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    EXCO Lost $225M in ’16; Screwing Shareholders to Avoid Bankruptcy

    EXCO Resources was once a sizable player in the Marcellus. They still have 145,000 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. They were able to slow the bleeding in 2Q16 (see EXCO Still Hammering Midstreamers re Contracts, Bleeding Slowed). In 3Q16 EXCO finally turned a profit, going from losing $355 million in 3Q15 to making $51 million in 3Q16 (see EXCO 3Q16: Turns a Profit! Marcellus Production Continues to Fall). That was an astonishing turnaround for a company razor close to bankruptcy. EXCO has just released its fourth quarter and full year 2016 update, along with details on a plan to keep the company out of bankruptcy court. The update shows the company lost $35 million in 4Q16. EXCO lost $225 million for all of 2016, versus losing $1.2 billion in 2015. The bleeding has slowed. In a surprise move, they added 1 Marcellus well to production in 4Q16. EXCO’s master plan to stay out of bankruptcy includes selling $300 million in bonds to a group of investors–effectively turning over control of the company to its creditors and screwing existing shareholders. Believe it or not, there is a connection between EXCO and the Trump Administration…
    Read More “EXCO Lost $225M in ’16; Screwing Shareholders to Avoid Bankruptcy”

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    “Religious” Anti-Fracking Protesters Arrested in Annapolis, Maryland

    There is a concerted effort by a small group of fossil fuel haters to strip away the Constitutional property rights of all Marylanders by passing a permanent ban on fracking in the state. They’ve already convinced the Maryland House to pass a ban bill. The haters spew outright lies about fracking and attract local media outlets with gullible reporters who never question their outlandish claims. While they make false claims about fracking, that it pollutes water, air and in general kills everything, make no mistake–the root of their objection is that fracking extracts fossil fuels which, in the religion of environmental extremists, causes man-made global warming. That is what animates them. Unfortunately, as we have previously observed, Christian pastors from liberal denominations are claiming that the issue of fracking is a “moral” issue, a “good vs. evil” conflict (see Global Warming Jumps the Shark – Into Maryland Churches). These apostate pastors have left their first love, Jesus Christ, and traded away Our Lord for a bowl of environmental pottage. How sad. And how tragic for the flocks they’re leading–right into the abyss. A group of so-called “faith leaders” and others blocked the entrance to the Maryland State House yesterday, and were promptly arrested and removed…
    Read More ““Religious” Anti-Fracking Protesters Arrested in Annapolis, Maryland”

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    NY’s AG Schneiderman Sowing the Seeds of His Own Destruction

    New York’s corrupt Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, is getting desperate. We want to go on record as one of the first to say he’s sowing the seeds of his own destruction. Schneiderman is a train wreck waiting (and about) to happen. We refer, of course, to Schneiderman’s eerie similarity to Captain Ahab in Moby Dick in attempting to hunt down ExxonMobil, Schneiderman’s great white whale. Recently Schneiderman, in cooperation with a sycophantic mainstream media, released information that former CEO Rex Tillerson (now Secretary of State) had a second email account. But unlike Hillary Clinton, Tillerson’s second account was not on a private server and was not used (as Schneiderman alleges) to secretly discuss how Tillerson “knew” burning oil and other fossil fuels causes mythical man-made global warming. Schneiderman’s action in running to the press to “reveal” a “secret” email account is a faint–a way to misdirect people from the real story, which is that Schneiderman continues to refuse to disclose his own emails that prove this whole Exxon witch hunt began when Schneiderman colluded and closely coordinated with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Rockefeller Family Fund, and billionaire green activist Tom Steyer. A log of emails shows coordination just prior to the launch of the #ExxonKnew campaign for which Schneiderman is the point man. He’s desperate to avoid releasing his own emails–emails that will implicate him…
    Read More “NY’s AG Schneiderman Sowing the Seeds of His Own Destruction”

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    Horray! Trump Budget Fires 20% of EPA Staff, Trims 31% of Budget

    Yesterday President Trump released a detailed budget proposal which includes reducing the way-overbloated (and insidiously bureaucratic) Environmental Protection Agency budget by 31%. The budget would also ax some 3,200 EPA employees–about 21% of the 15,000 employed at the agency. It is sheer brilliance and long overdue. The EPA, under Barack Obama, sought to enforce national regulation of the oil and gas industry–something not permitted under the Constitution. It’s about time the agency was right-sized and its mission reigned in. Of course the reaction by the left has been predictable–from apoplexy to terror (snowflakes always melt so quickly). Here’s how the EPA budget news is being spun by mainstream media…
    Read More “Horray! Trump Budget Fires 20% of EPA Staff, Trims 31% of Budget”

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    EPA Administrator Pruitt Questions CO2 as Source of Global Warming

    Scott Pruitt

    MDN is not a blog/news site about debunking global warming flummery. However, we do mention it from time to time because a religious belief (against any objective proof) that mankind is causing Mom Earth to toast is at the center, the core, of so-called environmentalists who oppose fracking, pipelines and anything to do with burning fossil fuels. In an interview on March 9th with CNBC, new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said he does not agree that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary contributor to “the global warming we see.” He said measuring human activity’s impact on climate change is challenging to do. He is on solid scientific ground–and honest scientists, who happen to believe in man-made global warming, agree with his statements…
    Read More “EPA Administrator Pruitt Questions CO2 as Source of Global Warming”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Mar 17, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Local Rover Pipeline construction begins; Alex Lotorto plays student again in anti-pipeline stunt; EQT Foundation awards record $6.2 million in grants, scholarships & charitable contributions in 2016; oil to start flowing through Dakota Access Pipe next Monday; CH2M deal with Shell; oil prices fell 12% last week–did anyone notice; the glutted gas world; Trump to repeal Obama fracking rule; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Mar 17, 2017”

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    PA Marcellus Production Flies by 5 Trillion Cubic Feet in 2016

    Pennsylvania moved to the head of Marcellus pack when it comes to production reporting back in 2015. Until January 2015, drillers in PA were required to file production numbers with the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) every six months, in October 2014 the Republican state legislature passed a bill that then-Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law moving reporting from every six months to every month (see 2 Bills on PA Gov’s Desk: Monthly Production #s, Lease Termination). The first monthly production report, for January 2015, was made available in April of 2015 (see PA’s First Monthly O&G Production Report Goes Live). Earlier this week the DEP posted production reporting numbers for December 2016, the latest monthly report to be released. When you aggregate all of the production numbers for 2016, you find that the Keystone State produced a new record high in 2016, even though new drilling slowed down for most of the year. PA produced 5.1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas last year–an astonishing number! That’s up from 4.6 Tcf in 2015. We thought it would be interesting to compare the monthly numbers from 2015 to 2016, now that we have all of the data. Here’s a series of charts we created, showing production for natural gas, condensate, and oil…
    Read More “PA Marcellus Production Flies by 5 Trillion Cubic Feet in 2016”

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    DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban

    The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held a regularly scheduled business meeting yesterday in Washington Crossing, PA. As predicted, a number of anti-fossil fuel zealots turned up to make noise about the PennEast Pipeline project–and about the prospect of the DRBC allowing shale drilling. As we disclosed yesterday, the zealots all read from the same document prepared by Her Eminence, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum (see THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg). It’s tiresome reporting on the same, predictable behavior by children in adult bodies who never learned manners from their parents. So we’re not going to comment on the circus freak show that was the public comment period yesterday. However, there was an interesting development to report. Lt. Col. Michael Bliss of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Army Corps is one of the standing members of the DRBC Commission) read a statement about the history and possible future of DRBC regulations that may allow shale drilling in the basin. You read that right. According to Bliss, since 2010 the staff of the DRBC has actively been engaged in private (i.e. secret) discussions with various state agencies (we’re assuming the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection) in an effort to, at some point, release regulations that will allow shale drilling in the Delaware River Basin. He said those discussions are ongoing and that before any kind of regs are released, there will be plenty of notice and public hearings…
    Read More “DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban”

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    Some Ohio Landowners Say Rover Violating FERC Tree Clearing Order

    A group of approximately 250 Ohio landowners, represented by an Ohio eminent domain law firm, is doing its best to stop Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline project dead in its tracks. Rover is playing beat the clock to finish tree clearing following a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) final approval of the project on Feb. 3 (see ET Rover Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC). In order to comply with the batty regulation to have trees cleared no later March 31 (due to roosting bats that are protected), Rover moved immediately to begin the tree clearing process. Most Ohio landowners have granted easements and permission to Rover to clear trees. But there are those that have not–either because they want more money, or because they’re anti-fossil fuelers. Regardless, Rover has the right to do it and is using eminent domain procedures to do it. The group of 250 trying to stop Rover has taken two actions: (1) filed a complain with FERC claiming Rover is violating the terms of FERC’s order by not giving landowners advanced notice before clearing trees, and (2) filed a lawsuit in Ohio federal court asking for a restraining order. Will it work?…
    Read More “Some Ohio Landowners Say Rover Violating FERC Tree Clearing Order”

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    NY Fights Back Against NFG’s Request to Bypass DEC Pipe Approval

    On Feb. 3, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a long-delayed project–National Fuel Gas Company’s (NFG) Northern Access 2016 pipeline project (see NFG’s Northern Access Pipe in NY/PA Gets FERC Approval). The $455 million project includes building 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline further up, in Niagara County, along with a new compressor station in the Town of Pendleton. Although FERC has now given permission to build it, the State of New York, specifically the state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), must issue stream crossing permits. We’ve seen this movie before. The corrupt DEC fiddle faddles around in an effort to stall and delay. NFG is in no mood to screw around with the Cuomo DEC, so they filed a motion asking FERC for a “reconsideration and clarification” on the role of the DEC in reviewing the project (see Gutsy: NFG Asks FERC to Cut NY DEC Out of Pipeline Approval). Specifically, NFG wants FERC to rule that the DEC has NO role in reviewing the Northern Access 2016 project. The corrupt DEC doesn’t like being challenged and last week filed its own motion with FERC claiming NFG is out of line. The peeing match has begun…
    Read More “NY Fights Back Against NFG’s Request to Bypass DEC Pipe Approval”

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    SC Antis File FERC Challenge to Stop Marcellus Pipe to Charleston

    Transco to Charleston Project – click for larger version

    In March 2016, Dominion filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a 55-mile pipeline project called the Transco to Charleston Project (see Dominion Files Application to Move Marcellus Gas to Charleston, SC). As the name implies, it will be a short pipeline to connect the Transco pipeline, which is in the process of reversing flows to bring Marcellus and Utica Shale gas south. This new pipeline will grab Transco’s Marcellus/Utica gas and send it to the Charleston, SC area. The projected in-service date is November of this year. However, this project, like every square inch of every pipeline project in the Eastern U.S., faces opposition from nutty anti-drilling radicals who vow to try and stop it even if it gets FERC approval (see SC Antis Fuss Over Pipeline to Carry Marcellus Gas to Charleston). In February, just prior to Commissioner Norman Bay resigning and leaving FERC without a quorum, the three FERC Commissioners voted to grant Dominion the certificate to build the Transco to Charleston pipeline (see FERC Approves SC Pipeline to Flow Marcellus Gas to Charleston). So the nutters have flown into action by filing a request for a rehearing of the Commission’s decision, and filing a motion to stop any construction in the meantime…
    Read More “SC Antis File FERC Challenge to Stop Marcellus Pipe to Charleston”

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    HalenHardy Does it Again – New SpillBoa Absorbs Oil/Fuel Spills

    Donny Beaver is a serial entrepreneur. He co-founded New Pig in the mid-1980s–a company that absorbs anything that leaks, drips, splatters or spills. In 2001 Donny founded what would become a series of exclusive fly fishing clubs/retreat centers called the HomeWaters Club across Pennsylvania. In January 2013 he co-founded and launched HalenHardy, which solves problems for the Marcellus (and by extension construction) industry. Donny would talk to Marcellus workers who frequented his HomeWaters Club and his natural curiosity landed him in a new venture to help solve problems for the industry. HalenHardy’s tagline is that it develops and manufactures “tools to tackle crappy jobs®” for the mobile industrial workforce. First up was the excellent and award winning Mobile Air Shower by HalenHardy (MASHH) units that remove silica dust from workers in 30 seconds (see HalenHardy Wins Ben Franklin EHS Award for Silica Air Shower). Next up was a device that removes mud from boots in 30 seconds. After that? Portable barriers that will keep people away from dangerous construction sites or emergency scenes–as in “keep the heck out,” a product called Heck Out (see Marcellus Entrepreneur Donny Beaver: Silica Dust, Mud & Heck Out). Donny and his crew have done it again. HalenHardy has a line of products called Spilltration that trap oil, diesel fuel, and other kinds of chemicals, while letting pure water pass right through. Ingenious. What’s even more ingenious is that they’ve figured out a way to condense the Spilltration material into a 5-inch by 25-foot “flat boom” (think a long snake) that can be coiled up and fit behind the seat in your pickup truck. This new product, called SpillBoa™, is small enough for workers to carry with them to job sites–saving critical time. In the event of a spill, workers can quickly contain it so it doesn’t reach a storm drain or leak out of containment…
    Read More “HalenHardy Does it Again – New SpillBoa Absorbs Oil/Fuel Spills”

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    Dominion CEO Asks Senators to Fix Broken Permitting Process

    Dominion CEO Diane Leopold

    On Tuesday, just as winter storm Stella was beginning to hit along the East Coast, a group of executives testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources. The session was billed as a “Hearing to receive testimony on opportunities to improve American energy infrastructure.” One of the speakers to address the Senators was Dominion CEO Diane Leopold. The thrust of her lengthy testimony was to encourage (implore?) the Senators to (in our words) fix the very broken process of permitting important infrastructure projects in this country. Leopold shared Dominion’s experience in applying for permits to build the $4 billion Cove Point LNG export project in Maryland. As bad as it was with 55 federal, state and local permits and reviews required, Leopold said Cove Point was a relative walk in the park compared to what they’re now going through with the $5.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Something has got to change if anything is going to get built in this country…
    Read More “Dominion CEO Asks Senators to Fix Broken Permitting Process”

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    UPS Adds 390 CNG, 50 LNG Trucks to Fleet in $90M NatGas Investment

    UPS LNG tractor trailer

    In 2013 we tipped our hat to UPS, the worldwide package delivery service, for their commitment to growing their natural gas fleet with a plan to add 700 new LNG (liquefied natural gas) tractor trailers to the fleet (see UPS to Grow NG Fleet with Additional 700 LNG Tractor Trailers). In 2015, UPS did it again. The company announced they would another 64 new LNG tractor trailers to the fleet–this batch based in Harrisburg, PA (see UPS Adds 64 New LNG Tractor Trailers to Fleet in Harrisburg, PA). It seems that UPS’s investment in natural gas comes every two years. Yesterday the company announced another massive $90 million investment in natural gas. UPS is adding an additional six compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations, 390 new CNG tractors and terminal trucks, and 50 liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles to its alternative fuel/advanced technology fleet…
    Read More “UPS Adds 390 CNG, 50 LNG Trucks to Fleet in $90M NatGas Investment”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 16, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: PA Supreme Court suspends Jesse White’s law license; pipelines are solution to high energy costs in New England; gas glut leading to low prices in 2017; is changing natgas market about to change again; crude prices plunge because shale oil on the increase; how to fix our failing energy infrastructure; why natgas is the future – not coal; Trump to dump climate change from enviro reviews; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 16, 2017”

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    THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg

    Today is the day that (some of) Maya’s minions will show up at a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission to attempt to bully DRBC staff during the public comments period. As we’ve been reporting (from a well-placed mole on the DRBC email list) Maya has been issuing orders to her minions–people who apparently aren’t bright enough to form their own thoughts about matters like the PennEast Pipeline (see Mind-Numbed Antis Need Maya’s Instructions re DRBC Mar 15 Mtg). Maya has written out a treatise of objections to PennEast, to be read WORD FOR WORD by the minions–or else. We now have the script that Maya’s mind-numbed robots will read from (see it below). We also have her last-minute instructions to the dolts doing the reading…
    Read More “THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg”