Pennsylvania

Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

EQT Midstream: 2 Major Pipeline Projects Advance, 1 Doesn’t
July 25, 2014July 25, 2014

In addition to yesterday’s big news that EQT has decided to “take the plunge” and drill what is thought to be the deepest Utica Shale well yet, in Greene County, PA (see MDN’s related story today), EQT also announced yesterday their plans for their midstream operations over the coming months. CEO David Porges said EQT Midstream will spend “over $350 million” on midstream projects in 2014. The company has three major pipeline/midstream projects on the books. Porges said two of those projects are advancing while one is going “on the back burner”…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot O&G: Afterburners Kick in on Rocket to the Moon
July 25, 2014July 25, 2014

MDN has an admitted soft spot for Cabot Oil & Gas. We know a number of Cabot personnel–all extremely talented and top-drawer professionals. Cabot has been (in our opinion) unfairly maligned for “causing Dimock” which is still a rallying cry for hacks like Josh Fox and his Gasland fictional movies. Even though we have an admitted crush on Cabot, the fact is, they are a stellar performer by everyone’s standards. Yesterday the company released second quarter results for 2014 and they report, among many interesting things, that the company produced an average 1.26 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from their wells in Susquehanna County, PA. Folks, the entire country produces 70 Bcf/d (see U.S. Hits New Daily Production Record Thx to Marcellus/Utica). If you do the math, the amount of gas a single driller is producing from a single PA county (Cabot/Susquehanna County)–is nearly 2% of all gas produced in the U.S. every day. Simply astonishing…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | Williams

Cabot CEO Dinges Talks Marcellus, Midstream Challenges
July 25, 2014July 25, 2014

MDN brought you the Cabot Oil & Gas second quarter update today in a related post. The company released their update yesterday. They also held a call for analysts and investors in which CEO Dan Dinges talked pretty frankly about his frustrations with Williams over problems with pipelines in Susquehanna County, PA where Cabot has drilled all of their PA Marcellus wells–to date anyway. Seems that Williams had some difficulties during the harsh winter and those difficulties stretched into 2Q14 as well…
Read More “Cabot CEO Dinges Talks Marcellus, Midstream Challenges”
Anadarko | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bradford County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Southwestern Energy | Sullivan County

Save the Loyalsock Coalition Attempts a New Spin Job Against DCNR
July 25, 2014July 25, 2014

Another anti-drilling spin job by the partisan, biased “reporters” at PBS’ StateImpact Pennsyvlania. The reliably anti-drilling Marie Cusick–who (going by her previous articles) hasn’t encountered a fossil fuel she likes–is once again trying to stir the anti-drilling pot against legitimate, legal and ethical drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest in central Pennsylvania. Anadarko Petroleum owns mineral rights for 25,000 acres of the Forest. Anadarko presented a plan in March 2012 (!) to drill there, a plan that STILL has not been approved by the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (see PA DCNR Blocks Drilling in Loyalsock State Forest – For Now). Finally, there have been some baby steps toward granting Anadarko access to what they legally have a right to do…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

The Supreme Arrogance of SWPA Environmental Health Project
July 24, 2014July 24, 2014

You may recall an anti-drilling group that calls itself the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project (SWPA-EHP) is trying to prove Marcellus drilling makes people sick (see Health “Study” of Whopping 27 People Blames Drilling for Symptoms and more recently, Anti-Drilling Group Distributes Air Monitors, Calls it Research). In an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a media spokesman for SWPA-EHP makes the breathtakingly arrogant statement that his organization is the public health organization representing people affected by shale drilling in the U.S….
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Research | Statewide PA

Former DEP Sec. Krancer Skewers Auditor General “Report”
July 24, 2014July 24, 2014

Yesterday MDN brought you the news of Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s politically-motivated critical report of the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”). We pointed out the huge conflict of interest on the part of DePasquale (he supports a renewable energy agenda). Today we have reaction from Michael Krancer, a former Secretary of the DEP during 2012, secretary during one of the four year period covered in DePasquale’s report. In his frank style, Krancer skewers the report, while keeping a smile on his face…
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Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA’s Sec of Health Fires Back at Reckless Accusations Against Dept
July 24, 2014July 24, 2014

The latest anti-drilling push in Pennsylvania is to plant seeds of fear and doubt that Marcellus “may be” harming some people’s health. That tactic has worked wonders in liberal New York, so the anti-fossil fuel crowd in PA have also glommed onto. First to appear are stories planted by anti-drilling PBS “reporters” accusing the state’s Dept. of Health of muzzling its own employees (see StateImpact Pennsylvania’s story Former state health employees say they were silenced on drilling). That story about a so-called buzzword list that supposedly would trigger a “don’t talk about it” rule (which is utter nonsense) was picked up and endlessly repeated in the liberal mediasphere–over and over and over and over again. That’s how yellow journalism works. Michael Wolf, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, has had enough and is now pushing back…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Research | Statewide PA

Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”
July 23, 2014July 23, 2014

Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Democrat Auditor General Eugene DePasquale yesterday released a report (full copy below) criticizing the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) as being disorganized and ill-equipped to handle the rapid expansion of Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. What DePasquale forgot to mention in his report is his own whopping conflicts of interest. While he was a state legislator he pushed hard for so-called alternative energy programs to be funded by the state and as deputy secretary of the DEP he convinced a big wind farm operation to locate in the state. From his first day on the job, he was gunning for the Marcellus industry (see PA Auditor General Targets State’s Marcellus Drilling Industry)…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Noble County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Washington County

MarkWest Re-Opens Chartiers, PA Plant, New Plant in OH
July 23, 2014July 23, 2014

MarkWest Energy Partners provided an update yesterday for two of its processing plants–one in the Marcellus and one in the Utica. MarkWest said Plant III at its Houston complex (Chartiers, Washington County, PA) is back up and running after being damaged by a lightening strike back in May (see Lightening Strike at MarkWest Chartiers Plant Causes Evacuation). They also said a brand new processing plant at their Seneca complex in Noble County, OH is now online and running, adding an additional 200 million cubic feet per day of processing capacity (now totals 600 Mmcf/d). Next up? Yet another 200 Mmcf/d plant at the Seneca complex, due to open in 2015…
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Butler County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Reserves (Proved and Unproved) | Rex Energy

Rex Energy Proved Reserves Highest Yet: 1.1 Trillion Cubic Feet
July 23, 2014July 23, 2014

Mid-year is the time oil and gas companies post an update on their proved reserves. MDN has run a few articles over the past couple of weeks highlighting some of those announcements for Marcellus/Utica drillers (see Gastar Proved Reserves Up 43% – 3/4 of it in the Marcellus and Magnum Hunter Proved Reserves Up 10.7%, Marcellus/Utica Tops). We provided an EIA article that helps define what proved (and other types of) reserves are (see Defining Our Terms: Different Types of O&G Reserves). On Monday Rex Energy got in the act and released their mid-year update on proved reserves. The company reports reserves have hit their highest level ever, exceeding 1 trillion cubic feet…
Read More “Rex Energy Proved Reserves Highest Yet: 1.1 Trillion Cubic Feet”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Range Resources to Close Wastewater Pond in Washington County, PA
July 22, 2014July 22, 2014

So-called “investigative journalist” Amanda Gillooly maintains a “bash Range Resources all the time” blog site called Marcellus Monitor, on which she is reporting that Range Resources has filed a plan with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection to close the Yeager wastewater impoundment in Amwell Township (Washington County), PA. Gillooly laughably says the impoundment is “the subject of myriad lawsuits and a federal probe.” Apparently two lawsuits is considered a myriad these days…
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Butler County | Deep Well Services | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain

PA Snubbing Company Expands by 50 Jobs in Just 3 Months
July 22, 2014July 22, 2014

Another supply chain success story: Thanks to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, the only “snubbing” company located in Pennsylvania, Deep Well Services (DWS), has hired 50 new workers since May. By the end of this month they’ll have 128 employees on the payroll–almost all of them in PA, WV and OH. That’s more than 100 jobs added since 2012–thanks to shale drilling. Oh! What’s “snubbing” you ask?…
Read More “PA Snubbing Company Expands by 50 Jobs in Just 3 Months”
Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Reserves (Proved and Unproved) | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Gastar Proved Reserves Up 43% – 3/4 of it in the Marcellus
July 22, 2014July 22, 2014

Gastar Exploration, a major driller in the Marcellus/Utica, posted a mid-year update on their proved (and unproved) reserves yesterday. When you lump all hydrocarbons together–natural gas, oil and condensate and natural gas liquids (NGLs)–Gastar’s estimated proved reserves totaled 78.0 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) as of June 30th. That’s up an eye-popping 43% over the same time last year. Where is all that gas coming from? Three-fourths of it is in the Marcellus/Utica, and one-fourth is in the Mississippi Lime/Woodford Shale in Oklahoma…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | Supply Chain | West Virginia

Primoris Wins Another Round of Pipeline Work in PA/WV Marcellus
July 22, 2014July 22, 2014

A very short and light-on-specifics press release from Primoris Services Corporation says the pipeline building company, based in Dallas, TX, has just secured $80 million worth of contracts to build pipelines for “three major midstream operators” in the PA and WV Marcellus region. You may recall MDN also told you about several Primoris Marcellus Shale projects in June 2013 (see Rockford/Primoris Lands $92M in Marcellus Pipeline Contracts). Here’s the announcement of the latest round of work won by Primoris:
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Energy Companies | Forced Pooling | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania

Third Time the Charm? Hilcorp PA Hearing on Forced Pooling Resched
July 21, 2014July 21, 2014

In Pennsylvania, there is no forced pooling law for Marcellus Shale wells. Forced pooling laws typically say if a majority of landowners are leased in a drilling unit (640 acres, or one square mile), the driller can “force” the other landowners not signed to allow drilling under (not on) their land. However, there’s a loophole in PA for Utica wells. Because Utica wells sit below the Onondaga formation, a 1961 PA law allows forced pooling for Utica wells. Hilcorp is attempting to use that loophole in Lawrence County, PA to force a few recalcitrant landowners to allow drilling (see Hilcorp Lawrence County, PA Forced Pooling Case Update). Hearings on Hilcorp’s forced pooling request have been scheduled and canceled–twice (first in March, then in May). We now have a third date for the hearings–in September…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Corbett Cuts Deal with Enviro Devil on Forest Drilling
July 21, 2014July 21, 2014

Last week MDN told you that the litigious anti-drilling group Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) waited all of about two hours after PA Gov. Tom Corbett signed the 2014 PA budget before filing a lawsuit to prevent the use of money from leasing more state forestland and parks for drilling under, not on (see Anti-Drilling Group Sues PA over Budget and $ from State Leases). The litigious PEDF sought an immediate injunction against the use of any lease money from new leases flowing to the PA budget–a lawsuit that could have screwed up the entire budget for the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). With the gun of a lawsuit aimed at his head, PA Gov. Tom Corbett cut a deal with the ~~devil~~ PEDF to not lease any new state forest land until the lawsuit is heard–this fall at the earliest…
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