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    Pittsburgh Energy Lawyers Jump Ship from NRF to Blank Rome

    In the past MDN has highlighted the great work done by the Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) law firm, most recently just last month (see Updated List of Proposed Laws in PA-OH-WV Affecting Marcellus/Utica). Researchers at the law firm issue a quarterly legislative action update looking at bills and laws previously voted on, and new bills/laws introduced, affecting the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Very impressive. So we were saddened to learn that Norton Rose Fulbright is closing its Marcellus/Utica office in Pittsburgh, with plans to cover the region from its other offices (see Law Firm Norton Rose Fulbright Closing Pittsburgh Marcellus Office). They announced two remaining attorneys in the Pittsburgh office–Amy Barrette and Jeremy Mercer–will relocate to NRF’s Washington, DC office. Not so fast! Yesterday another large energy law firm in Pittsburgh, Blank Rome, announced Barrette and Mercer are joining their firm instead, and staying put in Pittsburgh…
    Read More “Pittsburgh Energy Lawyers Jump Ship from NRF to Blank Rome”

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    OH NatGas Utility Sells Itself to Energy Investment Firm

    A Cleveland, OH-based natural gas utility company, Gas Natural Inc., has sold itself to investment firm First Reserve Energy. Gas Natural sells 21 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas to roughly 68,600 customers through regulated utilities operating in Montana, Ohio, Maine and North Carolina. Gas Natural’s other operations include an intrastate pipeline, natural gas production and natural gas marketing. First Reserve Energy is an investment firm focused solely on investing in (and buying) energy companies. Shareholders for Gas Natural voted at the end of December to approve the buyout/merger…
    Read More “OH NatGas Utility Sells Itself to Energy Investment Firm”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jan 20, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Range Resources cleaning up mess along Route 136; natgas industry expects major growth in PA; antis arrested near Valero refinery in Tennessee; US LNG exports continue to break records; US shale & OPEC keep spiking the ball at the 1 yardline; Rick Perry perfect for Sec Energy; Kinder Morgan investigated by FERC for overcharging; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jan 20, 2017”

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    Potter Twp (Finally) Approves Permit for Shell Ethane Cracker

    In December the Potter Township Board of Supervisors convened a public hearing on the proposed Shell ethane cracker plant–to be built in Potter Twp–that ended up going on for 10 hours (see Potter Twp Declines to Approve Permits for Shell Cracker, For Now). The intent was to approve Shell’s request for permits to begin construction on the multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant. That didn’t happen. Instead, the supervisors decided to hold another hearing the following night. They did, and that hearing went for over an hour, in closed-door session. At the conclusion, the supervisors made a couple of requests from Shell, which Shell agreed to. However, the supervisors were still not ready to approve the permits and instead asked for more paperwork to be filed. Potter Township supervisors are certainly no rubber stamp for the cracker project. They are working hard to ensure area residents are protected when (not if) it gets built. But that’s not good enough for radical, anti-fossil fuel nutters who (irrationally) want nothing to do with natural gas. Last week the supervisors held yet another meeting and the antis behaved like they always do–like petulant children, hollering and booing and making a$$es of themselves. One supervisor said he was “appalled” by the conduct of the crowd at last week’s meeting. That’s all in the rearview mirror now. Last night Potter Township held another meeting and yes, they finally voted to grant the cracker project the necessary town permits to proceed. Oh! The crowd last night? While it had a few crazies, it was packed with local residents who support the project. Nice to see the good guys come out in force to counteract the nutters…
    Read More “Potter Twp (Finally) Approves Permit for Shell Ethane Cracker”

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    Breakthrough for M-U Drillers: First Mini-LNG Unit Up & Running

    The Dresser-Rand business commissioned its first micro-scale natural gas liquefaction system at the Ten Man liquefied natural gas facility in Pennsylvania

    If you’ve read MDN for any length of time, you know how important LNG–liquefied natural gas–is to the future of the Marcellus/Utica. We’re all eagerly awaiting the day Dominion flips the switch on its Cove Point LNG liquefaction facility in Cove Point, Maryland (see Cove Point LNG Now 78% Complete, On Track to Open This Year). Cove Point will condense and ship 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica gas to Japan and India. Other big LNG projects are also in the works, several of them on the East Coast of Canada. However, some Marcellus/Utica gas is already getting liquefied and shipped–via the Gulf Coast. In particular from the Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG facility in Louisiana (see LNG Slowly Changing the NatGas Game in the Marcellus/Utica). Cove Point, Sabine Pass and other such facilities take years to build and cost billions of dollars. But there’s another kind of LNG, “micro-scale” LNG liquefaction that is taking root in the Marcellus. Dresser-Rand, a subsidiary of German giant Siemens, has commissioned its first small-scale natural gas liquefaction system at the Ten Man LNG facility near Mansfield (Tioga County), PA. The new mini-LNG facility will, according to Dresser-Rand, allow Marcellus driller Frontier Natural Resources “monetize stranded gas assets,” by which we take to mean wells drilled that are not and cannot quickly be connected to a pipeline system. If this catches on, it can be an important alternative for drillers where pipelines are nonexistent or slow in coming…
    Read More “Breakthrough for M-U Drillers: First Mini-LNG Unit Up & Running”

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    PA Senator Reintroducing Bill to Reduce Marcellus Waste Reporting

    PA State Sen. Elder Vogel

    On Tuesday, PA State Sen. Elder Vogel (Republican from Beaver, PA) circulated a co-sponsor memo that states his intent to re-introduce a bill that will remove some of the hassles drillers now face with the recent adoption of new Marcellus drilling regulations. Specifically, Vogel wants to change the DEP (Dept. of Environmental Protection) regulation requirement that drillers must file paperwork to report the amount and disposition of drilling waste–which would include wastewater and drill cuttings–from monthly to every six months. Every gallon of frack and produced water that comes out of a well, and every square inch of leftover rock and dirt, must be tracked and a report filed. The new Chapter 78a drilling regulations adopted by the DEP requires monthly reports to be filled out–a virtual blizzard of paperwork. Vogel wants to make it more manageable with biennial reports instead…
    Read More “PA Senator Reintroducing Bill to Reduce Marcellus Waste Reporting”

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    Report: Marcellus M&A in 2016 Sees Big Increase – Top 5 Deals

    Deal-making (mergers and acquisitions, or M&A) in the Marcellus went through the roof in 2016 as compared with 2015. In 2016, there were 13 deals worth $100 million or more. The total value of deals in 2016 was a big $7.25 billion, compared with $920 million in 2015. What was the #1 M&A deal in the Marcellus for 2016? Rice Energy’s purchase of Vantage Energy for $2.7 billion (see Vantage Energy is No More – Rice Energy Completes $2.7B Buyout). Below is an overview of Marcellus deal-making, along with a chart of the Top 5 M&A deals in the Marcellus for 2016…
    Read More “Report: Marcellus M&A in 2016 Sees Big Increase – Top 5 Deals”

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    New CEA Report Warns: No Shale Gas Pipelines, No Electricity

    Anti-pipeline nutters

    Earlier this week the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) released a disturbing report on the U.S. oil and gas pipeline network and its relationship to our growing domestic energy needs. The report, titled “Families, Communities and Finances: The Consequences of Denying Critical Pipeline Infrastructure” (full copy below), finds that if legislators and regulators reject proposals for new pipelines and pipeline expansions, we are in danger of losing one-third (1/3) of our electric generation capacity nationwide. The capacity at risk is 1,450 gigawatts. Put in perspective, we’ll lose the electricity it takes to power California, Florida, New York, Texas, Ohio and all of New England–COMBINED. It is a scary, nightmarish scenario–and if pipeline projects are delayed or canceled, it’s going to happen. No, we won’t necessarily be without electricity. What it means is that electric rates will soar and the people who will suffer the most are the 43 million citizens living on fixed incomes and below the poverty line. It is time to stop diddling around and get pipeline projects approved–before it’s too late…
    Read More “New CEA Report Warns: No Shale Gas Pipelines, No Electricity”

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    Prof Says Lack of LNG Export Licences Killing Ohio Jobs

    A professor from an Ohio college had the temerity to publish a guest column in the liberal Cleveland Plain Dealer taking federal regulators to task over the years-long wait time it takes to get a new LNG (liquefied natural gas) facility approved. Prof. Robert Chase, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering and Geology at Marietta College, says more natural gas needs to reach the world market, via LNG, and if it doesn’t, the lack of LNG exports will put Ohioans out of work. The good prof says the incoming Trump Administration and Congress needs to take “prompt action” to “speed up the licensing process for companies seeking permits to export liquefied natural gas.” Here, here! We fully agree…
    Read More “Prof Says Lack of LNG Export Licences Killing Ohio Jobs”

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    Williams Transco Pipeline Breaks Flow Volume Record in January

    Transco Pipeline Map – click for larger version

    The mighty Transco (Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co) is considered the crown jewel of pipeline systems (see Would Williams Sell Its “Crown Jewel” (Transco)? You Bet Your Shoes!). Transco is 10,200 miles long, running from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. Williams, owner of Transco, is in the process of expanding the system in Pennsylvania with the Atlantic Sunrise project (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline! Cabot Grabs More Capacity). The expansion can’t happen soon enough. Earlier this month the mighty Transco hit a new record high of delivered natural gas. On Jan. 8, Transco delivered 13.7 million dekatherms…
    Read More “Williams Transco Pipeline Breaks Flow Volume Record in January”

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    CT Heating Oil Companies Lose Bid to Block NatGas Pipelines

    You would think if consumers want natural gas, and private companies are willing to build the pipelines to get the gas to their homes and businesses, such a thing would be possible here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. However, a trade organization in Connecticut tried to block such activity–in court. What makes it doubly distressing is that the trade organization opposing new natgas pipelines represents heating oil distributors (a sister fossil fuel), afraid that they may lose market share to natural gas. So trade group filed a lawsuit to prevent a state initiative that would expand the state’s natural gas pipeline network. Shame on them. Fortunately the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled–and the heating oil distributors lost…
    Read More “CT Heating Oil Companies Lose Bid to Block NatGas Pipelines”

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    Scott Pruitt Bested Democrat Hacks at EPA Confirmation Hearing

    Scott Pruitt – Next EPA Administrator

    Oklahoma Attorney General (AG) Scott Pruitt, who is Trump’s pick to drain the swamp at the Environmental Protection Agency, was on the hot seat yesterday on Capitol Hill. Confirmation hearings were held and Pruitt was grilled for seven hours in three different rounds of questioning. This man is a true gem. During the hearing he said this: “Process matters, rule of law matters, federalism matters. Those issues matter because Congress has said so. It is Congress that gives authority to the EPA. The EPA is an administrative agency; it is not a legislative body.” What a breath of fresh, unpolluted air! The Democrats on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works did their best to rattle Pruitt, but he remained calm. Crazie Bernie Sanders was among those who behaved like jackasses–asking questions and not letting Pruitt finish answering before they would interrupt and ask more questions. The Democrats’ behavior was disgraceful and certainly not worthy of someone holding the office of Senator. Here’s a review of what happened, what was said, and a copy of Pruitt’s excellent opening remarks…
    Read More “Scott Pruitt Bested Democrat Hacks at EPA Confirmation Hearing”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jan 19, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: FERC denies access to loons at Leach XPress vote meeting; Statoil helps fund education in WV; the fact on Virginia’s fracking ‘trade secret’ bill; ETE files motion to stop Army Corps delay tactic of enviro study; Trump’s Interior nominee will consider more drilling on federal land; powergen and LNG joined at the hip; Church of England issues briefing paper on fracking; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jan 19, 2017”

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    Magnum Hunter Changes Its Name, Leaves the Bankrupt Past Behind

    It appears to us as if Magnum Hunter Resources, which was founded by former CEO Gary Evans, is shedding the last vestiges of Evans by changing its name. “Wildcatter” Evans grew the company to be worth $1.4 billion in 2013 by borrowing heavily to drill in the Marcellus and Utica shales in West Virginia and Ohio, while at the same time financing the Eureka Hunter Pipeline that gathered and processed its production. Magnum Hunter has/had a number of subsidiary companies, like Eureka Hunter (pipelines), Alpha Hunter (drilling), and GreenHunter (wastewater). But then the price of gas (and oil) crashed, and although Magnum Hunter treaded financial water for a time, they eventually succumbed to bankruptcy in December 2015 (see Sad Day: Magnum Hunter Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy). Five short months later, in May 2016, Magnum Hunter emerged from bankruptcy–without Evans (see Magnum Hunter Emerges from Bankruptcy with CEO Gary Evans Gone). Apparently the new owners of the company (the former debt holders converted into equity holders) didn’t want Evans running the company. So Evans departed and a short time later started a new drilling company not focused on the Marcellus/Utica (see Gary Evans, Ex-CEO of Magnum Hunter, Starts New O&G Company). Must be Evans likes the “Hunter” name, because he named his new company Energy Hunter Resources. In what appears to be a bid to shed its former image and association with Evans, Magnum Hunter Resources has just changed its name–to Blue Ridge Mountain Resources…
    Read More “Magnum Hunter Changes Its Name, Leaves the Bankrupt Past Behind”

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    PA Gov Wolf Signals his Support for Mariner East 2 Pipeline

    PA Gov. Tom Wolf

    PA Gov. Tom Wolf has been, to be frank, a disaster as a governor. On many issues. But the issue that primarily concerns us is the oil and gas industry. Wolf will soon introduce his third budget and for a third straight year he will call for a Marcellus-killing severance tax. He still owes the teachers unions payback for supporting him and getting him elected. Wolf pretty much screwed up the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) when he installed an anti-driller as its head, John Quigley. He later fired Quigley when it was discovered Quigley was colluding with Big Green groups. Given Wolf’s treatment of the industry, it was with some surprise to read that Wolf, in comments made to a Chamber of Commerce group last week, mouthed his support for the Mariner East 2 NGL (natural gas liquids) pipeline that will traverse the state. The pipeline is opposed by a few anti-fossil fuel zealots and some townships along its route. The DEP is reviewing permits for the project and the hints coming from Wolf and the DEP are that the project will receive its approvals soon. Which is really good news…
    Read More “PA Gov Wolf Signals his Support for Mariner East 2 Pipeline”

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    EIA Jan Drilling Rpt: Marcellus Production Continues to Climb

    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. For the past three reports, estimating production for November, December, and January, Marcellus natgas has increased. The trend continues in this latest report, which forecasts production for the coming month of February. Last month the EIA predicted natgas production in the Marcellus would zoom up by 160 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). This month EIA predicts in the coming month Marcellus production will go up another huge 188 MMcf/d. The #2 gas-producing basin behind the Marcellus is the Permian (in Texas). That basin will also see a big increase in natgas production–an additional 103 MMcf/d–largely because of “associated gas.” The Permian is an oil play and is, by all accounts, the hottest shale play right now because of oil. But when drillers sink holes in the ground, other hydrocarbons come out of the ground along with oil–i.e. natural gas. Ergo, the more oil you drill for and extract, the more natural gas you get along with it. Here are the latest numbers for the major shale plays in the U.S….
    Read More “EIA Jan Drilling Rpt: Marcellus Production Continues to Climb”