Pennsylvania

Carlyle Group | Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Hands over Keys to Philly Refinery after 146 Years
September 20, 2012

As MDN reported in early July, Sunoco (about to be purchased by Energy Transfer Partners), signed a joint venture deal with the Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C. private equity firm, to keep Sunoco’s Philadelphia oil refinery open (see this MDN story). The deal will save 850 jobs. The reason the deal happened at all? The Marcellus Shale.

On Wednesday, Sunoco handed over the ceremonial keys to the plant to Carlyle. Sunoco maintains a one-third interest in the refinery, and Carlyle will be the new operator.

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About MDN | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

MDN to Attend Shale Gas Insight in Philly this Thu/Fri [Free]
September 19, 2012September 19, 2012

MDN editor Jim Willis will attend Shale Gas Insight 2012 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 20 & 21. He’ll be hanging out at the NGI Shale Daily booth (#433). If you’re an MDN reader, please stop by to say hello in person! Jim would like to meet you.

It seems, however, that more than just luminaries like Jack Welch (former CEO of GE), Tom Corbett (Governor of PA), Ted Koppel (former Nightline host) and the CEOs of Range, XTO and MarkWest will be there. Anti-drillers will also converge on the Convention Center in a spectacle they call Shale Gas Outrage, featuring minor celebrities like Josh Fox (of Gasland infamy), Bill McKibben (350.org), Sandra Steingraber (ecologist), and Doug Shields (former president of Pittsburgh City Council). Hey, it ought to be a real party!

Here’s what the Philadelphia Inquirer says about the upcoming event:

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Crawford County | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp

Crawford County, PA Sees First Utica Shale Well Drilled
September 19, 2012September 19, 2012

Although there’s plenty of conventional, shallow gas wells in Crawford County (in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania), the very first unconventional, horizontal well has just been drilled in the Utica Shale in Crawford County. Starting as soon as today, it will be fracked.

Here’s the details:

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Cowardly “Me Too” Towns Support Act 13 Lawsuit in 11th Hour
September 19, 2012September 19, 2012

Pennsylvania’s Act 13 shale drilling law, passed earlier this year, is facing a stiff legal challenge to a key provision in the law. The only part of the law challenged in court is the part replacing the ability of local municipalities to enact zoning ordinances to control where, and if, drilling happens within their borders. Act 13 substitutes a common set of zoning restrictions—drilling must be at least X feet from water wells, schools, etc. Seven brave townships in PA sued to have that provision overturned. MDN says “brave” not because we necessarily support their effort, but in contrast to the cowardly towns and cities and organizations who haven’t put up their own money and time but instead have issued press releases to support the seven who have.

Who are the cowardly towns and organizations? Let’s name some names, shall we?

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Former Gov. Rendell Changes Position on DRBC Moratorium
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, is a prominent Democrat and a supporter of natural gas drilling. While in office, he opposed the ongoing moratorium for drilling in the Delaware River Basin. Now that he’s out of office, he still supports drilling, but he’s changed his tune on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) de facto moratorium. He now supports it.

Rendell points out, however, that if you say “no” to fracking and natural gas, you say “yes” to burning more oil. At least he’s a realist.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

NJ Natural Gas Customers Get Rate Cut Thanks to Fracking
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

In what can only be termed delicious irony, more than 2 million natural gas customers across New Jersey, many of whom oppose hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, will get a cut in their natural gas rates starting October 1st. Why? Because of the abundance of hydraulically fractured Marcellus Shale gas flowing into the state from Pennsylvania.

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Energy Companies | EOG Resources | Noble Energy | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Talisman Energy

Drillers Talk about Marcellus Advantage over Other Shales
September 14, 2012September 14, 2012

Interfax Energy’s Natural Gas Daily ran a highly interesting and useful article on the advantages of the Marcellus Shale, why it’s attracting capital investments, along with who is ramping up and who is scaling back drilling in the Marcellus.

Among the points made in the article:

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Butler County | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants

Chemical Manufacturer to Build Gas-to-Liquids Plant in PA
September 14, 2012September 14, 2012

MDN has heard of many uses for natural gas, and of many companies moving to or expanding in states like Pennsylvania to take advantage of the low price of Marcellus natural gas. But this is a new one for us.

Last week, Calumet Special Products, with a chemical plant in Karns City, PA, announced they will likely build a new gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant at their facility in Karns to convert natural gas into feedstock (raw materials) they will then use to manufacture white mineral oils, petrolatums, aliphatic solvents and other gelled hydrocarbon products at the plant. They believe the price of natural gas in the Marcellus is so economical, and will remain so, that they can convert it themselves at a better price than buying the raw materials. How cool is that?

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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PIOGA Says, “You’ve Been Green-Slimed”
September 13, 2012September 13, 2012

Anti-drilling organizations like PennFuture can make all sorts of wild accusations against the drilling industry in Pennsylvania and the media simply nods its collective head up and down like bobble heads, never questioning, always regurgitating what they’re fed. But when someone in the industry hits back, the media (and the anti-drillers) squeal like little girls.

PIOGA, the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, sponsored a couple of billboards along the PA Turnpike about 35 miles from Pittsburgh a few days ago hitting back (see the picture below). What does PennFuture and the Associated Press do? Because “PIOGA” is not emblazoned across the billboard as the sponsor, they try to gin up a controversy that somehow “the industry” is trying to “hide the fact they sponsored it.” You can tell something is effective when you receive a reaction like this one.

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Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Tioga County (PA)

Mansfield Univ. Offers New BS in Safety for Shale Industry
September 13, 2012September 13, 2012

Safety Management Systems (SMS) is partnering with Mansfield University (in Pennsylvania) to launch a new degree program focusing on the expanding shale gas industry. The new Safety Management Bachelor of Science is part of the health sciences department at Mansfield. SMS is a division of Acadian, one of the nation’s largest providers of ground and air emergency and non-emergency medical transportation, EMT training and safety training.

From the SMS press release:

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Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County | Wyoming County (PA)

PA PUC Issues more Advisories for Act 13 Zoning Violations
September 13, 2012October 18, 2013

It’s full speed ahead for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) when it comes to evaluating whether (or not) local zoning ordinances violate portions of the new Act 13 drilling law, thereby making those local municipalities ineligible to receive impact fees.

But wait, isn’t there a case in PA Supreme Court that will be heard in October about the constitutionality of the zoning provisions of Act 13? Indeed there is. So how can the PUC push forward with evaluating zoning ordinances that have been ruled unconstitutional by lower courts? Good question.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Impact Fee Raises More Revenue than Expected
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

The new Pennsylvania Act 13 drilling law is paying off. Yesterday the PA State Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged will billing and receiving the “impact fee” provided for under the new law, reported how much money was billed, and how much was received. We have the detailed list by drilling company (embedded below).

The original estimate in the spring of this year when the law was passed, is that the first year would raise a total of $180 million in new revenue. The good news? More than $200 million was raised from the impact fee. The PUC billed drillers $205,890,000. So far they’ve paid $197,600,000. The difference is either cases where the driller disputes the PUC’s information about the status of a well, and a few cases of “the check is in the mail.”

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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Carizzo’s Missing Impact Fee Payment – Scofflaw?
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

Yesterday the Pennsylvania State Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency in charge of assessing and collecting the new Marcellus Shale Impact Fee, released the figures showing which drillers were assessed the fee, the number of both vertical and horizontal wells they drilled, and most importantly, how much they were assessed and how much they’ve paid (see this MDN story).

One particular company stands out among the list: Carizzo Oil & Gas. They stand out because the PUC says they’ve paid exactly $0 of the $3,060,000 they owe in impact fees. The The Harrisburg Patriot-News calls them a scofflaw and chronicles the back and forth they’ve had with both Carrizo and the PUC over the missing payment:

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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DEP Secretaries Spar over Presidential Energy Plans
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

Monday’s Consumer Energy Alliance summit on Pennsylvania energy saw an interesting closing session, with the previous Pennsylvania Sec. of Environmental Protection (DEP) John Hanger and the current DEP Sec. Michael Krancer squaring off over energy policy in this year’s presidential campaign. Krancer took a day off from his official role at the DEP to become Romney’s surrogate for the debate. Hanger, disappointingly, represented Obama. (On a personal note we like John Hanger and his message very much—we selected him to present MDN’s very first webinar. But we’re disappointed he’s out on the stump defending an indefensible and failed energy policy by this president.)

Krancer minced no words about the differences between Romney and Obama’s energy policies:

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

South Fayette, PA Accuses PUC of Persecuting Them over Act 13
September 11, 2012October 18, 2013

South Fayette in Allegheny County, PA is one of the seven towns that sued the state of PA over the new Act 13 drilling law that stripped away local municipalities’ ability to zone for oil and gas development. The Act 13 law substitutes a new “one size fits all” statewide version of zoning. The Act 13 lawsuit will be heard by the PA State Supreme Court in mid-October.

A South Fayette resident requested the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with reviewing and determining whether or not local municipalities are in compliance with Act 13 with regard to their zoning laws, asked the PUC to investigate, which they are doing (see this MDN story). A resident of Robinson Township also asked the PUC to investigate that town’s ordinances, making Robinson the second case of PUC review (see this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story). Attorneys for South Fayette have responded to the review by accusing the PUC of “professional persecution,” “malicious intent,” and taking an “aggressive stance” against the town.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Fracking Opponents Craig & Julie Sautner Sell, Leave Dimock
September 10, 2012September 28, 2012

Dimock Proud, a group of homeowners in and around Dimock, PA who have banded together to defend their town’s reputation against mainstream media news attacks painting the area as a contaminated wasteland, report that two residents who have been among the most vocal critics against drilling and against Cabot Oil & Gas, Craig and Julie Sautner, have settled their lawsuit with Cabot and have left town.

This is an email MDN received from Dimock Proud on Saturday:

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