Statewide PA

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Chesapeake & PA Landowners Settle Royalty Lawsuit…Again
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

In September 2013 MDN told you that Chesapeake Energy had “settled” a lawsuit that would reimburse Pennsylvania landowners for post-production costs Chesapeake had deducted from royalty checks, leaving some landowners with checks for pennies (see Chesapeake Settles PA Royalty Lawsuit for Pittance: $7.5M). As we said at the time, it was a pittance that Chessy would pay $7.5 million to be shared among “several thousand” landowners, with 1/3 of it going to lawyers. The suit was never settled because some landowners sued to block it while they filed their own, separate lawsuit. The disagreeing landowners have finally joined and have (now) accepted an offer from Chesapeake to settle–for $11 million. Still peanuts if you ask us, but perhaps something is better than nothing?…
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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Shale Gas News Radio – December 27, 2014 [Audio]
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

Every Saturday the one-hour Shale Gas News show airs on Scranton, PA’s 94.3 FM “The Talker” radio station. The show is co-hosted by Kevin Lynn of Linde Corporation and Bill desRosiers from Cabot Oil & Gas. MDN brings you the latest program show notes and recordings for Shale Gas News each week (well worth your time to listen). Here’s the latest program, recorded on Saturday, Dec. 27…
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Online Tool Tracks PA Production by Well, Calculates Royalties
December 29, 2014December 29, 2014

Several times in the past, MDN has touted what we consider to be the best online database for Pennsylvania landowners interested in tracking the production of gas wells in the Keystone State. It’s called MarcellusGas.org and for $20 a year you can all the data you can handle with regard to how much a given Marcellus well is producing–based on the semi-annual reports filed with the state Dept. of Environmental Protection. MarcellusGas.org sports not only data on historical production, but a royalty calculator that projects out what a well may produce based on the production of other wells in the area that have produced longer. And according to landowners who have compared the projections with their royalty checks, they say it’s pretty darned accurate…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

NJ Residents Breathing Easier Thanks to PA Marcellus Shale
December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

New Jersey has, for decades, not met federal air quality standards. And although NJ continues to not meet some of those standards, they have just been told by the feds they now pass for one very important air standard: the standard for particulates in the air. Particulates are tiny bits of solid and liquid droplets in the air that come from soot, pollen and other sources. Gov. Chris Christie (Rhino, er, a, RINO) has pulled a muscle in his arm patting himself on the back taking credit for the news. The truth is, NJ’s lower particulate count has virtually nothing to do with NJ itself and is mostly due to, yes, the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Statoil Reduces Marcellus Holdings in $394M Deal with Southwestern
December 23, 2014December 23, 2014

Time to follow the bouncing ball–this is a tad complicated, but we’ll do our best to explain it. In 2008, Chesapeake Energy (under then-CEO Aubrey McClendon) took on a “silent” investing partner for 600,000 net acres in the Marcellus of West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. The non-operating partner for the acreage was Norwegian company Statoil, with a 32.5% interest in the acreage. Statoil put up buckets of money and Chessy did the drilling. Fast forward to October of this year. Chesapeake cut a deal to sell most of that acreage–some 413,000 acres with 435 drilled wells (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). The buyer is Southwestern Energy. In order for the deal to close, Statoil has to sign on. Today, Statoil announced they have cut a deal with Southwestern to reduce Statoil’s now 29% interest in the acreage down to a 23% interest, in return for a $394 million check from Southwestern…
Read More “Statoil Reduces Marcellus Holdings in $394M Deal with Southwestern”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

FERC Approves Williams Leidy Southeast Project in PA/NJ
December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

Since January 2013, Williams has been working on a project called Leidy Southeast that will create several new loops in northeast Pennsylvania and in New Jersey (including new compressor stations) to bump up the capacity of the Williams Transco interstate gas pipeline (see Williams Takes Next Step with Transco Leidy Pipeline Expansion). In August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said there would be no significant impacts to the environment, a good sign that the project would get the green light (see FERC Says “No Significant Impact” from Leidy Southeast Pipeline). The green light came last Thursday when FERC gave final approval for the project…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Partisan Attack on Shale Drilling by PA Budget & Policy Center
December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

The virulently leftist, anti-drilling and partisan so-called non-profit Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (kook lefties) released a report last week, funded by the Park Foundation and Mamma Teresa Heinz Kerry’s Heinz Endowments, that says shale drilling in Pennsylvania is responsible for just about everything bad: high deaths due to traffic accidents, high rents, crime, and (don’t laugh), even sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Who knows–maybe even the Black Plague, ebola, sun spots, stray comets and other calamities can also be laid at the feet of shale drilling…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Unemployment “Plummets” in SWPA, Thanks to the Marcellus
December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

All we heard about, endlessly, from mainstream media in Pennsylvania during the 2014 PA campaign for governor is how Corbett (Satan himself) can’t do anything right, and even his so-called best buddies in the energy industry couldn’t cover up the fact that Pennsylvania is losing jobs like crazy. Unemployment in the Keystone State sucks. Where are all those promised shale jobs? Yada yada yada. So went the narrative. But that was then, this is now. Now that the media’s candidate (Tom Wolf) has won, it’s time to start telling the truth again. The truth? In places where there’s active drilling, like southwestern PA, unemployment numbers are way down, at historic lows…
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New York | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Shale Gas News Radio – December 20, 2014 [Audio]
December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

Every Saturday the one-hour Shale Gas News show airs on Scranton, PA’s 94.3 FM “The Talker” radio station. The show is co-hosted by Kevin Lynn of Linde Corporation and Bill desRosiers from Cabot Oil & Gas. MDN editor Jim Willis knows Bill and counts him as a friend. Bill asked Jim to join he and Kevin on this past Saturday’s program to discuss the New York decision to ban shale drilling. Below is the lineup for the show (Jim appeared at the beginning of the program), along with an option to listen to a recording of the full hour. MDN will bring you the latest program show notes and recordings for Shale Gas News each week (well worth your time to listen)…
Read More “Shale Gas News Radio – December 20, 2014 [Audio]”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Dela. Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum Takes Credit for NY Frack Ban
December 19, 2014December 19, 2014

Talk about breathtaking arrogance. We always knew THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, had a high opinion of herself. But we didn’t fully know, until now, just how arrogant she truly is. Get this: van Rossum is taking credit for New York’s decision to ban fracking. Delusions of grandeur, anyone? Trying to puff up your own importance when relatively few know you even exist? According to van Rossum, the decision to allow fracking in Pennsylvania is all political, and the decision to ban fracking in New York is all based on science. Can anyone say LMAO?…
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Deep Well Services | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

PA Snubber DWS Continues to Expand, Adds New Rigs for Utica Shale
December 19, 2014December 19, 2014

In September, MDN told you about Deep Well Services, the only “snubbing” oilfield services company headquartered in Pennsylvania (see PA “Snubbing” Company DWS Experiences Rapid Expansion). Once again the company is on the grow, adding several new rigs to its expanding fleet…
Read More “PA Snubber DWS Continues to Expand, Adds New Rigs for Utica Shale”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Gov-Elect Wolf Transition Team Includes DRBC’s Carol Collier
December 17, 2014December 17, 2014

Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Tom Wolf has selected the members of his takover team (sometimes referred to as a transition team). Who has he selected when it comes to taking over the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)? Those are the two organizations most closely involved with the issue of shale gas drilling in the Keystone State. MDN has reviewed the list of takeover team members for both the DEP and DCNR (see it below). We’ve identified those we consider either pro-drilling (highlighted in green) or anti-drilling (highlighted in red). At a glance it appears to be pretty evenly split. However, the big red flag for us is the appointment of Carol Collier, former director of the Delaware River Basin Commission, to the DEP takeover team. Interesting thing is, Wolf’s website doesn’t mention Collier’s most recent position at the DRBC–perhaps hoping no one would notice?…
Read More “PA Gov-Elect Wolf Transition Team Includes DRBC’s Carol Collier”
Energy Companies | EXCO Resources | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

EXCO Resources Suspends Dividend Payments to Shareholders
December 17, 2014December 17, 2014

It’s never a good thing when a publicly traded company suspends dividend payments. EXCO Resources, an oil and natural gas driller with operations in Texas, Louisiana and a small drilling operation in the Pennsylvania Marcellus, announced on Monday that because the price of oil has gone so low, they’ve suspended dividend payments to shareholders. One more case of how low oil prices can and does affect drilling for natural gas in the northeast…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Sen Brewster’s “Excrement for Education” Severance Tax Bill
December 17, 2014December 17, 2014

Pennsylvania State Sen. Jim Brewster (Democrat from Allegheny & Westomoreland counties) wants to be known as the politician that killed Marcellus drilling in the Keystone State. That’s the only thing we can conclude from his efforts to introduce (yet again) a bill that would tax Marcellus drilling into idleness. Brewster’s plan calls for KEEPING the impact fee and ADDING a severance tax to it–but deducting impact fee payments from the severance tax. Complicated cockamamie? Yeah. Brewster proudly calls his bill/plan “Extraction for Education” because it will give all of the severance portion raised (5% or whatever portion it works out after impact fees) to teachers’ unions. We call it “Excrement for Education”…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Senators to Re-Introduce Impact Fee Bill for Pipelines
December 17, 2014December 17, 2014

Two Philadelphia-area state senators, John Rafferty (Republican from Collegeville), and Andrew Dinniman (Democcrat from West Chester), will introduce legislation in January that would extend the Act 13 impact fee to include newly built gathering and transmission pipelines in the state. The new fee/tax would be based on the amount of acreage used by the pipeline, which includes the entire right-of-way on either side of the pipeline. According to the senators, most of the revenue generated would stay with the local counties and towns where the pipeline is located, in keeping with the intent of an impact fee. The industry is pushing back, saying pipelines have a minimal impact…
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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA “High” Society Meeting Yields News Related to Marcellus
December 16, 2014December 16, 2014

It’s interesting and instructive that when members of the Pennsylvania Society, the so-called “cream of Pennsylvania’s elite” get together for their annual soiree, they go to…New York City. And they party. At this year’s meeting there were several pieces of news that related to the Marcellus Shale. In fact, three of the four major pieces of news are closely tied to the Marcellus. They include: corrupt Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke wants to run for mayor; incompetent PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane will run for a second ignominious term; and new PA Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman appears to be a RINO like the outgoing Senate Majority Leader…
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