• | | |

    PA Gov. Wolf Broken Record: Proposes Budget with Severance Tax

    Here we go again. Supposedly striking a more “cooperative tone,” Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf’s sympathetic media buddies are trying to spin, as best they can, Wolf’s state budget proposal delivered yesterday. Wolf is a hyper-partisan who, in this latest budget, continues to demand a $250 million/year Marcellus-killing severance tax–on top of the existing impact tax. It is the only new tax in the budget, a budget that increases the already wildly overspent state budget by an additional $1 billion! Spending in Harrisburg is completely out of control–a disaster. The last governor (frankly the only governor in a generation) who tried to correct Harrisburg’s voracious appetite to spend more, Tom Corbett, got voted out of office after one term. Wolf is hoping to score a second term by continuing his Santa Claus routine–by pulling money from the pockets of those who earn it (landowners and drillers) to give away to those who don’t (teacher’s unions in Philadelphia). We are not exaggerating–this is fact. In his proposed $32.9 million budget, Wolf claims a “modest” severance tax will generate $248.7 million this year, and ALL OF IT will go to “education”–meaning teachers and their unions in the Philadelphia region. It’s political payback for their ongoing support and for their efforts to get Wolf elected in the first place. Why is this FACT not discussed openly in the media? It is repugnant to use the gun barrel of the state to steal the wealth of one group and transfer it to another as political patronage. Yet that is Wolf’s mission. Republican legislators reacted negatively to Wolf’s wildly overspent budget (and severance tax), as did the Marcellus industry…
    Read More “PA Gov. Wolf Broken Record: Proposes Budget with Severance Tax”

  • | | | | | |

    FERC Gives Rover Pipe OK to Restart Drilling Under Tuscarawas River

    Looks like asking “Pretty please, with a cherry on top” (along with providing requested information) works! MDN previously told you that on Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asked Rover Pipeline for more information before FERC would allow the project to restart drilling under the Tuscarawas River (see Rover Again Asks FERC for OK to Restart Tuscarawas Drilling). FERC asked for a review of three different options, including drill in a different place under the river and forget about drilling for a second pipe at all. Rover didn’t like either of those options and lobbied, hard, to get FERC to allow them to restart drilling in the same place where they’ve now lost 200,000 gallons of drilling mud down hole. Rover responded (on Sunday) to FERC’s Friday request, providing the information FERC requested. Rover specifically asked FERC for permission to restart drilling by 3 pm Monday–at the original location. The Monday deadline came and went. However, something in Rover’s appeal must have convinced FERC, because the OK to restart drilling came a day later–on Tuesday. Work has now resumed at the site, much to the consternation of Ohio EPA’s Craig Butler, who continues to oppose the project…
    Read More “FERC Gives Rover Pipe OK to Restart Drilling Under Tuscarawas River”

  • | | | | | | |

    Antis of Green, OH Finally Face Reality – Will Allow NEXUS Pipe

    In the end, it came to down to cold, hard cash. Last May, MDN told you about antis running the City of Green, Ohio who were/are hellbent on stopping the NEXUS Pipeline (see Green, OH Paying Lawyers $100K to Fund Stop NEXUS Crusade). Green City Council voted to use $100,000 of taxpayer money to hire a Cleveland law firm to file a lawsuit “aimed at stopping the pipeline from being built or stopping the project altogether.” NEXUS, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada, was the first major pipeline project to get approved after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) once again had a quorum of three members (see New FERC Quorum Votes Final Approval for NEXUS Pipeline). Green’s high-priced lawyers filed their lawsuit in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting an emergency stay blocking construction, which they got in November (see Fed Court Grants Green, OH Request to Stop NEXUS Pipe Construction). Everyone has their price. For the antis in Green, the price is $7.5 million and 20 acres of land that sit next to an existing city park. While the Green antis hate the idea of the pipeline getting built at all (especially Green’s anti-pipeline mayor), the writing is on the wall. They will lose and they know it–so to save face, the mayor negotiated a deal with NEXUS that City Council will vote on tonight to accept…

    2/8/18 Update: Green Council voted 4-3 to accept the NEXUS deal. More below.
    Read More “Antis of Green, OH Finally Face Reality – Will Allow NEXUS Pipe”

  • | | |

    Warning to Ohio Residents: Beware Fake Landowner Coalitions

    “Keep It In the Ground” (KIITG) activists have launched a new, deceptive campaign in their holy mission to end the use of fossil fuels. The same people behind Food & Water Watch, Food and Water Action, the Sierra Club and other Big Green groups have/are launching fake landowner coalitions in Ohio. These fake coalitions (one of them being the Tri-County Landowners Coalition) have one aim and one aim only–to convince unsuspecting landowners to hate fossil fuels and anything (i.e. drilling, pipelines) to do with fossil fuels. It is a sleazy and disgusting tactic by the ultra-left, preying on honest, hardworking folks who join coalitions hoping to receive guidance on the best way to protect their land while at the same time profiting from it. Don’t fall for these fake coalitions! Our friends at Energy in Depth are sounding the alarm on this latest move by anti-fossil fuel radicals…
    Read More “Warning to Ohio Residents: Beware Fake Landowner Coalitions”

  • | | |

    PA Senate Passes Meaningless Resolution to “Study” Slow DEP Permits

    This is what passes for “action” in the swamp of Harrisburg. Over the past couple of years the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has gotten slower and slower in issuing permits for shale drilling–for simple things, like erosion permits a driller needs to push dirt around to create a well pad. The DEP has a policy of issuing erosion and sedimentation permits 14 days from the date of application. As of last summer it was taking the DEP over 250 days to issue those permits (see More Pushback on PA Senate Plan to Fix Slow DEP Permit Reviews). The drilling industry has been loudly pushing for a change. The DEP says it has fewer people on staff and that’s the reason for the slowdown. The thing is, the number of requests for permits has gone down too–so that particular argument doesn’t hold a lot of water. PA House Republicans have introduced a number of bills to “fix” the DEP, not least of which is a bill introduced that allows certified third parties to assist the DEP in reviewing permit applications (see Bill Introduced to Fix PA DEP’s Extreme Delays Issuing Permits). The PA Senate wants in on the “fix DEP” action too. A Senate Democrat, John Yudichak from Wilkes-Barre, proposed a resolution to study the problem (see PA Senate Ctte Sends “Study Slow DEP” Resolution for Full Vote). A resolution to study something is swamp code for “don’t do a darned thing about it.” Yudichak’s meaningless resolution passed the full Senate yesterday. PA Senators can now all pat themselves on the back, pretending they’ve actually done something to address this critical problem when in fact, they’ve done nothing at all…
    Read More “PA Senate Passes Meaningless Resolution to “Study” Slow DEP Permits”

  • | | | | |

    M-U Gathering Pipelines Blamed for Killing “Ancient” Salamanders

    The Eastern hellbender is the largest salamander in North America, reaching lengths of up to 24 inches. It’s also the official amphibian of Pennsylvania. Photo: Dave Herasimtschuk / Freshwaters Illustrated

    (Sigh.) Here we go again. An in-depth news story appearing on the PBS website Allegheny Front theorizes that the presence of natural gas gathering pipelines–run to individual shale wells–are causing a decrease in the population of hellbenders. The theory is that as more and more pipelines are installed under creeks and streams throughout the region (in western PA and easter OH), the construction process muddies the streams and kills aquatic life, including the hellbender. The hellbender is a giant salamander–growing to an average of 15 inches long. Ugly suckers–so ugly they’re cute! OK, so a pipeline gets installed and the water is muddy for a day or two and maybe it kills a hellbender or two, what’s the big deal? Are they an endangered species? No, they are not. They are, however, considered to be “near-threatened”–meaning any decade now they *may* get added to the “threatened” list (but still not endangered). The idea is, of course, to avoid killing enough of a species like the hellbender so that it ends up on a threatened or endangered list. So are pipelines having a negative impact on hellbender populations? The article wants you think so, but actually, there’s zero evidence of any kind of impact by pipelines on hellbender populations. Instead of scientific steak to show a connection between pipelines and hellbender populations, the article serves up anecdotal Cheetos of scary pictures of pipelines being installed. There is no connection between pipeline construction and hellbender populations–that’s the bottom line when you read the following story…
    Read More “M-U Gathering Pipelines Blamed for Killing “Ancient” Salamanders”

  • | | |

    PA DEP’s Short-Term Solution to Get More Help – Hire 92 Interns

    Everybody has a “fix” for the chronically slow Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP has a policy of issuing erosion and sedimentation permits for shale drilling 14 days from the date of application. At last check, it was taking the agency over 250 days to issue those permits. The Marcellus industry has been pressuring the PA legislature for a fix. As we noted in a companion story today, the PA Senate’s “fix” is to study it (see PA Senate Passes Meaningless Resolution to “Study” DEP Slow Permits). The PA House is more proactive, with a series of 5 bills that would, among other things, enlist the help of independent third parties to take up the slack (see PA House Advances “Fix DEP & Other Agencies” Plan with 5 Bills). Even PA Gov. Tom Wolf got in the act, offering his own solution, which involves hiking fees and hiring more people (see PA Gov Wolf Floats Plan to Fix DEP Slow Drilling Permits: Hike Fees). Perhaps the DEP has found a way to fix itself. The DEP recently posted 92 openings for paid internships. Many of the openings are for “Engineering and Scientific Technical Interns” for which the intern will earn $13.23/hour. While some of the openings are in the coal program, or the water resources program, many of positions (we’d say most, judging by a random check) are in the oil and gas program. But wait, the DEP is on a tight budget, right? They don’t have an extra two nickels to rub together. That’s what we always hear. That’s why fees need to go up, right? Somehow the DEP has been able to find money for an intern program. If 92 interns work for a 3-month period earning $13.23 per hour (40 hour weeks), that’s more than $580,000. Maybe the DEP will pull the money from one of the slush funds Republicans wanted to empty as part of balancing the budget? At any rate, here’s the deets on becoming an intern for the PA DEP…
    Read More “PA DEP’s Short-Term Solution to Get More Help – Hire 92 Interns”

  • | | | |

    NY Reconsiders Building Tiny NatGas-Fired Elec Plant in Albany

    It doesn’t happen often, but we’re speechless. We’ve lived under the apparent illusion that as stupid and insane as liberal leftist environmentalism is, that deep down underneath there’s still at least a small sliver of pragmatic truth that lives. Example: Even though NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo has banned fracking, and blocks natural gas pipelines from getting built (bowing to pressure from the enviro left), at least Cuomo is on board with building a tiny natgas-fired electric generating plant in the heart of Albany, to power the bloated government complex that exists (see NY Gov Cuomo Building New Fracked Gas Elec Plant to Power Albany!). Sure, Cuomo’s fringe/nut/kook base doesn’t want the tiny electric plant built in Albany (see Antis Push Back on Albany, NY Tiny NatGas-Fired Electric Plant). But not even Cuomo would cave to that kind of insanity, right? Wrong. Because of pressure from the enviro left, the New York Power Authority (i.e. Cuomo) announced yesterday it will hold (don’t laugh), “listening sessions” to hear any and all crackpot alternatives that can be proposed using so-called renewable energy, instead of building the natgas-fired electric plant. Which means the entire project, IF IT EVER GETS BUILT, will now be delayed…
    Read More “NY Reconsiders Building Tiny NatGas-Fired Elec Plant in Albany”

  • Other Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Feb 7, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye over the break that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Gas well drilling shifts to southwest PA, number of wells grows; midstream outlook in northeast brighter than ever; MarkWest offers $5.5B in new debt to investors; WV severance tax collections go up; Exxon wraps up construction on Gulf Coast cracker; Connecticut pays highest electric rates in lower 48 states; Groundhog Day in natgas; Halliburton takes Schlumberger to court over patents; the Polar Vortex & natgas; shale drilling in British Columbia; and more!
    Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Feb 7, 2018”

  • | | | | |

    New 190-Mile NatGas Pipeline Planned for Delmarva Peninsula

    Delmarva Pipeline map – click for larger version

    It’s not often we run across a new pipeline project in our region that we haven’t heard about. But this is one of those days. Last August through October (for 60 days) the Delmarva Pipeline company ran an open house for a 190-mile pipeline that will originate in Rising Sun, Maryland and extend down the Eastern Shore to Accomack, Virginia. We missed the original open season announcement. An open season, for those new to the oil and gas business, is when a pipeline company floats a plan for a pipeline and gets potential customers to agree, contractually, to use the pipeline for the first 10-15 years (or longer) after it’s built. Those signed-on-the-dotted-line contracts give the builder, in this case H4 Capital Partners, confidence to file a plan and proceed with construction. The purpose of the Delmarva Pipeline is to flow natural gas to two rural counties in the southern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula–Somerset County, MD and Accomack County, VA. (Delmarva, for those not along the East Coast, stands for Delaware, Maryland and Virginia–the peninsula where portions of all three states can be found.) H4 Capital Partners has reportedly spent the past four years planning the $1.3 billion pipeline project, and they are now, after a successful open season, ready to file plans with FERC to make it happen. The plan is to get the pipeline built and in-service by late 2020 or early 2021. The reason MDN is interested in this pipeline should be obvious. Although there’s no mention of where the gas will come from to feed this new pipeline, we have zero doubt the gas will come from the Marcellus Shale–making the Delmarva Pipeline an important new demand source for our bountiful supplies of clean burning Marcellus gas…
    Read More “New 190-Mile NatGas Pipeline Planned for Delmarva Peninsula”

  • | | |

    PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%

    Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency charged with overseeing oil and gas drilling in the state, has “blindsided” the shale industry with a proposal to hike the fee required when submitting an application to drill a new shale well. The current fee is $5,000. The proposed new fee is $12,500–or 2.5 times greater (i.e. 250% higher). The DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) is scheduled to meet next week, on Feb. 14, to discuss the permit fee increase. The fee funds the oil and gas program within the DEP. Wells must be visited and inspected throughout their life–decades after they are initially drilled. The permit fee is a one-time, up-front fee. Over the past couple of years the number of new wells getting drilled has decreased (although in 2017 it went back up, see PA Shale Wells Drilled Soars 56% in 2017; Impact Fee Up $5,400/Well). Because there have been fewer wells drilled in recent years, there’s a lot less money in the DEP’s budget for well inspectors. Hence the plan to hike the fee. The industry does not object to a measured increase–but going up 250% is “excessive” and not called for, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition. In addition to the permit fee hike, the TAB meeting will also hold a discussion on finalizing new GP-5 and GP-5A General Permits to control methane emissions from oil and gas operations. Buckle up, the next TAB meeting looks like it may get heated…
    Read More “PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%”

  • | | | | | | | | |

    Sunoco Appeals DEP’s ME2 Pipe Suspension to Enviro Hearing Board

    PA State Sen. Andy Dinniman

    In early January, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued an order shutting down all construction for the Sunoco Logistics Partners Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project (see PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). The DEP claims Sunoco had violated the conditions of the permits that allow it to drill and trench for the project. In particular, the DEP is hot and bothered about drilling mud spills associated with underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The DEP said Suonco can restart work when/if certain conditions are met. So far the DEP has not allowed Sunoco to restart work. In the meantime, thousands of workers are in the unemployment line, and have been since Jan. 3rd. Sunoco has just appealed the DEP’s cease and desist order to the PA Environmental Hearing Board–a special court set up to hear appeals of DEP decisions. Sunoco lays out their case in a filing (below) for why the DEP is incorrect in issuing their stop work order…
    Read More “Sunoco Appeals DEP’s ME2 Pipe Suspension to Enviro Hearing Board”

  • | | | | | |

    Rover Again Asks FERC for OK to Restart Tuscarawas Drilling

    On Jan. 24, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent a letter to Rover Pipeline stopping drilling at the Tuscarawas River site, which had only restarted in December (see FERC Stops Rover Drilling Near River After 200K Gal Mud Disappears). In a strongly worded letter dated Sunday, Jan. 28, Rover told FERC they are “frustrated by the inaccurate central premise underlying the letter received from” FERC shutting down drilling at that location (see Rover “Frustrated” with FERC Order to Stop Drilling at Tuscarawas). Some 99% of all construction work is now complete for Rover Pipeline. There’s only a little more to do to finish things up, including installation of a second Rover Pipeline (next to the first) underneath the Tuscarawas River. Rover has “lost” 200,000 gallons of drilling mud down the hole in drilling for the second pipe. However, the “lost” mud has not come back to the surface. Mud disappearing–and staying down the hole–when drilling for pipelines is not uncommon. Yet FERC will not lift the stop work order. On Friday, FERC sent a letter to Rover saying Rover must provide information on three different scenarios before work can resume: (1) how Rover plans to complete drilling at the current location without losing any more mud, (2) change locations and run the second pipe under another part of the Tuscarawas River, or (3) forget about drilling and installing a second pipe altogether, and stick with just a single pipe already in place now. FERC’s letter brought a swift response. On Sunday, Rover provided a mountain of evidence to say the current plan of drilling under the river at the existing location is the right plan. Rover went one step further, asking FERC to allow them to begin drilling again by yesterday (Monday) afternoon at 3pm. To the best of our knowledge, that did not happen…
    Read More “Rover Again Asks FERC for OK to Restart Tuscarawas Drilling”

  • | | |

    XTO Plans 5 Shale Wells at Former Golf Course in Armstrong County

    You don’t hear much about XTO Energy drilling in the Marcellus these days. That’s not to say they aren’t busy. They certainly are/have been. In PA’s Butler County, XTO had spud (begun to drill or completed drilling) some 145 shale wells as of 2016. In neighboring Armstrong County, XTO had spud/drilled 4 shale wells as of 2016. The number in Armstrong will more than double if XTO wins approval for a series of wells they plan to drill on a single well pad. Last night XTO presented a plan to build a drill pad on what used to the seventh green at the former Phoenix at Buffalo Valley Golf Course in Freeport, PA. The plan calls for drilling 4 Marcellus wells and 1 Utica well on the pad. Some 20 residents showed up for the meeting. Not a single one spoke out against the plan. Nor did any of the Freeport officials. Here’s the details on XTO’s plans to sink a hole (in one!) on the seventh green in Armstrong County…
    Read More “XTO Plans 5 Shale Wells at Former Golf Course in Armstrong County”

  • | | | | | |

    Clash of the Titans: PA Marcellus Gas Competes with TX Permian

    Last week MDN editor Jim Willis attended Hart Energy’s Marcellus-Utica Midstream conference in Pittsburgh (a series of stories are coming this week from that event). One of the stray comments Jim heard at the event was this: The chief rival or competitor to the Marcellus with respect to natural gas production is not, as you might assume (we sure did) the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana. No. The chief competitor, producing more and more volumes of natgas, is…the Permian! That’s right, an oil play! Why? When you drill for oil, you get other hydrocarbons out of the ground along with the oil. Primarily methane, or natural gas. It’s called “associated gas.” Even though most of what comes out of a Permian well is oil and not gas, because there are so darned many oil wells in the Permian (with more being drilled all the time), the total volume of gas coming from the Permian is going up, dramatically. The problem is, some Marcellus/Utica gas heads to the Gulf Coast to be used by petrochemical companies or to be exported. However, gas produced right there in the region is less expensive to get to market (shorter distance), so that Permian-sourced gas is competing, and increasingly crowding out, Marcellus/Utica gas. Investors have noticed and have, in a sense, “punished” some of the biggest of the big Marcellus/Utica producers by selling their shares, leading to a loss in share value. Among the hardest hit have been Southwestern Energy, Gulfport Energy, and Range Resources. The stock price for those three companies is down, since Jan. 1st, 33%, 30% and 25% respectively. A Bloomberg article says the stocks for those companies have been “mauled.” Indeed. Here’s some insight into how the Marcellus/Utica is increasingly going up against the oil giant Permian Basin, sometimes getting mauled…
    Read More “Clash of the Titans: PA Marcellus Gas Competes with TX Permian”

  • |

    Patterson-UTI Rig Count of 165 in January Another All-Time High

    As we do each month, 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 operates many rigs in our region. Last April, Patterson bought out and merged in Seventy Seven Energy (SSE). The addition of SSE’s rigs served to rocket Patterson’s rig count number in April and May much higher (see Patterson-UTI Rig Count Continues to Rocket Skyward – 159 in May). With SSE fully absorbed into Patterson, the rig count number settled down. In September Patterson’s rig count slipped by 1–the first loss since June 2016. In October the count retreated another three, to 158. But the trend reversed in November when the the count jumped again–back up to 161. Then in December Patterson’s rig count hit a new, all-time high of 163 (see Patterson-UTI Rig Count Hits All-Time High in December, Up to 163). And here we are, in the dead of winter, and Patterson has done it again. The average rig count for January was 165, another new, all-time high…
    Read More “Patterson-UTI Rig Count of 165 in January Another All-Time High”