South Fayette, PA Restrictive Drilling Ordinance Tossed by Judge
Something noteworthy has happened in western Pennsylvania and (so far) local media has chosen not to cover it. So MDN is happy to break the following story about South Fayette Township in Allegheny County (near Pittsburgh). South Fayette is one of seven PA towns that sued the state after the Act 13 law was enacted in 2012 (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law). Ultimately the towns won their case at the PA Supreme Court level, winning the right to enact their own ordinances with respect to oil and gas drilling. A nutty concept that towns have the necessary skills to regulate a complex industry like oil and gas–but there you go. Range Resources and landowners in the town, including Cuddy Partners, have had a long-running feud with the town over their hyper-restrictive ordinances (see Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article Drilling regulations face challenge in South Fayette). In 2015 South Fayette decided to revise their ordinance yet again with respect to shale drilling, making the ordinance even more restrictive than before. Cuddy Partners and Alpine Partners (landowners in the town) sued over the revised ordinance. The lawsuit alleged the ordinance was improperly enacted–rushed through without proper public notice. Last week Allegheny Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph James agreed and ruled that the South Fayette revised ordinance is “invalid, null and void”…
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Earlier this week (March 30th) the 2016 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards and Industry Summit was held in Pittsburgh. Once again the Awards and the Summit were a smashing success. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners! Each year the Oil & Gas Awards recognize organizations operating responsibly and supporting the communities they operate within. Now in their 4th year, the Oil & Gas Awards are judged by over 100 senior industry professionals. Partners in the Northeast Awards are The US Chamber of Commerce, The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, The Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Western Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association. Here is a complete list of the winners, by category…
Details are just now coming to light of a new E&P (exploration and production, or drilling) company headquartered in Pittsburgh and focused totally on the Marcellus and Utica region. Until now the company has flown under our radar. The company is American Petroleum Partners (APP)–not to be confused with Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP)–and is headed by Rice Energy alumnus Varun Mishra, who is the founder and CEO. The big news is that last September Mishra’s new company, founded in 2014, received a major injection of investment capital. Apollo Global Management invested $411 million in APP with the option to double it up to $800 million. MDN has it on very good authority that although APP quietly issued a press release about this last September (see it below), the company has intentionally kept the news quiet. Not any more! Big mouth MDN is blabbing it to the world. Below are the bits and pieces we’ve been able to put together about this newest Utica/Marcellus driller…
In 2013 MDN highlighted the news that a Brit, Nigel Hearne, had been appointed vice president (the guy in charge) of Chevron’s Appalachian-Michigan business unit (see 
It’s not often we have the pleasure of announcing the birth of a new company–in particular a new drilling company in the Marcellus/Utica in what has to be the worst economic conditions in a generation in the industry. But, pop the cork on the champagne and break out the cigars! A group of former EQT executives have just launched LOLA Energy with a $250 million investment from private equity firm Denham Capital. The new company is headquartered in Wexford (Pittsburgh area), PA and has already begun leasing land in the Marcellus/Utica. Company execs say they expect to create 10 to 20 new jobs in the Pittsburgh area over the next year. LOLA’s CEO is Jim Crockard, former senior vice president in charge of production for EQT. The strategy of the fledgling company is to pick up good properties cast off by other drillers because there’s not enough money (or enough profit) to drill in this low price environment…