NEXUS Pipeline Tax Bonanza: $33M in Tax Rev for Single OH County
How often have you read that pipelines are “private companies” and solely created for “corporate greed”–not benefiting landowners all that much, and certainly not benefiting the communities through which they pass. All take, no give. We read those kinds of nonsense statements in so-called mainstream media all the time. False allegations. Fake news. Here’s some real news: One pipeline–the planned 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–will generate ~$33 million in tax revenue over five years for a single county along its route–Columbiana County, OH. That’s tax money going to a local school district, multiple townships and other local government entities. How’s that for “this pipeline doesn’t benefit anyone but the company that owns it”? This story rips the facade off anti arguments that pipelines don’t benefit anyone but corporate greedsters…
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This morning Carrizo Oil & Gas announced it has sold “substantially all” of its Utica Shale assets, located primarily in Guernsey County, OH, for a grand total of $62 million. The Carrizo website says the company owns 25,900 acres in the Utica. Do the math, and if they sold all 25,900 acres for $62 million it works out to a relatively low $2,394 per acre–essentially a fire sale compared with lease prices in that area which are double that amount. Once upon a time Carrizo had big plans for the Utica. They (wisely) sold off their northern Utica acreage and retained their southern acreage in 2012 (see 
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has just issued production numbers for the second quarter of 2017. In a pattern that keeps repeating, oil production was down in 2Q17, down 17% from the same quarter in 2016. However, that’s an improvement from 1Q17 when oil production was down 29% from the year before, and 4Q16 when oil production was down 44% from the year before. So oil is down, percentage-wise, but down less than last quarter. The good news continues to be natural gas production, which was up 16% over the same period in 2016. In 1Q17 natgas production was up 13% over the same period in 2016. Eclipse Resources once again dominated with four of the top 5 spots on the natural gas production list, all of those wells drilled in Monroe County. Ascent Resources continued to dominate oil production with 17 of the top 25 most productive wells. Eclipse had the #2 most productive oil well, the first time the record-breaking Purple Hayes (at one time the longest on-shore lateral well in the world) has slipped from it’s #1 spot since it went online in 2016. Below we have the ODNR’s high level overview of the numbers, along with MDN’s own exclusive analysis showing: the top 25 producing gas wells, the top 25 producing oil wells, and then the top 25 gas and oil wells as ranked by average production per day. There is a difference…
The president of the company looking to build the Mountaineer NGL Storage facility in Monroe County, Ohio, near Clarington, along the Ohio River says operating the facility close to the Ohio River is safe and “is not rocket science.” Last week West Virginia University researchers released a report that the Marcellus/Utica region needs an ethane storage hub (see today’s companion story, WVU Appalachia Ethane Storage Hub Final Report – We Need it Bad). Most of the talk has been about a massive, $10 billion ethane storage facility to help feed cracker plants and other petrochemical facilities that will locate in our region. At the meeting last week, David Hooker, president of Energy Storage Ventures which wants to build the Mountaineer NGL Storage facility, made the point that his company is already working on what will likely be multiple NGL storage facilities. MDN has been following the Mountaineer NGL project. At least check in June, Mountaineer still needs customers to sign up, and they need more regulatory approvals from Ohio (see 
We’re always on the lookout for news about a final investment decision by PTT Global Chemical to build a $5 billion ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH. Recently PTT spent $13.8 million to buy 168 acres at the proposed cracker plant site (see 
E2 Energy Services, which operates numerous natural gas processing facilities in the Marcellus/Utica, has just recapitalized “through an equity commitment from Tailwater Capital.” MDN first heard of E2 back in October 2014 when EnLink Midstream transferred ownership (“dropped down”) its investment in E2 Appalachian Compression, LLC and E2 Energy Services, LLC from one EnLink corporate entity to another (see 
Anti fossil fuelers committed to stopping (NOT rerouting) the newly approved NEXUS Pipeline in Ohio continue to pin their hopes on a meritless lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
The University of Cincinnati (UC) has now used $470,000 of taxpayer money for three research studies (over the past four years) to study the health effects of Utica Shale fracking. One of the studies dealing with ambient air pollution (published in March 2015) had such major errors the authors retracted it in June 2016 (see 
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (RINO) promised, five years ago, to allow shale drilling on state-owned forests and parks. He promptly then reneged on his promise. The way Kasich blocked drilling was to refuse adding new members to the Oil and Gas Commission, charged with approving potential drillers on state land. Kasich created a de facto moratorium that prevents fracking on state-owned land. In May of this year, Republican legislators, tired of Kasich’s recalcitrance, added a “little-noticed provision” in the state budget deal that will give the legislature, and not the governor, the power to select members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission (see 
Two new members added to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Trump (Neil Chatterjee and Rob Powelson), added to the Obama-appointed member (Cheryl LaFleur) have not wasted any time in authorizing their first major pipeline project as a group. Last week the trio voted to approve the first major pipeline project since a quorum has been reestablished–NEXUS, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. On August 4th, NEXUS, which is a jointly owned project between DTE Energy and Spectra Energy (now part of Enbridge), sent a letter to the new FERC quorum urging fast action (see 
Duke Energy needs to replace an aging pipeline, built in the 1950s, near Cincinnati, OH–or some people in Cincy will have to go without natural gas. Duke has proposed a 13-mile, 20-inch pipeline along two potential routes. Both routes are opposed by antis, including a group calling themselves NOPE–Neighbors Opposing Pipeline Extension. We call them DOPEs–Dummies Opposing Pipeline Extensions. Will the DOPEs volunteer to shut off the natural gas to their homes and businesses if the pipeline doesn’t get built? Not on your life! The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) held two public hearings in April, to grant anti-pipeliners the opportunity to vent (see 
Exactly one week ago MDN brought you the exclusive news of WHO is selling a bunch of conventional wells and leases (and pipelines) located in West Virginia, Ohio and Virginia to Carbon Natural Resources (see 
Work is now underway on Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA. What’s the status of the region’s second likely cracker plant, in Ohio? PTT Global Chemical previously announced they are interested in building a $5 billion petrochemical complex, including an ethane cracker, in Belmont County, OH at the site of the old R.E. Burger power plant. However, they have repeatedly said a “final investment decision” (FID) will not happen until the end of 2017. This is the same routine Shell used. In fact, Shell dragged out their FID a lot longer than PTT has. As with Shell, we look for signals that the FID will be a positive decision to move forward with construction. And as with Shell, we see those positive signs. Shell purchased the land for the site before announcing their FID. As we told you last month, PTT has now done the same–buying the former R.E. Burger site from FirstEnergy for $13.8 million (see 
Rover is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. While Phase 1A of the pipeline is essentially done and ready to begin service by the end of this month (see