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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””

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 2, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Rover and other Marcellus/Utica pipelines to the Midwest/Canada; boosting renewable energy sources in NY requires gas too; Blue Mountain lodge gets green light, but won’t build without PennEast Pipeline; PA pipeline fight could upend intl oil flows; new WV budget axes graduated severance tax for natgas; New England turns off its last big coal burning plant; lower 48 states gross natgas output drops; Dakota Access Pipeline now online and pumping; do proposed pipelines get enough review?; BP hits gas off Trinidad; and more! Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 2, 2017”

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    Alpha Natural Resources Sells 120 Gas Wells in WV

    On Tuesday Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) announced it was divesting “substantially all of the assets” in two different operations in West Virginia, one of those being a natural gas operation with “120 producing natural gas wells in five counties.” Which got us digging. We recalled that ANR went bankrupt last year and ended up selling 27,400 acres of Marcellus/Utica Shale leases to Vantage Energy for $339.5 million (see Vantage Outbids Rice For Bankrupt Alpha Natural’s 27K Marcellus Acres). That was all of ANR’s Marcellus assets. So what’s with this new deal to sell 120 gas wells in the Mountain State? And which five counties are the wells located in? The announcement didn’t say. So we reached out to ANR and got you some answers…
    Read More “Alpha Natural Resources Sells 120 Gas Wells in WV”

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    Application Filed to Drill/Frack 1st Shale Well in Illinois

    Technically, this is not a Marcellus/Utica story, but it is (and should be) of interest to those of us who concentrate on the Appalachian region. The very first application has been filed in Illinois for a permit to drill and frack a shale well. Woolsey Operating Co., headquartered in Kansas, has filed a high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (HVHHF) application with the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR has assigned the application Review Number HVHHF-000001 — the very first. Which is momentous. We’ve only seen two mainstream news sources (from Illinois) pick up on what is really big news. No national news sources have covered it–yet. The press release from the DNR provides some details, like the location of the proposed well (southern Illinois, in White County). What the announcement and news stories don’t say is which rock layer will the shale well target? MDN found the answer by reviewing the application…
    Read More “Application Filed to Drill/Frack 1st Shale Well in Illinois”

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    PA DEP Green Lights Wastewater Injection Well in Clearfield County

    Here’s one that flew mostly under the radar. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just granted final approval for the state’s ninth wastewater injection well to begin operation. The DEP approved Sammy-Mar, LLC’s Povlik #1 injection well, located in Huston Township, Clearfield County, more than two years after the federal Environmental Protection Agency had approved it. Huston Township in Clearfield County, unlike Highland Township in Elk County, and Grant Township in Indiana County, did not oppose the well. You may recall the DEP approved injection wells in Elk and Indiana counties in March, and had to sue the towns involved over their illegal home rule laws that sought to keep the wells out (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). This time around, Huston Twp wisely decided not to attempt regulating what only the state, by law, can regulate. This injection well will be an important new resource for Marcellus drillers to dispose wastewater…
    Read More “PA DEP Green Lights Wastewater Injection Well in Clearfield County”

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    WV Supreme Court: Non-Participating Rights Owner Can’t Stop Lease

    Just yesterday we told you about an important court case that had gone to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals (see WV Rights/Pooling Case May have Big Impact on Shale Industry). In brief, the case was appealed from a lower court where a judge found that a “non-participating” mineral rights owner, someone who owned a quarter of the rights for a property in Marshall County, had the power to object and stop a lease of the property for oil and gas drilling. We thought it strange that the lower court judge would make such a decision, which threatens to up-end thousands of leases in WV that are similar. Little did we know that as we were publishing that story, the WV Supreme Court was rendering its decision. All five justices voted to overturn the lower court ruling and preserve sanity for leases in the Mountain State… Read More “WV Supreme Court: Non-Participating Rights Owner Can’t Stop Lease”

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    Cardinal Midstream Forms New Co. Targeting Utica, Other Plays

    6/2/17 Update: A previous version of this post was incorrect. MDN confused Cardinal Midstream with Cardinal Gas, which led us to create a confusing post. We apologize to both companies–and regret the mistake! Below is a corrected introduction.

    Cardinal Midstream II operates a pipeline gather/processing system in Tioga County, PA. The Tioga system gathers and processes gas from Utica Shale wells in the county (not Marcellus wells, at least not yet). Earlier this week Cardinal announced a new spin-off called Cardinal III, backed with money from EnCap Flatrock Midstream–the same company that has backed Cardinal’s other ventures. The new Cardinal III is getting a $250 million infusion from EnCap to “pursue midstream acquisitions and development opportunities in both conventional and unconventional resource plays across North America.” That means possibly more work in the Marcellus/Utica, but any/all other major plays are also up for grabs. Here’s the announcement… Read More “Cardinal Midstream Forms New Co. Targeting Utica, Other Plays”

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    PA Hearing Board Reduces EQT Fine from $4.5M to $1.1M

    In October 2014, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Marcellus driller EQT a whopping $4.53 million for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County, PA (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). While EQT did not say there wasn’t a problem with leaks at the site, they did say the way the DEP calculated the fine is unreasonable and arbitrary. EQT appealed the fine and the case all the way to the PA Supreme Court. In December 2015, the high court handed EQT a “procedural victory” by saying EQT has a point about the manner in which the DEP is calculating the fine (see PA Supreme Court Gives EQT “Procedural Victory” in $4.5M Fine Case). The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court, PA Commonwealth Court, for follow up work, and in January 2017, a three-judge panel ruled that the method the DEP currently uses to assess fines–by how many days pollution lingers, instead of by how many days the initial release of pollution lasted–is not legal nor common sense (see EQT Wins Court Case Against PA DEP re $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine). The judges said such a method in fining, “would result in potentially limitless continuing violations.” Under the old way of calculating fines, the DEP was considering upping the fine on EQT to an insane $157 million. Calculating it under the new way will mean a fine of around $120,000. We thought with that ruling it was all done and dusted. Not so. The soap opera continued when the DEP appealed the Commonwealth Court panel’s ruling back up to the PA Supreme Court where the Supremes will consider it all over again (see DEP Appeals $4.5M Wastewater Leak Fine Against EQT to Supremes). Into this mess, let’s now throw in another wrinkle. While the courts have been grappling with issues of procedure and whether or not the DEP can assess fines the way it claims it can (that is, Constitutional issues), at the same time the matter was brought up before the PA Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a sort of quasi-court set up to hear appeals of decisions made by DEP. The EHB has decided to adjust the fine down significantly–from the DEP’s initial levy of $4.53 million down to $1.1 million. Here was their reasoning… Read More “PA Hearing Board Reduces EQT Fine from $4.5M to $1.1M”

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    Report: Utica Investment has Injected $50 Billion into Ohio!

    A comprehensive study by Cleveland State University researchers shows just how mind-blowing the economic investment in Ohio has been from the Utica Shale. The just-published study, titled “Shale Investment Dashboard in Ohio” (full copy below), finds that between upstream ($39 billion), midstream ($8 billion) and downstream ($3 billion), all related to the Utica Shale, there has been an incredible $50 billion invested in Ohio since Utica drilling began in 2011. It’s really hard to overstate just how big a deal this is. Can you image a $50 billion economic stimulus from the government? No way! It would never happen. And if it did, the money would come out of YOUR pocket–from taxpayers. But this $50 billion ALL came from the private sector. Good ole capitalism. Free enterprise. Private ownership. Private property. Love it! It’s what our great country was built on. Let’s dig into the numbers and relish this fantastic news…
    Read More “Report: Utica Investment has Injected $50 Billion into Ohio!”

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    New USGS Study: Fracking Does Not Contaminate Water Wells

    The U.S. Geological Survey has just done us all a big favor. USGS decided to do some in-the-field research to see if there’s any truth to the wild claims of anti-drillers that fracking somehow leaks up through a mile or more of solid rock to pollute water wells. We’ve heard that bogus claim for years–since shale drilling in the Marcellus began in 2004. Those claims were made popular by the Josh Fox and his fake documentary “Gasland.” So USGS researchers went down to Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas–where there’s a lot of oil and gas drilling–and randomly selected 116 domestic and public-supply water wells located as close as 360 feet to unconventional (i.e. shale) oil and gas wells. The researchers published their findings in a new study/paper in the journal Environmental Science & Technology in a paper titled “Methane and Benzene in Drinking-Water Wells Overlying the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville Shale Hydrocarbon Production Areas” (full copy below). What did the USGS researchers conclude? “Using chemical, isotopic, gas and groundwater-age tracers to thoroughly evaluate those samples — USGS researchers concluded that low concentrations of methane and benzene detected were likely naturally occurring and not attributable to shale development.” Thank you USGS…
    Read More “New USGS Study: Fracking Does Not Contaminate Water Wells”