M-U NGL Cryogenic Plant in Southeast Ohio Getting an Upgrade
BCCK Holding Company (BCCK) has been granted a contract to upgrade a cryogenic gas processing plant in the Marcellus/Utica, in southeastern Ohio. The name of the customer was not disclosed but we’re guessing it is MarkWest Energy (now MPLX). BCCK says it has developed a simple and effective modification to improve the existing cryogenic plant design and equipment with the aim of increasing propane recovery.
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The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (
Economists are still analyzing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic from 2020, let alone assessing impacts from 2021. Cleveland State University researchers have run the numbers and have discovered something interesting. Of Ohio’s 88 counties, only 18 grew their economies in 2020. Of those 18, two counties stood head and shoulders above the rest for increases in economic activity. Both counties have something in common: Utica Shale drilling.
Yesterday Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, filed a proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to implement a “responsibly sourced natural gas (RSG) supply aggregation pooling service” at select locations across the TGP system. Translation: Utilities and other buyers will be able to buy RSG certified natural gas for their customers, costing them more money.
In the wacky world of leftists, all money earned by private companies belongs to the state, and the state beneficently allows a company to keep some of that money to pay employees and shareholders. That’s the attitude of the far left, anti-drilling group Policy Matters Ohio (PMO), which doesn’t like the current oil and gas severance tax of 2.5% in Ohio. It’s not nearly high enough to fund leftist programs, according to PMO.
FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Steve Strah has an impossible job–to revive the badly tarnished reputation of his company following the biggest bribery scandal in the history of Ohio. Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see 
A reporter with the New Philadelphia (OH) Times Reporter recently chatted with both Mike Chadsey, director of public relations for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), and with MDN friend Jackie Stewart, director of external affairs for Encino Energy. The topic? What’s happening right now in the Ohio Utica Shale, and what do they see coming in the near future for shale energy in the Buckeye State. We’d sum it up by saying the industry is cautiously optimistic.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, between 2022 and 2025 (the next three years) some 27.3 gigawatts (GW) of new natural gas-fired capacity is scheduled to come online in the United States. Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania–states with pipeline access to natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays–account for a combined 43% of the natural gas-fired capacity planned to come online. Yes, our molecules will feed almost half of all new gas-fired power plants!
Vice President Kamala Harris, the disappearing Vice President (her poll numbers are even worse than Biden’s) visited Columbus, Ohio last week to tout the newly-passed so-called $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Wait, you didn’t know she was in Columbus? We didn’t either. She’s virtually invisible these days. At any rate, Harris failed to mention the key role fossil fuels will play in making Biden’s infrastructure plan even remotely possible to implement. Don’t worry, the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) has a column in the Columbus Dispatch providing “the rest of the story” that Cackling Kamala left out of her talk…
EV Royalty Partners, an affiliate of EnerVest Ltd., has retained Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse for the sale of a Utica Shale overriding royalty interest (ORRI) package across multiple counties in Ohio. The package on offer includes portions of ORRI in some 340,894 acres. The acreage is actively leased and developed by Encino Energy, Ascent Resources, and Southwestern Energy. Bids are due by Dec. 2nd.
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see 
We are happy to blow the trumpet and support a brand new organization called the 
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its third quarter 2021 update yesterday. The company produced 1.98 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q–nearly all of it, 1.83 MMcf/d–was natural gas, the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated $28 million of free cash flow, but like other M-U drillers, hedging bets on derivatives resulted in a huge loss of $1.3 billion for the quarter.
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May with a new board and new top management. The company issued its third quarter update yesterday. Unfortunately, the company got hosed on hedges, losing $622 million during 3Q21 on hedges which resulted in an overall loss of $463 million for the quarter. The company produced 973 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) during 3Q21, down slightly from an average 992 MMcf/d a year ago. That production is across both shale plays where Gulfport drills: the Ohio Utica and Oklahoma SCOOP.