Ohio

Deep Well Services | Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Guernsey County | Ohio

PA’s Deep Well Services Helped Drill World’s Longest Shale Well
October 20, 2017October 20, 2017

In June MDN brought you the news that Eclipse Resources had drilled yet another world record-breaking shale well in the Ohio Utica (see Eclipse Breaks Record Again – New Longest Shale Well in World!). Eclipse drilled the Outlaw C 11H in Guernsey County, a Utica well that is an incredible 19,588 feet long horizontally (total measured depth of 27,739 feet). That’s 3.7 miles long–all nearly two miles deep underground. It is an engineering marvel. And it’s not the first record-breaking well they’ve drilled. Eclipse holds the previous two records for world’s longest horizontal wells, drilling the Purple Hayes, 18,500 feet long (see Eclipse Res. 1Q16: Drills Longest Shale Well Ever! “Purple Hayes”), and then the Great Scott 3H well, 19,300 feet long (see Great Scott! Eclipse Drills New Longest Lateral in World – in Utica). All three of Eclipse’s “longest ever” shale wells are located in Guernsey County. Eclipse didn’t drill those wells all by itself. The company had help. One of the key partners assisting in all three world record-breaking projects is Deep Well Services, a Pennsylvania-based “snubbing” company. We’ve written about DWS before (see our stories here). DWS has just issued a press release to talk about their “significant role” in Eclipse’s record-breaking Outlaw well…
Read More “PA’s Deep Well Services Helped Drill World’s Longest Shale Well”
Belmont County | Braskem | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global | West Virginia | Wood County

Locals Pumped About OH Cracker; WV Cracker Still Not Dead
October 20, 2017October 20, 2017

Belmont County Port Authority Director Larry Merry says he “can’t think of a single reason” why PTT Global Chemical won’t build a promised $6 billion ethane cracker facility in Dilles Bottom. Mike Jacoby, VP of business development for the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth concurs, saying he is “optimistic” and sees “no problems” ahead for the PTT cracker. In addition to locals in Ohio pumped about the PTT cracker and the promised final investment decision by the end of this year, there is still hope for a cracker plant in West Virginia too. WV officials say Braskem is still expressing interest in a cracker project in the Parkersburg area. Here’s some of the chitter-chatter among pumped-up officials attending a forum last month in Wheeling, WV…
Read More “Locals Pumped About OH Cracker; WV Cracker Still Not Dead”
Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Marcellus/Utica Gas “Briefly Trapped” by Tetco Pipeline Outage
October 17, 2017October 17, 2017

Canadian company Enbridge owns the mighty Texas Eastern Transmission Company (Tetco) pipeline system in the U.S. Last Wednesday, as workers were installing test equipment along the line in Noble County, OH, the workers noticed soil around the pipeline moving around. Not a good situation. So they shut off the flow of gas through that section of the pipeline, south of the Berne compressor station in Noble County. That portion of the pipeline went from flowing 1.6 to 2.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day (depending on the news source), down to flowing zero. The situation was investigated and the pipeline returned to service on Sunday, Oct 15th. In the meantime, from the 11th to the 15th, Tetco declared the situation “force majeure”–meaning “due to circumstances beyond our control we have to shut it off.” We assume force majeure was declared because shippers who wanted to move gas through the pipeline, and buyers on the other end, were screwed for a few days. Shippers lost money from gas they could have sold and buyers had to scramble to try and find other sources to meet demand. Economic losses for both. We’re guessing declaring force majeure lets Tetco off the hook legally for any potential monetary damages its customers experienced during the outage…
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Gas “Briefly Trapped” by Tetco Pipeline Outage”
Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Mountaineer NGL Storage | NGLs | Ohio

Mountaineer NGL Says 20 Drillers Interested in Ethane Storage
October 17, 2017October 17, 2017

For some time we’ve had our eye on a project to store ethane in underground caverns in Ohio. Mountaineer NGL Storage wants to build a new underground NGL storage facility in Monroe County, Ohio, near Clarington, along the Ohio River (see New Company Announces Open Season for NGL Storage in Ohio Utica). As we reported in April, the company need customers to sign up to use the facility–a minimum of 1 million barrels of storage would get it going (see More Clarity on Status of Mountaineer NGL Storage Facility in OH). Mountaineer still needs to build a 3.25 million barrel brine pond, used to pump out the stored NGLs. Mountaineer is waiting for a clearance from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources to build the pond, which (in June) we said would likely to take “a few more months.” Strike that. The CEO of the project recently said he now does not expect to get those permits until “first or second quarter of next year” (see Mountaineer NGL Storage Project Delayed Until 2018). Mountaineer CEO David Hooker recently spoke at the Utica Summit V in North Canton. Here’s the latest he shared about this important project…
Read More “Mountaineer NGL Says 20 Drillers Interested in Ethane Storage”
Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

Utica Summit V: Investment in Utica Hits $55B, Petchem a Big Deal
October 12, 2017October 12, 2017

Yesterday Utica Summit V was held in North Canton, OH. MDN could not, unfortunately, attend. But others did and the reports we’re reading indicate it was another great event. Two major news items of interest came from the event. The first was the results of a recent economic study that show an amazing $54.7 billion has been invested in the Utica Shale play from 2012-2016, across upstream ($42.7 billion), midstream ($8.6 billion) and downstream ($3.4 billion). In a surprise statement, the report’s author said, “the biggest impact of the Utica may be the development of gas-fired power plants in Ohio and surrounding states.” The second news item was a big emphasis at the event on the downstream–on the really big deal the petrochemical industry is and will be for Ohio and surrounding states. Presenters made the point that some manufacturers in Ohio were cut off from plastics supplies from the Gulf Coast after the recent hurricanes to hit that area–and that with the Shell and potentially PTT Global cracker plants coming along, manufacturers in the region change where they source their supply of raw plastics. In fact, the petchem industry will explode in Appalachia. All thanks to the Utica (and Marcellus) and the ethane produced. Here’s a pair of reports from yesterday’s event…
Read More “Utica Summit V: Investment in Utica Hits $55B, Petchem a Big Deal”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH

NEXUS Cleared to Begin Construction, Rover Cleared to Restart HDD
October 12, 2017October 12, 2017

Permission granted grunge rubber stamp on white, vector illustration

Important pipeline news for the Utica Shale. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave permission to NEXUS Pipeline–a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada–to begin construction. This is a momentous day! NEXUS had previously requested FERC allow it to begin by Tuesday, Oct. 10th (see NEXUS Pipe Seeks to Begin Construction Oct 10; List of Contractors). FERC was a day late, but certainly not a dollar short. We expect by the time you read this, some of the bulldozers and backhoes will already be fired up and working. What oh what will the antis do now (see CORNballs, Sierra Club Continue to Fight NEXUS Pipeline in Court)? The second bit of good news also from yesterday from FERC–Rover Pipeline is allowed to restart underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) at another four sites where such activity has been halted since May of this year. Rover has still not received permission to restart HDD drilling at the spot along the Tuscarawas River where they spilled 2 million gallons of drilling mud (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). However, Rover remains confident they will complete the entire project $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline running from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan by the end of this year…
Read More “NEXUS Cleared to Begin Construction, Rover Cleared to Restart HDD”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus/Utica Rig Count Race Tightens: OH Count Closes in on PA
October 11, 2017October 11, 2017

It’s been a few months since we’ve brought you news about the monthly average for Baker Hughes’ venerable rig count–largely because after GE completed it’s merger with Baker Hughes they quit issuing monthly press releases from their website! We spotted a story in the Pittsburgh Business Times that talks about Ohio coming close to parity in their rig count with Pennsylvania–which is a really big deal–and the reasons for it. That story sent us looking for the latest rig count numbers and indeed, it’s true. As of September, PA averaged 33 shale rigs in operation, while OH averaged 29–the closest we’ve ever seen it. If you look at the counts for last week (BH does a weekly rig count too), the numbers are even closer: PA with 31 rigs, OH with 29. We don’t typically monitor the weekly counts as they always fluctuate up and down–better to look at monthly averages. But the fact remains that PA has been pretty steady, operating between 32 and 34 rigs per month since January of this year, while OH has gone from operating an average of 20 rigs in January to 29 last month, and West Virginia has gone from operating an average of 8 rigs in January to 15 rigs last month (nearly doubling). Yet PA is static. Is there an explanation? Some experts think there is, and it can be explained in a single word: pipelines…
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Rig Count Race Tightens: OH Count Closes in on PA”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH Congressman Intros Impact Fee for Counties with WNF Drilling
October 11, 2017October 11, 2017

Congressman Bill Johnson

Congressman Bill Johnson, Republican from Ohio’s 6th District, has introduced a bill to compensate counties that contain federal lands, if those lands are drilled for oil and gas. Johnson’s bill, titled Providing Opportunities With Energy Revenues (or POWER) Counties Act (copy below), would siphon off a portion of any royalties paid to the federal government for federal lands that are drilled, sending that money back to the counties where the drilling takes place. Although Johnson and those supporting the bill don’t call it an impact fee, that’s exactly what it is. In Pennsylvania instead of a severance tax, legislators passed Act 13 (in 2012) which contains and impact fee. With PA’s impact fee (roughly the same thing as a severance tax), 60% of the fee raised stays with local counties and municipalities, while 40% goes to the black hole of Harrisburg where it disappears into statewide spending (mainly Philadelphia). It has been a hugely successful model–better than a severance tax. Johnson’s proposed law is not a tax, but reallocates money from existing royalties paid to the federal government for drilling on federal lands. In Ohio, the only federal land where drilling takes place is Wayne National Forest–so those counties where there is WNF drilling would get some extra cash to help out with road repairs, first responders, etc. The brilliance of the plan is that it doesn’t impose any new taxes–it simply reallocates who gets what from the existing revenue stream. Johnson says, “it is a simple issue of fairness”…
Read More “OH Congressman Intros Impact Fee for Counties with WNF Drilling”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Mahoning County | Ohio

OH Supreme Court Blocks Youngstown Frack Ban Ballot Measure
October 10, 2017October 10, 2017

In July MDN told you that puppets of the PA-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) have once again gotten enough signatures to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights (i.e. frack ban) ballot measure on the ballot this November in Youngstown, Ohio for a 7th time (see Youngstown Frack Ban Vote on November Ballot – for 7th Time). The same people have tried six times before–and the ballot measure failed every single time. However, as we pointed out, this time is different. In addition to the usual no fracking, no pipelines pablum, this 7th petition has language that makes it legal to break the law. If the ballot measure were to pass, and if an anti got it into her head to sit in front of a bulldozer that was about to clear ground for a wellpad, or dig a trench for a pipeline, the police would not be able to arrest and remove the anti. It would be within her rights to sit there and block legal, legitimate activity–all in the name of saving the planet. It would, in essence, legalize mob rule. In September the Mahoning County Board of Elections voted to NOT allow measure on the ballot in November (see Mahoning County Bans Frack Ban Measure from Nov Ballot in Youngstown). Using the deep pockets of the CELDF, antis appealed the rejection to the Ohio Supreme Court. It didn’t take the Supremes long. They ruled last Friday to uphold the Mahoning County Board of Elections decision to not allow the measure on the November ballot. However, it was a close vote, 4-3, and likely means more litigation will follow in the future…
Read More “OH Supreme Court Blocks Youngstown Frack Ban Ballot Measure”
Electrical Generation | Guernsey County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County

Ohio Approves 2 Utica-Fired Power Plants in Guernsey, Trumbull Counties
October 9, 2017October 9, 2017

Last week the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) approved two new Utica-gas powered electric plants, and authorized the expansion of a third plant to a bigger size. The OPSB approved the Guernsey Power Station–a new Utica/Marcellus natural gas-fired electric generating plant proposed for (surprise!) Guernsey County, OH (see New Utica-Powered Electric Plant Proposed for Guernsey County, OH). OPSB also approved the Trumbull Energy Center project, a new plant proposed by Clean Energy Future for (surprise!) Trumbull County (see Details on Newly Announced Trumbull Energy Center Electric Plant). That second one may or may not sound familiar. Clean Energy is already building an electric generating plant in Trumbull County–in Lordstown, called the Lordstown Energy Center (see Lordstown Energy Center Breaks Ground on $890M Electric Plant). Clean Energy proposed building a second plant right next to the first one (see Details on Newly Announced Trumbull Energy Center Electric Plant). We suppose Clean Energy could have called the second plant Lordstown Energy Center II, but instead they elected to call it Trumbull Energy Center. Two plants, side by side, built by the same company–now approved by OPSB. The OPSB also approved a request by Clean Energy to expand the already-under-construction Lordstown plant, from 800 megawatts to 940 megawatts. Here’s the lowdown on what got approved, and where it’s all located…
Read More “Ohio Approves 2 Utica-Fired Power Plants in Guernsey, Trumbull Counties”
Carroll County | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation

Rover Pipe Nearly Doubles Flow with Addition of Carroll, OH Compressor
October 9, 2017October 9, 2017

Fire it up! On Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted Energy Transfer permission to fire up the three units that make up the Carroll County Compressor Station (called Compressor Station 1) that helps compress and flow natural gas through the mighty Rover Pipeline. According to the letter from FERC authorizing the startup of the compressor station, FERC is authorizing “partial” service to commence. Since ET wanted to start the station on Friday, we expect the plant is by now up and running. The effect will be dramatic. According to stats released by NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence), which has an excellent Rover Tracker application on their website (see Friday’s version here), Rover has been flowing around 680 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of Utica/Marcellus gas. With the addition of the Carroll County compressor station, that number will nearly double–to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Cool! Here’s the details of how Rover’s capacity just nearly doubled with the addition of a single compressor station…
Read More “Rover Pipe Nearly Doubles Flow with Addition of Carroll, OH Compressor”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH

NEXUS Pipe Seeks to Begin Construction Oct 10; List of Contractors
October 4, 2017October 4, 2017

NEXUS Pipeline map – click for larger version

Something just now coming to light. Last week NEXUS Pipeline sent a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting that it be allowed to begin construction of the pipeline “on or before” Tuesday, October 10th. That’s next Tuesday, folks! NEXUS is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. NEXUS received final approval for the project from FERC in August, the first major pipeline to get approved following a newly restored quorum at FERC (see New FERC Quorum Votes Final Approval for NEXUS Pipeline). Two weeks ago one of the final remaining hurdles came down when the Ohio EPA granted a water permit for the project (see Ohio EPA Grants Water Permit to NEXUS Pipe, “Learned” from Rover). The project still faces court challenges (see CORNballs, Sierra Club Continue to Fight NEXUS Pipeline in Court), however, those challenges are long-shots. Given that all permits have been issued, last Thursday NEXUS sent FERC a request to begin construction (see the request below). As part of the request, the contractors that will build the pipeline were named. We’ve pulled those names into a handy list, for those looking for jobs and those who want to sell goods and services to the companies actually building the pipeline…
Read More “NEXUS Pipe Seeks to Begin Construction Oct 10; List of Contractors”
Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

PTT Global Signs Memorandum with Ohio re Belmont Ethane Cracker
October 4, 2017October 4, 2017

On Monday, Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, president and CEO of PTT Global Chemical (Thailand’s largest petrochemical company) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with JobsOhio regarding PTT’s proposed ethane cracker plant. The MOU pledges to “enhance the well-being and quality of life” for those living in the area near the proposed cracker plant. PTT announced in April 2015 they are interested in building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). Since that time, all of the signs have been positive. PTT has said a final investment decision will be forthcoming by the end of this year. The MOU signing ceremony on Monday is yet more evidence that this project will happen. The ceremony itself is kind of interesting. It was not held in Ohio–but in Washington, D.C. where a trade delegation from Thailand was visiting (Punmeechaow was part of the delegation). So John Minor, president of JobsOhio, traveled to D.C. for the signing ceremony, which was held in what we can only describe as a garage…
Read More “PTT Global Signs Memorandum with Ohio re Belmont Ethane Cracker”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

Sales Tax Revenue in OH Counties with Utica Shale Soars
October 3, 2017October 3, 2017

New research done by our friends at Energy in Depth has found that sales tax revenue generated by Ohio’s top eight Utica Shale counties–Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe and Noble–rose 45% from 2011 to 2016, while sales tax revenue in the state’s other 80 counties rose an average of 30%. That is, shale counties (collectively) brought in 15% more revenue into both county and state coffers than non-shale counties. Ohio levies a 6.75% sales tax on goods sold. Of that, 5.75% goes into the state budget (the black hole in Columbus), while 1% stays in the county budget. Conclusion: shale is helping to fund the entire state. That is, all state residents benefit from the shale industry in Ohio, in a very tangible way. Here’s the update from EID showing how shale counties are outperforming non-shale counties in the Buckeye State…
Read More “Sales Tax Revenue in OH Counties with Utica Shale Soars”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Summit County

Green, OH Spends Big $ on 2 Appeals in Bid to Stop NEXUS Pipeline
October 2, 2017October 2, 2017

Back in May MDN told you about the antis running the City of Green, Ohio (see Green, OH Paying Lawyers $100K to Fund Stop NEXUS Crusade). Green City Council voted to use $100,000 of taxpayer money to hire a Cleveland law firm to file a lawsuit “aimed at stopping the pipeline from being built or stopping the project altogether.” Looks like the law firm is earning at least some of that considerable amount (total bill so far: $67,367). The strategy the lawyers have adopted and now implemented is to file two appeals–one with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the other with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s appeals board. The Green antis hope one or both will throw up a roadblock to slow, and ultimately stop, the NEXUS Pipeline from getting built. NEXUS, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada, was the first major pipeline project to get approved after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) once again had a quorum (see New FERC Quorum Votes Final Approval for NEXUS Pipeline). Less than two weeks ago the Ohio EPA issued a federal water permit for the project (see Ohio EPA Grants Water Permit to NEXUS Pipe, “Learned” from Rover). Green is asking OEPA to reconsider their action in issuing the permit. Here’s the latest in the ongoing war against fossil fuels…
Read More “Green, OH Spends Big $ on 2 Appeals in Bid to Stop NEXUS Pipeline”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | NGLs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Shale Insight 2017 – Day One News Roundup
September 28, 2017September 28, 2017

MDN is once again attending the Shale Insight event–in Pittsburgh. Yesterday was the first day of the event. The crowd was definitely smaller than last year when then-candidate Trump spoke to attendees. However, Day One saw a number of heavy-hitting speakers, including Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, XTO Energy President Sara Ortwein, Chevron Appalachia President Stacey Olson, and People’s Natural Gas CEO Morgan O’Brien. Marcellus Shale Coalition President Dave Spigelmyer served as master of ceremonies and seemed to be everywhere-present during the event (how does he DO that?). From the opening session to the exhibit floor to attending the breakout sessions, MDN editor Jim Willis made the rounds–and took lots of notes. In the coming days he will write up those notes and share them. For now, we have links and extracts of articles from other publications attending and reporting on this year’s Shale Insight…
Read More “Shale Insight 2017 – Day One News Roundup”