The KeyState Zero petrochemical plant project that includes natural gas synthesis and carbon storage (coming to Clinton County, PA) just gets more fascinating every time we read or hear about it. We spotted a new article with more details about the project, like the fact LNG is already being produced at the site. In addition to carbon capture, the new petchem plant will produce four products…
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In February 2020 MDN brought you news about a new half-billion-dollar petrochemical plant that will convert Marcellus Shale gas into feedstock (chemicals) to be used in agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, and transportation, coming in Clinton County, PA (see $500M Marcellus-Fed Petchem Plant Coming to Clinton County, PA). The project continues to make progress and is undergoing a name change.
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In March 2019 MDN told you about National Fuel Gas Company’s (NFG) FM100 Project in northwestern Pennsylvania that will beef up and extend an existing pipeline network to flow an extra 330 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of Marcellus gas to Williams’ mighty Transco Pipeline (see NFG FM100 Pipe Project in NW PA to Feed Marcellus Gas to Transco). The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently issued a federal Section 401 Water Quality Certification for the project.
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Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 new shale well drilling permits scattered across both northeast and southwest PA. Ohio issued 5 new shale well permits, all of them to the same company and the same well pad. West Virginia issued 3 new shale well permits, all in different counties.
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Sometimes plans change, for the better! That’s what has happened with a Marcellus-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA called the Renovo Energy Center. The last time we wrote about Renovo was in February 2018 (see Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in Clinton County, PA Gets DEP Approval). Happily, the project is active once again–and it has been upsized.
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By any measure, it’s obvious to see that shale *drilling* activity in northcentral Pennsylvania counties–including Bradford, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, Sullivan, and Tioga–is on the “bust” side over the past five-plus years. 2016 was the low point. However, is there any hope of seeing another boom in shale drilling in the region?
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In February MDN brought you news about a new half-billion-dollar petrochemical plant that will convert Marcellus Shale gas into feedstock (chemicals) to be used in agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, and transportation, coming in Clinton County, PA (see $500M Marcellus-Fed Petchem Plant Coming to Clinton County, PA). The project has just gotten a step closer to reality with a pair of grants to conduct third party studies.
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We don’t often see news about a Marcellus producer called Alta Resources. Alta was one of the first drillers we wrote about just after launching the MDN website back in 2009 (see Texas Billionaire George Mitchell is Betting on the Marcellus in PA). George Mitchell, widely recognized as the father of shale energy, was a partner in Alta and had glowing things to say about the Marcellus. Mitchell died in 2013. His legacy lives on. Alta is in the news again. The company recently began using a software program from Ambyint to increase production across the 900 or so Marcellus wells it owns in northeastern PA.
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Earlier this year MDN brought you news about a new half-billion-dollar petrochemical plant that will convert Marcellus Shale gas into feedstock (chemicals) to be used in agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, and transportation, coming in Clinton County in central Pennsylvania (see $500M Marcellus-Fed Petchem Plant Coming to Clinton County, PA). The project is progressing and we have more details about what, exactly, the plant will produce.
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A new half-billion-dollar petrochemical plant that would convert Marcellus Shale gas into feedstock (chemicals) to be used in agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, and transportation is getting serious in central Pennsylvania. Frontier Natural Resources and KeyState Agri are working on a plan to bring such a plant to western Clinton County, PA.
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We’ve just caught wind of a “new” pipeline project coming from National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) in northwestern Pennsylvania that will beef up and extend an existing pipeline network to flow an extra 330 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of Marcellus gas to Williams’ mighty Transco Pipeline. It’s called the FM100 Project. Kind of sources like a radio station, no?
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In early 2017, Baker Hughes (prior to GE buying them) spun off its North American shale fracking business (“pressure pumping”) into a new, standalone company called BJ Services (see 3 Parents Give Birth to New Fracking Co: BJ Services). The “new” company involved investments and assets contributed from both Goldman Sachs and CSL Capital Management, in addition to BH. BJ Services used to exist as a standalone company before it was purchased by, and merged into, Baker Hughes in 2009–for $5.5 billion. BJ remained its own separate division within BH, but then got spun out again, back into its own company. We know, a bit confusing. Here’s what you need to know. In March 2016, BH closed its BJ operation in Mill Hall (Clinton County), PA and moved it to Clarksburg (Harrison County), WV. Now the reverse is happening. BJ, the standalone company, announced it is closing the Clarksburg operation and relocating it back to Mill Hall, along with some 200 people…
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Last July MDN brought you news about a new Marcellus-fired electric plant planned for Clinton County, PA (see New Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant Coming in Clinton County, PA). The $800 million Renovo Energy project (in Renovo, PA) will be a 950-megawatt dual fuel (natural gas and ultra-low sulfur diesel) combined cycle electric generating plant located in the Renovo Industrial Park. The official application for the project was filed with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (along with an application fee of $29,700) in August 2015. Yeah, it takes a looooong time to get these things approved. However, a key (perhaps THE key) permit needed by the PA DEP was issued over the weekend. The DEP approved Renovo’s application for an air quality permit for the project. An official working with Renovo says recent rumors that plans to build the plant are dead is false. He said construction may start by the end of this year, after a few more kinks are worked out…
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Ultra Petroleum, based in Houston, TX, is an independent exploration and production (E&P) company mainly focused on drilling in the Green River Basin of Wyoming. Ultra also drills for oil in the Uinta Basin/Three Rivers area in Utah. In addition, Ultra maintains a “non-operated” (someone else does the drilling) position in the Pennsylvania Marcellus shale with leases on 72,000 net acres–no small amount. As recently as May of this year Ultra CEO Michael Watford signaled that the Marcellus acreage is not a drain on their budget, so they would just hold on to it and see what happens (see Ultra Petroleum 1Q17 – Holding on to 72K Marcellus Acres, for Now). What happened is the company saw an opportunity to cash in that acreage, and the wells producing on it, for $115 million in cold, hard cash that they can use elsewhere. Ultra announced a deal yesterday to sell all of their Marcellus acreage/wells, mostly located in Centre and Clinton counties in north-central PA, to Alta Resources. Alta is not a name we’ve seen a lot, but they were one of the first drillers we wrote about just after starting the MDN website back in 2009 (see Texas Billionaire George Mitchell is Betting on the Marcellus in PA). George Mitchell, widely recognized as the father of shale energy, was a partner in Alta and had glowing things to say about the Marcellus. Mitchell died in 2013. His legacy lives on. According to Alta’s website, the company has drilled or participated in more than a thousand wells–in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Alberta, Canada. The most recent news related to Alta in our area, prior to yesterday’s announcement, was their purchase of Anadarko’s Marcellus assets for $1.24 billion in December 2016 (see Anadarko Sells All Marcellus Assets for $1.24B to Alta Resources). Seems like December is the month to watch for an Alta purchase in the Marcellus!…
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Juniata County just became the fifth central Pennsylvania county to join the SEDA-COG Natural Gas Cooperative. SEDA-COG stands for Susquehanna Economic Development Association – Council of Governments. Collectively, SEDA-COG is a group of 11 central PA counties. The other four counties that belong to the Natural Gas Cooperative include Clinton, Centre, Mifflin, and Perry. So what’s the big deal about this group? In 2013 MDN reported that SEDA-COG was working on an initiative to bring natural gas to more residents and businesses in their collective 11-county region (see Central PA Counties Cooperate on Infrastructure for More Gas Use). That cooperative effort eventually, in early 2016, gave birth to the SEDA-COG Natural Gas Cooperative group. Between 2014-2016 SEDA-COG conducted two studies to identify key targeted investment areas for establishment or expansion of natural gas service in its 11 member counties. Earlier this year, they issued a final report (full copy below). The report outlines ways in which the counties can cooperate to bring new gas infrastructure (distribution pipelines) to the region–delivering gas to homes and businesses. It is local government at its best, putting their heads together to benefit the entire region. The great news is that these central PA counties either have local shale wells, or are situated close to abundant shale production in nearby counties. Now it’s just a matter of getting folks hooked up to the gas…
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In May 2012 a water truck driver delivering water to an Anadarko Marcellus Shale well pad in Clinton County, PA missed a turnoff for the road he was supposed to take, at 2:30 am in the morning. A couple of miles later he crashed and tragically died because the road he was on was not marked well and not conducive to the truck he was driving. There was a sign warning the driver not to go beyond a certain point. The driver had previously–that night–already delivered to the well pad and successfully turned onto the road he was supposed to take. Why did he miss it the second time? His widow maintains that even though he worked for a subcontractor, Anadarko was the company in charge and should have had a light illuminating the “No Anadarko Traffic Beyond This Point” sign. So she sued Anadarko, and the subcontractor, for wrongful death. Lower courts threw out the lawsuit but a federal appeals court reinstated a civil suit against Anadarko (see Fed Court Rules PA Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Anadarko Proceeds). The federal court has just ruled. The judge found that Anadarko is not at fault in this tragic accident…
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