Industrywide Issues

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    Lebanon County Antis Want Public (Spectacle) Mtg or No Mtg at All

    The demands of anti-drillers in Lebanon County, PA are illustrative of their true motivations. Two different anti groups–Lebanon Pipeline Awareness and Concerned Citizens of Lebanon County–are demanding Lebanon County commissioners have an open public meeting with two pipeline companies. The two pipeline companies are Williams (Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline) and Sunoco Logistics Partners (Mariner East 1 & 2 pipelines). If the meeting is not open and public, so these nutters can pummel representatives of the companies in public and have it broadcast everywhere–they want no meeting at all. Williams and Sunoco had agreed to non-public meetings that INCLUDE members of these two groups–to answer their questions. But the pipeline companies, and the county commissioners, don’t want a circus. That means no cameras/media, and the meeting is not open so it can be packed by large numbers of antis. The companies are willing to sit down and talk like adults and answer questions and address concerns–like adults. But that’s not what Lebanon Pipeline Awareness nor Concerned Citizens of Lebanon County really want. They want to behave like petulant children throwing a temper tantrum for everyone to witness. Evidence: Instead of taking the private meeting, they (the antis) want no meeting at all…
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    Noble Energy Cancels Midstream IPO, Couldn’t Raise $237M

    That didn’t take long. Last week driller Noble Energy launched an initial public offering (IPO) for a new midstream subsidiary. They hoped to raise $237-$262 million by offering 12.5 million shares at $19-$21 per share (actually “units”). We didn’t bother reporting it at the time because the new midstream company would own and operate a pipeline system in the DJ (Denver-Julesburg) Basin in Colorado. However, what makes the IPO news now for the entire shale industry at large, including the Marcellus/Utica, is that the company has stumbled–pulling the IPO because of lack of interest/low offers for units, which may portend a similar fate for other midstream IPOs in other shale plays…
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    Real Climate Science Discussed in Paris on Dec 7 @ Heartland Conf

    You may or may not be aware that the Obama Administration is in league with foreign powers to attempt to strip away our national sovereignty (the right to rule ourselves) under the guise of global warming nonsense–that mankind is causing or about to cause Mother Earth to fry. The way liberal/socialist/communists are attempting to foist this great hoax on the world is at an event called the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP-21), taking place this year on December 7-8 in Paris. All of the biggest global warming hoaxers from around the world will assemble (and party) in an attempt to get the United States to sign a treaty giving up our national sovereignty–and when we do, we’re finished as an independent country. So why should these nutball hoaxers have all the fun? The Heartland Institute has decided to assemble leading climatologists and scientists on Dec. 7 in Paris to discuss some real climate science. Heartland is calling it the “Day of Examining the Data” and will make the “compelling case that an objective examination of the latest climate science shows humans are not causing a global warming crisis.” Love it! Of course mainstream media won’t report a bit of it–because mainstream media doesn’t cover real news any more, they simply report propaganda–what they want you to hear. We have the lowdown on who will present at Heartland’s event–the only real scientific conference being held in Paris on Dec. 7…
    Read More “Real Climate Science Discussed in Paris on Dec 7 @ Heartland Conf”

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    Important New CSU Study Reveals Shale Supply Chain Opportunities

    We are SUPER excited about a new study dated September 2015 but released just yesterday by economists and researchers at Cleveland State University (CSU). The study, broken into three parts, looks at economic development opportunities offered by Ohio’s Utica Shale. One of the three parts is titled, “Economics of Utica Shale in Ohio: Supply Chain Analysis.” We eagerly goggled it up and found that the authors use charts very similar to those developed by MDN and our own Supply Chain Tutorial (see Where Does YOUR Business Fit in the Marcellus/Utica Supply Chain? [FREE]). We have a copy of all three sections of the new CSU study (below). We *highly recommend* this study as worth your while to digest. Before we developed our own Supply Chain Tutorial we had not seen anyone mapping NAICS codes to each stage of the drilling and midstream process. The CSU study adopts MDN’s convention of mapping NAICS codes and goes well beyond our tutorial, which is why we’re so excited. If you work for a company that wants to see if there may be an opportunity to win business in the Marcellus/Utica industry, plan to spend some time with this study!…
    Read More “Important New CSU Study Reveals Shale Supply Chain Opportunities”

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    Herding Cats: DEP Sec. Quigley Unhappy with Pipeline Task Force

    The thin-skinned Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, showed his irritation yesterday with his own hand-picked 48 members of the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force (see PA Gov Wolf Packs Pipeline Task Force with His Own Minions). Last week Quigley released a 355-page draft report supposedly compiled by the Task Force that will govern how rural gathering pipelines will be regulated (see PA Gathering Pipeline Draft “Recommendations” from Wolf Task Force). However, it seems the Task Force may not have authored the document after all. It appears to us that Quigley wants Task Force members to rubber stamp *his* proposed recommendations (i.e. regulations). At yesterday’s meeting, some Task Force members took issue with portions of the draft document, which had Mr. Quigley in a grumpy mood. Adding to Quigley’s grumpy mood was THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself, Maya van Rossum, who had to be escorted out of the meeting by Capitol police…
    Read More “Herding Cats: DEP Sec. Quigley Unhappy with Pipeline Task Force”

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    Wrath of Kann: PA Anti’s Disorderly Conduct Conviction Overturned

    Kimberly Kann, a resident of Conestoga Township in Lancaster County, PA, decided she would break the rules at a town meeting this past April. The meeting was to discuss so-called home rule and the role it should play in the town with respect to regulating pipelines, like the planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline project from Williams. The ground rules for the meeting were simple: ASK QUESTIONS ONLY. Kann decided she would use it as a public forum to pontificate and rail against pipelines. She wouldn’t ask questions and was repeatedly warned–so when she wouldn’t shut up, they arrested her and threw her out of the meeting (see Wrath of Kann: Lancaster Anti-Driller Arrested/Ejected from Mtg). In July she was found guilty as charged (see Wrath of Kann: Lancaster Anti-Driller Guilty of Disorderly Conduct). Kann should have paid her $325 fine/court costs and ended it–but she kept fighting. It eventually would cost her $3,000 in legal fees, but Kann, like the character played by Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II, has had the last laugh. In a hollow victory, Kann got her conviction overturned by a Lancaster County judge…
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    Coordinated Attack? MassPLAN Uses Riverkeeper Pipeline Delay Tactic

    In what appears to be a coordinated attack on new natural gas pipelines, the Massachusetts Pipe-Line Awareness Network (MassPLAN) is using the same delay tactic to slow down Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project running from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts as was pioneered by THE Delaware Riverkeeper to slow down the PennEast Pipeline project running from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Last month MDN exposed Riverkeeper’s sleazy strategy of encouraging thousands to sign up as “intervenors” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–even running “intervenor training” to show them how to do it (see Delaware Riverkeeper Scams FERC in Review of PennEast Pipeline). MassPLAN is using a chapter from Riverkeeper and has asked FERC to extend the time allowed to sign up as intervenors, so they can jam pack as many crazies as possible onto the intervenor roster…
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    PA Lib Dems Don’t Like Paying High Education Tax Themselves

    Pennsylvania Democrats are unhappy with their governor. They were all jazzed and giddy at the thought of taxing Republicans (i.e. drilling companies) to raise mountains of money for Big Education (i.e. Democrat voters). In the end, Gov. Tom Wolf had to settle for taxing other Democrats because, as Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman says, the drilling industry is “on its back” and more taxes would shut it down. Lack of a Marcellus Shale tax makes PA Dems grumpy–because they themselves (and their voters) will now pay for Wolf’s rash promise to Big Education. Hey, how does that shoe feel when it’s on your own foot, Lib Dems?…
    Read More “PA Lib Dems Don’t Like Paying High Education Tax Themselves”

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    OH ‘National Day of Action’ Against Fracking a Huge Flop

    Looks like Tuesday’s so-called National Day of Action against fracking was an even bigger bust than we thought it would be (see Here Comes Another “National Day of Action” Against Fracking). In Painesville (Lake County), OH we spot three protesters who put on a skit (creative folks, those radical environmentalist). In Weathersfield Township (Trumbull County), OH we spot five protesters. It was Athens County, OH however where the biggest concentration of nutters was to be found. Upward of 40 protesters gathered near a fracking site in the Torch/Coolville area. The Willis Family reunion had more people in attendance this past summer–but we didn’t spot any news cameras around to record the event. Perhaps if we had held anti-fracking signs we would have been featured on the evening news?…
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    Anti-Drilling MA Attorney General: We Don’t Need No Pipelines

    Is it us, or does it seem like all Democrat politicians have dictatorial aspirations? Obama clearly does. If he doesn’t like what the Constitution says, he just makes up his own Executive Orders–Constitution be damned. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the same–just strip away the Constitutional property rights of everyone in his state by instituting an illegal frack ban. New York’s Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, is the same. He’s abusing his office in an elaborate government shake down of fossil fuel companies like Exxon Mobil–rubbing his hands together at the thought of forcing them to pay him billions. Here’s another prominent Dem to add to the list: Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. She’s appointed herself an expert on whether or not New England needs new natural gas pipelines to carry Marcellus Shale gas to the region. Yes, we know–an Attorney General should have nothing to do with such a decision–but that’s life in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. Healey doesn’t care a whit about the free market or capitalism–she personally wants to control every aspect of the lives of New Englanders. But Dems like Healey know that unless you’re Obama with a group of gutless Republicans in Congress who won’t hold you accountable, you can’t get away with just ruling by fiat. You have to convince (i.e. hoodwink) people. So Healey has to go to the trouble of making things up. Here’s her latest: She just released a “study” to say New England’s electric supply over the next 15 years will be just fine without new natgas supplies to power electric plants–so long as everyone keeps their thermostats turned down to 50 degrees in the winter and layers up with three or four sweaters (that’s always the Dem solution). The study (full copy below) is, of course, a joke. It was created by a group of people with glaring conflicts of interest…
    Read More “Anti-Drilling MA Attorney General: We Don’t Need No Pipelines”

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    Two Top O&G Trade Groups to Merge: ANGA & API

    The low price of oil and natural gas affects more than drillers and landowners–it even affects trade (i.e. advocacy) associations. For months going on years, the scuttlebutt has been that America’s Natural Gas Association (ANGA) might merge with the more flush American Petroleum Institute (API). Yesterday the two organizations announced that indeed they will merge, as of January 1st. Drillers are looking to cut expenses anywhere and everywhere they can–including paying less money to trade associations. This merger was a financial necessity for the relatively young ANGA (founded in 2009)…
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    EPA Chief Says Banning Coal/Oil/Gas on Fed Lands Not “Extreme”

    It shouldn’t surprise us, but it does. Drunk on her own power, Gina McCarthy, Administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, says it’s not a radical or extreme position to ban coal, oil and gas production on federal lands. Do we need any further evidence that the Obama Administration means to harm this country economically? Here she is, Gina McCarthy, in her own radical words…
    Read More “EPA Chief Says Banning Coal/Oil/Gas on Fed Lands Not “Extreme””

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    Marcellus Frack Chemical Plant Near Pittsburgh Goes Up in Flames

    More than 200 firefighters from 20 different fire companies battled a five-alarm fire in the tiny borough of Leetsdale, PA (Pittsburgh metro area) yesterday before getting the fire under control. There was a reported explosion and fire at Lubrizol Corporation’s Oilfield Chemistry site. The company manufactures chemicals used in shale drilling and fracking. Liberals will be conflicted over the news–they’ll be happy that a chemical plant feeding the fracking industry is fried, but the plant is owned by liberal billionaire icon Warren Buffett. So this is a good news/bad news thing for anti-drilling libs. Fortunately no one was killed in the blast and fire. Some 75 nearby homes were evacuated for a few hours and several people received minor injuries…
    Read More “Marcellus Frack Chemical Plant Near Pittsburgh Goes Up in Flames”

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    Marathon Ups Cash Offer for MarkWest 2nd Time – Deal in Trouble?

    For a second time in as many weeks, Marathon Petroleum has increased the amount of cash it’s willing to pay as part of the deal to purchase Marcellus/Utica midstream giant MarkWest Energy. Last week Marathon upped the cash portion of the deal from $675 million to $1.075 billion–a hefty $400 million increase (see Marathon Increases Cash Dowry for MarkWest Buyout by 63%). Yesterday Marathon announced they have increased it again–they’re now willing to pay $1.28 billion in cash, in addition to unit swaps and other financial high jinks in a deal worth $15 billion (initially was worth $20 billion). That is, Marathon has just added another $205 million to the dowry they’re offering. Does the increase have anything to do with former MarkWest CEO John Fox telling everyone MarkWest is crazy for selling itself for such a low price (see Former MarkWest Energy CEO Urges Vote Against Marathon Buyout)? MarkWest is attempting to win a PR battle against Fox. In their announcement about receiving more cash as part of the deal, MarkWest claims three big unitholders (i.e. shareholders) representing a collective 15% of the outstanding units (i.e. shares) say they will vote in favor of the deal. That’s still a long way from 51%. We wonder if this deal is in trouble…
    Read More “Marathon Ups Cash Offer for MarkWest 2nd Time – Deal in Trouble?”

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    New Report Finds Less than 1% of Injection Wells Cause Earthquakes

    One of the news stories that is constantly recycled by anti-drillers and a sycophantic media is that “fracking causes earthquakes.” They intentionally perpetuate a knowing lie because, well, because it’s so effective. Who in their right mind would support an activity that causes earthquakes?! Here’s the thing: Fracking itself has been tied to earthquakes in less than five instances worldwide. Statistically zero. However, wastewater from fracking that’s disposed of via a deep injection well (sometimes called a saltwater well) has caused earthquakes. So antis try to link the two together, blurring the lines and claiming fracking itself is the cause. Our friends at the top notch Energy in Depth has just issued a research paper (full copy below) that quantifies just how often earthquakes are tied to injection wells. What they found is that earthquakes have been tied to (caused by) 218 wastewater injection wells. Know how many injection wells there are in the U.S.? Around 40,000. If you do the math, that’s about one-half of one percent of injection wells cause earthquake problems…
    Read More “New Report Finds Less than 1% of Injection Wells Cause Earthquakes”

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    Virginia Rejects Deal for DC-based Utility to Buy Marcellus Wells

    A Washington, DC-based natural gas utility company, Washington Gas (WGL Holdings), announced in May they had cut a $126 million deal with Energy Corp. of America to purchase a 96% interest in 22 Marcellus Shale gas wells in Greene County, PA and another 3 shale wells in Clearfield County, PA. The gas flowing from those wells would go to WGL’s customers in the State of Virginia, requiring state approval of the deal. The Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC) turned them down and nixed the deal. Why? VSCC said WGL’s assumptions about how much the wells will produce, and about the price of gas over the next 20 years, were not solid. Furthermore, the VSCC didn’t like that WGL is essentially shifting the risk of well production/prices onto the backs of rate payers. More deals like this are rumored to be coming down the pike. Will they get nixed too?…
    Read More “Virginia Rejects Deal for DC-based Utility to Buy Marcellus Wells”