EIA: Gas Processors Key to Rapid Growth in Marcellus/Utica
Ever hear the old proverb: “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” There are many reasons, many “fathers” for why the Marcellus/Utica region has become the highest producing natural gas region in the U.S. We have great shale rock. We have a lot of shale rock. We’re located close to major markets. We have a large and ready workforce. Increasingly, we have pipeline infrastructure to move the gas to new markets. All of those things contribute to the success of our region. But there’s one element that is critical, but often overlooked–gas processing and fractionation. Gas processing cleans up the hydrocarbons coming out of the ground–removing water and impurities, and separating methane (i.e. natural gas) from natural gas liquids (NGLs). Fractionation further separates NGLs into their components–ethane, propane, butane, pentane, etc. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (our favorite government agency) published an article yesterday looking at they critical role played by processing and fractionation in the Marcellus/Utica. They point out that when the shale revolution really began to take off in our area, circa 2010, we had roughly 1.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas processing capacity. In 2016, that number had zoomed up by a factor of nearly 10, to 10 Bcf/d of gas processing capacity. Without the ability the process the gas, it can’t be sold. One of the main “fathers” of success in the Marcellus/Utica, is processing…
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Anti fossil fuelers committed to stopping (NOT rerouting) the newly approved NEXUS Pipeline in Ohio continue to pin their hopes on a meritless lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
The University of Cincinnati (UC) has now used $470,000 of taxpayer money for three research studies (over the past four years) to study the health effects of Utica Shale fracking. One of the studies dealing with ambient air pollution (published in March 2015) had such major errors the authors retracted it in June 2016 (see 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Columbiana County, OH to get jobs, tax boost from NEXUS Pipeline; energy groups fight back against radical efforts to shut down Dakota Access Pipeline; Harvey’s widespread destruction tests US shale; O&G companies respond to Harvey crisis with millions in donations; the next tech wave in drilling; trimming produced water costs; electric vehicles a boon for gas-fired plants; Russian Gazprom profit plunges 80% in Q2; Nigeria supplies stranded industries with LNG tanker trucks; and more!
A Broome County, NY judge ruled yesterday that the Town of Fenton Planning Board did not take a hard enough look at environmental and traffic issues related to their approval of NG Advantage’s plan to construct a facility in the town to compress and load natural gas onto tractor trailers for delivery to regional customers who desperately need the gas–what is called a “virtual pipeline.” MDN has chronicled the project from the beginning (see our 
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (RINO) promised, five years ago, to allow shale drilling on state-owned forests and parks. He promptly then reneged on his promise. The way Kasich blocked drilling was to refuse adding new members to the Oil and Gas Commission, charged with approving potential drillers on state land. Kasich created a de facto moratorium that prevents fracking on state-owned land. In May of this year, Republican legislators, tired of Kasich’s recalcitrance, added a “little-noticed provision” in the state budget deal that will give the legislature, and not the governor, the power to select members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission (see 
Exactly two years ago, two Big Green groups–the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council and the Washington, DC-based Environmental Integrity Project (both disgusting litigation factories)–filed a complaint against Shell to block the air quality permit needed to build the $6 billion ethane cracker in Monaca, PA (see 
The Allegheny Institute is out with another top notch policy brief. This one tackles the state’s existing impact fee and addresses the issue of why revenues from the impact fee have slid over the past several years. The Institute is not denigrating the impact fee, but lauding it as a better system of taxation than a severance tax. The Allegheny Institute exists to conduct research, education and advocacy work in a mission to defend taxpayers and businesses against burdensome taxation, inefficiency and intrusiveness of an ever expanding government–a pretty tall order because government at all levels is always expanding, like a voracious monster. Think of the Allegheny Institute as a mini version of the Heritage Foundation–focused specifically on Pennsylvania. The newest brief, titled “Shale Gas Impact Fee Revenue Continues to Slide” (full copy below) takes an honest, and hard look, at the impact fee. Researchers conclude that slapping a severance tax on top of the impact fee would be a disaster and violate the state’s commitment to drillers when they passed the impact fee…
An extensive expose appearing on The Daily Signal blows the doors off collusion and money funneling from Russia to several Big Green groups using that money to oppose pipeline projects, including opposition to the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline projects here in the Marcellus/Utica region. A 29-year CIA veteran does a masterful job of connecting the dots between the Kremlin and so-called environmental groups that are using Russian money to oppose these American, much-needed pipeline projects. Group allegedly receiving Russian money include Virginia Organizing, Preserve Montgomery County and Friends of Nelson County in Virginia. Nationally, groups on the take with Russian money include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. Are they committing treason? We report, you decide…
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection has put drillers (and everyone) on notice that it will bump up the fee to file for a permit to drill a Marcellus Shale well. Prior to 2013, the permit fee for a new Marcellus well was $3,200. In 2013 the DEP bumped it up by 56%, to $5,000 (see 
There’s been an interesting twist in the saga of National Fuel Gas Company’s (NFG) Northern Access Pipeline project. The $455 million project includes building 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline further up, in Niagara County, along with a new compressor station in the Town of Pendleton. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted final approval for the project in February of this year (see 
Dominion Energy’s $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)–a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, will help butterflies, bees and other “pollinator” insects along the pipeline’s route. Last week Dominion announced an initiative to establish new habitats for pollinator insects. The plan will use 750 acres along roughly 50 miles of the proposed route in Virginia and North Carolina. It’ll be fun to see how so-called environmentalists will find fault with helping the environment…
Two new members added to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Trump (Neil Chatterjee and Rob Powelson), added to the Obama-appointed member (Cheryl LaFleur) have not wasted any time in authorizing their first major pipeline project as a group. Last week the trio voted to approve the first major pipeline project since a quorum has been reestablished–NEXUS, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. On August 4th, NEXUS, which is a jointly owned project between DTE Energy and Spectra Energy (now part of Enbridge), sent a letter to the new FERC quorum urging fast action (see 