PA’s UGI Finally Completes Purchase of WV’s Mountaineer Gas Co.
In January MDN told you that UGI Corporation, one of Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas utility companies, wants to buy Mountaineer Gas Company, one of West Virginia’s largest natural gas utility companies, for $540 million (see PA’s UGI Corp. Deal to Buy WV’s Mountaineer Gas Company). UGI serves 700,000 customers across PA (and one county in Maryland). Mountaineer serves 215,000 customers across WV. Both companies are big buyers of Marcellus/Utica shale gas. Good news: The deal is now done and Mountaineer is officially a subsidiary of UGI.
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Yesterday the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a puff piece praising Brian Anderson, director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and now the head of the Biden administration’s Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, an effort to kill the use of fossil fuels (see 
There is a very real and tangible cost to the delays coming from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with respect to reviewing natural gas pipeline projects. Those delays, intentionally created by current FERC Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick, are costing West Virginians jobs and money. JB McCuskey, the state auditor for WV, should know. He audits how tax dollars are spent in the state. His office reviews and approves general operating budgets for some 700 municipalities, counties, and school districts across the state. McCuskey says FERC is tangibly hurting the state of WV by dragging its feet in reviewing pipeline projects.
A new report (full copy below) commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found the oil and natural gas industries directly or indirectly supported over 188,000 jobs in Pennsylvania in 2019, or 6.1% of the total share of commonwealth employment. Furthermore, the oil and gas industries produced $14.2 billion in labor income, which was 7.9% of the state total share, and had a statewide economic impact of $31.9 billion, for 9.7% of the state total share. The percentages for the impact of oil and gas on the West Virginia economy are similar.
How does this sound? You’d like a good job in the oil and gas pipeline industry, something skilled that requires some schooling. But you have a job now and can’t attend a class full-time and you can’t afford the tuition. If you live West Virginia, a huge opportunity has just opened up for you. TC Energy (pipeline giant based in Canada) is partnering with Kanawha County’s BridgeValley Community and Technical College to create programs to train future gas technicians for jobs that are expected to be in high demand in the next three to five years. If you live and stay living in WV, the 60 credit-hour (two-year) college program is tuition-free. Much of the work can be done online in a blended format–traveling to school for lab work only.
Back in January MDN told you that UGI Corporation, one of Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas utility companies, wants to buy Mountaineer Gas Company, one of West Virginia’s largest natural gas utility companies, for $540 million (see 
Last week MDN told you about an unplanned outage at two MarkWest natural gas processing plants located in West Virginia (see 
On June 3 we published a post posing the question of whether or not the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would delay the already-years-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for yet another year (see 
The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) is moving forward with its constitutional duty to evaluate whether or not the state should issue a federal Clean Water Act permit allowing Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish crossing water bodies it hasn’t already crossed under a previous permit (which was overturned by the lefties of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit). WV DEP will hold an online, virtual hearing tonight at 6 pm to accept comments from the public.
A federal court in Pennsylvania upheld the findings of a U.S. Dept. of Labor investigation that oil and gas contract worker Henkels & McCoy Inc. owes big money in back wages and overtime to 362 workers at 11 worksites in five states, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut, Georgia, and (yes) even in New York too. The company must now pay $1,085,830 in back wages and damages.
It would be laughable if it were not so tragic…Democrats like Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm (worst Sec Energy in a generation) think throwing $5 million to West Virginia University for “research” to develop “low-carbon power plant technology” is some big deal. It’s generous. Magnanimous. Beneficent. Granholm visited WV last week to bestow $5 million in largesse from Uncle Joe on the good people of the Mountain State. A $5 million research grant is NOTHING. It’s a rounding error of a rounding error in the Dept. of Energy’s budget. By comparison, a single natural gas-fired power plant in WV would attract $500-$800 million of investment! And that’s all private money, not taxpayer’s hard-earned money.
The state treasurers from all three actively producing Marcellus/Utica states, including Stacy Garrity (PA), Robert Sprague (OH), and Riley Moore (WV), along with the state treasurers from 11 other oil and gas producing states, sent a letter to John Kerry, Biden’s so-called Climate Envoy, telling Kerry and other Biden officials to stop pressuring banks and other financial institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies. The treasurers also issued a warning to those banks and financial institutions letting them know their states (all 14 of them) will collectively pull their money out of those banks and financial institutions–BILLIONS of dollars–if the banks and financial institutions persist in divesting from fossil fuel companies. Fossil fuel haters: BACK OFF!
As we reported a month ago, a group of West Virginia landowners/rights owners filed a claim against EQT alleging the company had allowed leases to lapse, then at a later date reentered their property and drilled new wells (see 
Antero Resources, which drills almost exclusively in the West Virginia Marcellus/Utica, issued its first-quarter 2021 update yesterday. Antero is the third-largest natural gas producer in the U.S. and the second-largest NGL producer. Big company. Important company. Antero is also one of the best hedgers (preselling production at a set price) in the business. During 1Q21 Antero averaged $4.03 per Mcfe (thousand cubic feet equivalent)–which was $1.34/Mcfe *above* the average NYMEX futures price in 1Q21.
According to an extensive article appearing in the Pipeline & Gas Journal, “the oil and gas industry [in the Marcellus/Utica] is ready to pick up where it left off in 2019.” The Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA) says “2021 is looking up.” However, nobody in the midstream is planning to build new pipelines anytime soon. That spells trouble ahead for prices. Increasing production without new pipeline capacity to transport the increased production to other markets equals stagnant (or even falling) prices.
The Biden-controlled U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just granted anti-fossil fuel zealots enough rope to strangle the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, or enough rope to strangle themselves. We hope it’s the latter, we fear it may be the former. The “rope” in this case is time. The Army Corps announced Friday it will give antis an extra 30 days to comment on (complain, manipulate, lie about) a proposed water crossing permit for MVP in West Virginia and Virginia. Even with the extra 30 days antis still are not satisfied.