom onto a “cause” either to boost their own sagging careers (get their name into the press again), or because they have an otherwise empty and meaningless life, or because–who the heck knows why? They certainly aren’t experts–although they pretend to be. Susan Sarandon and Yoko Ono joined the anti-fracking movement and rode a fossil-fuel-belching bus from New York City up to Susquehanna County, PA two years ago to “tour” the fracking fields of northeastern PA (see Looney Toons Anti-Fracking Celebrities Visit Montrose, PA). Another Hollywood nutjob is James Cromwell, who played Zefram Cochrane (mythical creator of the warp engine) in the 1996 movie Star Trek: First Contact (one of our favs). Cromwell, a New York City resident, owns a home in upstate, in Orange County. A natural gas-fired power plant is scheduled to be built near his summer home and he’s been protesting, to the point of getting himself arrested in December (see Actor James Cromwell Arrested Protesting NY Power Plant Site). Cromwell has been unsuccessful in stopping progress on the power plant. Apparently he’s in a down cycle right now with his career, and he was reading the newspapers and noticed a story we also noticed (and highlighted) last Friday–an anti-drilling family trying to stop a pipeline from clipping a few maple trees on their property (see Maple Syrup Farm in Path of PA Pipeline, Antis Make Most of It). Cromwell decided to take a Friday drive to visit the five acre plot and lend his name to their cause. Thing is, he admitted he’s essentially clueless about the whole thing–but since it’s a natgas pipeline, and he now hates natgas, what the heck. It only took him maybe two hours to drive from his upstate home to Susquehanna County to pay some fellow antis a visit…
    Read More “Actor James Cromwell Admits He’s Clueless, Fights Pipeline Anyway”

  • | | | |

    CONSOL Energy 2015: Reserves Up 16%, Brought 113 Wells Online

    CONSOL Energy released details about their proved reserves and about their drilling program from 2015 last Friday. Proved reserves are up 16% for the year. In 2015 in the Marcellus, CONSOL drilled and brought online 81 wells. In the Utica, CONSOL drilled and brought online 32 wells. Below are the details…
    Read More “CONSOL Energy 2015: Reserves Up 16%, Brought 113 Wells Online”