Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Feb 13, 2018
The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Cheniere ordered to close 2 Sabine Pass LNG tanks following leaks; US shale oil output in Permian almost 3 million barrels/day; Chesapeake Energy sells remaining Mississippian Lime assets for $500M; Trump admin proposes repealing Obama methane leak rule; Trump budget slashes EPA budget 23%; Big Green lawyers hope latest tactic will sink fossil fuel companies; and more!
Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Feb 13, 2018”
We’ve often called Rex Energy, a driller focused mainly on the Marcellus/Utica (headquartered in State College, PA), our “little energy company that could.” Rex has, in the past couple of years, had stiff challenges, at least on the financial front. It has swapped out old IOUs for new IOUs, converted debt (IOUs) into equity (shares of stock), sold off assets in other basins–a whole lotta stuff to keep on drilling (
Tree clearing for Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) has already begun in West Virginia (see 
In a sure sign that the $1.1 billion, 120-mile PennEast Pipeline will get built, the Bethlehem Authority, which manages watershed land in the Pocono Mountains that supplies drinking water for the City of Bethlehem, has signed a $1.7 million deal to allow PennEast to traverse four miles of Authority land. Rather than challenge PennEast and potentially lose an eminent domain case, Bethlehem Authority officials said they brokered the deal–not only for the money it will bring in, but also to ensure there are certain protections in place during construction. The State of New Jersey is trying its best to stop the PennEast project (see 
As MDN reported last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, an extremely partisan Democrat, is once again beating the drum for a Marcellus Shale-killing severance tax in the last of his annual budgets (see 
In October 2017, local officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells on a single well pad in their municipality (see 
A far-left group of radicals calling themselves Ending Dirty Gas Exploitation Philadelphia (EDGE Philly) is borrowing a tactic first pioneered by THE Delaware Riverkeeper, to oppose a short pipeline project near Philadelphia. In November, MDN shared the exciting news that an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, had been purchased by a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources and will get converted to flow Marcellus natural gas to the greater Philadelphia region (see 
Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling events.
In what can only be considered a government shakedown, Sunoco Logistics Partners has agreed to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project.” The fine, along with a “stringent compliance review” going forward, gives the DEP enough confidence to allow Sunoco to resume construction on the ME2 project, which has been halted since January 3rd (see 
Yesterday Southwestern Energy issued two announcements: One covers highlights of company activity and performance in 2017 with “guidance” predictions for 2018; the second is about “repositioning” the company’s “portfolio.” We’ll tackle the second one first. Southwestern’s announcement says (in obfuscated language), that they’re putting their considerable Fayetteville Shale assets up for sale, so the company can further concentrate its time, talent and money on developing their Marcellus Shale assets. We consider that big news. Southwestern drills in two shale plays: the Marcellus (in PA and WV), and the Fayetteville (in Arkansas). Acreage-wise, Southwestern owns more acreage in the Fayetteville than in the Marcellus–over 918,000 acres in Arkansas vs. 567,000 in PA/WV. They plan to use the money from a Fayetteville sale (rumored to be on the order of $2 billion) to pay down debt and invest in more Marcellus drilling. It will make Southwestern, headquartered in Houston, TX, a pure play driller in the northeast. As for 2017, Southwestern shared just a few high level numbers (the full report is due out March 1). The stat that caught our eye is Southwestern’s Marcellus production. At the end of 2017, Marcellus production averaged 2.35 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d). That’s 40% higher than at the end of 2016! What’s ahead in 2018? Southwestern says they will spend $1.15-$1.25 billion this year–and every single penny will come from its own cash flow, no new borrowing or stock sales. Southwestern also said its operations in northeastern PA will, for the first time (ever) turn a true profit, somewhere around $150 million for the year. Here’s the latest on a big, and very important, Marcellus driller…
On Wednesday MDN brought you the news that Ascent Resources Marcellus, a company founded by Aubrey McClendon after he left Chesapeake Energy, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see 
Last week National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Western New York State which operates drilling subsidiary Seneca Resources and pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline, issued its first quarter 2018 (everyone else’s fourth quarter 2017) update. Via Seneca Resources, NFG drills wells in northcentral and northwestern PA. Via Empire Pipeline, they build and maintain hundreds of miles of pipelines. NFG wants to add to their pipeline portfolio by building the Northern Access Pipeline–a $455 million project with 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern PA up to Erie County, NY. Northern Access would allow Seneca to drill new wells in an area currently pipeline “constrained.” However, Northern Access construction has been blocked by the corrupt NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (see 
Duke Energy needs to replace an aging pipeline, built in the 1950s, near Cincinnati, OH–or some people in Cincy will have to go without natural gas. Duke has proposed a 13-mile, 20-inch pipeline along two potential routes. Both routes are opposed by antis, including a group calling themselves NOPE–Neighbors Opposing Pipeline Extension. We call them DOPEs–Dummies Opposing Pipeline Extensions. Will the DOPEs volunteer to shut off the natural gas to their homes and businesses if the pipeline doesn’t get built? Not on your life! The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) held two public hearings last April, to grant anti-pipeliners the opportunity to vent (see