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 Aug 14 – Nov 13”
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Plum injection well makes Murrsyville nervous; pipeline could bring 100,000 barrels of Canadian crude to Maine port; US shale output keeps rising; the good news about high US oil imports; Baltic states push for joint LNG market; battery waste big problem with electric cars; OPEC beginning to panic; criminal tactics on the rise against pipelines; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Aug 14, 2017”
MDN has been tracking the prices paid by Shell to landowners to run an ethane pipeline under their land to feed the might cracker plant the company is just now beginning to build in Beaver County, PA. Why? So landowners in Beaver (and other locations) have a useful metric for judging the offers they receive. To be fair, a company that wants to run a local gathering pipeline across someone’s land will pay a lot less than Shell is willing to pay–given you can’t move the cracker plant. Interstate pipelines will likely pay something less too. But still, we find it interesting and useful to know what Shell is up to in Beaver. We don’t have a lot of data points, yet. In June, we learned that Shell paid roughly $75 per foot for 3,138 linear feet of pipeline space in Greene Township (see New Easement for Shell Ethane Cracker Pipeline Reveals Price Paid). In July, Shell paid ~$43/foot for 2,675 linear feet of pipeline space (see Latest Amount Shell Paid for Ethane Pipeline Easements Goes Down). We now have two more data price points to share with you…
Read More “Shell Pays Varying Amounts for Ethane Pipe Easements – Latest”
The CORNballs of Ohio are not happy campers in their quest to try and shut down the $2 billion, 255-mile NEXUS interstate natural gas pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. CORN stands for Coalition to Reroute NEXUS. CORNballs is what we affectionately call the group–as a way of pointing out their nutty real purpose, which is to try and shut the NEXUS project down. Their aim has nothing to do with “rerouting” and everything to do with shutting it down. In May 2017, the CORNballs revealed their true colors when they filed a lawsuit in federal court in Akron, OH (see CORNballs Strike Again, File Lawsuit to Stop NEXUS Pipeline). As part of that lawsuit, lawyers for the CORNballs filed claims the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) acted illegally during the approval process (see CORNballs Accuse FERC of Illegally Approving NEXUS Pipeline in OH). As we said at the time, “Good luck with proving that in court.” NEXUS filed a motion to dismiss this frivolous case, based on the fact the federal court in Akron doesn’t have jurisdiction, and earlier this week that is just what happened. The court said they don’t have jurisdiction to consider the lawsuit. The news seems to have hit the CORNballs pretty hard. They’re not only upset about the court decision, but also about the U.S. Senate performing their Constitutional duty by voting to confirm two new commissioners for the federal agency that approves projects like NEXUS–the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). One CORNball quipped they’ve been “FERC’d”…
Read More “CORNballs Get Cornier – Say They’ve Been “FERC’d” re NEXUS Pipe”
We’re starting to see more and more news about natural gas-fired microgrids, used for “peaking”. Microgrids are small electric generating plants, most often powered by natural gas. They usually produce a few megawatts of electricity. The concept of “peaking” means that during times of high electricity demand, these small microgrids kick on and produce electricity to help meet the demand. Although New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo doesn’t want fracking in the Empire State, he’s in the midst of paying for 11 microgrids throughout the state–all of them using natural gas, mostly fracked gas from Pennsylvania (see NY Building Not Just One, but Eleven (!) NatGas-Fired Micogrids). These microgrids are an important new market for Marcellus/Utica Shale gas. So we perked up when we spotted a story about and press release from Ameresco, headquartered in Massachusetts, that is building a new 6-megawatt microgrid for peaking electricity at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. It will, according to Ameresco, “anchor one of the largest private microgrids in the United States.” Although the announcement doesn’t say, we’re 99.99% sure the gas that will feed it will come from PA’s Marcellus Shale. In addition to the microgrid in Philly, Ameresco also announced a contract in northeast PA, with Luzerne Community College (Wilkes-Barre) to replace 21 outdated electric-resistance heating Roof Top Units (RTU), Heating and Ventilation Units (H&V), and Air Handling Units (AHU) with 21 new, natural gas-fired RTU’s and AHU’s. Yep, you read that right–dumping electric units for natgas units. How “cool” is that? (Pun intended)…
Read More “One of Nation’s Largest NatGas Microgrids Coming to Philly Navy Yard”
A bunch of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) news to report. On Tuesday, FERC commissioner nominee Neil Chatterjee was sworn in, bringing the voting tally to two (of five). Yesterday, nominee Rob Powelson was sworn in, bringing the vote tally to three of five–which is now a quorum. Hooray! There are some $50 billion worth of pipeline and electric projects on hold due to lack of a voting quorum at FERC. Those projects, many of them in the Marcellus/Utica, will not move forward. In addition to the new quorum, President Trump named Chatterjee as the new (and temporary) chairman of FERC. The chairman drives the agenda and sets up the votes, so it makes sense for Trump to pick one of his own to fill the position. That means existing chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur (Democrat), who has been temporary in the position since January, will now resume her role as just a “regular” FERC commissioner. Why is Chatterjee only temporary? Because Trump has announced he wants another nominee, energy lawyer Kevin McIntyre, to become the chairman once the Senate has approved him. In an interview, Chatterjee observed this has been the first time in FERC’s 40 year history that the group has been without a quorum. Below we update you on the news, and bring you the complete list of pending pipeline projects that need a vote by FERC’s new quorum…
Read More “FERC Quorum Restored; New Chairman; List of Stalled Pipe Projects”
It looks like the trouble Vienna Investments tried to make for Clean Energy Future in wanting to build a second natural gas-fired electric generating plant in the same office park where the first is being built (near a building owned by Vienna) has amounted to nothing. Bupkis. The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) held a public hearing at the local high school in July, to accept public comments on the second power plant (see Investment Firm Opposing Trumbull Energy Center Slinks Out of Mtg). Residents from around the community turned out in force–to support the project. More than 200 people crammed the auditorium (standing room only). Two representatives from Vienna Investments (attorneys) were registered to speak, but when their names were called, they “retreated” from the room. A second and final public hearing was held yesterday in Columbus, OH, before an administrative law judge. Nobody turned up to talk against the project. In fact, on Wednesday, Vienna withdrew their original objection to the second plant. End of story. The second plant will now get built, once the state approves it…
Read More “No Objections at Columbus Hearing on Lordstown NatGas Elec Plant”
MDN has covered the ongoing budget debate in Pennsylvania for months. The PA Senate and House are controlled by Republican majorities–but not necessarily conservative majorities. The Republicans fell into a trap set by the Democrats. They passed a ~$32 billion budget with only enough revenue to pay for $30 billion–meaning there’s a $2 billion gap that needs to be filled. Instead of doing the adult thing–cut spending–they decided to allow more spending and figure out how to pay for it “later on.” Later on came, and of course pressure intensified to punish a single industry–natural gas–in order to make up the shortfall. At the end of July MDN brought you the sad news that Republicans in the Senate sold out and voted for a severance tax (see Traitorous PA Senate Republicans Pass Severance Tax Bill). Now the House remains. Will they sell out too? Under the leadership of Speaker Mike Turzai, we had hoped it would not happen. But a comment made yesterday by House Majority Leader Dave Reed has us wondering. Reed said higher taxes on energy sources used by homeowners, like natural gas, telephone, etc. (called a gross receipts tax) is going nowhere fast. However, as for a Marcellus Shale severance tax, Reed indicated they may deal. Although not an exact quote, one news source said Reed expressed this sentiment in his remarks yesterday: “A tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction, which was in the Senate revenue package and projected to raise about $108 million in the current budget year, could come into play in a compromise plan.” The compromise appears to be if Republicans can get Democrats to privatize state liquor sales and/or legalize video gaming terminals, they would be willing to throw the Marcellus industry under the bus with a severance tax. Nice people, those House Republicans. Let’s hope it’s only Reed who feels that way…
Read More “PA House Beginning to Cave on Severance Tax? Maybe…”
EXCO Resources was once a sizable player in the Marcellus. They still have 184,000 net acres in the Marcellus, with 124 horizontal Marcellus wells drilled and in production. However, EXCO, as we pointed out a year ago, has abandoned the Marcellus at this point (see EXCO: No Marcellus Drilling in 2015/2016, NYSE Threatens Delisting). The company flirted with bankruptcy for some time. In the end, they effectively turned over control of the company to its creditors (see EXCO Issues 2.7M Shares of New Stock in Lieu of Paying $23M). Earlier this week EXCO released its second quarter 2017 update. In souring the report and a transcript of the conference call, we found that EXCO continues to ignore the Marcellus/Utica. Production in our region for EXCO decreased year over year, because they haven’t drilled any new wells. Because prices have gone up somewhat, the company says they’re keeping a close eye on our region and they may decide to begin drilling again. Maybe. They also said the company is “evaluating plans to participate in appraisal wells with another operator to further evaluate the potential of the [Utica] formation.” So they may decide to fool around with the Utica. Maybe. Here’s the EXCO update…
Read More “EXCO Resources 2Q17: Still No M-U Drilling, but Considering It”
Everyone wants to know where the price of natural gas will go in the future. Ask one analyst, and he/she will tell you it’s going lower. Another? Staying where it is–for a long time. And yet another will tell you the price just HAS to go higher. Of course “the price” of natural gas is not just one price. Most people refer to the benchmark Henry Hub price, used for trading futures contracts on the NYMEX exchange. All other prices where gas is bought and sold are somehow compared to or even connected with the price of gas at the Henry Hub. We spotted a speculative post on the Seeking Alpha investor’s website from someone we often read, Andrew Hecht, muses that he thinks the price of natgas is heading higher. He makes a convincing case. We boil it down and simplify it to this: an increase in LNG exports, of which we wrote about yesterday (see US Exports Now 2.4% of NatGas Production, Heading for 11% in 2019 //marcellusdrilling.com/2017/08/us-exports-now-2-4-of-natgas-production-heading-for-11-in-2019/), plus scads of new natgas-fired electric plants coming online, which we write about all the time, plus a cold snap across the country, but particularly in the northeast, would necessarily drive natural gas prices at the Henry Hub and other locations MUCH higher. Is he right?…
Read More “LNG Exports + Gas-Fired Electric + Cold Snap = Higher NG Prices”
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Will shareholders vote ‘yes’ on EQT/Rice merger?; no drilling mud reached Canton, OH water supply; Utica Shale counties show highest income growth in OH; Bowling Green charter amendment to ban fossil fuel infrastructure in trouble; judge tells Vermont AG to hand over email in anti-Exxon case; Indians want Dakota pipeline shut down; EPA casts doubt on climate change threat; NYT admits faking climate change article; cronyism rampant in Obama Energy Dept.; shale oil breakeven price is $50; ‘Keep it in the Ground’ is not the green option; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Aug 11, 2017”
Those opposing two major Energy Transfer projects–Rover Pipeline and Mariner East 2–will not be happy with the good news coming from ET this week. The company issued its second quarter update and held a conference call yesterday. During the call we learned that Phase 1 of Rover, a $3.7 billion, 711-mile Rover Pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada, is “substantially complete” with Phase 1A expected to be done next week and online asap. Phase 1A stretches from Cadiz to Defiance, which is most of Ohio. Phase 1B is a short segment from Seneca to Cadiz, and once ET gets clearance from FERC to drill horizontally under Captina Creek, it will only take them about 40 days to complete Phase 1B. If ET can convince FERC to allow them to restart more horizontal directional drilling (HDD) work, Phase 2 will be done soon as well–and the entire project will be up and running by the end of the year. More good news for Rover: The temporary ban on HDD work for Rover in two West Virginia counties that began two weeks ago has now been lifted by the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection. As for ET’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project that stretches across Pennsylvania, 80% of the pipeline has been strung, more than 70% is welded and over half has been lowered in and covered up. As we reported yesterday and again today, ET subsidiary Sunoco Logistics Partners (building ME2) has brokered a deal with several radical environmental groups that will slow the project down some, but slow and done is better than no progress at all. Here’s an update on the good news about Rover and ME2…
Read More “Energy Transfer: Rover Phase 1A Done Next Week; ME2 Half Done”
Gulfport Energy, which is the second most active driller in the Ohio Utica, behind Chesapeake Energy, has (so far) drilled 303 Utica wells and owns 211,000 acres of leases in the Buckeye State. Gulfport, which drills mainly in the Utica (but also the SCOOP, in Oklahoma) reported their second quarter 2017 production numbers on July 31 (see Gulfport 2Q17: Most Active Utica Quarter Ever, 29 Wells Added). As we pointed out, they separate their production update from their financial update. On Tuesday the company turned in its financial report for 2Q17. The company done good–real good. A year ago, in 2Q16, Gulfport lost $340 million. This year, in 2Q17, Gulfport made $106 million in profit. Quite a turnaround–almost half a billion dollar swing in one year! On a conference call, Gulfport CEO Mike Moore mentioned they drilled their first Utica well in Jefferson County, OH–“our farthest northern well drilled to date.” Below are comments from this week’s conference call, along with a full 2Q17 update–production & financial…
Read More “Gulfport Energy 2Q17: $106M Profit, Drills Northern Utica Well”
Earlier this week Rex Energy issued its second quarter 2017 update. During 2Q17 Rex drilled 2, completed 6 and put online into sales 4 wells in their Butler County, PA acreage. They also began drilling a new 4-well pad in Butler. In the company’s Carroll County, OH acreage, Rex drilled a 3 wells on a single pad. The big news from the update was a deal with BP to market Rex’s natural gas liquids (or C3+) production, and the sale of a water pipeline owned by Rex in Salineville, OH for $8 million. Rex’s finances didn’t do so well. In 2Q17 the company lost $10 million versus making a $16 million profit in 2Q16. Production picked up a bit, from 173.4 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) in 1Q17 to 177.1 MMcfe/d in 2Q17. The official statement said 2Q17 production was “constrained” during the quarter “due to unplanned maintenance downtime in the company’s midstream services.” Which means they had hoped it would have been higher than 177.1 MMcfe/d. Looking forward to 3Q17 Rex says they plan to bring 12 new wells in Butler County online…
Read More “Rex Energy 2Q17: Sells Waterline, Deal with BP to Market NGLs”
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Sunoco Logistics Partners had cut a deal with the devil, meaning three radical Big Green groups, to slow down but eventually complete work on the Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline project in Pennsylvania (see Sunoco Strikes Deal with Devil, “Settles” with Anti Groups re ME2). The deal means Sunoco has to re-submit plans for underground horizontal direction drilling (HDD) in 47 locations to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for review. The DEP will then get 21 days to review those re-worked plans. But the plan needed to be blessed by Environmental Hearing Board Judge Bernard Labuskes Jr. first. Yesterday Judge Labuskes gave the plan his stamp of approval. Now the three Big Green groups–Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and Delaware Riverkeeper Network–are bragging about their victory. High-fiving each other and taking pot shots at the DEP and one of their own–Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf. Wolf is not “pure” enough for Big Green nutters. Only a complete shut-down of the project would be acceptable, which Wolf does not support. However, the Big Greeners are pragmatic. They’ll take half a loaf–in this case slowing the project down…
Read More “Judge Approves Sunoco Deal w/Devil; Radical Groups Brag About Win”
In May, MDN told you that virulent anti-drillers in Youngstown, OH, puppets of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), have once again circulated a petition to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure on the ballot this November (see Youngstown Antis Seek to Legalize Anarchy with 7th CELDF Petition). The same people have tried six times before–and the ballot measure failed every single time. However, 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. 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 Mom Earth. It would create mob rule. The sad news is that the petition garnered enough signatures to appear on the ballot this November (see Youngstown Frack Ban Vote on November Ballot – for 7th Time). The happy news is that under a new Ohio state law giving county boards of elections more discretion, the Mahoning County Board of Elections will almost certainly block the measure from appearing on the November ballot–because the anti-frack ballot measure conflicts with established state law that only the state can regulate the oil and gas industry…
Read More “OH Law May Keep 7th Anti-Frack Measure Off Youngstown Nov. Ballot”