WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK
In a decision that will thrill drillers, but anger landowners, the West Virginia Supreme Court decided last week to overturn its own previous decision (from just last December) and allow driller EQT to deduct post-production expenses from royalty payments. Last December MDN reported on the huge West Virginia Supreme Court decision against driller EQT that disallows EQT from deducting post-production expenses from royalty checks, even with signed contracts in place (see WV Supreme Court Rules EQT Can’t Deduct P-P Costs from Royalties). The justices, in their ruling, said that drillers can “not deduct from that (royalty) amount any expenses that have been incurred in gathering, transporting or treating the oil or gas after it has been initially extracted, any sums attributable to a loss or beneficial use of volume beyond that initially measured or any other costs that may be characterized as post-production.” A really big deal. Then in February, with a brand new justice on the bench, the WV Supreme Court agreed to rehear the case after an appeal filed by EQT–a rare and unusual step (see EQT Catches Big Break in WV Supreme Court re Royalty Deductions). Those who won the case say newly elected Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth D. Walker has conflicts of interest and should not have been allowed to vote to rehear the case in the first place (which she did). On that basis, they tried to avoid the rehearing altogether, but that failed, and lawyers were in court arguing the case earlier this month. As it turns out, the lawyers mainly argued over the meaning of three short words: “at the wellhead” (see WV Supreme Court Post-Production Royalty Case Hinges on 3 Words). On Friday, the justices reversed their earlier decision, voting 4-1 in favor of allowing EQT to deduct “reasonable” post-production expenses (copy of the decision below). Newly elected Justice Beth Walker, with (according to the other side) conflicts of interest, voted in favor of EQT. This has BIG implications for landowners and drillers in the Mountain State… Read More “WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK”
It was full speed ahead for Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline construction project in Ohio–until a series of drilling mud spills hit, including one that dumped some 2 million gallons of bentonite mud into a wetland near the Tuscarawas River in Stark County, OH (see 
Here we go again. A new “study” published today by Harvard University researchers supposedly indicates that Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are loaded with underground natural gas storage sites that may leak like the Aliso Canyon debacle in California. The new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, titled “A national assessment of underground natural gas storage: identifying wells with designs likely vulnerable to a single-point-of-failure” (full copy below), says there are 14,138 active underground storage (UGS) wells in 317 locations/facilities in the U.S. The study identifies 2,715 active UGS wells across 160 facilities that, like the failed well at Aliso Canyon, were not originally designed for gas storage. (Gasp) Even worse: The majority (88%) of these repurposed wells are located in OH, MI, PA, NY, and WV. (Double gasp) Here’s the thing: Aliso Canyon was one facility that had a catastrophic failure (a failure which, by the way, hurt no one–it just released some extra methane into the air). While it may be interesting and useful to know (for accident prevention) that there are other facilities constructed years ago, like Aliso Canyon, that were later repurposed to be used for underground storage–each and every location is different, with unique characteristics. No two storage sites are the same geologically. It does not follow, as implied in the report, that because Aliso Canyon leaked, that these other “similar” facilities will eventually fail and leak. However, our main objection to this research–and why we call it fake research–is that the researchers never bothered to go into the field and take air samples to see if there is any ACTUAL leaking going on at any of these thousands of other sites! Fake mainstream news sources are just now picking up on the story and running it. Nothing sells newspapers (or grabs online eyeballs) like fear. And hey, it serves the mainstream narrative that fossil fuels are the ultimate evil. Here’s the kicker: This latest “research” was funded, in large part, by the virulent anti-fossil fuel Heinz Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. That tells you all you need to know about this latest bought-and-paid-for “research” study with a Harvard label slapped on it…
We’ve written a number of times about DUCs–otherwise known as drilled-but-uncompleted wells. When a shale driller drills a new well, it doesn’t always happen all in one go. You first drill the hole down, and then curve the drillbit and drill the horizontal portion–called the lateral. Then you pull the drill bit out of the ground and (at some point) the fracking process begins. Fracking doesn’t always happen right away. Sometimes wells are initially drilled but not fracked–essentially putting them in inventory to be fracked later. Those wells are DUCs. Since a lot of the cost to develop the well has already been spent in preparing the site and drilling the hole, to come along at a later time and frack is much “cheaper” if you (as a driller) want to bump up your production. Price of gas low right now? Drill the initial hole, mothball the project, and come back later when the price of gas goes up and finish it off and hook it up to production. The DUC inventory is a closely watched number. Analysts at Platts have been watching and have noticed something interesting. In most shale plays–particularly oil plays like the Permian in Texas–drillers are sinking initial holes as fast as they can and the DUC inventory numbers are going up up up. The Permian has seen 476 new DUCs added since January! But in the Marcellus, only 3 new DUCs have been added since last December. Which is “puzzling.” What does it mean?…
Leftist anti-fossil fuelers are only too happy to poll anything and everything–except for what really matters. How do the VOTERS in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina feel about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)? ACP is Dominion Energy’s $5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), the “voice of the energy consumer,” set out to answer the question: How do voters feel about ACP? In a poll commissioned by ACP, a majority of voters in all three states support the project–by an overwhelming majority. ACP hired Hickman Analytics Inc., a “Democratic-leaning,” Maryland-based firm to do the polling. Harrison Hickman, founder of the firm, said, “By any measure, whether it’s a policy matter or a voting matter, the pipeline has widespread support.” That’s something you won’t read in most news outlets. Here’s the results of the poll… 
Last year MDN was the first to share the news that the California-based US Methanol is building at least two, rumored up to five, methanol plants in the Mountain State (see 
Something we find distasteful, but a fact of political life, is that the energy industry is playing both sides of the isle when it comes to making campaign contributions in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race. Up for reelection next year (2018) is Sen. Joe Manchin, a former WV governor. Manchin, a so-called moderate Democrat, ran to fill the seat of Robert Byrd when he passed away while in office, in 2010. Manchin ran again two years later for a full term, in 2012. When it came down to voting based on principle or party regarding the issue of overturning a midnight-before-he-left-office-Obama-onerous-methane-regulation, Manchin chose party (see 
It’s not often we read about lease offers these days. We’re sure they happen regularly, but the only ones you read about are offers made to lease publicly owned land. Such offers for public land are a useful gauge for private landowners. So when we noticed a story about an offer made by Arsenal Resources to the North Central West Virginia Airport (Bridgeport), our eyes and ears perked up. The opening offer is for 188.5 acres (out of 500 acres) with a $1,500 per acre signing bonus and 14% royalty on anything produced. The Benedum Airport Authority, charged with managing the airport and property, told the Authority’s attorney to counter offer–they want 15% royalties… 
While reviewing documents filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Energy Transfer Rover pipeline project, we came across a letter filed by ET yesterday. The letter (full copy below) addresses the recent “inadvertent return” (i.e. major leak) of 2 million gallons of drilling mud in a swamp next to the Tuscarawas River (Stark County, OH). Following that leak and other leaks, FERC told Rover to stop any new underground drilling not already under way (see 
Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), Dominion Energy’s $5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, has begun an outreach program with Local Emergency Planning Committees in several West Virginia counties. The pipeline is not yet fully approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Dominion expects that approval sometime this fall (see 
Envelope please! (No, this is not Warren Beatty, we have the correct envelope!) Each year the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC) runs a contest and awards a $20,000 prize to three companies ($60,000 purse) for the “best shale energy-oriented innovations, new product ideas, or service concepts that are either in the development stage or recently launched” in the Marcellus Shale. This year’s winners were recently announced: Frontier Natural Resources, Inc. won for commercializing the first small scale LNG facility in Pennsylvania, using natural gas from an adjacent gathering and compression facility. PetroMar Technologies, Inc. won for commercializing FracView™, a low-cost borehole imaging tool that takes high resolution pictures, even through drilling mud. And Sensor Networks, Inc. won for its product line of permanently installed battery powered ultrasonic sensors, providing remote, wireless data collection of critical pipe infrastructure wall thickness. Here’s the deets… 
The West Virginia legislature only meets for 60 calendar days each year and move quickly when the do meet. Unless the governor calls for a special session. Which has happened–to consider and pass a budget for the state. During the regular session earlier this year, newly-minted Gov. Jim Justice wanted and got a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 415 (full copy below) that tiers the severance tax on natural gas and oil. Justice would keep the existing 5% severance tax on oil and gas as the bottom tier–to be assessed if the “annualized gross value of natural gas per MCF” is $3 or lower. When the annualized value goes to $3.01, the tax goes to 5.5%. At $3.51, it goes to 6%. And so on to $9/Mcf when the tax would be 10%. It’s a crazy idea and frankly, we’re surprised a Republican governor that supports the shale industry wants it. Other o&g states are looking at lowering their severance taxes, not raising them. At any rate, the Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV) is strongly opposed to the plan. From what we can tell, as of a few days ago, the tiered severance tax for natural gas/oil plan has been withdrawn. Which is good news for both drillers and landowners…
Last week MDN was contacted by a vendor working in the oil and gas business who is owed money by Fairmont Brine. The vendor’s question to MDN: What have you heard about Fairmont? Are they heading for bankruptcy? We’ve had our eye on Fairmont Brine Processing, headquartered in Fairmont, WV, for a number of years. We originally started writing about the company in 2010 when it was AOP Clearwater (see 
In February, MDN told you that Titan Energy, which used to be known as Atlas Energy/Resource Partners, was listing what appeared to be the rest of the acreage they still own on the Appalachian basin–some 494,229 acres–including rights for drilling in the Marcellus (see 
More than 300 people attended the West Virginia Manufacturers Association’s Marcellus and Manufacturing Development Conference in Morgantown yesterday. Among the topics discussed–the need for faster approvals of pipelines, and the positive economic of shale on the Mountain State. Among the speakers was new State Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher–who spent most of his career in the private sector. According to Thrasher, “shale gas is the future of economic opportunity in West Virginia.” Thrasher said the industry with the biggest potential for growth in WV is shale energy–and it’s “only begun to emerge.” He urged audience members to get involved and make their voices heard–at the local, state and federal level. We think it’s a fair statement to say that Thrasher rallied the troops and is leading the charge to see more shale energy developed in WV…