PennFuture Radicals Want to Deny Rural Folks Access to NatGas
Yesterday MDN reported that NARUC (National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners), under the watch care of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) member Rob Powelson, currently the president of NARUC, has launched an effort that tries to help rural (and poor) folks without access to cheap, clean-burning natural gas, get access (see NARUC Creates Group to Spread NatGas Use Far and Wide). This is an honest effort to help an overlooked portion of our population enjoy benefits enjoyed by those who live in urban areas. But the radicals at PennFuture want to block such access–because natural gas is a filthy, vile fossil fuel. Better to keep those idiot hicks in the sticks poor and paying high prices for fuel oil and propane, rather than let them get access to cheap natural gas. That’s the conceited attitude displayed by PennFuture…
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Yeterday EQT Corp., one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, held its annual shareholder meeting in Pittsburgh. The crowd that turned up for the meeting wasn’t much of a crowd. There were more security guards on hand than non-board members in the audience. There were no shareholder resolutions on the table, and therefore no apparent interest. Unlike previous years when (at one meeting) security had to clear the room when it got rowdy. EQT Chairman David Porges took about 10 minutes to address those assembled, followed by newly elevated CEO Steve Schlotterbeck. Perhaps the biggest insight we gained in reading about the meeting is learning about EQT’s philosophy when it comes to investing in new drilling. According to Schlotterbeck, “trying to time the market [with capex spending] is a fool’s game.” And so the company is committed to making a “steady” investment in new drilling. They’ll spend $1.5 billion this year to drill 207 new wells…
A report compiled and written by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (unclassified) has turned up in the public. The report, titled “Potential Domestic Terrorist Threats to Multi-State Diamond Pipeline Construction Project” (full copy below), warns about eco-terrorism and the potential for “mass casualties” from radicalized environmentalists who are now targeting the Diamond Pipeline Construction Project, due to run from Cushing, OK to a refinery in Memphis, TN–most of it located in the state of Arkansas. “Law enforcement are assessing what environmental extremists did to disrupt Dakota Access Pipeline – Molotov cocktails, rocks, arson, roadblocks, chaining themselves to equipment, improvised explosive devices, etc – and seeing many of the same activities potentially happening around Diamond pipeline,” according to a police representative. The report sees potential danger on two fronts: radical environmentalists, and anti-government militias that don’t like eminent domain being used to force landowners to accept the pipeline across their land. We’ve previously reported on numerous instances of vandalism against drilling and pipeline operations. It’s good to see the government taking such acts of crime seriously–to the point of labeling it domestic terrorism. Why mention a report about a pipeline nowhere near the Marcellus/Utica? Because bombs, equipment vandalism, shootings and all of the things mentioned in this report have happened here before. And because the nutjobs who were active in engaging in such acts against the Dakota Access Pipeline (now built and flowing oil), have promised to bring their lawlessness to our area (see 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Fracking generates $200 million for Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District; 8 more permits for OH Utica wells issued last week; Three Mile Island on the brink; most locals support compressor upgrades in Lycoming County; $36M natgas pipeline coming to Escambia County, FL; Exxon commits to building multi-billion dollar ethane cracker on Gulf Coast; Citi analyst says oil $65 by Christmas; methanol plants coming back, but slowly; and more!
Two weeks ago MDN brought you the news that Japanese company Sojitz Corporation had purchased a one-third (1/3) interest in the 488-megawatt Marcellus gas-fired electric plant being built in Birdsboro, near Philadelphia (see 
Cabot Oil & Gas had the highest production in the county with the highest amount of production (Susquehanna County) in 2016 in Pennsylvania. Cabot had the second highest amount of production (coming from that single county) in PA for all of 2016, not far behind Chesapeake Energy. Last year using their “Gen 4” completions in the Marcellus, Cabot increased estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) rates from 3.8 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per 1,000 feet of lateral well to 4.4 Bcf (see 
In 2012 Pennsylvania under then Gov. Tom Corbett passed the Act 13 law, a major revision to PA’s oil and gas laws. Part of Act 13 would have established a uniform set of zoning ordinances, replacing and superseding any such local ordinances. But then seven selfish towns got together and sued to the state to retain the right of imposing their own zoning ordinances for some oil and gas development. The lawsuit was a years-long process with the case ending up at the PA Supreme Court–where the seven selfish towns won the right to impose their own ordinances on o&g development–up to a point (see 
Once the slew of approved and under-construction pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica region are done, the M-U region will likely go from providing 20-25% of the nation’s total natural gas production to providing one-third of the country’s total natgas production. This astonishing story of production and pipelines in the northeast is really, at its core, a story about Pennsylvania. According to a recent Reuters article, at least five pipelines capable of transporting a combined 7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natgas from the PA Marcellus/Utica are scheduled to open in 2017, with five more transporting another 5 Bcf/d due for completion in 2018. Pipelines are the key to unlocking Pennsylvania’s vast natgas reserves…
Eighteen-year-old Sophie Kivlehan has been brainwashed by her parents and grandparents, big believers in the myth of man-made global warming, since she was a tot. Her grandpa, Jim Hansen (astro-physicist at Columbia University) is a smart guy–“perhaps one of the worlds’ most well-known climate scientists.” Grandpa Jim did a good job of making sure young Sophie learned her lessons well–about the evilness of fossil fuels and how Mom Earth is ready to toast–any minute now, thanks to burning fossil fuels. Of course such beliefs must, of necessity, disregard hard scientific facts/data that show temps around Mom Earth aren’t going up and haven’t been for the past 20 years. It’s all about what “might” happen and what’s coming “just around the corner.” All based on cockamamie computer models. The same models can’t predict temperatures and the weather accurately for next week–but boy can they predict that the earth is about to fry. Any year now. But back to you Sophie. She’s decided four months in office for President Trump is long enough. He’s not doing his job to combat mythical global warming, so she’s suing him–hoping the courts will make him do it. Ah, Sophie darlin’, when was the last time anyone made Donald Trump do anything? Of course, Sophie’s lawsuit (really backed by Big Green) is nothing more than a sick publicity stunt…
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has just established a new Presidential Natural Gas Access and Expansion Task Force. Its purpose? To figure out how to get cheap, abundant, clean-burning natural gas to people that don’t have it now–those in poor and rural communities. According to NARUC, many rural communities (which comprise residential, industrial and commercial customers) lack access to low-cost natural gas because of infrastructure issues. They don’t have local distribution pipelines. Those communities rely on bottled propane, heating oil and other more expensive fuels. Why not give them cheap natural gas? That’s the aim–figure out how to get it done. The cool thing is that NARUC is headed up by Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission member Rob Powelson–the same guy under consideration to become a new FERC Commissioner. Go Rob! Figure out how to spread cheap Marcellus/Utica natgas to as many people as possible…
In May 2016, MDN brought you the news that a researcher at West Virginia University believes a natural gas liquids (NGL) storage hub is what the Marcellus/Utica region really needs (see 
Yesterday MDN’s favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report–the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR is the EIA’s best guess, based on expert data crunchers, as to how much each of the U.S.’s seven major shale plays will produce for both oil and natural gas in the coming month. This latest report shows that an upswing in production–for both natural gas and oil–will continue over the next 30 days. In fact, get ready to break new records! Output in the Marcellus/Utica region is set to once again reach new highs. In the Marcellus, output will come within striking distance of 19 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Astonishing! In the Utica, output will hit 4.2 Bcf/d. Shale oil output across all seven major plays is set to hit 5.2 million barrels per day, with almost all of the increase coming from the Permian and Eagle Ford plays in Texas. Buckle up and get ready for another wild ride in the coming month…
Did you know that the second largest U.S. natural gas exploration and production (E&P) company as measured by how much natural gas it produces is Southwestern Energy? Chesapeake Energy is #1, and Southwestern is #2. Who woulda thunk? And did you know that just five years ago Southwestern’s name was synonymous not with the Marcellus/Utica where they operate today, but with the Fayetteville Shale play in Arkansas? Over the past five years Southwestern has refocused its drilling efforts here in the Marcellus/Utica. Like most drillers across the country, 2016 was a rocky year for Southwestern. They idled their rigs during the first part of the year and ended up losing money (see