New 870 MW Gas-Fired Electric Plant in NW Ohio Begins Operation
Ohio Gov. John Kasich officiated at a ceremony to launch a new Utica gas-fired electric generating plant in Oregon (Lucas County), near Toledo, yesterday. CME Energy’s Oregon Clean Energy Center plant will generate 870-megawatts of electricity, enough to power 700,000 homes. The plant cost $900 million to build and employed close to 1,000 people during construction (which began in Nov. 2014). Engineering firm Black & Veatch built the plant for CME. This is the first of 10 new Utica-fired projects either under construction or planned (see List of 10 Utica-Powered Electric Plant Projects Coming to Ohio). Gov. Kasich was jazzed about the new plant, calling it “the future” and “a big deal.” Indeed it is! The Oregon Clean Energy Center plant is “one of the most technologically advanced natural gas plants in the country.” Let’s pop a cork on the champagne bottle and join the celebration…
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We always find it sad when a company builds a manufacturing plant in another country, closing one here at home (and firing the people who worked there). Such is the case in Carroll County, OH. Automotive supplier dlhBowles recently opened a 280,000-square-foot assembly plant in Reynosa, Mexico–and closed a plant in Carroll County. The company manufactures things like hoses and nozzles for windshield washer systems. Reynosa says closing the Carroll plant and laying off the 94 people who worked there is not “directly related” to opening the Mexico plant. Right. But officials in Carroll aren’t bitter. They believe the Utica Shale and various pipelines running through the area will result in new plastics companies (and other types of companies in the downstream) locating in Carroll. Buh bye Reynosa. Hello new manufacturers with the foresight and intelligence to set up shop in red-hot eastern Ohio…
The Utica Shale’s economic impact on Ohio has been nothing short of “staggering.” In fact the shale revolution has fundamentally changed the United States over the past 10 years. But nowhere is it more obvious than in the Buckeye State. Our friends at Energy in Depth have assembled the results of several research studies of just how much shale has impacted Ohio, and summarized it in a handy infographic download (below). The short version is this: through the first quarter of 2016, if you add the number all up thus far, the “upstream” (drilling) industry in Ohio has invested a whopping $39.2 billion. Amazing! But that’s not all. The “midstream” (pipeline) industry has invested $13.7 billion. But wait! There’s more! The downstream (petrochemicals) industry has invested, so far, $15.3 billion. And there’s far more downstream investment coming, especially if/when PTT Global Chemical decides to move forward with building a $5 billion ethane cracker facility in Belmont County. When you add it all up, the Utica industry has invested $68.2 billion SO FAR. And that’s all private money–not taxpayer money. In fact, millions of dollars have flowed into communities from taxes on the industry. It’s truly hard to put into words just how big a deal this is…
The CORNballs of Ohio are not happy campers in their quest to try and shut down the $2 billion, 255-mile NEXUS interstate natural gas pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. CORN stands for Coalition to Reroute NEXUS. CORNballs is what we affectionately call the group–as a way of pointing out their nutty real purpose, which is to try and shut the NEXUS project down. Their aim has nothing to do with “rerouting” and everything to do with shutting it down. In May 2017, the CORNballs revealed their true colors when they filed a lawsuit in federal court in Akron, OH (see 
It looks like the trouble Vienna Investments tried to make for Clean Energy Future in wanting to build a second natural gas-fired electric generating plant in the same office park where the first is being built (near a building owned by Vienna) has amounted to nothing. Bupkis. The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) held a public hearing at the local high school in July, to accept public comments on the second power plant (see 
Those opposing two major Energy Transfer projects–Rover Pipeline and Mariner East 2–will not be happy with the good news coming from ET this week. The company issued its second quarter update and held a conference call yesterday. During the call we learned that Phase 1 of Rover, a $3.7 billion, 711-mile Rover Pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada, is “substantially complete” with Phase 1A expected to be done next week and online asap. Phase 1A stretches from Cadiz to Defiance, which is most of Ohio. Phase 1B is a short segment from Seneca to Cadiz, and once ET gets clearance from FERC to drill horizontally under Captina Creek, it will only take them about 40 days to complete Phase 1B. If ET can convince FERC to allow them to restart more horizontal directional drilling (HDD) work, Phase 2 will be done soon as well–and the entire project will be up and running by the end of the year. More good news for Rover: The temporary ban on HDD work for Rover in two West Virginia counties that began two weeks ago has now been lifted by the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection. As for ET’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project that stretches across Pennsylvania, 80% of the pipeline has been strung, more than 70% is welded and over half has been lowered in and covered up. As we reported yesterday and again today, ET subsidiary Sunoco Logistics Partners (building ME2) has brokered a deal with several radical environmental groups that will slow the project down some, but slow and done is better than no progress at all. Here’s an update on the good news about Rover and ME2…
Gulfport Energy, which is the second most active driller in the Ohio Utica, behind Chesapeake Energy, has (so far) drilled 303 Utica wells and owns 211,000 acres of leases in the Buckeye State. Gulfport, which drills mainly in the Utica (but also the SCOOP, in Oklahoma) reported their second quarter 2017 production numbers on July 31 (see 
Earlier this week Rex Energy issued its second quarter 2017 update. During 2Q17 Rex drilled 2, completed 6 and put online into sales 4 wells in their Butler County, PA acreage. They also began drilling a new 4-well pad in Butler. In the company’s Carroll County, OH acreage, Rex drilled a 3 wells on a single pad. The big news from the update was a deal with BP to market Rex’s natural gas liquids (or C3+) production, and the sale of a water pipeline owned by Rex in Salineville, OH for $8 million. Rex’s finances didn’t do so well. In 2Q17 the company lost $10 million versus making a $16 million profit in 2Q16. Production picked up a bit, from 173.4 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) in 1Q17 to 177.1 MMcfe/d in 2Q17. The official statement said 2Q17 production was “constrained” during the quarter “due to unplanned maintenance downtime in the company’s midstream services.” Which means they had hoped it would have been higher than 177.1 MMcfe/d. Looking forward to 3Q17 Rex says they plan to bring 12 new wells in Butler County online…
In May, MDN told you that virulent anti-drillers in Youngstown, OH, puppets of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), have once again circulated a petition to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure on the ballot this November (see 
In late January, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Norman Bay announced he was quitting, in a huff, because President Trump has elevating another commission member to be chairperson (see 
Below is a story of an Ohio landowner who “worked to get good easements and good language” in the contract he signed with Rover Pipeline. But, according to the landowner, once construction began, “everyone seemed to forget” what they promised in the contract. And so landowner Roger Meggyesy has been vigilant to point out violations to third-party pipeline inspectors who report on Rover’s activities to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As Meggyesy rhetorically asks, “Why do we have to come and fight after the fact?” It is disheartening to read these kinds of accounts. This guy did everything right, got it all in writing–and yet it’s still an uphill fight. We bring you this story because it’s important to air the problems along with highlighting the good stuff when it comes to these big pipeline projects…
Rover Pipeline is Energy Transfer’s $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. On April 13, Rover workers experienced an “inadvertent return” of “horizontal directional drilling fluid”. That is, they sprung a leak and spilled nearly 2 million gallons of drilling mud (see 
It’s not often these days we get to announce a new driller in the Marcellus/Utica. Today is one of those days. Actually, this company has been around since early 2015, but we’re only now becoming aware of them. Pin Oak Energy Partners, headquartered in Akron, OH, is an exploration and production company engaged in both conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas wells and the operation of associated assets (like pipelines). Pin Oak currently operates 363 wells producing nearly 5.7 MMcfe/d (32% liquids) across more than 32,000 acres in the Marcellus/Utica region. The company is also involved in midstream, field services and operations through its affiliate companies. Pin Oak is on an aggressive acquisition binge of shale AND midstream assets, as well as leasing new acreage. Who is Pin Oak? According to CEO Chris Halvorson, Pin Oak is comprised of folks who were formerly with AB Resources. You may recall that AB Resources built a position in the southwestern “core” of the Marcellus and sold out to Chevron several years ago. Pin Oak is “what’s next” for for the former AB folks. Their target: the Appalachian basin. In July, Pin Oak bought 9,300 acres of leases and 8 Utica wells from EQT in Guernsey, Muskingum, and Columbiana counties (Ohio). Earlier this week Pin Oak announced they’ve purchased another 7,700 acres of leases and 10 Utica wells from an undisclosed seller in Trumbull, Tuscarawas and Mahoning counties (in Ohio) and Mercer, Crawford and Venango counties (in Pennsylvania). Below are two recent announcements. Pin Oak can be summed up in one word: aggressive. Keep a close eye on this company in the coming months and years…
In November 2015 MDN reported on a lawsuit filed by GreenHunter Resources (filed in October 2015) against two former GreenHunter employees and a competitor (see 
A recent ruling from Ohio’s Seventh District Court of Appeals has the potential to affect conventional and unconventional (shale) leases. As with most legal rulings, this one is a bit complex. We’ll do our best to summarize. In Ohio, most oil and gas leases have both a primary term and a secondary term. The primary term is that period of time a driller has to locate and drill for oil or gas–typically five years. The secondary term is that period of time (which can last for decades) under which oil and gas is produced from the well. In most lease contracts, as long as the well is producing in “paying quantities” the lease remains in effect. But when the well does not produce in paying quantities, the lease is terminated and the landowner can seek a new lease. Of course, the definition of “paying quantities” is key. In a previous case, the Ohio Supreme Court defined paying quantities. However, the recent Seventh District Court case, Paulus v. Beck Energy Corp., added to, or should we say “refined” the definition provided by the Supreme Court by providing guidance on what items may be considered when determining paying quantities and lack of production in Ohio…