Marcellus/Utica Rig Count Race Tightens: OH Count Closes in on PA
It’s been a few months since we’ve brought you news about the monthly average for Baker Hughes’ venerable rig count–largely because after GE completed it’s merger with Baker Hughes they quit issuing monthly press releases from their website! We spotted a story in the Pittsburgh Business Times that talks about Ohio coming close to parity in their rig count with Pennsylvania–which is a really big deal–and the reasons for it. That story sent us looking for the latest rig count numbers and indeed, it’s true. As of September, PA averaged 33 shale rigs in operation, while OH averaged 29–the closest we’ve ever seen it. If you look at the counts for last week (BH does a weekly rig count too), the numbers are even closer: PA with 31 rigs, OH with 29. We don’t typically monitor the weekly counts as they always fluctuate up and down–better to look at monthly averages. But the fact remains that PA has been pretty steady, operating between 32 and 34 rigs per month since January of this year, while OH has gone from operating an average of 20 rigs in January to 29 last month, and West Virginia has gone from operating an average of 8 rigs in January to 15 rigs last month (nearly doubling). Yet PA is static. Is there an explanation? Some experts think there is, and it can be explained in a single word: pipelines…
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A decade ago the petrochemical industry in the U.S. was in the toilet–in the midst of a downturn. Plants were leaving our shores, heading to other countries. And then the shale revolution hit full force–and changed everything. Petrochemical plants and investment is now skyrocketing here at home, because of shale. Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum (i.e. oil) and natural gas. The entire plastics industry comes from oil and gas–you knew that, right? Ethylene (which comes from ethane) and propylene (which comes from propane) are used to make polyethylene and polypropylene respectively–that is, plastics. And plastics are used in just about everything you touch, live in, ride in, etc. Plastics make modern life possible. Without plastics, we’d be back in the Stone Ages–living short, brutish lives. Ten years ago our petrochemical industry was flailing, but today it’s thriving. According to an expert speaking last week at Pittsburgh Chemical Day (an annual event), the Shell ethane cracker now under construction is in the “the second wave” of ethane crackers. According to the same expert, we are witnessing the “biggest buildup in the U.S. petrochemical industry we have ever seen.” And it’s all because of shale…
Environmental radicals from a group called Lancaster Against Pipelines made good on their promise to disrupt work on Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project–a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. Lancaster Against Pipelines is headed up by Mark Clatterbuck (who participated in the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline) and his wife Malinda. The clattering Clatterbucks got 20-35 wackos from Lancaster County to load themselves into 16-18 vehicles (numbers change depending on the news source), which they then drove onto an access road used by Williams, where workers are beginning to clear land. The wackos parked themselves right in the middle of the road and stood in front of machinery, preventing Williams personnel from accessing the site. The only problem, for the wackos, is that it was raining so hard (leftovers from Hurricane Nate moving through), that Williams personnel weren’t working at the site anyway! However, it’s the principle of the thing. So the police were called. The so-called protesters were asked to move (or be arrested)–so they moved. End of story. Nobody hauled away in handcuffs, no striking images of people laying down refusing to move (too wet for that). Just a bunch of wackos with nothing better to do for a few hours, along with a few reporters…
MDN has run two stories about a new Marcellus/Utica drilling company called Pin Oak Energy Partners, one in August (see 
Listen up job seekers in eastern Pennsylvania: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is looking for 400 people to work on building Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline–a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. The job fair is happening TODAY (Friday) and TOMORROW (Saturday) ath the Harrisburg-Hershey Crown Plaza located at 23 South 2nd Street in Harrisburg (8am-4pm both days). According to the Teamsters, there are “hundreds of jobs to fill” and they are “looking to expand our workforce quickly.” Qualifications? You need to be 21 years old or older, have a driver’s licence, and be willing to travel. Construction experience is a plus, but not required. Here’s the deets…
While the Teamsters are holding a job fair today and tomorrow in Harrisburg to recruit for pipeline workers (see today’s lead story), next week Shell and the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) will hold two back-to-back career expos on the other side of the state, in the Pittsburgh region, to “inform residents about all the current and emerging job opportunities” at Shell’s ethane cracker plant. On Thursday, Oct. 12, Shell will host the Pennsylvania Chemicals Military Petrochemical Day from 8am to 2pm–for former military service members. The event will be held in room 9103 of CCBC’s Learning Resources Center. Then at 6pm on the 12th, a free career expo will be held at the CCBC Dome–open to the public. Preregistration is not required, but is encouraged. This is your chance to meet with folks face-to-face who can help you land a job working on (or in) the mighty Shell ethane cracker. Don’t miss it!…
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is the single largest company in India, and one of the largest energy companies in the world. RIL invested $3.5 billion in a Marcellus joint venture with Atlas Energy in 2010, and later battled Chevron to buy Atlas–but Chevron won, so RIL became a jv partner with Chevron. RIL currently has 3 U.S. shale joint ventures: the Chevron jv in the Marcellus (owns 40% of that acreage), a jv with Carrizo Oil & Gas in the northeast PA Marcellus (owns 60% of that acreage), and a jv with Pioneer Natural Resources in the Texas Eagle Ford (owns 45% of that acreage). Back in 2015, RIL signaled they are looking to dump all of their U.S. shale assets (see 
Blasting and drilling work in Lebanon County, PA related to building the Mariner East 2 Pipeline may have caused old deposits of MTBE (a gasoline additive) that had been stored at an old Sunoco facility to dislodge and migrate–into a nearby farmer’s water well. A subcontractor doing blasting work on Sept. 11 experienced “complications” during a detonation. Pieces of rock and debris hit a nearby house and swimming pool. Not a good thing. That blasting may also have led to the migration of MTBE to a nearby farm where MTBE had not previously been detected. Also not a good thing. Sunoco used to operate the Quentin terminal from 1940 to 1993 that served as a petroleum storage facility for the original Mariner East Pipeline–that flowed petroleum. That pipeline has since been repurposed and now flows natural gas liquids. Leaks from the old storage facility were known to have contaminated the ground in the area. It appears the blasting may have disturbed some of the pollution sitting under ground…
In July 2016 MDN told you about a smallish, but important pipeline project in the Delmarva Peninsula area, which includes most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia. Eastern Shore Natural Gas’ 2017 System Expansion project will bring new sources of natgas from an interconnection Eastern Shore has with the mighty TETCo (Texas Eastern Company) pipeline near Philadelphia (see 
The debate rages, both nationally and on the state level (in Pennsylvania, anyway) about the best way to reduce fugitive methane. That is, to stop methane from leaking out of pipes and into the atmosphere where it supposedly contributes to mythical man-made global warming. Leaving aside the nonsensical global warming stuff, it’s in the best interests of any producer (or pipeline company) to ensure no methane molecules leak out of the system. It’s the stuff they extract and sell! They don’t want their inventory flying away into heaven. The debate is how best to ensure less methane leaks. On one side you have the typical Big Government types that want to regulate everything, down to the type of equipment you use to detect leaks and the methods for fixing it. We have nothing against common sense regulations, but as everyone knows, government tends to screw things up, rather than fix things. On the other side you have drillers and midstream companies who content “just give us a standard and let us figure out how best to meet that standard.” Case in point is Southwestern Energy. Southwestern launched a leak detection and fixing program five years ago–and has dramatically cut the amount of methane leaking from its operations. Southwestern, and others, show us the way it should be done, WITHOUT needing onerous regulations from the federal government or from the regulation-happy PA Gov. Tom Wolf…
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is offering $1 million in grants to companies willing to build “alternative fuel infrastructure projects” in Pennsylvania. What the heck is that? CNG (compress natural gas) fueling stations, propane fueling stations, and electric vehicle charging stations. The catch? The fueling stations must be open and available to the general public, and must be located with the “designated alternative fuel corridors” of certain interstate highways: I-76, I-276, I-476, I-70, I-95, and I-80. PA wants to goose the use of alternative fuels. Here’s the deets on the program…
Last week the radicals at Big Green group PennFuture launched an advertising campaign that targets both U.S. Steel Corp. and the might Shell ethane cracker. The ad campaign, called “Your Toxic Neighbor” includes big ads on the sides of buses and on billboards in the Pittsburgh region. From the beginning of PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, PennFuture radicals have populated his administration. Two PennFuture radicals previously in the Wolf cabinet are now gone: former Secretary of Policy, John Hanger (now gone, supposedly to spend more time with his wife and daughter in Massachusetts) and former Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley (fired for conspiring with Big Green groups and getting caught doing it). The one remaining PennFuture radical still in the Wolf cabinet is Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Cindy Dunn. Time for Wolf to show her the door too (see 
Attempting to bluster his way through an epic fail to get a budget agreement done, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf tried to lay the blame for a late budget on House Republicans, for their refusal to pass a severance tax. Yesterday Wolf unilaterally acted to plug a budget deficit (to fill the gap in a wildly overspent budget) by borrowing $1.25 billion from the state’s Liquor Control Board, from future liquor revenue payments. Playing politics, Wolf laid blame on Republicans in the House, saying he has “had enough of the games” and is “drawing a line in the sand.” Wolf’s willingness to act unilaterally by borrowing against future liquor revenues appeared to have stunned Republicans in the House, who rightly ask this question: If Wolf could have acted unilaterally like this to pull forward revenue and plug the gap, why didn’t he do it a month ago to prevent a downgrade in PA’s credit rating? That’s a great question. So who’s really playing politics with the people of PA? Wolf’s official statement belies his petulant, crybaby attitude in not getting his own way with a Marcellus-killing severance tax. Wolf held out hope that traitorous Republicans in the Senate could bully House Republicans into accepting a severance tax. Wolf lost that political gamble and he now must scramble to try and cover his political backside before the next election. Wolf’s base of far-left Philadelphia teachers won’t be happy. Wolf couldn’t get a severance tax passed in his first four years in office–so why expect he can in the next four? Wolf’s future as governor is now on life support–thanks to principled House Republicans who held the line and refused to cave to the pressure. So for now, the budget battle has ended. It’s over. Yes, a few more things need to get done, but the pressure is off. You might as well say the budget for this year is a done deal, WITHOUT a severance tax!…