Expert Says OH DMA Decision “Significantly Changed” Mineral Rights
MDN has been reporting on the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act (DMA) for years. In a nutshell, there are two DMAs in Ohio–one passed in 1989 that went into effect in 1992, and another in 2006 which added certain additional procedural requirements to the 1989 version. The DMA in its various versions provides for mineral rights that had previously been separated from surface rights to transfer back to the surface owner under certain conditions. The problem, for drillers and for landowners in Ohio, is in knowing which set of DMA rules to use (1989 or 2006) in determining who owns the mineral rights. A number of DMA cases went before the Ohio Supreme Court. In May, Ohio attorney David Wigham (Roetzel & Andress law firm) said there are signs that the Supremes were about to release a massive, all-in-one-go ruling on the DMA (see OH Attorney Predicts DMA Ruling to Come Soon, Settle Now). He was right. In September they did rule in three cases, saying all of the other cases come under those three (see Important: OH Supreme Court Finally Rules on Dormant Mineral Act). Following that ruling, we brought you insights on what it all means from international law firm Jones Day (see One More Look at Important OH Supreme Court DMA Decision). Since the series of DMA decisions are so important to both drillers and landowners, we thought we would bring you follow up analysis from the lawyer who predicted it was coming–David Wigham. In speaking about the decision, Wigham says, “[T]he landscape regarding title and ownership to mineral interests in Ohio has significantly changed”…
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Though often we’re irritated, sometimes we simply marvel at the arrogance of organizations like THE Delaware Riverkeeper. They honestly think they know better than you what kind of energy you should have the right to buy. The people who run the organization (Maya van Rossum, who is THE self-appointed keeper of the Delaware River Basin), irrationally hate all fossil fuels. Even though Maya & company use those fossil fuels every day of their lives. In fact, even though their lives DEPEND on fossil fuels. van Rossum and those who follow her philosophies have settled on a new strategy to try and defeat the use of fossil fuels: stop all new pipeline development. Period. The only way they can do that is to bully and intimidate federal and state agencies–like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Currently it’s FERC in Maya’s cross-hairs. Maya and THE Delaware Riverkeeper are convening a meeting in Washington, D.C. at the National Press Club (nice place, we’ve eaten there) called “People’s Hearing Investigating FERC.” You read that right. In an attempt to bully and humiliate the hard-working people at FERC, Maya plans to initiate a media circus to pressure FERC into denying, among other projects, the PennEast Pipeline. She’s billing the event as a hearing for those who “have experienced abuse at the hands of FERC and the pipeline industry.” We’re mulling over the possibility of a hearing into those abused by Maya and THE Delaware Riverkeeper. We thing we’d have a pretty strong case…
This past Monday, Oct. 31, our favorite government agency (the U.S. Energy Information Administration) issued their Natural Gas Monthly report. The report covers data received up through August 2016. Even though the data is a couple of months old, it is instructive (and interesting). EIA says the month report, “highlights activities, events, and analyses of interest to public and private sector organizations associated with the natural gas industry. Volume and price data are presented each month for natural gas production, distribution, consumption, and interstate pipeline activities. Producer?related activities and underground storage data are also reported.” We found the report interesting as we scanned through it and thought you would too…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Rex Zone 3 east-to-west on schedule for start-up; Murrysville, PA slates public hearing on new fracking rules; it’s getting harder to impress investors with shale; gas rigs go up again; gas keeps bumping nuclear out of the ring; and more!
Last year the Ohio Supreme Court accepted a case that will sound familiar to readers of MDN. The case, known as Lutz v. Chesapeake Appalachia, is about whether or not drillers (Chesapeake in this case) is allowed to deduct certain post-production costs from landowner royalty checks. That debate currently rages in Bradford County, PA–as well as other locations across the country. In the Ohio case, the high court was asked to decide whether Ohio follows the “at the well” rule, which permits the deduction of post-production costs, or if the state follows the “marketable product” rule, which limits the deduction of post-production costs under certain circumstances. Drillers and landowners have a lot riding on the decision. The Supremes came down off Mount Olympus yesterday to render their verdict (full copy of the decision below). The court said in so many words, “We’re not deciding.” In other words, each royalty case should be litigated individually, case-by-case, in a trial court. There is no one-size-fits-all with respect to deducting expenses from royalty checks. Each case will depend on how the contract is written, and the success of lawyers litigating it…
In March MDN brought you the news that Primus Green Energy, a gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology company announced they would build a 160 metric tons per day (MT/day) methanol plant using the company’s proprietary technology at “a manufacturing site in the Marcellus shale region” in 2017 (see 
Last week saw a flurry of activity for the official ribbon-cutting at Panda Power’s very first built-from-scratch Marcellus gas-powered electric plant going online in Bradford County (see 
Yesterday one of our favorite drillers in both the Utica and Marcellus, Rice Energy, released their third quarter 2016 update. It can be summarized in one, short phrase: “Everything that should be up is up.” Production is up for the quarter–by a big 23%. Net income is up, by 40%. The company’s line of credit is up to $1 billion (was $875 million). In addition, during 3Q16 Rice floated new stock to help them buy Vantage Energy, for a whopping $2.7 billion. Also during 3Q16 Rice drilled and completed 10 new Marcellus wells, along with drilling and completing 2 Utica wells. In addition they brought another 11 Utica wells online. There’s lots happening at Rice Energy. Here’s the update…
TransCanada wants all of Columbia Pipeline–and they want it real bad. Canadian-based TransCanada, famously known for wanting to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast, didn’t want to be left out of the most important midstream story of the century, so they bought Columbia Pipeline Group–closing on the sale in July (see 
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 in March, has pretty much abandoned the Marcellus at this point (see 
Blue Wolf Capital Partners is on the hunt to find bargains and believes they’ve found one with Extreme Plastics Plus (EPP). Headquartered in West Virginia, EPP provides oilfield environmental containment services in the Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale, Eagle Ford, Permian Basin and other Mid-Continent sites. EPP specializes in environmental lining, above ground storage tanks, composite rig mats, secondary steel wall containment systems and rig vac systems. EPP has a problem–they are in bankruptcy. Blue Wolf has been selected as the “stalking horse” bidder to buy the company and put it back on its feet…
In May 2015 the Obama rogue Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with the Obama U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released a finalized rule clarifying what “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) means vis a vis what can be regulated under the federal Clean Water Act (see 
Lack of pipelines for natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the Northeast has very real economic and financial consequences. Yesterday the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce held a program titled “Fueling A Downstream Economy” in downtown Philly. One of the speakers was from petrochemical giant Braskem America Inc. If the name looks familiar, it should. Braskem and their Brazilian parent company Odebrecht are still considering building an ethane cracker plant in West Virginia (see 