Williams & Canada Pension Plan Form $3.8B JV in Marcellus/Utica
The Canadians are coming! The Canadians are coming! Actually, they’re already here. Last summer we brought you the bombshell news that Encino Acquisition Partners (EAP) had purchased all of Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica assets (see Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of its Ohio Utica Assets for $2B). What’s not obvious in that headline is that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is Encino’s joint venture partner and put up virtually all of the money, and owns 98% of EAP. CPPIB is doing it again, this time buying a significant stake in Ohio Utica (and Marcellus) pipelines.
Read More “Williams & Canada Pension Plan Form $3.8B JV in Marcellus/Utica”
The “great crew change” is taking place in the oil and gas industry in general, and in the Marcellus/Utica in particular. Older workers are nearing retirement and exiting the industry in increasing numbers, and the industry isn’t attracting enough newer workers to fill the ranks. According to the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, the need for new workers in Ohio’s O&G industry is pressing. Everything from welders and truckers to people working with technology.
Equitrans Midstream, which used to be called EQT Midstream, yesterday announced they have cut their first big deal since separating from EQT last year. Equitrans is buying a 60% stake in Eureka Midstream, a 190-mile pipeline system in Ohio and West Virginia serving both the Marcellus and Utica, and a 100% stake in the tiny 15-mile Hornet Midstream, a gathering system in WV that connects to Eureka.
In Nov. 2017 the Ohio Attorney General’s office under then-AG Mike Dewine (RINO swamp dweller, now governor) sued Energy Transfer at the prompting of the Ohio EPA claiming the company’s Rover Pipeline project was guilty of “polluting state waters while constructing a natural gas pipeline across Ohio” (see 
Every now and again we traffic in rumors here on MDN, but we do so rarely and only when we trust the source of the rumor. We have such a rumor to share, from a source we trust implicitly. We’ve been carping for over a year that PTT Global Chemical has repeatedly violated our deep well of patience by hinting that a “final investment decision” (FID) is “coming soon” for their $7-$10 billion ethane cracker complex in Belmont County, OH (see 
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) issued fourth quarter 2018 numbers for Utica shale oil and gas production yesterday, and wow! Both natural gas and oil production rocketed upward. Natgas production was up 32% over the same period last year, to a new all-time high of 663.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf), and oil production hit 5.8 million barrels, up 39% over last year’s 4Q.
As we keep pointing out, PTT Global Chemical, the company that says they want to build a $6 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH, keeps hinting that a “final investment decision” (FID) will come soon. Any day now. Just around the corner. They’ve been saying it for nearly two years.
Last Friday MDN reported that Encino Energy CEO Hardy Murchison and COO Ray Walker (formerly of Range Resources) spoke at the Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA) 72nd Annual Meeting in Columbus (see 
The Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA) is currently holding their 72nd Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will address the event today. Cool! Kallanish Energy is at the event. They report that Encino Energy, which bought out all of Chesapeake Energy’s considerable Ohio Utica assets last year, was the “center of attention” yesterday.
Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, published a post yesterday on the topic of “U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity and throughput have increased in recent years.” In that post EIA links to a handy dandy online tool that lists all of the active natural gas processing plants operating in the U.S. We used the tool to download all of the plants in PA, OH and WV, and further trimmed out the low volume (conventional only) processing plants, leaving a list of sweet 16 Marcellus/Utica processing plants–where they are located and how much they process.
Duke Energy has a plan to build a critically-needed natural gas pipeline near Cincinnati, OH to replace an old pipeline built in the 1950s. A group calling themselves NOPE–Neighbors Opposing Pipeline Extension, is trying to defeat the project. We call them DOPEs–Dummies Opposing Pipeline Extension. The DOPErs are back, claiming a brand new pipeline through the area will be less safe and more dangerous than the old, worn-out pipeline.
Last week an Ohio man was arrested for allegedly calling in a bomb threat last November against Myers Well Service, located in Eighty Four (Washington County), PA. A cell phone belonging to Ryan Dougherty of Belmont, OH was used to make the threat. Dougherty claims he called the business, but didn’t make any threats. The investigation took three months. Last Tuesday authorities arrested and charged Dougherty. 
We’ve written extensively over the years about the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act (DMA) and even about the Ohio Marketable Titles Act (MTA), both of which impact Utica shale rights. There has been an ongoing question of whether or not the MTA can be used to return previously severed mineral rights back to a surface landowner. The answer to that question appears to have been rendered in a court decision made earlier this month.
Comments by Cabot Oil & Gas in their 2018 update issued Friday, along with added comments by CEO Dan Dinges during the earnings call on Friday, reveals the big news that Cabot has given up test drilling in Ohio Knox formation.