Pennsylvania

Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Court Fight: Range Resources v Robinson, PA Twp
May 6, 2013May 6, 2013

In March, Range Resources was forced to take Robinson Township (in southwest PA) to court over Robinson’s ongoing refusal to consider a conditional use permit to allow Range to drill at a new site (see Range Takes Robinson Twp, PA to Court over Permit Rejections). The judge in the case, John DiSalle, heard oral arguments last week. Unfortunately for Range, DiSalle refuses to recuse himself from the case even though his wife is a big-time anti-drilling organizer (see Judge Refuses to Recuse Himself from Range v Robinson Twp Case).

Here’s the back and forth arguments presented at last week’s court session:
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

List of “Things to Consider” Before You Sign a Pipeline Lease
May 3, 2013May 3, 2013

The rapid ramp-up in Utica Shale drilling in Ohio, and Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, has meant a shortage of “infrastructure” like pipelines to carry all of the bountiful shale gas being mined. Infrastructure development–pipelines and processing plants–are not being built at a furious pace across both the Utica and Marcellus–but particularly in the Utica. That means a pipeline company landman may come knocking on your door, if you’re a landowner. What are the things to watch out for, before you sign a lease to allow a pipeline?

The attorneys at Bricker & Eckler (with several offices in Ohio) have a handy list of “things to consider” before you sign on the dotted line to allow a pipeline across your property…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | UGI Energy Services | Wyoming County (PA)

Anti-Drillers Try to Stop Pipeline Connector in NE PA
May 3, 2013May 3, 2013

Even though a pipeline connection, known as a “gate station,” has existed in Wyoming County, PA (northeastern part of the state) for the past 50 years, apparently no one noticed it existed (see Back to Kindergarten: UGI Explains NatGas Gate Stations). A small number of anti-drillers oppose a plan by local utility company UGI to build a second pipeline connector/gate station in the area. It’s not a compressor plant–just a connector. And even though it will lower their natural gas bills, they don’t want it. Why? They (erroneously) believe it’s a back-door way for UGI to build a new compressor plant in the area, apparently:
Read More “Anti-Drillers Try to Stop Pipeline Connector in NE PA”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

PA DEP Not Releasing Report on Franklin Forks Contamination
May 2, 2013May 2, 2013

If you thought (like we did) that the matter of potential water well methane contamination in Franklin Forks, PA was put to rest with the recent announcement by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that drilling is not to blame, you would be wrong. In December 2011, three families in the Franklin Forks (Susquehanna County) area complained their well water had gone bad. Nearby drilling by WPX was to blame, according to the homeowners. But after an exhaustive 16-month investigation, the state DEP announced earlier this week that WPX’s drilling is not to blame (see PA DEP Says Drilling Did NOT Contaminate Water in Franklin Forks). The DEP said the same natural conditions that closed down a nearby trailer park more than a decade ago was the cause. Case closed, right?

No. And here’s why… According to at least one news source, the DEP refuses to release a copy of the report that discloses their findings and the methodology they used to arrive at the conclusions they did. You can bet that anti-drillers will attack this like vultures picking over a dead carcass. Here is what the Epoch Times is reporting about the “missing report”:
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Allegheny County | Chevron | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania

Chevron to Build New (Big) Regional HQ in Pittsburgh Suburb
May 2, 2013May 2, 2013

Chevron has just stepped up its commitment to the Marcellus (and Utica) Shale region by purchasing 61 acres, including a Kmart that’s about to close, in Moon Township, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Rumor has it that Chevron will build a new 350,000 square foot office complex that will house upward of 1,750 employees when it’s done. They currently employ around 650 employees in the region, housed at several locations.

Here’s the details that are known:
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Economic Impact | Erie County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania

NW PA Hose Company Expands, Hires 35 People for Marcellus Work
May 2, 2013May 2, 2013

Yet another example of how the Marcellus and Utica Shale supply chain is putting people back to work–this time in northwestern Pennsylvania’s Millcreeek Township (Erie County). All-American Hose recently hired 25 full-time employees and 10 temps and has reopened a closed plant in the process. Why? To manufacture polyurethane hoses used in the Marcellus and Utica Shale…
Read More “NW PA Hose Company Expands, Hires 35 People for Marcellus Work”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

More on Chesapeake’s Fire Sale of PA Acreage to Southwestern
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

A blogger on the Seeking Alpha website delivers a bit more information about the announcement earlier this week that Chesapeake is selling their leases for 163,000 acres in NE PA to Southwestern Energy for what MDN called the “fire sale” price of $574 per acre (see Southwestern Energy Buys 162K PA Marcellus Acres from Chesapeake).

According to Seeking Alpha, Chesapeake paid an average of $610 per acre to lease that acreage between 2006-2009, so they actually lost money on the deal…
Read More “More on Chesapeake’s Fire Sale of PA Acreage to Southwestern”
Berks County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services | WGL Holdings

Berks County Officials Think Commonwealth Pipeline Will Rise Again
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

The Commonwealth Pipeline, a joint venture between Inergy, UGI and WGL Holdings, was suspended indefinitely just a few weeks ago (see PA’s Commonwealth Pipeline Project Suspended – Indefinitely). However, officials from Berks County, PA, in the southeastern part of the state and a county through which the Commonwealth Pipeline was slated to pass through, don’t buy it. They believe the project will come back to life and pass through their county, eventually…
Read More “Berks County Officials Think Commonwealth Pipeline Will Rise Again”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA

Southwestern Energy Buys 162K PA Marcellus Acres from Chesapeake
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Southwestern Energy announced yesterday that they’ve picked up 162,000 Marcellus Shale acres in northeastern Pennsylvania from Chesapeake Energy for $93 million. Along with the acreage comes 17 producing (1.2 net) wells with a (very small) 2 million cubic feet of net production per day. The Southwestern purchase nearly doubles the amount of their Marcellus Shale acreage.

The first interesting thing to MDN about the deal is that all of this new acreage–as well as all of Southwestern’s existing Marcellus acreage–is squarely in the “dry gas” area of NE PA. Obviously Southwestern, like Cabot Oil & Gas, believes there is money to be made in the dry gas window of the play. The second interesting thing is that Southwestern got the acreage at the fire sale price of $574 per acre…
Read More “Southwestern Energy Buys 162K PA Marcellus Acres from Chesapeake”
Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

PA DEP Says Drilling Did NOT Contaminate Water in Franklin Forks
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

As Paul Harvey used to say, here is “the rest of the story” about the contaminated well water for three homes in Franklin Forks (Susquehanna County), PA… In December 2011, three families complained to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that their well water looked and smelled like it was polluted. Since WPX was drilling natural gas wells nearby at the time, and since two of those wells had been cited by the DEP as having substandard well casings, the assumption was the drilling activity was polluting the water wells (see PA DEP Asks WPX to Help Families with Water/Methane Issues for background).

The rest of the story: After a 16-month thorough investigation, the DEP announced yesterday what residents of Susquehanna County already know–the water in Franklin Forks (and indeed most of Susquehanna County) sucks and has sucked for generations. The DEP found, contrary to the bleating of celebrities, that drilling did NOT pollute the Franklin Forks wells. Those wells are polluted from natural causes, the same natural causes that closed a nearby trailer park more than a decade ago (BGD, before gas drilling)…
Read More “PA DEP Says Drilling Did NOT Contaminate Water in Franklin Forks”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Monster Well in NE PA Yields 8 Bcf in 667 Days
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Energy analyst and Seeking Alpha blogger Richard Zeits listened in to the recent Cabot Oil & Gas investor’s conference call and came away with some mind-blowing numbers. The bottom line from the call and from Zeits’ analysis is that Cabot has indeed found a “super-productive” location in Susquehanna County, PA where they own leases on about 200,000 acres. New wells they’ve recently drilled prove that all of their acreage is in this sweet spot.

One startling find by Zeits: A well drilled by Cabot in Susquehanna County has, in just 667 days, produced a cumulative 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas–a single well! That equates to an average of 12 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from that one well. Astonishing. (No wonder Southwestern just picked up an additional 51,000 acres from Chesapeake in Susquehanna County earlier this week, for an average of $574 per acre. Chesapeake was taken to the cleaners).

Here’s some of Zeits’ analysis of the Cabot call, with lots of facts and figures:
Read More “Cabot Monster Well in NE PA Yields 8 Bcf in 667 Days”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Did PBT “Badger” PA Gov Corbett on Shell Cracker Plant Date?
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Yesterday MDN told you about comments from PA Gov. Tom Corbett that seemed to indicate he’s changed his story about when a final final final decision may come from Shell about whether or not they will move forward with building an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA (see Corbett Story Changes: Decision on PA Cracker Plant Delayed Again). However, Corbett’s may not be the only story that got changed. According to a spokesman for the governor, the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Business Times “badgered” Corbett into forecasting the 2014 date when a decision may be made, and then shaded their coverage to make it seem as though Corbett has changed his story…

Read More “Did PBT “Badger” PA Gov Corbett on Shell Cracker Plant Date?”
Cambria County | Chevron | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chevron to Start Marcellus Drilling in Cambria County, PA
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Chevron is about to ramp up drilling on some of their half million plus Marcellus Shale acres located in Cambria County, PA. Construction will begin this summer and drilling will begin in the fall at the Goldenrod Sportsmen’s Club in Jackson Township:
Read More “Chevron to Start Marcellus Drilling in Cambria County, PA”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy

PA DEP Fines PGE for Spills, Discharges in Lycoming County
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined Pennsylvania General Energy Co. $125,500 for two different sets of violations in Lycoming County, PA that occurred in 2011 and 2012. The fines were for three spills and for excessive sediment discharges into a local creek.

The details from the DEP:
Read More “PA DEP Fines PGE for Spills, Discharges in Lycoming County”
Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Corbett Story Changes: Decision on PA Cracker Plant Delayed Again
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

In what looks to be like more backpedaling, PA Gov. Tom Corbett told the Pittsburgh Business Times on Friday he now doesn’t expect a final decision on whether Shell will build a new $2 billion ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA until 2014. Last December he said Shell needed another six months (until the end of June) for lawyers “dotting I’s and crossing T’s” (see Gov Tom Corbett: Shell Cracker Plant in PA Not “Off the Rails”). Now the story is, “I’ve always thought it would be early next year,” meaning 2014. Hmmm. Then why didn’t he say that last December?

From the Pittsburgh Business Times:

Read More “Corbett Story Changes: Decision on PA Cracker Plant Delayed Again”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Fired Pipeliner Sentenced to Year in Prison, Fined for Vandalism
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

Henry Benton, a fired pipeline worker used a backhoe to intentionally damaged a buried pipeline in northern Lycoming County, PA on three separate occasions in June 2011. He recently plead guilty and has just been sentenced. Benton was ordered to pay $150,000 to the company installing the pipeline ($50K in damages from what he did). He’s also been sentenced to a year in prison:

Read More “Fired Pipeliner Sentenced to Year in Prison, Fined for Vandalism”