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    NatGas Grudge Match: Marcellus vs Haynesville

    One of the important new markets Marcellus/Utica drillers have been eagerly awaiting is the southeast–and the Gulf Coast. Once the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline ($3 billion, 198-mile pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County) is built, more gas will flow to points in the South. Much of the new demand for natural gas in the South is from new natural gas-fired electric plants. Another pipeline to feed the South is the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (Dominion Energy’s $5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina). And EQT’s Mountain Valley Pipeline ($3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA). Some pipelines already take our gas all the way to the Gulf Coast (see Rex Energy to Ship Marcellus Gas to Midwest & Gulf Coast in Nov). However, Marcellus/Utica is getting a competitor in the South and the Gulf Coast. The once all-but-dead Haynesville Shale, located in Louisiana, has roared back to life and will compete with cheap Marcellus/Utica gas in the South and the Gulf… Read More “NatGas Grudge Match: Marcellus vs Haynesville”

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    OH Sen. Portman Tours Rice Energy Well in Belmont, Voices Support

    Last Thursday Rice Energy President Toby Rice gave Ohio U.S. Senator Rob Portman a tour of the “Son Uva Digger” well pad in Belmont County, OH. Cool name. Although no doubt Portman thought of the trip as a photo-op, from his comments following the visit, it sounds like Portman actually learned something. Portman now “gets it” with respect to rapid changes in technology that have vastly reduced the footprint of drilling operations–better for the environment, less hassle for residents who live nearby. He also gets just how much money shale drilling is pumping into the local, state and national economy. Sounds like the Rice brothers have made a convert of Sen. Portman–so three cheers for them! This is how we win the battle–one person at a time. And if that person happens to be a U.S. Senator, all the better. Here’s how it went last week when Rob went to Belmont… Read More “OH Sen. Portman Tours Rice Energy Well in Belmont, Voices Support”

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    NY Building Not Just One, but Eleven (!) NatGas-Fired Micogrids

    In May MDN told you that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had announced plans to construct a new “state-of-the-art, locally-sourced mini-power grid” that will connect to the statewide electric grid but will also be able to operate independently, to power the Empire State Plaza in Albany–a complex of buildings in downtown Albany housing much of New York State government (see NY Gov Cuomo Building New Fracked Gas Elec Plant to Power Albany!). The energy-efficient microgrid will supply 90% of the power for the 98-acre downtown Albany complex, and is expected to save the Plaza more than $2.7 million in annual energy costs. The project will also remove more than 25,600 tons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere each year – the equivalent of taking more than 4,900 cars off the road–supporting New York’s goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels. In an emergency, it can power a shelter for Albany residents. So what will power the magical microgrid and deliver this nirvana of cheaper electricity AND reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions at the same time? Is it a huge solar array errected in Albany or in the nearby countryside? Nope–the sun doesn’t always shine. Must be a wind farm, maybe off the coast of Long Island? Nope. The wind doesn’t always blow. The magic fuel for the magic microgrid is, you guessed it–fracked shale gas from the Marcellus. Here’s something that will leave you (as it did us), speechless: Gov. Cuomo recently handed out $1 million each for 11 more microgrid projects–as seed money to get them going (making them eligible for more money from the NY Green Bank). And yes, each and everyone one of those 11 microgrids will be powered primarily by fracked shale gas. If that doesn’t beat all…
    Read More “NY Building Not Just One, but Eleven (!) NatGas-Fired Micogrids”

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    Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name

    Last October, MDN brought you the news that Baker Hughes, the world’s third largest oilfield services company, had struck a deal to combine/merge with/sell itself to GE’s oil and gas business (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). The deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, will result in a new company that will be 65.5% owned by GE and 37.5% owned by Baker Hughes shareholders. The deal, IF it gets approved by the Dept. of Justice, will create a company with $32 billion in revenues. Make no mistake, aside from all of the “partnership” talk, this is GE buying out Baker Hughes. The CEO of the new company will be Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive of GE Oil & Gas. The board of directors for the new company will have 5 members appointed by GE and 4 members appointed by Baker Hughes. The deal, if it happens, would catapult the new Baker Hughes, which will have the name Bear Newco, past Halliburton to become the world’s second largest oilfield services company. Get this: The deal may even catapult the new company to become the world’s number one oilfield services company–eclipsing Schlumberger! As we said at the time: The question now is, will the Dept. of Justice approve the deal? Last year the Obama DOJ killed the proposed Baker Hughes merger with Halliburton (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). Perhaps in an early sign that the DOJ will approve this merger, the European Commission has given its blessing on the deal…
    Read More “Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name”

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    Saudis, Others Cuts All Ties with Qatar – LNG Opportunity?

    Click for larger version

    The following story intrigued us, not the least of which because it has the potential to affect the Marcellus/Utica region. Out of the blue, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have all “cut ties” with the country of Qatar. That includes shutting down pipelines that flow LNG and natural gas out of Qatar. Why? Because, they claim, Qatar supports “extremism”–by which they mean terrorism. This is truly rich. All of the countries cutting ties have their own issues in supporting terrorism. So if they accuse “one of their own” for doing the same thing, how much worse must be Qatar? There is another interesting aspect to this story–related to the idiot Al Gore. Gore and a couple of his ultra-rich buddies started a cable television channel in 2005 called Current TV. The channel flopped, big-time. So Al and his buddies sold it in 2013–to Qatar. Well, actually it was sold to Al Jazeera, the official Qatar state-run media agency, owned by the ruling family of Qatar. Qatar didn’t want the channel, which they immediately threw in the trash. They wanted access to all of the cable systems the channel was running on for their Al Jazeera station. Yeah, you don’t hear about it much, but Al Gore sold his TV channel to terrorist-friendly Qatar–for $500 million. Back let’s get back to the Marcellus. Both Egypt and the UAE are “highly reliant on Qatari gas via pipeline and LNG.” With those lines now cut for the foreseeable future, it opens up a new market for Marcellus/Utica gas to be exported to Egypt, the UAE and perhaps others… Read More “Saudis, Others Cuts All Ties with Qatar – LNG Opportunity?”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jun 5, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Robert Mead named president of Appalachian chapter of NARO; WV leaders praise withdrawal from bad Paris climate deal; are “super rigs” the driver behind the new shale boom?; Sabine Pass LNG exports hit record high in May; what the pipeline industry needs to learn…and soon; fracking saves Americans $180B a year on gasoline; first commercial carbon-capture plant goes online–249,999 to go; Panama Canal Authority to raise rates on LNG ships; and more! Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jun 5, 2017”

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    WV Drillers & Landowners Want New Law re Post-Production Issue

    Earlier this week MDN reported on the recent West Virginia Supreme Court decision to reverse it’s earlier decision and allow EQT (and by extension, other drillers) to deduct some post-production expenses from royalties paid to landowners (see WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK). The Leggett v. EQT case turned on the meaning of three short words: “at the wellhead” (see WV Supreme Court Post-Production Royalty Case Hinges on 3 Words). This latest final final decision must be the…well…final decision, right? Not so fast. There is another Supreme Court case from 2006, Tawney v. Columbia Natural Resources, which also dealt with post-production expenses and found drillers do not have the right to deduct them from royalties. But there are differences. “Leggett deals with the statute on royalties, while Tawney is about lease contracts.” It’s a pretty safe bet that a new case will be filed challenging Tawney in light of the Leggett decision. All of this back and forth in the courts is unsettling for both drillers and landowners. Both sides are in agreement about one thing: They both want the WV legislature to pass a new law clarifying the issue of post-production deductions…
    Read More “WV Drillers & Landowners Want New Law re Post-Production Issue”

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    Uptick in Utica Drilling Predicted for Jefferson County, OH

    Jefferson County, OH is not the first (or even second or third) county you think of when you think “Utica drilling.” But that may soon change. Jefferson shares borders with other counties that are heavily drilled–Carroll, Harrison and Belmont. There has been some drilling in Jefferson in the past, but with the slowdown over the past few years, not much has happened. But according to Ascent Resources and Chesapeake Energy, their respective companies are putting a renewed focus on the county in the coming months. Which is good news indeed. Couple that with a possible ethane cracker plant coming to Belmont County, and (according to the Chamber of Commerce), Jefferson is heading for “a brighter future” thanks to the Utica industry… Read More “Uptick in Utica Drilling Predicted for Jefferson County, OH”

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    Former Head of Fed Pipeline Agency Sticks Up for Rover re Leaks

    We’ve spilled plenty of digital ink covering the Rover Pipeline and its recent troubles with “inadvertent returns” (i.e. leaks) of non-toxic drilling mud, called bentonite (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). Rover and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) have been in a spat over “numerous” leaks–with OEPA claiming they’ve levied a $431,000 fine on Rover, although it turns out the fine is not yet officially levied (see Turns Out OEPA & Columbus Dispatch Were Lying – Rover NOT Fined). The leak issue has led to FERC shutting down, for now, any further underground horizontal drilling to install pipeline (see FERC Slaps Rover Pipeline with Stop Drilling Order). On MDN, we have, admittedly, been pretty hard on Rover. Seems to us they are rushing too fast, leading to mistakes–mistakes the industry can’t afford to be seen making. Have we (and others) been too hard on Rover? We spotted an editorial by Ohio resident and the former head of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the agency charged with oversight for developing and enforcing regulations for 2.6 million miles of pipeline transportation in the U.S., sticking up for Rover. Brigham McCown says accidents happen and that Rover, “responded to the situation promptly and by the book to control any potentially larger fallout.” Is he right? Is Rover being unfairly criticized for accidents that are bound to happen?… Read More “Former Head of Fed Pipeline Agency Sticks Up for Rover re Leaks”

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    Air Products Closing Wilkes-Barre LNG Manufacturing Plant

    Air Products owns a manufacturing plant located on the outskirts of Wilkes-Barre, PA. If you’ve ever heard of the Air Products business, you may conjure up an image of small cylinder tanks of helium or other “rare” gases sitting inside a chain fence. Yes, Air Products sells gases by the tank, but they also manufacture the mother of all gas tanks in their Wilkes-Barre facility–huge rocket-looking “production trains” or “heat exchangers,” which are pieces of equipment that turn natural gas into liquefied natural gas, or LNG. The heat exchangers manufactured by Air Products in Wilkes-Barre are two-thirds of a football field long (180 feet), used by plants all over the world to condense natural gas into a liquid. We’ve written about Air Products a few times, theorizing some of the heat exchangers they manufacture are being used by plants to liquefy Marcellus/Utica gas (see our Air Products stories here). Sadly, Air Products has just met with its employees at the Wilkes-Barre plant to let them know the plant close on August 1st, resulting in a layoff of 75 employees. Air Products is not getting out of the heat exchanger manufacturing business. They own a second plant in Port Manatee, Florida. The Wilkes-Barre plant is limited in the size of the exchangers it makes, while the Florida facility is not. Demand for shorter exchangers is down, meaning no work for the plant. Also, the Wilkes-Barre facility must ship the huge exchangers they manufacture via railroad to Philadelphia–a process that takes five days. The Florida facility is located at port where the exchangers are loaded directly onto ships heading to other countries, where much of the product is destined. It seems in the end, geography is what defeated Air Products’ Wilkes-Barre operation… Read More “Air Products Closing Wilkes-Barre LNG Manufacturing Plant”

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    Canadian Co. Uses Virtual Pipeline to Sell LNG in New England

    For some time, MDN has had an eye on a trend we find exciting: “virtual pipelines,” by which we mean facilities located along a pipeline that compress natural gas, load it onto tanker trucks, and then distribute that gas to businesses that are not fortunate enough to be located near a natgas pipeline. With irrational opposition to pipelines rampant, virtual pipelines are a good alternative. We recently highlighted a new project coming in our own area of Broome County, NY (see NG Advantage Virtual Pipeline May be Coming to MDN’s Backyard). We have a new twist on the virtual pipeline–something we’ve not read about before: Setting up a virtual pipeline for LNG (liquefied natural gas) instead of CNG (compressed natural gas). Typically virtual pipelines are CNG-based, far easier to transport and to use. Gaz Metro is Quebec’s largest natural gas distributor with an LNG facility in Montreal. Gaz Metro also happens to own Vermont Gas Systems. Gaz Metro recently beefed up its Montreal LNG plant and is now trucking LNG to Vermont and other New England states, targeting large industrial users and energy companies who use LNG for “peaking”… Read More “Canadian Co. Uses Virtual Pipeline to Sell LNG in New England”

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    Wireless Device Monitors Abandoned PA Wells for Fugitive Methane

    What if there was a small device, about the size of a paperback novel, that could sniff the air and detect fugitive methane, escaping into the atmosphere? And what if that small device was operated with rechargeable batteries, and the batteries recharged every day using solar energy? And what if that device could also then transmit data about the air quality via the internet to servers back at HQ? And what if it could operate remotely, like at an abandoned well site? Dream no more. Such a device exists. We first heard about PixController’s Optical Methane Emissions Detection System (OMEDS) when it won a $25,000 prize from the 2015 Shale Gas Innovation Contest (see Winners of $100K for 2015 Shale Gas Innovation Contest Announced). The OMEDS has just won a second prize, the Global “Internet of Things” Challenge for Innovation, a contest held in Barcelona Spain. Seems innovations happening in the Marcellus are making international headlines… Read More “Wireless Device Monitors Abandoned PA Wells for Fugitive Methane”

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    Must-Attend 37th Annual IOGANY Summer Meeting

    We all know that currently, New York State is closed for business when it comes to shale drilling (see After 6+ Years, Andrew Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York). New York is also closed for business with regards to interstate gas pipelines (although that may soon reverse, see Constitution Pipeline Still Waiting on “Biggie” Court Decision). You might think the oil and gas industry in New York has all but shriveled up and gone away. You would be wrong. There is still drilling, AND fracking, in New York–with vertical/conventional wells. Gas still flows through New York via pipelines. Yes, Cuomo has been a disaster for the state in general, and for the oil and gas industry in particular. But here in NY we’re cut from tough cloth. We’re fighters, and we’ll keep fighting until justice prevails. All of which brings us to the point of this post: The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGANY) is hosting their 37th Annual Summer Meeting in July, at a resort in western NY. We’ve had a look at the agenda (below) and it’s loaded with great sessions. There’s even a few sessions that feature speakers from Pennsylvania and Ohio. You see, we’re al part of a larger industry. What happens across the border DOES affect us here in NY–and vice versa. We New Yorkers continue to prepare for the day when fracking (and pipelines) will be legal once again. If you have an interest in the Empire State and its vast oil and gas reserves (including Marcellus and Utica reserves), you need to attend IOGANY’s Summer Meeting. Here’s the details…
    Read More “Must-Attend 37th Annual IOGANY Summer Meeting”

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    Three Cheers! Trump Pulls U.S. Out of Horrible Paris Climate Treaty

    We wonder how many people actually watched President Trump’s address yesterday, announcing his decision to pull out of the horrible (and so-called) Paris climate treaty? Did *you* watch it? Or did you rely on the non-stop “hate Trump” mainstream media tirade that reported, endlessly, that we’re now all fried and the future of Mom Earth is over. What…utter…garbage. If you listened to President Trump, as we did, you would have learned that if we had stayed in this VERY bad deal, the United States would have been punished economically–transferring billions of our taxpayer dollars to other countries for generations to come. All in the name of supposedly stopping global warming. China and India would get to add as many coal-fired electric plants as they want–while we would have to close ours down, essentially shifting our jobs to other countries. The deal was bad from the beginning. Even if we had stayed in and even if all countries lived up to their obligations under the treaty, the projected difference in lowering global temps by 2100 would have been 0.17 Celsius–little more than one-tenth of a degree. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars. THIS PLAN WAS INSANE from the start. But you won’t learn that from mainstream media. We’ve found a few responses to Trump pulling out of Paris, from people who DO believe in global warming, but have the guts to tell the truth about the disastrous Paris deal and why it’s a GOOD THING Trump pulled out of it…
    Read More “Three Cheers! Trump Pulls U.S. Out of Horrible Paris Climate Treaty”

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    The Truth About EPA’s “Mass Advisory Board Firings”

    What role should appointed (i.e. not-elected) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boards have with respect to environmental regulations in our country? It’s a valid question and timely, given the recent negative news coverage over EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s action in not automatically reappointing some board members. The way the press howls about it you would think board members have a Divine Right to be on those boards. Did you know there are 20 such “advisory boards” at the EPA? And did you know that many of the board members receive EPA grants–in the millions of dollars? This is the swamp Trump repeatedly referred to when campaigning. It’s downright corrupt. And yet when Pruitt tells board members that will have to stoop to the level of reapplying if they want to stay on a board, establishment Washington has a cow. The EPA, as we’ve written about for years, has profound impact on the oil and gas industry–hence our interest. MDN friend Steven Heins, an energy and regulatory consultant and former vice president of communication for Orion Energy Systems, has written a guest post for MDN musing over the EPA’s advisory boards and the role of the public and private sectors with regard to environmental issues… Read More “The Truth About EPA’s “Mass Advisory Board Firings””