Statewide OH

Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH

Big News: FERC Grants Final EIS for ET Rover Pipeline
August 1, 2016August 1, 2016

ET Rover Pipeline map – click for larger version

In June the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) handed Energy Transfer’s proposed Rover pipeline project, 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, a big red light (see FERC Tells Rover, Leach XPress Pipes to Redesign Routes in SE OH). FERC told Rover and another pipeline project, Leach XPress, which will run from Marshall County, WV through Ohio to Leach, KY, that where their two projects meet something different would have to be worked out. Shortly thereafter the two projects being developed by different companies became best friends (see Rover, Leach XPress Pipelines Become BFFs to Fix FERC Objection). Apparently that fix helped clear the path and FERC, last Friday, issued a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) favorable to ET Rover. About the only left now is for a final approval to be issued by FERC for the project, which is now pretty much a foregone conclusion…
Read More “Big News: FERC Grants Final EIS for ET Rover Pipeline”
Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Kentucky | NGLs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV, OH, PA, KY Should Cooperate on $10B NGL Storage Hub
July 22, 2016July 22, 2016

In May MDN brought you the news that a researcher at West Virginia University believes an natural gas liquids (NGL) storage hub is what the Marcellus/Utica region really needs (see WVU Researcher Says Marcellus/Utica Needs an Ethane Storage Hub). According to Brian Anderson, director of WVU’s Energy Institute, without ethane storage (and pipelines) the Marcellus/Utica region risks seeing its abundant ethane leave the area, mostly heading to the Gulf Coast. We need that ethane here, in our area. Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of the Chemical Alliance Zone, is also taking up the cause. Writing an opinion article in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, DiGregorio says West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky need to band together to build such a project. Set aside their competitive natures and cooperate? Yes. Why? Such a project will cost an estimated $10 billion–far more than a single ethane cracker project. No one state can do it on its own. It will take all our states cooperating to pull it off. Below is DiGregorio’s op-ed along with more details about the proposed NGL storage hub…
Read More “WV, OH, PA, KY Should Cooperate on $10B NGL Storage Hub”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Spectra Energy | Statewide OH

FERC’s Glowing Draft Review of NEXUS Pipeline; Antis Respond
July 13, 2016July 13, 2016

NEXUS map – click for larger version

On Monday MDN brought you the great news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has given the $2 billion, 255-mile interstate NEXUS pipeline a glowing draft environmental impact statement (see Spectra’s NEXUS Pipeline Gets Favorable Draft EIS from FERC). NEXUS is a critically needed pipeline to move Utica and Marcellus Shale gas from an over-saturated market in the northeast to markets in the Midwest and Canada, via a pipeline that traverses the state of Ohio. We have now what we didn’t have on Monday–a copy of the FERC draft EIS (see a full copy below). You can’t read it and not see the meticulous detail and work that has gone into researching such a project. To falsely claim, as do anti-fossil fuel nutters, that FERC is simply a “rubber stamp” for Big Oil & Gas is not supported by documents like this one. Although the review is glowing, there is one teeny, tiny criticism/suggestion from FERC recommending an alternative route near Green, Ohio. The anti-drilling group CORNballs (our name for CORN, or COalition to Reroute Nexus), is glomming on to that tiny crack of the door and plans to drive a Mack truck through it…
Read More “FERC’s Glowing Draft Review of NEXUS Pipeline; Antis Respond”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

Co-Author of Retracted OH Air Study Admits Results were Wrong
July 13, 2016July 13, 2016

Last week MDN reported that a previously trumpeted so-called research study of air quality near fracking sites in Ohio had been retracted (see Ohio Air “Study” Near Frack Sites Retracted for Basic Math Error). At the time the study was released in 2015, one of the authors of the study implied elevated toxins in the air near fracking sites may lead to cancer. We now know it was fully loaded horse manure. The numbers used to draw conclusions were erroneous. Simple spreadsheet formulas used to calculate the numbers were wrong. The researchers should be ashamed of themselves. And now, one of the authors of that report is on the record admitting the data, when corrected, shows air quality risks near those fracking sites are “below EPA levels” for such risks. Here’s an update…
Read More “Co-Author of Retracted OH Air Study Admits Results were Wrong”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH

Spectra’s NEXUS Pipeline Gets Favorable Draft EIS from FERC
July 11, 2016July 11, 2016

Nexus Pipeline Route – click for larger version

The NEXUS Pipeline is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada (see Spectra Energy Files Formal FERC Application for NEXUS Pipeline). It is a critically needed pipeline to move Utica and Marcellus Shale gas from an over-saturated market in the northeast to markets in the Midwest and Canada. One of the first and key parts of getting a pipeline approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is to submit the project for an environmental impact statement (EIS), performed by FERC. Good news. NEXUS received word late last week that FERC has granted the project a favorable draft EIS. That means FERC is of the opinion that the project will not unduly harm the local environment where it is to get built. A favorable EIS is an indication that FERC will grant its full approval for the project (in due time)…
Read More “Spectra’s NEXUS Pipeline Gets Favorable Draft EIS from FERC”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

Ohio Air “Study” Near Frack Sites Retracted for Basic Math Error
July 8, 2016July 8, 2016

In May 2015 MDN brought you news of a then-newly released “study” from “scientists” at Oregon State University and the University of Cincinnati that reportedly found people living near fracking sites in Ohio were being exposed to “deadly” air pollution (see Sham Air Study: “Unsafe Exposure” for Those Near OH Frack Sites). The so-called study used the dreaded “c” word–cancer–implying those who live close to fracking operations “may have” an increased chance of getting cancer. The published paper was titled “Impact of Natural Gas Extraction on PAH Levels in Ambient Air” and published in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology. At the time, left-leaning mainstream media had a hay day, trumpeting the study as yet more proof that fracking is not only evil–it kills ya. We pointed out all of the problems with this so-called scientific research: a very small number of air samples, taken from “non-random” (i.e. cherry-picked) locations, with untrained homeowner “volunteers” collecting the samples and shipping them to Oregon for study. In news that no mainstream outlets are reporting, the authors of the study have retracted it because (a) they used a wrong value for a gas constant, and (b) they screwed up an Excel spreadsheet link/formula. That threw off the entire outcome. In other words, the air near fracking sites is just fine–nothing to see here folks–just move along and ignore our previous 5-alarm study…
Read More “Ohio Air “Study” Near Frack Sites Retracted for Basic Math Error”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH Gov. Kasich Signs Bill Forcing ODNR to Pool DOT Land for Drilling
July 5, 2016July 5, 2016

Relief is on the way for some Ohio landowners who want to see drilling on or under their land, but have been held up because their land border state-owned land belonging to the Ohio Dept. of Transportation (DOT). Apparently the DOT (and/or the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, or ODNR) has been reluctant to pool or unitize land under DOT control to allow shale drilling. OH Gov. John Kasich has just signed House Bill (HB) 390 into law–a new law that gives the the ODNR 45 days to pool DOT-controlled land into units so drillers can begin drilling under it. Although the bill forces units to be issued, it allows drillers up to two years to begin their drilling after the units are issued, given the low prices in the market right now…
Read More “OH Gov. Kasich Signs Bill Forcing ODNR to Pool DOT Land for Drilling”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Antis Use Fake Front Group to Issue PA-OH-WV Shale “Report Card”
June 30, 2016June 30, 2016

Last December MDN ripped the mask off a group of extremely partisan, virulently anti-drilling Democrats who call themselves the innocent-sounding Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative (see The Pretenders: Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative). One of the chief ringleaders of this enviro-cabal, made up of hard-left groups including the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy, and Policy Matters Ohio, is Jan Jarrett–the former president and CEO of anti group PennFuture (see Jarrett Out, Jugovic In as President & CEO of PennFuture). The entire anti community is a case study in political incest. The Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative (i.e. anti-drilling zealots) have just released a pair of “reports” (propaganda pamphlets), one of them a so-called report card on shale drilling in PA, OH and WV. The media, of course, laps it up and goes along with the lie…
Read More “Antis Use Fake Front Group to Issue PA-OH-WV Shale “Report Card””
Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | NGLs | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Kinder Morgan Gets a 50% Partner for Utopia Ethane Pipeline in OH
June 29, 2016June 29, 2016

Utopia map – click for larger version

In December 2013 Kinder Morgan announced they plan to build a new 12-inch ethane pipeline through Ohio, dubbed “Utopia” for Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access (see UTOPIA is Coming! The UTOPIA Pipeline, that is…). Utopia will run ~215 miles and will only be built in Ohio, before it connects to another pipeline that goes to Canada, therefore the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) won’t be involved in permitting the pipeline. Utopia has been less controversial than other pipeline projects in Ohio, like NEXUS (see Why is UTOPIA Pipeline Less “Controversial” than NEXUS in Ohio?). The 50,000 barrels per day of ethane flowing through it will go to NOVA Chemical’s Corunna cracker plant in Sarnia–a plant we wrote about just yesterday (see Canadian Cracker Eyes Utica Ethane, Adding $2B Polyethylene Plant). Kinder Morgan has announced they are taking on a joint venture partner in the Utopia project. Riverstone Investment Group will become a 50% owner in the project in return for putting up 50% of the cost–or $250 million out of the $500 million it will take to build it…
Read More “Kinder Morgan Gets a 50% Partner for Utopia Ethane Pipeline in OH”
Braskem | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | PTT Global | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Event Speakers Say More Crackers on the Way in the Northeast
June 28, 2016June 28, 2016

There was lots of cracker talk at the first Northeast U.S. & Canada Petrochemical Construction Conference & Exhibition in Pittsburgh yesterday. According to NGI’s ace reporter for Shale Daily, Jamison Cocklin, excitement over the Shell cracker announcement from a few weeks ago was “palpable” at yesterday’s event. There was plenty of talk about the Shell cracker–but the talk coming from the event that interests MDN is talk about both the PTT Global Chemical cracker planned for Ohio, AND the Braskem cracker planned for West Virginia. These other two world class cracker plants (similar in size and scope to Shell’s project) “remain on track.” Now that is news!…
Read More “Event Speakers Say More Crackers on the Way in the Northeast”
Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH

FERC Tells Rover, Leach XPress Pipes to Redesign Routes in SE OH
June 27, 2016June 27, 2016

Two major pipeline projects have just received a big red light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), pending changes to their plans. Energy Transfer’s Rover pipeline, 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, along with Columbia Pipeline’s Leach XPress, running from Marshall County, WV through Ohio to Leach, KY, got word from FERC that a small section where the pipelines cross must be reworked or it’s a “no go” for both projects…
Read More “FERC Tells Rover, Leach XPress Pipes to Redesign Routes in SE OH”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

OOGA Reviews Ohio 1Q16 Utica Production – Finds a Cloud
June 23, 2016June 22, 2016

On Monday MDN brought you the latest quarterly production numbers for the Ohio Utica Shale, direct from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (see MDN Exclusive: Analysis of Ohio’s 1Q16 Shale Production). As we pointed out, year over year (comparing first quarter to first quarter 2015 and 2016) natural gas production from shale is up 80% year over year, and oil production is up 24%. However, that’s not the entire story. The Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA) has done a deep dive into the numbers and finds that 1Q16 oil production in Ohio is the first time in the modern shale era that production has gone DOWN from the previous quarter by 12.3%. Here’s OOGA’s analysis of the numbers…
Read More “OOGA Reviews Ohio 1Q16 Utica Production – Finds a Cloud”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

MDN Exclusive: Analysis of Ohio’s 1Q16 Shale Production
June 20, 2016September 2, 2016

The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has just issued production numbers for the first quarter of 2016. Compared with first quarter 2015, production numbers in 1Q16 continue to impress. Natural gas production from shale is up 80% year over year, and oil production is up 24% y/y. 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 longer an oil or gas well is online, the less it produces. Newer wells produce more. So we show you which wells are not just producing the most quantity overall, but which wells are producing at the fastest (most productive) rates–even if they haven’t yet been online a full three months. We also include a link to the complete list of 1,351 wells included in the 1Q16 ODNR report–in a more usable format than that provided by the ODNR…
Read More “MDN Exclusive: Analysis of Ohio’s 1Q16 Shale Production”
Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide OH

NEXUS Awards Contracts to Build Pipeline – Union & Non-Union Labor
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

NEXUS map – click for larger version

Spectra Energy has awarded four contracts to three companies to build the 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. Two of the three companies will use union labor, the third will not–and that’s causing some pushback from labor groups in Ohio. A NEXUS rep said that 79% of the pipeline will be built by union labor. Labor unions would prefer that percentage be 100. Spectra/NEXUS guaranteed at least 50% of the labor would be union–so the contracts far exceed their promise. A dollar figure was not released for the work. Here’s who got the work to build NEXUS…
Read More “NEXUS Awards Contracts to Build Pipeline – Union & Non-Union Labor”
Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Shell Cracker Plant Will Spur Real Estate Deals 150 Miles Away
June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

Gentlemen, start your engines! Your economic engines, that is. The news earlier this week that Shell has made the commitment to move ahead and build an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA has, as we knew it would, set the region buzzing (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go! and Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought). With the decision now made, those in the real estate community are salivating over how that decision will reverberate throughout the region. There is now an effort underway to lure manufacturers in Texas and along the Gulf Coast area to consider setting up in the western PA (and eastern OH and northern WV) area instead–to take advantage of being that much closer to the biggest market in the country–the East Coast. One real estate pro says commercial real estate for up to 150 miles away is likely to be impacted by the decision to build the cracker plant in Monaca…
Read More “Shell Cracker Plant Will Spur Real Estate Deals 150 Miles Away”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide OH

CORNballs Claim Most OH Landowners Won’t Sign NEXUS Pipeline Lease
June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

The NEXUS Pipeline is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada (see Spectra Energy Files Formal FERC Application for NEXUS Pipeline). It is a critically needed pipeline to move Utica and Marcellus Shale gas from an over-saturated market in the northeast to markets in the Midwest and Canada. A group of anti-fossil fuelers calling themselves the Coalition to Reroute Nexus, or CORN, is trying to stop the project (not reroute it). We affectionately call the nutters, “CORNballs” here at MDN. Earlier this year the CORNballs tried to incite trouble by telling landowners to call the police if NEXUS surveyors showed up on their doorstep to ask permission to survey (see CORNballs Tell OH Landowners to Call Police & AG to Stop Pipeline). The CORNballs are back, claiming that the vast majority of landowners along the proposed route for NEXUS have not, and will not, sign an easement to allow the pipeline…
Read More “CORNballs Claim Most OH Landowners Won’t Sign NEXUS Pipeline Lease”