Statewide PA

Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Talisman Energy

Talks for Repsol to Buy Some/All of Talisman Energy are “Frozen”
August 27, 2014August 27, 2014

Oh oh. Corporate raider Carl Icahn won’t be happy about this one. MDN told you a month ago that Spanish energy company Repsol was seriously considering buying some, or all, of Canadian company Talisman Energy (see Repsol Eyes Talisman Energy for “Assets” – Takeover Target?). Talisman has substantial Marcellus Shale drilling operations in Pennsylvania. Last October, just as he had previously done with Chesapeake Energy, corporate raider Carl Icahn increased his ownership of Talisman stock (see Carl Icahn Snaps Up 6% of His Next E&P Victim: Talisman Energy). That means big changes are coming for Talisman–and not necessarily good changes. When Repsol came sniffing around everyone thought a deal would be likely. But according to an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the talks for Repsol to buy some or all of Talisman have stalled. The word they use is “frozen”…
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CONE Midstream | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Noble Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

CONSOL & Noble Energy Form New Marcellus Midstream Company
August 26, 2014August 26, 2014

Rather than contract with MarkWest Energy, Williams, or another midstream company, CONSOL Energy and Noble Energy, who together have a joint venture to drill in certain areas of the Marcellus Shale (or “upstream” venture), have now decided to form their own “midstream” (or pipeline) company too. Dubbed CONE Midstream–perhaps some weird amalgamation of the CONSOL and Noble Energy names–the new midstream company will take the form of a master limited partnership, or MLP. So far CONSOL and Noble have only filed paperwork and announced who will sell units (rough equivalent of shares of stock). While the announcement from CONSOL doesn’t say who will operate the new midstream company, it sure looks to us like CONSOL will be the one calling the shots…
Read More “CONSOL & Noble Energy Form New Marcellus Midstream Company”
Chesapeake Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA

PA Production Smashes Record Again – Top 10 Wells, Top 5 Counties
August 25, 2014August 25, 2014

Without a doubt the biggest story from last week, which broke on MDN’s first day off in our one-week vacation, was the new natural gas production numbers coming from Pennsylvania and the Marcellus Shale. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection released production numbers for the first six months of 2014, which show that PA produced an incredible 1.94 trillion cubic feet during that period–up 14% from the last half of 2013 (1.697 Tcf), and comparing apples to apples, up an astonishing 38% from the same period a year ago, the first half of 2013 (1.406 Tcf). PA also produced 1.7 million barrels of condensate (or natural gasoline) and 182,000 barrels of oil. Below we list the Top 10 producing wells in 1H14. Would it surprise you to learn that 9 of the top 10 are found in the same county, drilled by one company? We also include the full list of all 7,679 wells drilled so far…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DOH “Improves” Enviro Health Complaints Process
August 25, 2014August 25, 2014

A completely manufactured smear campaign by anti-drilling PBS reporters at Pennsylvania StateImpact continues to be joined by other willing, colluding accomplices in mainstream media outlets who accuse the PA Department of Health of either ignoring or intentionally hushing up so-called complaints. MDN previously outlined the chronology of the propaganda campaign by StateImpact Pennsylvania and the pushback by Secretary of Health Michael Wolf (see PA’s Sec of Health Fires Back at Reckless Accusations Against Dept). Because anti-drillers believe they have a winning issue (completely divorced from reality, but that doesn’t stop them), they continue to hammer away. And so, finally, Wolf (and Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration) are now playing defense instead of calling out these sleazeballs and exposing them for the frauds they are. The Dept. of Health has recently introduced “improvements to the environmental health complaint processes”…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Rep White Introduces Bill to Double-Tax Marcellus Drilling
August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

What is it with politicians like PA Rep. Jesse White (Democrat, Washington County) and their need to suck taxes out of any and every business and person they can? White, you may recall, was caught using fake online IDs, pretending to be some of his own constituents, using anonymity to attack his own constituents who disagree with his anti-drilling positions (see How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry). PA legislators (mostly Republican) who crafted the state’s update to oil and gas drilling laws, called Act 13, wisely (presciently) included a clause in the Act 13 law that says if greedy politicians (like White) pass a severance tax on drilling in the state, the current impact fee will end. The intent was to have an impact fee instead of a severance tax. White has just introduced a bill (DOA of course) that will strip out the sunset clause and keep the impact fee even if a severance tax is passed. That is, White and others of his ilk want to double-tax the Marcellus industry in PA, with the end result of killing it…
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Columbia County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Lycoming County | Monroe County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

FERC Says “No Significant Impact” from Leidy Southeast Pipeline
August 13, 2014August 13, 2014

Williams is one very important step closer to beginning construction–this fall–on their Transco Leidy Southeast Expansion project. Last fall Williams filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to proceed with the project, a $610 million project designed to increase the Transco pipeline’s capacity by 525,000 decatherms per day–enough natural gas to serve 2 million homes (see Williams Takes Next Step with Transco Leidy Pipeline Expansion). The expansion will pipe cheap, abundant NEPA Marcellus Shale gas to points from New York City to the southeastern U.S. The project includes construction of approximately 30 miles of additional pipe segments, called loops, in PA and NJ, in addition to modifying some existing compressor stations and valve sites. Earlier this week FERC reported the proposed changes would have “no significant impact” on the environment. What does that mean?…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Post-Gazette Does About Face on Story Critical of CSSD
August 12, 2014August 12, 2014

Does MDN owe the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette an apology? We’re not quite ready to go that far, but something we saw in yesterday’s edition sat us right down, we will admit that. Lately the PPG has been running decidedly anti-drilling, anti-Marcellus articles. The most recent was an article last week essentially regurgitating the baseless, false charges made by the shadowy, nefarious “Public Accountability Initiative” (see PPG article Watchdog group faults center for links to oil and gas industry). We called out the PAI’s bogus report in an article yesterday (see PAI Says 3rd Enviro Group – PennFuture – Abandoned CSSD). Later yesterday, in a surprise of all surprises, the editorial board published their opinion that PAI’s so-called report is a “sloppy screed.” Whoa! What happened in the cubicles at the PPG? This is truly an about face for them–completely discrediting their own reporter’s article from the week before…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PAI Says 3rd Enviro Group – PennFuture – Abandoned CSSD
August 11, 2014August 12, 2014

The shadowy (we’d call it sinister) “non-profit” anti-drilling organization called the Public Accountability Initiative (PAI) released a “report” last week targeting the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) once again, claiming it’s a front group for the shale drilling industry. The PAI was previously responsible for closing a new shale research institute at University at Buffalo (see Univ at Buffalo President Shuts Down (Censors) Shale Institute) and for giving researchers at the University of Texas a black eye in mainstream media (see Soros-backed PAI Makes University of Texas Look Foolish). The very same PAI, with ties to billionaire lefty George Soros, tried to assassinate the CSSD last year. It didn’t work–not fully. So they’re back to try and finish the job…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Research | Statewide PA

Earthworks Attacks PA DEP, Post-Gazette Gives Them Helpful Hand
August 11, 2014August 11, 2014

The increasingly anti-drilling Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PPG) has once again written an article that is woefully lacking. MDN has written numerous times about the Earthworks, an virulent anti-drilling and anti-fossil fuel organization. Based in Washington, D.C., Earthworks hasn’t met a molecule of carbon they like–perhaps to the point of self-loathing the carbon in their own bodies (the human body is made up of 18.5% carbon). On the “heels” of a sham report by Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling auditor general, Eugene DePasquale (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”), the PPG continues to slam the sterling job done by the men and women at the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) by quoting from a “study” issued last week by Earthworks…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin Pair of Drive-by Anti-Drilling Articles
August 11, 2014August 11, 2014

Yet another pair of drive-by articles on shale drilling appeared in the Sunday edition of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. First, a front page story built on a false premise–that the recent sham report by the politically ambitious (and anti-drilling) Auditor General of Pennsylvania issued three weeks ago contains “lessons to be learned” for New York. Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Democrat Auditor General Eugene DePasquale took office promising to conduct an anal exam of the Dept. of Environmental Protection. Apparently he couldn’t find good dirt on the agency from 2012 onward, so he went back in time using the wayback machine to dig up old news and try to construct a report that says the PA DEP has big problems (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”). That sham report, written by a man who’s seeking to make a name for himself so he can run for governor of PA in the future (and someone who heavily promoted wind farms, the energy source that “lost” to shale gas), is used as the basis for an article by a Gannett reporter to further the meme that shale drilling in NY is too risky and should not happen…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Logistics Update on Mariner East Pipeline
August 8, 2014August 8, 2014

On Wednesday midstream company Sunoco Logistics released their second quarter 2014 update. There’s essentially no discussion or reference to the Mariner East pipeline, which is currently bogged down in litigation and regulation (see Setback for Mariner East NGL Pipe – Judges Say Not Public Utility). However, in the follow up and ubiquitous analyst call that usually accompanies the release of these updates, Sunoco’s top management had quite a bit to say about Mariner East 1 and 2, as well as other projects in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

EIA: Marcellus Continues to Break Records – Passes 15 Bcf/d Level
August 6, 2014August 6, 2014

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) ran an article in their Today in Energy online publication yesterday stating the Marcellus Shale region produced, for the first time ever, more than 15 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (Bcf/d) in July. The Marcellus, located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, now accounts for a staggering 40% all U.S. shale gas production. Compare that to just four short years ago, in 2010, when the Marcellus produced 2 Bcf/d. The Marcellus is, without a doubt, the most productive shale play for natural gas in the world…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Will PA’s Marcellus Miracle be Snuffed Out by a Severance Tax?
August 5, 2014August 5, 2014

Every now again you need to step back and consider the big picture when it comes to the miracle of fracking and horizontal drilling. Pennsylvania has seen an economic revolution from the Marcellus Shale industry. That revolution is in danger of being snuffed out by Democrats like gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf who, if elected, promises to implement a Marcellus-killing severance tax. And no, this is not wild speculation. If you look at recent history, such a scenario is supported by the evidence. David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, penned an op-ed piece that ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday to “set the record straight” on just what the Marcellus industry has meant in PA and what a severance tax would do to the industry in that state should it be implemented…
Read More “Will PA’s Marcellus Miracle be Snuffed Out by a Severance Tax?”
About MDN | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | MDN Resources | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

MDN Editor Jim Willis Appears on Scranton Talk Radio
August 5, 2014August 5, 2014

From MDN editor Jim Willis: I don’t do it often, but every now and again I’m contacted to appear on a radio talk show to discuss Marcellus Shale drilling and related issues. Last week I was contacted by David Madeira who hosts a daily morning talk show in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area on 94.3 FM “The Talker”. Dave is a great guy and a great host. He truly makes it easy! Dave wanted the low down on the story that was started way back in June by a liberal PBS reporter who is quoting two former PA State Health Department employees who claim they were muzzled from talking to residents claiming to have suffered health impacts from nearby shale drilling. I wrote up the story of how the media has conducted a smear campaign against the health department (see PA’s Sec of Health Fires Back at Reckless Accusations Against Dept). On the call, I walk David through how a story like this is manufactured and recycled through “mainstream” liberal media. Give it a listen!
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Economic Impact | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Washington County

New Heinz-Funded “Study” on Marcellus Boom/Bust in SWPA
August 4, 2014August 4, 2014

Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, PA (Pittsburgh suburb) has a Center for Energy Policy & Management–which makes sense since Washington County, PA sits in the middle of the wet gas Marcellus drilling zone. W&J recently teamed up with the Washington, DC-based Environmental Law Institute (ELI) to study the “boom and bust” cycle that communities face with resource extraction like the Marcellus Shale. The thought was to produce a document–in this case a series of documents–that can guide local and state politicians as they plan for the future. How can, and even *can* a community avoid a “bust” after a huge boom? That’s what the documents aim to answer. The only problem is, the ELI seems to tilt anti-drilling, and the entire study was funded by Mamma Teresa Heinz-Kerry and her Heinz Endowments–a strongly anti-drilling organization. So you know where this is headed…
Read More “New Heinz-Funded “Study” on Marcellus Boom/Bust in SWPA”
Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PPG Uses Auditor General “Report” to Slam Shale Industry – Again
August 4, 2014August 4, 2014

The increasingly anti-drilling Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PPG) continues to recycle a DOA crap report issued by the anti-drilling Pennsylvania Auditor General–who took office promising to give the drilling industry a black eye and further his own aspirations to one day be governor (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”). As MDN pointed out, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale produced a report that uses data a) now more than two years old, and b) largely looks at the state Dept. of Environmental Protection as it was under Gov. Ed “Fast Eddie” Rendell (when John Hanger was Secretary of the DEP). Those little facts seem to escape the PPG who have just generated yet another anti-drilling article that supposedly finds drillers didn’t discover or report their own spills half the time (at least through the end of 2012)…
Read More “PPG Uses Auditor General “Report” to Slam Shale Industry – Again”