TGP’s Susquehanna West Project Gets Green Light to Begin Service
In April 2015 Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) subsidiary filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build 8.2 miles of new looping pipeline in Tioga County, PA and beef up two compressor stations in Bradford County, PA. The $142 million project is called the Susquehanna West Project. It will increase capacity along the 300 Line section of TGP, bumping it up by 145 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d). All of the extra capacity is spoken for by Statoil and the wells they’ve drilled in NEPA. Last September, FERC approved the project (see FERC Approves Another KM Pipeline Project in the PA Marcellus). The project was forecast to be done and dusted, going online, by Nov. 1. Usually we bring you news about such projects being delayed. In a happy reversal of that trend, last week FERC granted Kinder Morgan permission to bring the project online, NOW, a full two months ahead of schedule. Christmas came early this year…
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In December 2015, Pennsylvania’s felony-indicted Attorney General, Kathleen Kane (now gone), brought a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko and Williams accusing them of, among other things, royalty fraud (see 
MDN first told you about IMG Midstream in August 2014 (see 
As MDN has noted over the past several months, the signs have been positive that Marcellus/Utica drilling is picking up once again. But that doesn’t mean it’s picking up in every location. Or does it? One of the hotbeds of drilling activity “back in the day” was in several northeastern/central Pennsylvania counties, including Tioga, Bradford, Lycoming and Sullivan. But then the bottom fell out of the industry (with super low prices) and drilling all but dried up in those counties. The good news is that there are signs of life, once again, in the central counties of PA. Between Nov. 1 and Mar. 6, 30 drilling permits were issued in Tioga County, 12 permits in Lycoming County, and (somewhat surprising), 8 permits issued in Sullivan County. Shale is coming back!…
In the midstream (i.e. pipeline) world, it seems like nobody owns 100% of anything. Big midstream companies like Williams and Kinder Morgan (and others) are composed of subsidiaries and (sometimes) MLPs–master limited partnerships. And beyond the companies within companies (like a Russian nesting doll), often pieces of pipeline systems are co-owned with other companies, even competitors! In 2014 Williams bought out Access Midstream, the renamed and former division of Chesapeake Energy called Chesapeake Midstream (see 
One of the issues that isn’t going away is the demand by landowners in some Pennsylvania counties, like Bradford, for lawmakers in the state to pass a bill that guarantees them what they believe they are already guaranteed–a 12.5% minimum royalty, based on a 1979 law that states they should get such a royalty. We’ve extensively covered what we call a civil war between two parties who are otherwise friendly toward each other–landowners and shale drillers. Last year the issue came to a head with House Bill (HB) 1391 (
Over the past two months Panda Power Funds has brought online the first two built-from-scratch-to-use-Marcellus-gas electric plants, both in northeast Pennsylvania (see 
In May 2014 Panda Power Funds broke ground on building an 829-megawatt Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant in Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA (see 
We’ve written a number of stories about Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 1391 that would guarantee landowners receive a 12.5% minimum royalty on the gas extracted from their land, regardless of post-production costs. The issue has led to what MDN calls a civil war between landowners (particularly in Bradford County, PA) and the drilling industry. The clock is ticking and this week is it for this legislative session in PA. If supporters of HB 1391 don’t get the bill passed this week, it will have to be reintroduced and go through the entire process again next year. Supporters like Doug McLinko, a Bradford County commissioner, have warned of serious consequences for the industry if the bill doesn’t get passed. The industry appears to have convinced enough lawmakers to keep the bill bottled up so it doesn’t come to the floor for a vote, which riles landowners. HB 1391’s supporters in the legislature are sounding like it’s already over for this year, and that they will have to fight again next year. We’re concerned what this ongoing situation will do for what has, in the past, been good relations between landowners and drillers. That relationship appears to be souring, at least for some landowners…
Last Friday MDN ran a guest post from an executive who works for a Pennsylvania exploration and production company (E&P, what we call a “driller” here on MDN). In the post, titled 