UGI Completes Auburn Loop Pipeline in NEPA, Benefits Cabot O&G
Way back in May 2014 MDN told you that UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI (a utility company in northeast PA) would build two new pipelines in northeast PA for $80 million that will allow them to transport cheap, abundant, locally extracted natural gas from Cabot Oil & Gas in Susquehanna County to residents in the greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area (see UGI Energy Building 2 New Pipelines in NEPA for Cabot O&G). One of those two projects was completed last November (see UGI Turns on New Pipeline for Cabot in NEPA). Earlier this week UGI completed the second project, called the Auburn Loop–9 miles of new pipeline that parallels existing pipeline and, along with compressor upgrades, allows UGI to pump an additional 270 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) of Marcellus Shale gas from Susquehanna County, PA to the Scranton area…
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Shortly after assuming the office of Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley (who formerly worked for the anti-drilling Big Green group PennFuture) mass-fired a very important group at the DEP called the Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board, or TAB (see 
We’ve heard just about everything blamed on fracking. Global warming? Yep–blame fracking because fracking produces natural gas and natural gas, when burned, turns into carbon dioxide and and abundance of CO2 in the atmosphere supposedly heats the planet (although the average temp hasn’t gone up in nearly 19 years now). What about STDs–sexually transmitted diseases? Yep–blame fracking because nefarious roustabouts from “foreign” locations like Texas and Oklahoma show up to work on rigs, and the only off-hours things they do is screw the local women-folk and spread STDs all over the place (do you honestly think they have an ounce of energy left after working a 12-15 hour day lifting heavy stuff at a rig site?). Here’s a new one we’ve just heard for the first time: you can blame fracking in places like Pennsylvania for the high cost of firewood this winter. Say what???…
EdgeMarc Energy is a small driller headquartered in the Pittsburgh area, formed in 2012. The company has leased 50,000 acres in the Marcellus and Utica Shales. On Monday EdgeMarc issued a press release to announce they’ve attracted a new investor–the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan–which has promised the company up to $300 million in cash in return for part ownership (called an “equity commitment”). The announcement also says EdgeMarc currently drills and produces natural gas in Monroe and Washington counties in Ohio, and Butler County in Pennsylvania. In checking the latest issue of our 
Layoffs in the natural gas industry have cut wide and deep. We spotted one article recently that said layoffs worldwide have hit 200,000 (see Forbes: 
A gang of Big Green groups are tickled pink–or is it tickled “green”–that their continuous frivolous lawsuits against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have once again yield the desired result. Radical leftist “green” groups like Earthworks, Environmental Integrity Project, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, and yes, PennFuture (where PA’s current Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley, used to work), had previously sued the federal EPA to force onerous new reporting rules on natural gas processing plants, using lies about the kinds of air pollutants released by the plants. The EPA cooperates with these sleazy organizations in a “sue and settle” scam. “Hey, you sue us for this, a liberal judge will ‘make us’ do it–then we can bypass Congress and everyone else and set up our own laws outside of that stupid old Constitution.” That’s how these groups collude with the EPA (see 
More electricity is disappearing from the electrical grid thanks for Barack H. Obama’s war on coal. AES had considered converting a coal-powered electric plant is operates in Potter County, PA into burning natural gas–indeed had applied for and received permits to do it–but instead they reversed course and have now shuttered the plant they operate in Potter known as the Bear Valley plant…
Good old fracked Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale gas will begin powering passenger trains in Philadelphia starting in 2017, if all goes according to plan. SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) announced as part of its “sustainability” efforts they plan to build their own electric generating plant powered by Marcellus Shale gas. The $26.8 million plant will save them money, be better for the environment, and heat SEPTA’s largest bus garage (with excess heat from the plant) to boot. It’s a win/win/win all the way around…
The Keystone Sanitary Landfill is Pennsylvania’s third busiest landfill–located on the outskirts of Scranton. The Keystone Landfill accepts drill cuttings from Marcellus drilling. Last year Keystone applied for a permit to expand the landfill once again–but instead of outward, they want to expand it upward, making it higher, to gain more capacity. At present about 10% of the incoming waste stream at the landfill is shale waste. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) had, as of last summer, delayed granting the expansion request pending more study (see 
Last week 17 top Marcellus Shale-related executives–including those from CONSOL Energy, Chevron, Huntley & Huntley, MarkWest Energy, Williams and Columbia Pipeline Group–sent a letter to the Pennsylvania legislature and to PA Gov. Tom Wolf. The letter point blank said don’t slap a new/high severance tax on Marcellus Shale in addition to the already-high tax (called an impact fee). We couldn’t find a copy of the letter to share with you. However, we do have reaction from America’s most liberal governor, Tom Wolf, whose office responded with the “same tired argument” always trotted out by Wolf: he still wants to tax shale to give the money away to teachers’ unions in return for electing him to office. We don’t know how many times we have to say this: these are not empty threats by the industry. The industry is telling Wolf exactly what will happen if he institutes the tax–they’ll leave town…
In addition to releasing their third quarter 2015 results yesterday, the top brass from EQT also held an analyst phone call. On that call we got updated details from EQT’s president of exploration and production, Steven Schlotterbeck, about the single highest initial-producing Utica Shale well ever drilled, EQT’s Scotts Run 591340. We also heard from Steve about two more Utica wells they’re currently drilling–one in Greene County, PA (about five miles from the Scott’s Run well), and one in Wetzel County, WV. But the big news from yesterday’s call came from EQT CEO David Porges. He said EQT has decided to suspend drilling in central PA and in the Upper Devonian–anyplace outside of their “core” Utica locations. Essentially, EQT is giving up on the Marcellus (for now) and going after the Utica instead. This is certainly big news and affects landowners in Marcellus-only areas–pretty much any place outside of southwest PA and the northern panhandle of WV. Porges says IF the Utica pans out as expected, it will be bigger than the Marcellus production-wise over time. EQT’s current thinking is that they will trim their drilling program to concentrate on drilling 10-15 Utica wells in 2016…
Part of the ongoing hit series in the Democrat-owned Harrisburg Patriot-News that attempts to smear the Marcellus industry (see 
Here’s a thought: Why doesn’t the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) convert more of the gas it buys to take gas from the nearby Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale and dump buying gas from the Gulf Coast–because PA’s gas is closer and much cheaper, it will result in lower costs for PGW and lower bills for consumers. Now, where do we go to collect our $1.5 million consulting fee for that fine idea? The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission contracted with Michigan consulting firm Schumaker & Company, Inc. to perform a top to bottom audit of the PGW. While we don’t know how much the audit cost, we did find a 2008 proposal from Schumaker to New York State touting the same kind of audit, with a total price tag (back then) of $1.3 million. So we figured with a little inflation the audit just turned in by Schumaker must have run at least $1.5M. The chief, number one suggestion by Schumaker? PGW can save $6-$7 million a year by buying more of its gas (60% more) from the Marcellus Shale region, upping it from the current 33% they buy from the Marcellus now. Maybe we should get into the consulting business. Sure pays better than blogging!…
In the 2014 campaign for governor of Pennsylvania, California billionaire Tom Steyer gave over $10 million to Tom Wolf’s campaign to help him get elected (see