Yet Another Update on Stalled Mountaineer NGL Storage Proj in OH
Over the past six months we’ve run a steady string of stories about Mountaineer NGL Storage and its proposed underground NGL (mostly ethane) storage facility in Monroe County, Ohio, near Clarington, along the Ohio River (see our Mountaineer NGL Storage stories here). We’ve learned that the Colorado company behind the project plans to spend up to $500 million to build it, that 20 drillers have expressed interest in contracting with the facility to store ethane, and that both the nearby potential PTT Global cracker plant and the under-construction Shell cracker plant are both interested in connections to the facility. We’ve also learned there is a holdup with some of the necessary permits for the project before construction can begin–a situation that has delayed construction until mid-next year. This morning we ran across yet another update. This one goes into more detail about the permit situation, explaining where the holdup is happening (with the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources’ chief Rick Simmers). The update also introduces us to a new spokesman for the project, a local who will be the project’s feet on the street, meaning we’ll likely hear a lot more about the project in the coming weeks and months…
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Nearly a month ago, local officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells in their municipality (see 
The International (non-U.S.) Baker Hughes rig count for October 2017 was 951, up 20 from the 931 counted in September 2017, and up 31 from the 920 counted in October 2016. The U.S. rig count for October 2017 was 922, down 18 from the 940 counted in September 2017, but up 378 from the 544 counted in October 2016. Notice that we have almost as many rigs operating in the U.S. as the entire rest of the world (minus Canada). Canada’s rig count has improved a lot since earlier this year. However, Canada’s October rig count drooped a bit–204 in October (down 4 from September) but up 48 from October 2016. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Pennsylvania lost one rig and ran an average of 32 rigs during October, versus Ohio running 29 rigs and West Virginia running 15 rigs, the same as September…
Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant facility in Monaca (Beaver County), PA is about to ramp up construction of the numerous buildings that will house the equipment. Since 2014, Ate Visser, vice president of Appalachia petrochemicals at Shell Chemical, has been the guy in charge of the project (see 
We have to confess this story is purely for amusement purposes–ours and yours. In our daily trawl of the news related to “Marcellus Shale” we spotted this headline: “Group hopes to add tiny houses to Wheeling Island.” We thought, What in the world do tiny houses on Wheeling Island (Wheeling, WV) have to do with the Marcellus? So we read the article to find out. Anyone watching HGTV has, at one point or another, watched a program about “tiny houses.” There’s even an HGTV show called Tiny House Hunters. “Tiny houses” are actual stick-built homes that are under 500 square feet of living space. Think really-small efficiency apartment. Except it’s a real house–sort of. The average American home is 1,780 square feet of living space. (If you’re not familiar with the tiny house movement, 
Even OPEC–the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries–now admits that U.S. shale energy is here to stay. At least for the foreseeable future. For OPEC, the foreseeable future is until 2025. Yesterday OPEC released its annual “World Oil Outlook 2040” (copy below). The massive 364-page report predicts that U.S. shale oil will continue to grow, and dominate the oil markets–until 2025 (eight years from now). At that point OPEC says shale oil will peak and following that, OPEC will once again be in the driver’s seat–ready, willing and able to screw Americans and everyone else who buys their oil. We think OPEC is smoking some good stuff…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Chesapeake gets 3 permits in Carroll County, OH; WV tax receipts up 5.3% thx to shale; top exec leaving CONSOL Energy; NY virtual pipeline would power local economy; Carrizo’s final divestiture of Marcellus/Utica assets complete later this month; recap of NARO Appalachia conf; CNG buses come to Portage County, OH; EIA cuts Henry Hub price estimates; US LNG companies join Trump on China trade mission; unrest in Saudi Arabia; and more!
The arrogance of Big Green was on full display yesterday as they rushed to stop the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project project and silence lawfully permitted work. In response to a lawsuit filed by the worst of the worst (the Sierra Club) on Oct. 30th, a liberal court in the District of Columbia yesterday slapped the Atlantic Sunrise project with an emergency stop work order–for the entire project. Work had already begun to lay pipe on the property of Catholic nuns in Lancaster County, PA. The nuns call themselves Adorers of the Blood of Christ. We call them Sisters of the Corn (
The lawsuit filed by a Wayne County, PA landowner against the egregious overreach by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to stall/delay/block any shale drilling within the Basin takes a very important step forward today. It’s a step feared by the DRBC and radical groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper–because this case has the real potential to neuter the DRBC’s claim it can block shale drilling in the watershed. In March, MDN reported that U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani ruled against the Wayne Land and Mineral Group in a lawsuit that challenged the right of the DRBC to stop fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see 
In June, MDN brought you the news that the very first application to drill a shale well in Illinois had been made (see 
In August MDN told you the West Virginia Oil & Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) plans to push, once again, for what MDN calls forced pooling lite in the next session of the legislature scheduled for early 2018 (see 
Last week midstream powerhouse Williams issued their third quarter 2017 update. CEO Alan Armstrong said this about the Transco Pipeline–a key pipeline in the Marcellus/Utica region: “So far in 2017, we’ve placed four of our ‘Big 5’ Transco expansion projects into service including Gulf Trace, Hillabee Phase 1, Dalton Expansion and New York Bay Expansion with the fifth of the ‘Big 5’ expansions – the Virginia Southside II project – expected to be placed in service during fourth-quarter 2017. The incremental capacity from the fully-contracted Transco expansion projects going in service so far this year reflects a 25 percent increase in Transco’s design capacity.” All five of those projects to one degree or another flow Marcellus/Utica Shale gas. Williams is in a multi-year program to reverse the flow of the Transco. Traditionally it has flowed gas from the Gulf to the northeast. The pipeline is in the process of getting turned around, to flow our gas southward, some of it all the way to the Gulf Coast. With respect to the Atlantic Sunrise project–a part of the Transco system–Armstrong reminded listeners on the analyst phone call that some of that project is already up and running: “And on Atlantic Sunrise, we started construction and have already placed a portion of Atlantic Sunrise into early service on September 1 of this year, providing about 400,000 dekatherms a day of firm transportation service on Transco’s existing mainline facilities, and of course that serve delivery points as far south as Choctaw County, Alabama. So we’re really excited to be starting to see the Transco system turn around and be able to deliver volumes to the south. And I can tell you, that’s very much needed as we’re seeing a lot of demand growth occur in the southeast on our system.” As for the stalled Constitution Pipeline in New York State, Armstrong said to “stay tuned” and that there is “plenty of fight left in this dog.” Armstrong sounded encouraged about the prospects of the Constitution. Below is the full 3Q17 update complete with financials, excerpts from the analyst phone call of interest for MDN readers, and the newest slide deck…
As we do every month (and have for more than two years), MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for rig count health in general and rig count health in the Marcellus/Utica in particular. Patterson recently bought out and merged in Seventy Seven Energy (see 
MDN is pleased to bring you another guest post from our very good friend Chris Acker. Chris is MDN editor Jim Willis’ right arm when it comes to scanning for stories, something Jim is profoundly grateful for. Chris is a geological engineer with an MBA. He grew up in the oil fields of Venezuela where his father, a petroleum engineer, was a drilling contractor for all the major players, onshore and off. Chris’ interest in energy economics and policy found him working for Exxon, Petroleum Industry Research Associates and Petroleos de Venezuela. He bought a parcel of land in the PA countryside twenty-five years ago and later semi-retired to work on antique pianos (see 
Today is election day across the U.S. It is an “off-year” election, meaning no national elections on the ticket–only state and local elections. Last week, in advance of today, the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) launched a non-partisan “Campaign for America’s Energy” across 12 key states, including Pennsylvania. The campaign aims to educate families, businesses, and state and local lawmakers about the benefits of energy production and delivery, without getting bogged down in contentious politics–IF that’s even possible! CEA is making a good-faith effort at it. MDN editor Jim Willis interviewed CEA’s president, David Holt, back in 2014. You can