Coal King Robert Murray Still Spoiling for a Fight with NatGas
Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray is an interesting character. We’ve reported on him a number of times over the years. Murray went after Aubrey McClendon when Aubrey named is new company American Energy Partners. Murray claimed a subsidiary company he owns already had that name. Eventually a court told Aubrey he could keep the name (see Federal Court Decides McClendon Can Keep ‘American Energy’ Name). In early 2016 Murray went after the shale gas industry in West Virginia. He said WV should lower the coal severance tax from 5% to 2%, and raise the natgas severance tax from 5% to whatever, in order to give coal a break in the Mountain State (see Why Can’t We be Friends: Can Coal & NatGas Get Along in WV?). Even though he rails against natural gas, Murray found it in his heart to lease some of his coal mining property for natgas drilling, twice (see Coal Company Leases 6K Acres for Natgas Drilling in Belmont, OH and Coal Co. Murray Energy Sells 5,900 OH Utica Acres – Who Bought?). The second lease was for $10,800/acre. Seems Murray says one thing but does another when it comes to natgas. Today President Trump delivers on yet another campaign promise by rolling back some of Obama’s draconian environmental regulations–specifically the Clean Power Plan–which will benefit Robert Murray and the coal industry. At least, theoretically. The jury is still out on whether coal will ever come back. Recently the Columbus Dispatch interviewed Murray. He maintains that coal can compete with natural gas “all day long” if only coal had a “level playing field.” Here’s what he said…
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The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: LNG storage tanks arrive in Jacksonville Port; oil now flowing under Missouri River via Dakota Access Pipeline; vapid actress Shailene Woodley pleads guilty to disorderly conduct charge related to Dakota Access “protest”; tech still the key in shale plays; nuke plants closing hit small towns hard; green groups promise violence to stop Keystone XL pipeline; US natgas exports to Mexico skyrocket, Mexicans worried about depending on gringos; LNG hub in Asia; and more!
In May 2016 a landowner in Wayne County, PA–in the Delaware River Basin–filed a lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) asking a judge to declare the DRBC does not have jurisdiction to prevent construction of a natural gas well (see 
The West Virginia Oil & Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) is pushing hard to get legislation passed that we call “forced pooling lite”–WV Senate Bill 576 which addresses the issues of co-tenancy and joint development (see 
Radical green agitating groups, including the Sierra Club, Lancaster Against Pipelines, Lebanon Pipeline Awareness, Allegheny Defense Project, Clean Air Council, Concerned Citizens of Lebanon County, and Heartwood, have filed a lawsuit in the liberal U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in an attempt to block construction of the $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project in Pennsylvania. Instead of waiting for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider a so-called re-hearing of their decision to authorize Atlantic Sunrise, a group of radical green organizations are jumping the queue and going directly to court, demanding that a judge stop construction until a quorum is in effect at FERC. Yes, it’s all complicated. We’ll break it down for you. What you need to know up front is that more Big Green money is behind the lawsuit to stop Atlantic Sunrise…
Delays in turning around permit applications for new Marcellus drilling is hurting the industry, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC). MSC president Dave Spigelmyer says lack of certainty in the PA Marcellus means more drilling goes to neighboring West Virginia and Ohio–even to Louisiana. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), responsible for reviewing and issuing permits, sounds somewhat defensive about their lack of performance, blaming delays on staff shortages, staff turnover, and “enhanced scrutiny of permit applications.” The Pittsburgh office now takes over 200 days (over 6 months!) to process an erosion control permit–up from 139 days in 2015. Simply not acceptable…
There are signs that the Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania is beginning to rebound. We’ve been noting it for months. Our early prediction of an upswing came last June (nine months ago) when we noticed an uptick in the number of drilling rigs operated by Patterson-UTI changed from a monthly drop to a monthly gain (see 
As MDN previously reported, anti-fossil fuelers opposed to the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project–a $3 billion, 198-mile pipeline running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County–are using the same (losing) playbook to oppose Atlantic Sunrise as they used to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline (see 
We spotted an article on The Motley Fool website by one of our favorite authors, Matt DiLallo. The article shines a light on the states that produce the most shale oil. Surprisingly (for us), the Marcellus/Utica was in the list. Appreciable amounts of shale oil are coming from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, from both the Marcellus and Utica formations. Of course the amount produced in our neighborhood pales in comparison to the enormous amounts of oil coming from the Texas Permian and North Dakota Bakken. But hey, the fact that we even show up in such a list is kind of exciting…
In a “hasty” and “rare” operations call last Friday, Halliburton, the world’s second largest oilfield services (OFS) company, offered up some interesting comments. The call was apparently an attempt to blunt the coming news that the company will likely miss analyst’s expectations for profit/loss and dividends, due to rising costs and weak demand in international markets. Top brass at Halliburton wisely know that “he who gets there with the bad news first, wins.” However, the call was wide-ranging and included some good news: After trimming 35,000 jobs over the past couple of years, Halli is adding back 2,000 jobs. That’s better than a sharp stick in the eye. CEO Dave Lesar also had this rather bizarre statement on the call, in his ebullience over the drilling comeback in North America: “This diverse and exciting market has created a surge of activity and supports my thesis that the animal spirits are back in U.S. land.” OoooKay. We’ll go with it. Animal spirits. Here’s the news coming from last week’s hasty Halliburton homily…
Events related to drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling.
Two days ago MDN reported on comments delivered by Rob Powelson, currently a member of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) and via that role, currently the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). Powelson gave a talk at the Upstream PA conference in State College earlier this week–in which he said, “The jihad has begun…At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission groups actually show up at commissioners’ homes to make sure we don’t get this gas to market. How irresponsible is that?” (see 
After 10 loooooong years of waiting, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finally auctioned its first round of property leases for shale drilling in Wayne National Forest (WNF)–located in Ohio (see 
Last September MDN reported on a midstream deal with major implications for the Marcellus/Utica: Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. announced an all-stock deal to buy out pipeline operator Spectra Energy, based in Houston, for $28 billion (see