Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling events.
To have your event included (or if you are aware of a worthy event you believe should be on this page), please send the details and/or a link to have it included to the calendar@marcellusdrilling.com email address. Thank you!
Read More “Calendar of Marcellus/Utica Events for Sep 11 – Dec 10”
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: OH Utica natgas helps lead the shale revolution; what are Cabot’s key strategies for 2017/2018; NY natgas producers sent pack in shift to ‘clean energy’; weekend rally against Mariner East 2 doesn’t amount to much; ethane storage hub location could come down to politics; Yale’s fracking investments; US shale producers a great place to invest; recent court ruling may impede new gas pipelines; Senate picks up the pace on confirming more Trump energy nominees; the connection between Sierra Club and Russian money; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Sep 11, 2017”
It was just yesterday that MDN highlighted a story written by friend Tom Shepstone on his Natural Gas Now website theorizing that the Delaware River Basin Commission, long influenced by big money coming from the Haas family via the William Penn Foundation and their surrogates, is planning to implement a full ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see Tom’s story: Is the William Penn Foundation Planning a DRBC Ban?). Looks like Tom is a soothsayer. Elements of the William Penn cabal are leaking, like a sieve, news that the DRBC is about to introduce a permanent frack ban, which includes a ban in Wayne and Pike counties in Pennsylvania. The proposed ban may be introduced as early as today. We suppose the news shouldn’t surprise us, given that in July anti groups, including the William Penn lobbying arm Delaware Riverkeeper, hit the panic button (because of a lawsuit) and ramped up an effort to push a permanent ban (see Anti Groups Panic, Demand Govs Ban Fracking in Dela. River Basin). The big question is what will the prevaricating PA Gov. Tom Wolf do? He has mouthed support for a moratorium, but so far has not signed on for a permanent ban. Will he sell out all the way and now support a ban–screwing thousands of his own constituents? Who knows. Here’s the breaking news…
Read More “DRBC Secretly Working on Permanent Delaware Basin Frack Ban”
Eureka Midstream, which was once called Eureka Hunter (a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources) has popped back up on the radar screen. Eureka, which operates exclusively in the Marcellus/Utica with ~200 miles of local gathering pipelines, announced yesterday it has expanded its line of credit from $225 million to $400 million, with an “accordion” option to further expand it to $500 million. Last time we wrote about Eureka (in December 2015), parent Magnum Hunter was looking to sell it off (see Magnum Hunter De-Listed from NYSE; Still Shopping Eureka Hunter). A lot has happened since that time. Magnum Hunter filed for and later emerged from bankruptcy, minus its colorful CEO Gary Evans (see Magnum Hunter Emerges from Bankruptcy with CEO Gary Evans Gone). During the bankruptcy process, Eureka was not sold but instead spun off into its own standalone company. Magnum Hunter, later renaming itself to Blue Ridge Mountain Resources, has remained a major customer for Eureka. Eureka says it will use the $400-$500M line of credit for “capital expenditures, financing permitted acquisitions, funding working capital, and general corporate purposes.” Here’s an update on Eureka, which has successfully charted a course away from former parent Magnum Hunter…
Read More “M-U Pipeline Co. Eureka Midstream Expands Line of Credit to $400M”
TransCanada’s WP XPress pipeline project has just scored an important permit from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service that allows the project to move forward in the Monongahela National Forest. In Jan. 2016, Columbia Pipeline Group (now owned by TransCanada) filed a full, official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approval of the $850 million WB XPress Project (see Columbia Pipeline Files to Build $850M WB XPress Project in WV/VA). WB XPress consists of two new compressor stations, 26 miles of pipeline replacement located along existing corridors (11.6 miles of it in Monongahela National Forest), and 2.9 miles of new pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. The WB XPress Project will expand capacity of the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline system in the region by 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), linking Marcellus gas supplies to new markets. FERC issued a favorable environmental assessment for the project in March of this year (see FERC Gives Columbia WB XPress Enviro Thumbs Up). While the Forest Service has given its blessing, the project still needs a final approval from FERC before it can begin construction–something TransCanada asked for just last week. Here’s where things stand with the WP XPress project…
Read More “WB XPress Pipeline Gets Important USDA Approval for Natl Forest”
We’ve written plenty about Philadelphia-area RINO (Republican In Name Only) State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo. In May DiGirolamo introduced yet another severance tax bill (see Tiresome: Philly RINO Rep Gene DiGirolamo Intros Severance Tax Again). Like a bad penny, Gene keeps turning up. Yesterday, without consulting Republican leadership (because, he said, they would have tried to talk him out of it), DiGirolamo introduced his own version of a plan to supply the missing funds to balance the state budget. Like all good Democrats, DiGirolamo’s plan is packed with tax increases, including (yes) a severance tax. Oh wait! He’s a Republican, not a Democrat. Or is he? In addition to slapping a 3% severance tax ON TOP OF the impact fee, DiGirolamo wants to raise the state income tax from 3.07% to 3.32%–a hefty 8.1% increase. Pennsylvanian’s won’t miss it, right? And besides, the teachers unions in Philly really want that money, bad…
Read More “Philly RINO Proposes High-Tax PA Budget, Incl. a 3% Severance Tax”
Radicals from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) say they will stage massive protests at several Virginia Department of Environmental Quality offices next week to protest against two Marcellus/Utica pipeline projects: the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline and $3.5 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline. Both projects have large segments crossing Virginia. CCAN says up to 1,000 people (mostly brainwashed college kids) will turn up to behave badly at DEQ office sites–using sit-ins, “prayer circles” (although Whom they pray to is unspecified) and sidewalk “rallies.” The DEQ is getting ready for the miscreants. The aim of the protests is to convince the DEQ to deny water crossing permits for the two pipeline projects. The DEQ has decided to let the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers handle the stream crossing evaluation, which doesn’t sit well with the radicals. They’re demanding the DEQ reassert authority in issuing the permits. Of course, the only outcome the radicals will accept is if the DEQ decides NOT to issue the permits. Is mob rule coming to the Old Dominion?…
Read More “Radical CCAN to Protest VA DEQ Against Marcellus/Utica Pipelines”
In July MDN told you that puppets of the PA-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) have once again gotten enough signatures to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights (i.e. frack ban) ballot measure on the ballot this November in Youngstown, Ohio–for the 7th time (see Youngstown Frack Ban Vote on November Ballot – for 7th Time). The same people have tried six times before–and the ballot measure failed every single time. However, as we pointed out, this time is different. In addition to the usual no fracking, no pipelines pablum, this 7th petition has language that makes it legal to break the law. You read that right. If the ballot measure were to pass, and if an anti got it into her head to sit in front of a bulldozer that was about to clear ground for a wellpad, or dig a trench for a pipeline, the police would not be able to arrest and remove the anti. It would be within her rights to sit there and block legal, legitimate activity–all in the name of saving the planet. It would, in essence, legalize mob rule. The good news is that the Mahoning County Board of Elections has had enough of this nonsense. The Board voted to NOT allow measure on the ballot in November. The antis (with the help of Big Green money) are firing up lawsuits…
Read More “Mahoning County Bans Frack Ban Measure from Nov Ballot in Youngstown”
In our daily trawl of the news, we came across the text of a resolution by Pennsylvania State Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf. Sen. Greenleaf is looking for co-sponsors of the resolution, which urges PA natural gas producers to export natural gas to European countries in order to curtail a Russian natgas monopoly. Greenleaf said, “Copies of this resolution will be transmitted to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the President of the United States, the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from Pennsylvania.” We thought: Nice sentiment…raise the natgas flag…rah rah and all that jazz. But at the end of the day, a resolution is meaningless. It has no force of law. It does nothing. It’s purely public relations bupkis. We wondered, why would Sen. Greenleaf, from Montgomery County (near Philadelphia) introduce this now? We revisited the list of traitorous Republican Senators who voted for the state budget that includes a severance tax (see Traitorous PA Senate Republicans Pass Severance Tax Bill). And yes, we discovered Sen. Greenleaf is one of the traitorous Republicans who voted for the horrible severance tax (and horrible gross receipts tax on natural gas, phones and electricity). The light went on. Greenleaf is using this resolution as a sleazy political ploy to try and curry favor with the natural gas industry–after he stabbed it in the back…
Read More “PA State Sen. Intros Meaningless Resolution Urging Natgas Exports”
Dominion Energy and Duke Energy hopes lightening will strike twice. In August, DTE Energy and Spectra Energy (now part of Enbridge), sent a letter to the new FERC quorum urging fast action to approve NEXUS Pipeline, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada (see NEXUS Pipeline to FERC: Please Approve Project – NOW). A few weeks later, FERC approved it (see New FERC Quorum Votes Final Approval for NEXUS Pipeline). Dominion Energy and Duke Energy, joint owners of the $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina–yesterday sent a similar letter to FERC, requesting speedy action to approve their project. Hey, if it worked for NEXUS…
Read More “Dear FERC: Please Approve AC Pipeline in Sept; Love, Dominion+Duke”
In June 2016 MDN told you about a sham “study” on the way from an anti-drilling “researcher” from Yale University, funded by Big Green groups (see Yale Arrives in Belmont County to Study the Evils of Fracking). “Researcher” Nicole Deziel arrived in Belmont County and announced, in so many words, she would drag a $20 bill through a trailer park (literally willing to pay only $20) to “study” air and water samples from residents’ domiciles as part of a new research “project” with a predetermined outcome–that they’re being poisoned by fracking. Ms. Deziel wanted 100 participants and ended up with 66. After eight weeks of collecting samples and talking to people, Ms. Deziel held a wrap-up rally with area residents before departing town to discuss the “study”–saying she has no conclusions, yet. The reason we knew the Yale “study” is a put-up job, and not real science, is because at the very same wrap-up meeting residents also heard from the radical anti-drilling group Ohio Environmental Council. That was the tip-off that this was not real research but hucksterism with a predetermined outcome (see Put-Up Job: Yale “Researchers” Meet with Locals in Belmont County). Ms. Deziel and a cabal of Yale “researchers” are back to “launch a new study on the health effects of hydraulic fracturing.” This time Deziel and company have hit big money–the “study” is being funded with $2 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Antis doing “research” have fleeced the EPA into backing them for another study with a predetermined outcome. A true waste of taxpayer’s money. But hey, it’s made millionaires out the researchers!…
Read More “Yale U Launches Another Sham Fracking Study, Predetermined Outcome”
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Eclipse Resources’ Utica super laterals drive drilling costs down; Constitution Pipeline partners want federal ruling reversed; CONSOL begins $200M stock buyback; WV welcomes US Methanol; MVP withdraws request to use storage yard; Illinois discriminates against natural gas as power source; Virginia natgas plant pumps out electricity 24/7; EPA employment shrinks under Trump; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Sep 8, 2017”
Phase 1A of the Rover Pipeline has been online for less than a week (see Big Portion of Rover Pipeline Now Up & Running – Thru Most of Ohio). As we reported on Sept. 1st, Energy Transfer planned to initially flow around 211 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of Utica/Marcellus natural gas. However, according to flow data from Genscape (as reported by Natural Gas Intelligence), within a few days the pipeline ramped up and began flowing over 600 MMcf/d–triple the initial volume. The result? The commodity price at the Dominion South trading point popped. Last Friday natural gas at Dominion South was selling for an average of $1.05 per million BTUs (MMBtu). On Tuesday, the price averaged $1.38/MMBtu–a 31% increase. Behold the power of a single, partially completed pipeline!…
Read More “Rover Pipeline Triples Volume of Gas Flowing, Prices Go Up”
US Methanol broke ground yesterday in Institute (Kanawha County), WV for its very first methanol production plant. In August 2016 MDN was the first to share the news that US Methanol is building at least two, rumored up to five, methanol plants in the Mountain State (see Rumor: US Methanol Building 5 Methanol Plants in WV). MDN shared a rumor (based on a reliable source) that until we disclosed it, was not public knowledge: The first methanol plant US Methanol plans to build will be in Institute, WV, and the second in Belle, WV–both in the Charleston region. Methanol plants convert natural gas into methanol, used as a chemical feedstock (or raw material) to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze, plastic bottles–even LED and LCD screens. A number of dignitaries attended the groundbreaking in Institute, including colorful WV Governor Jim Justice. A really cool factoid: the plant will be constructed from a deconstructed methanol plant from Brazil. Usually it’s the other way around, plants get shipped from the U.S. to other countries. This time a plant is coming “home” to the U.S. The new plant, called Liberty One, will open in mid-2018–supplied with plenty of cheap and abundant Marcellus/Utica shale gas…
Read More “US Methanol Breaks Ground on First Plant in West Virginia”
Antero Resources is back in the market looking to raise more money for their Antero Midstream subsidiary. It was only April that Antero floated an initial public offering (IPO) for Antero Midstream with hopes of raising $930 million (see Antero Midstream Launches IPO – Hopes to Raise $930M). In early May, when the IPO was complete, the company said it had only raised $875 million–falling $55 million short of the mark (see the Reuters story: Antero Midstream GP raises $875 million in U.S. IPO). A little more than three months later and the company is back, floating 10 million units (think shares of stock) at a price of $31.45, hoping to raise $315 million. The announcement does not say what Antero plans to use for money for–but they do have a number of irons in the midstream fire. Lots of projects underway and planned. Our guess is that the money will be used to fund some of those initiatives…
Read More “Antero Looks to Expand Midstream Biz with $315M Unit Sale”
It looks like Big Green has succeeded in conflating a mole hill into a mountain in Pennsylvania. In early August, Sunoco Logistics struck a deal with with several Big Green groups to provide stricter regulation for Mariner East 2 Pipeline’s underground drilling (see Sunoco Strikes Deal with Devil, “Settles” with Anti Groups re ME2). Part of the deal says if Sunoco experiences two leaks of drilling mud at the same location, they must shut down drilling in that location and wait for the state Dept. of Environmental Protection to further review drilling plans before they can restart. On August 24th there was a 50-gallon drilling mud spill into the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County related to ME2. A quick reminder: drilling mud, or “bentonite,” is non-toxic–the same stuff found in toothpaste and kitty litter. The 50-gallon spill would be like spilling 50 one-gallon jugs (maybe 10 bags) of kitty litter into the enormous Susquehanna River–a non-event. However, the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council cried foul over the spill (see Big Green Group Makes Big Deal Out of Tiny ME2 Mud Spill). And now the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has agreed, saying that spill plus spills in two other locations violate Sunoco’s agreement with Big Green…
Read More “PA DEP Says 3 ME2 Spills Violate Agreement with Big Green”