Pipelines

Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Pipelines | Utica Shale

MarkWest to Build $1B OH Utica Dry Gas Gathering System for Ascent
August 13, 2015August 13, 2015

Although it seems there is no end of bad news in drilling company financials right now, here’s a spot of good news: MarkWest Energy, the premier midstream/pipeline company in the Marcellus/Utica (selling itself to Marathon Petroleum), has just announced they are investing $1 billion over the next three years to install a new gathering pipeline system in eastern Ohio–particularly in Belmont and Jefferson counties–mostly for Ascent Resources. Ascent, backed by major investor EMG, was once Aubrey McClendon’s subsidiary company called American Energy Appalachia Holdings that has since broken free of McClendon and American Energy Partners and is now its own 100% standalone company. The MarkWest/Ascent deal is to build a 250-mile pipeline system in the Utica dry gas region that will gather more than 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas not only from Ascent, but also from other producers in the area. Here’s the details from MarkWest…
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Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Hilcorp Enclosing PA Compressor Station to Please the Neighbors
August 13, 2015August 13, 2015

Hilcorp Energy is doing the right thing in Lawrence County, PA. Back in June, MDN told you the story of residents living near a compressor station owned by Hilcorp in Mahoning Township, Lawrence County (see Tackling a Tough Issue: Compressor Stations Near Populated Areas). Residents living near the compressor station said the noise level is intolerable. It took a few months, but Hilcorp has agreed to build a new structure around the compressor station lined with special noise-deadening blankets that should take care of the problem. Kudos to Hilcorp for doing the right thing for the neighbors on Baird Road…
Read More “Hilcorp Enclosing PA Compressor Station to Please the Neighbors”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PennEast Pipeline Launches Public Relations Counteroffensive
August 12, 2015August 12, 2015

PennEast Pipeline, the $1 billion, 114-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline that will deliver 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Marcellus gas fields of northeastern Pennsylvania (in Luzerne County) to southeastern PA and New Jersey (terminating in Mercer County, NJ), continues to fight for its life. Lies are constantly spread in mainstream media about PennEast by Big Green groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and nutty Sierra Clubbers, and their smaller siblings including Stop the PennEast Pipeline and Berks Gas Truth. As we previously reported, one or more antis have crossed the line into criminal behavior (see FBI Investigates Death Threats Against PennEast Pipeline Workers). So PennEast continues to fight the lies and smears with its own public relations efforts, including a meeting with the editorial board of the reliably anti-drilling Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice and the following article/letter issued yesterday by PennEast Chairman Peter Terranova…
Read More “PennEast Pipeline Launches Public Relations Counteroffensive”
Energy Services | Huntingdon County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Sunoco Files Eminent Domain Cases in PA Courts for Mariner East 2
August 12, 2015August 12, 2015

Two days ago MDN told you that Sunoco Logistics Partners had settled, out of court, cases in Harrison and Jefferson counties (Ohio) that will allow the company to build a pair of new pipelines called Mariner East 2 through the area (see Sunoco Settles Case with OH Landowners to Allow Mariner East 2). As we said at the time, Sunoco still faces stiff opposition in other places–particularly in Pennsylvania where the bulk of the pipeline will be built. And sure enough, a new article has popped up about Sunoco LP taking landowners in Washington and Huntingdon counties (PA) to court using eminent domain to gain access to their properties. The problem is, the issue of whether or not Mariner East is a public utility with the right to invoke eminent domain is still an unsettled issue and likely headed to the PA Supreme Court…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Transco

Holy Potatoes & Finnish Immigrants – Latest Tactic to Stop Pipeline
August 11, 2015August 11, 2015

Ever hear the phrase, “diggin’ deep”? That’s what anti-drillers are doing in New Hampshire with their opposition to a pipeline slated to come through their area in Hillsborough County. As plans for Kinder Morgan’s $6 billion Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project that will stretch from Pennsylvania through New York into Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and back into Massachusetts near Boston progress, more and more articles appear in newspapers, like the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, attempting to convince people the pipeline is from Satan himself. In fact, according to the latest article, NED may just be from Satan! The Ledger-Transcript claims the pipeline, if it follows the same route as already-built high voltage electric lines, would cut through a hay field that (151 years ago) used to be a potato field and is the site of a miracle of importance to Seventh-Day Adventists…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Virginia

One US Forest Service Employee Sends Questions to FERC re Pipeline
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

We spotted a story last week published by the Associated Press with a first sentence that begins this way: “The U.S. Forest Service has raised hundreds of concerns about a proposed natural gas pipeline that would carve a 30-mile swath through national forests in Virginia and West Virginia.” The pipeline is Dominion’s $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline from West Virginia into Virginia and onward to North Carolina. We read the story and then dug a bit further. It seems it’s not the monolithic U.S. Forest Service that is questioning the pipeline, but a single U.S. Forest Service worker–H. Thomas Speaks Jr., forest supervisor for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. Mr. Speaks was fed anti-pipeline propaganda from the head of an anti-pipeline organization who is a semi-retired researcher from the University of Virginia–Rick Webb. Webb continues to use his UVA official email account to promote his anti-pipeline viewpoints, implying UVA also opposes the project (see Researcher Uses Official UVA Email to Oppose Dominion Pipeline). We Googled and found a letter from Webb to Speaks which (we assume) include some (many?) of the same talking points Speaks used when submitting his “335 questions, comments and corrections” to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with regard to running a pipeline through 30 miles of the George Washington and Monongahela national forests…
Read More “One US Forest Service Employee Sends Questions to FERC re Pipeline”
Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Settles Case with OH Landowners to Allow Mariner East 2
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

Sunoco Logistics Partners still has an uphill battle to get certain communities to approve pump and valve stations for the Mariner East 1 and 2 pipelines, but is making progress (see Sunoco Reconciles Differences with Municipalities re Mariner East). Sunoco can cross off one problem area in Harrison and Jefferson counties (in Ohio) with respect to the Mariner East 2 set of pipelines. A group of landowners in those two counties have just settled with Sunoco out of court for 50-foot-wide permanent easements the company will place on their property to build the second set of Mariner pipelines. What happened is that the landowners (wisely) held out and got more money out of Sunoco. Everyone is now happy–the landowners get a better (more reasonable) price for permanent easements, and Sunoco is that much closer to beginning construction on the next Mariner project…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Washington County

New $3M Electric Line for MarkWest Compressor in Robinson Twp, PA
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

West Penn Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., is building a new $3 million electric transmission line in Washington County, PA to aide the Marcellus industry. The new electric line, running 1.3 miles in Robinson Township, will connect to a MarkWest compressor station due to be built (see Robinson Twp Delays MarkWest Compressor, Approval Coming Soon). According to FirstEnergy, they will spend close to $50 million on new electric transimission line projects in support of the Marcellus gas industry in western PA over the next three years…
Read More “New $3M Electric Line for MarkWest Compressor in Robinson Twp, PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY

NY Antis Set to Protest Constitution Pipeline in Albany, NY Tomorrow
August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

New York’s anti-drillers are preparing yet another protest in Albany, NY–this time to oppose the already-permitted Constitution Pipeline. The Constitution, you may recall, is a 125-mile pipeline that will stretch from the gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA into New York, to Schoharie County. It is a critically needed pipeline to get Cabot’s natural gas in Susquehanna County to markets throughout the northeast and New England. Recently Cabot CEO Dan Dinges said he expects construction will begin this fall (see Cabot Says Constitution Pipeline Construction to Begin this Fall). That comment sent the nutters into orbit–because they are on the cusp of losing their first major battle. The only one thing that remains before Constitution’s bulldozers and backhoes start their work is for the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to issue 401 Water Quality Certificates to allow the Constitution to lay pipe through and under swamps, creeks and other bodies of water. Everything else is permitted and ready. So anti-drillers will hold a rally as a show of force against the Constitution–tomorrow, in Albany. We sincerely hope pro-drillers will turn out in a counter-rally…
Read More “NY Antis Set to Protest Constitution Pipeline in Albany, NY Tomorrow”
Accidents | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Tioga County (PA)

Sad Day: Pipeline Worker Killed in Tioga County, PA Accident
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

It’s always a sad day when MDN has to report on the death of a worker related to the Marcellus/Utica Shale. On Tuesday, Ricky Dettman was operating a bulldozer on a steep grade in Tioga County, PA working on installing a pipeline for Energy Transfer Partners when the bulldozer rolled over, several times, killing Ricky. We’re not sure exactly which pipeline project it is Ricky was working on, but its a 36-inch pipeline (a big pipeline) that will flow Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, according to the PR agency working for ETP. Below are four news accounts of the accident. They all have slightly different accounts, including a discrepancy on Ricky’s age–he was either 54 or 55 years-old. Ricky hailed from Nebraska…
Read More “Sad Day: Pipeline Worker Killed in Tioga County, PA Accident”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Spectra Energy Provides Important Update for NE Pipeline Projects
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

Spectra Energy, a major pipeline company with major operations existing and planned for the northeast, issued its second quarter 2015 update yesterday. For this review we’re leaving behind the financial talk. The thing that caught our eye is an update on Spectra’s pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica. In the update they tell us about the Uniontown to Gas City project, the OPEN project, the AIM project in New England, the NEXUS project, the Lebanon Extension project, the $3 billion Access Northeast project and several others. Across all of their pipeline projects, both in the northeast and elsewhere, Spectra Energy has an astounding $20 billion worth of projects currently in the works. By the end of this decade (by 2020) they will have spent an eye-popping $35 billion on new pipeline projects. Let’s get right into the good stuff–updates on important northeast pipeline projects in the Spectra portfolio…
Read More “Spectra Energy Provides Important Update for NE Pipeline Projects”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Logistics has Best Quarter Ever, Thanks to Marcellus NGLs
August 6, 2015August 6, 2015

In contrast to the bad news we read in quarterly report after quarterly report for exploration and production (E&P) companies, i.e. “drillers”, it’s a starkly different story for some pipeline companies. Take Sunoco Logistics Partners, for example. Sunoco LP’s second quarter 2015 update boasts record earnings for 2Q15. That is, Sunoco LP made and distributed more profit to shareholders in 2Q15 than ever before. What was the “key contributor” to their growth, according to Sunoco LP’s CEO? The company’s three NGL (natural gas liquids) pipelines: Mariner West, Mariner South and Mariner East 1. Both the Mariner West & East pipelines are located in the Marcellus/Utica region. In addition to the rosy financial picture, we learn in the 2Q15 update that Sunoco LP has decided that the Mariner East II project will be two pipelines. We previously told you of Sunoco’s “tentative” plans to build two Mariner 2 pipelines (see Mariner East 2 Giving Birth to Twin Pipelines). Judging from the language in the Q215 update, tentative is sounding a lot more like definite…
Read More “Sunoco Logistics has Best Quarter Ever, Thanks to Marcellus NGLs”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Summit County

NEXUS Pipeline Sends Armed Guards with Surveyors to Protect Them
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

The City of Green (Summit County), OH is proudly working to prevent a much-needed pipeline, the NEXUS pipeline, from crossing through any of its residents’ properties. Proudly ignorant, we’d day. It’s a shame, but these days workers doing their job–surveying for a pipeline–are sometimes threatened (see FBI Investigates Death Threats Against PennEast Pipeline Workers and Medina, OH Landowner Says He’ll Meet NEXUS Surveyors Packing Heat). So some pipeline companies, like NEXUS, now send armed security guards out with surveyors and pipeline workers–to protect them. City of Green officials seem to imply the armed guards are there to intimidate residents who don’t want to allow a survey of their property. Not true. The guards are there to protect the surveyors who feel threatened for simply taking measurements for a pipeline. What has this world come to?…
Read More “NEXUS Pipeline Sends Armed Guards with Surveyors to Protect Them”
CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

UGI Provides Update on PennEast & Other New PA Pipeline Projects
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

During the AmeriGas Partners quarterly analyst conference call yesterday, Pennsylvania utility giant UGI Corporation CEO John Walsh gave an update on several projects of interest for those in the PA Marcellus Shale. Oh! We should point out AmeriGas is the country’s largest propane company and a subsidiary of PA-based UGI, which is why Walsh was on the call. And what did he say? Walsh provided an update on UGI’s $60 million project to build a new LNG production plant in Wyoming County, PA (see UGI Building LNG Plant in NEPA, Local Marcellus Gas to Feed It). He also spoke in glowing terms about the PennEast Pipeline and how he sees that project unfolding (it should be operational by late 2017). Walsh also updated analysts on several pending pipeline projects that will feed electric plants being built in the Marcellus. Here’s what he said yesterday…
Read More “UGI Provides Update on PennEast & Other New PA Pipeline Projects”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Grimm’s Fairy Tales: Rural PA Pipelines Pose “Hidden Risks”
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

Another anti-pipeline screed from PBS reporter Susan Phillips at the taxpayer-funded StateImpact Pennsylvania website. This is another propaganda piece in a series meant to smear the superb safety record of pipelines, which happen to be the safest form of transportation on earth (see StateImpact: PA Pipelines “Risky” & “Mystery” – Might Kill ‘Ya Too). The latest “pipelines will kill ‘ya” fairy tale begins this way…
Read More “Grimm’s Fairy Tales: Rural PA Pipelines Pose “Hidden Risks””
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Small Group Shows Up to Speak Against NED Pipeline in Dracut, MA
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

If you were to glance at the headline and first graf (“paragraph” for those not in the publishing industry where we use a lot of lingo) of a story in the liberal Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, you would think there is a huge, crushing, mammoth, tidal wave (!) of opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project–certainly by people in the Dracut, MA area and possibly by almost every MA citizen in the commonwealth with the exception of a few freakish conservatives who may happen to still live in the state. The headline in yesterday’s issue blares: “In Dracut, public unloads on gas pipeline plan.” The first graf details all of the nightmares that will come true if the pipeline is built: “From the impact on crop yields and watersheds to diminishing property values and the demise of the eastern brook trout, elected officials and citizens from across the commonwealth aired their concerns about the proposed Kinder Morgan natural-gas pipeline before a state regulatory board Monday night.” It’s not til near the end of the second graf you discover there were maybe 100 people who showed up to the meeting–and since it’s a liberal rag with a tendency to inflate the numbers, that means there were actually 50-75 people who showed up to gripe and moan about the pipeline…
Read More “Small Group Shows Up to Speak Against NED Pipeline in Dracut, MA”