Ohio Wants to “Clawback” $300K Grant to TX-based Exterran Energy
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Exterran Corporation (with 5,400 employees) specializes in natural gas compression production equipment and processing facilities. They design, build and operate compressor stations and natural gas processing plants. In 2012 MDN reported on a contract Exterran won to build three natural gas processing plants in West Virginia (see Exterran Wins Contract to Build 3 WV NatGas Processing Plants). The company is also active in other Marcellus/Utica states, including Ohio. In 2013 the company opened a plant to build compressor stations in an industrial park near Youngstown, OH. The state gave the company a $300,000 grant in return for promises to create 103 jobs over a seven year period. Exterran came close for the first couple of years, but then the crash in prices hit and along with it, work dried up. The plant closed in March. Now the state wants “all or part of” the $300,000 grant back (called a “clawback”), because Exterran didn’t fulfill their end of the bargain. Exterran says the plant closure is “temporary,” implying they will be back…
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As MDN alerted you in October, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced they would auction 33 parcels in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (WNF) to allow shale fracking (see 
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has just issued production numbers for the third quarter of 2016. Compared with third quarter 2015, production numbers in 3Q16 continued to be a mixed bag, as was the case in 2Q16 (see 
It’s happened, just as we predicted. Paid, out-of-state protesters have arrived in Ohio, as they did in North Dakota, with the intent to block plans to begin fracking on land in Wayne National Forest. The Bureau of Land Management will conduct an auction tomorrow for 1,600 acres of land in WNF (see 
Some holdout landowners in Medina County, OH continue to oppose the coming NEXUS Pipeline, even after their suggested alternative routes (around their county) have been rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). A few holdouts are vowing to continue the fight “until all of our resources and options are exhausted,” which may be very soon. Earlier this month FERC issued a positive Final Environmental Impact Statement (see 
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recently commissioned a survey of residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia–so-called “battleground” states that can swing either Democrat or Republican come election-time. The survey found that an average of 80% of the respondents support energy infrastructure spending, by both government and private companies. Which is remarkable. When was the last time you heard of 80% of the American electorate agreeing on anything? This survey takes the wind out of the sails of the “keep it in the ground” movement of fossil fuel haters, like those opposing pipeline projects like NEXUS, Rover, PennEast, Atlantic Coast, Atlantic Sunrise, Mountain Valley, et cetera et cetera. Here’s the results of the NAM survey…
Gulfport Energy reports they have just snagged another 12,600 net undeveloped Utica acres located dry gas window of northern Monroe County, Ohio for $87 million. When you run the math, that works out to be $6,905 per acre–far less than the recent $10,000/acre prices we’ve seen. Half of the acreage is “held by production,” meaning wells have either been drilled or are already producing. Analysts figure the land, which is located next to land already leased by Gulfport, will yield something like 105 new wells for the company. Gulfport is head over heels in love with the Utica and plans, as we noted in November, to run an average of six drilling rigs in the Utica in 2017 (see 
The worldwide Baker Hughes rig count was up by 5 in November, from 920 in October to 925 in November. That reverses a brief slide back in October when rigs worldwide slide back by 14. However, the rig count in the U.S. went up for the fifth month in a row. The average U.S. rig count for November was 580, up 36 from the 544 counted in October. That’s a two month increase of 71! The Marcellus/Utica rig count was up for the fourth month running. In November the M/U rig count went up by 4 (second month in a row it’s gone up 4) with 2 additions in PA (now 27 rigs) and 2 in OH (now 16 rigs). WV stayed even running with an average of 10 rigs…
On Monday MDN reported that the future site for an ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH is now cleared and ready for construction to begin (see 
All seven members of the Bowling Green City Council (Wood County) unwisely voted to reject an offer from Spectra Energy’s NEXUS Pipeline to lease 4 acres of city-owned land for the pipeline. Why unwise? Because the project is close to receiving its final federal approval, which will give it the right to use eminent domain to use the land anyway (see 
PDC Energy, a driller in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Utica in Ohio, paused their Utica drilling program in 2015 (see 
The future site of a $5 billion petrochemical complex, including an ethane cracker, in Belmont County, OH is now cleared and essentially ready to begin building on. It has taken nearly a year, but the old R.E. Burger power plant that used to sit along the Ohio River is now just a memory. Belmont County officials say they expect PTT Global Chemical, the company that will build and operate the cracker, will make a final (positive) investment decision by the end of March–in just a few months’ time. Although the project began after Shell’s cracker project in Beaver County, PA, the PTT Global project in Belmont County has almost caught up with the Shell cracker project with respect to site readiness and building the actual buildings that will house the mighty cracker…
As MDN predicted, yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the NEXUS Pipeline project (see 
FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is not happy with Energy Transfer and their Rover Pipeline. There are two major pipeline projects planned for Ohio: NEXUS and Rover. NEXUS got some FERC love today (see today’s lead story). Rover, on the other hand, is getting the cold shoulder from FERC, from a self-inflicted wound. Let us explain. As a reminder, Rover (an Energy Transfer project) is a $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. The short version of what happened is that in May 2015 Rover purchased a house in Carroll County, OH, located near where the pipeline, and a compressor station for that pipeline, is due to run. Rover bought the house to use for offices for several Rover affiliate companies. After buying it, they determined it was “ill-suited for its intended purpose” and decided to demolish the house. Problem was/is, that house was under consideration to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. The house was not yet on the list of Historic Places, but was on a list of properties under consideration. Rover should have reported their decision to demolish the house to FERC but didn’t, which has Rover in hot water with FERC and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Will Rover’s action kill the project? No. Will it slow down Rover and end up costing the company boatloads of money? Most likely, although Rover disputes that interpretation of events…
For several years MDN has tracked and reported on a lawsuit brought against the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) by an anti-drilling couple in Guernsey County, OH–Leatra Harper and her husband Steven Janstro (backed by the odious Food & Water Watch). At last check in April 2014, the couple had won the right to continue on with the lawsuit (see