Events related to drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling.
To have your event included (or if you are aware of a worthy event you believe should be on this page), please send the details and/or a link to have it included to the calendar@marcellusdrilling.com email address. Thank you!
Read More “Calendar of Events for Dec 19 – Mar 18 (90 Days)”
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Catholic deacon brings his faith, experience to Range Resources; why does the Heinz family despise working Pennsylvanians?; divestment movement populated with know-nothing college kids; natgas will stay connected to Mexico and Canada, even if NAFTA gets changed; latest climate conspiracy theory; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Dec 19, 2016”
Last week MDN editor Jim Willis attended the “Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum 2016,” held at the beautiful Cipriani, located across the street from the iconic bull that sits on Wall Street. As in previous years, this year’s event featured a number of big names in the oil and gas industry. Most notable was the opening keynote address and Q&A with Harold Hamm, CEO of oil driller Continental Resources (and an adviser to Donald Trump). The luncheon featured the former Secretary General of OPEC. As you can surmise, this year’s event, unlike previous years, was mostly about oil. The recent OPEC agreement to cut production among member states by 1.2 million barrels per day, and a follow-on agreement by non-OPEC members (like Russia) to cut another 600,000 barrels per day, was the topic du jour for speakers and audience members alike. Below are MDN’s notes from Harold Hamm’s address and Q&A session…
Read More “Harold Hamm Talks About Trump, OPEC, and Global Warming”
Donald Trump has made another outstanding pick to join his cabinet. Trump will nominate Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, a retired Navy SEAL, avid outdoorsman, and noted conservative, to become the next Secretary of Interior. He would be the first Interior Secretary from the state of Montana. Zinke said in a statement that he is honored to be selected, and that he intends to make the Interior Department “great again” under President Trump–a statement meant to tick off the libs (and it does). Radicals from the Sierra Club and other fringe groups hate his guts–which means we love him. Hooyah!…
Read More “Hooyah! Trump Picks Former SEAL Ryan Zinke as Sec Interior”
By all accounts Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, Pat McDonnell, is doing a reasonably good job (see Gov. Wolf Nominates Pat McDonnell to Head PA DEP, Finally). He’s certainly much less confrontational than his predecessor (see Smoking Gun: Copy of the Email that Got John Quigley Fired). However, McDonnell professes to believe in man-made global warming. He recently said that addressing “climate change” remains a “top priority” for the Gov. Wolf administration. Whatever. What’s somewhat disturbing is that PA intends to go well beyond federal guidelines when it comes to restricting “carbon-causing” activity in the state. However, what we find amusing is that as McDonnell mouthed his words about global warming, we are in one of the coldest of cold snaps to hit the northeast in several years. Way below the average temp for this time of year. Ah, Mr. Secretary, tell us again how human activity is causing Mom Earth to toast…
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Believes in Global Warming (Amidst Record-Cold Days)”
We’ve seen signs of increased drilling in the Marcellus/Utica. Just look at the Baker Hughes rig counts month by month. Ever so gradually, the number of rigs operating in our region is creeping back up. The smart analysts at BTU Analytics have been crunching the numbers and looking at the data–and they have a theory about why new drilling is coming back, very soon, in the Marcellus/Utica. It all has to do with the backlog. You’ve heard about DUCs–drilled but uncompleted wells. But have you ever heard of COBs? That’s Completed wells on backlog. Depending on where you are located in PA, COBs have a great deal to do with where drilling will happen…
Read More “Backlogs in the Marcellus/Utica – COBs and DUCs”
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) is a large Buffalo-based utility with subsidiaries active in drilling and midstream. NFG is the parent of Marcellus driller Seneca Resources and midstream company Empire Pipeline. NFG announced earlier this week that they have a new independent board member–Thomas E. Skains–who is the former Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Piedmont Natural Gas Company. Must be Mr. Skains is looking for things to do. Last year he sold Piedmont to Duke Energy for $6.7 billion. As part of the deal, he got a $14.4 million golden parachute (see Piedmont Natural Gas CEO’s Pure Gold Parachute – $14.4M). The merger closed in October of this year. It’s been a few months, so Skains is beginning to land on various boards, including Duke Energy’s board, and now, NFG’s board…
Read More “Former CEO of Piedmont Natural Gas Joins National Fuel Gas Board”
Natural gas and wind are the lowest-cost technology options for new electricity generation across much of the U.S. when cost, public health impacts and environmental effects are considered. So says a new research paper released by The University of Texas at Austin. Researchers assessed multiple generation technologies including coal, natural gas, solar, wind and nuclear. Their findings, as depicted in a series of maps illustrating the cost of each generation technology on a county-by-county basis throughout the U.S., are featured in a new white paper titled “New U.S. Power Costs: by County, with Environmental Externalities” (full copy below). What’s interesting to us is who helped fund the research. Two organizations helping pay the bill were the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation and the Environmental Defense Fund. That is, those with a bias against fossil fuels. We wonder if they’ll ask for their grant money back? Here’s a summary of the research, followed by the full report…
Read More “Cheapest Sources of Electricity? Natural Gas & Wind, Says UT Study”
You hear a lot about wind these days, not so much about solar, as an alternative to nasty fossil fuels like natural gas. But is wind really “all that?” We spotted an Associated Press story bragging about “the nation’s first offshore wind farm” opening off the coast of Rhode Island. Deepwater Wind built five turbines producing 30 megawatts of electricity (enough electricity to power 17,000 homes) 3 miles off Block Island–at a cost of $300 million. That’s about $10 million per megawatt to construct the facility. Let’s compare that to building a natural gas-fired electric plant. Natgas plants cost about $1 million per megawatt (10x less). This past year the very first built-from-scratch natgas plant built to use Marcellus Shale gas, called Panda Liberty, went live (see First NatGas Power Plant in Marcellus, Panda Liberty, Goes Online). Panda Liberty is an 829-megawatt Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant in Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA. While Panda Power doesn’t release financial details, we believe we’re on solid ground by estimating the cost to build the plant at $829 million. Here’s the kicker: Panda Liberty’s 829 megawatt plant supplies enough electricity to power 1 million homes! Let’s see, spend $300 million to supply 17,000 homes, or $829 million to supply 1 million homes. Hmmm, tough one. We know, it’s not an exact apples to apples situation. The wind farm continuously gets its energy source (wind) for free, and the gas that powers Panda Liberty is not free. But honestly, there’s not enough ocean, or hilltops, to site those big, ugly turbines to take the place of clean-burning natural gas. In our book, there is no comparison. Natgas wins, hands down…
Read More “NatGas v Wind – No Contest, NatGas Wins”
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Trump cheered in PA ‘thank you’ tour; supply chain co switches from coal to gas; estimating the econ benefits of the shale revolution; moving Midwest motor fuels East; exporting more LNG in the national interest; soil bacteria loves to eat methane; Chesapeake drills deeper for profit; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Dec 16, 2016”
The Potter Township Board of Supervisors convened a public hearing on Tuesday afternoon at 3 pm that ended up going until 1 am Wednesday. 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 Wednesday 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 are still not ready to approve the permits and instead asked for more paperwork to be filed–by both Shell and the radical, anti-fossil fuel Big Green group Clean Air Council (from Philadelphia). It seems the antis are attempting to stop this project cold–which should have the good citizens of Beaver County (indeed the entire northeast) outraged. At any rate, we’re sure the permits will be forthcoming–but now it won’t happen until sometime in January…
Read More “Potter Twp Declines to Approve Permits for Shell Cracker, For Now”
Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (E&P) headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana drills mainly in the Gulf of Mexico but also has (or rather had) a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale with 90,000 acres of leases. In October Stone announced (a) it is selling its Marcellus/Utica assets to Tug Hill for $350 million, and (b) the company is preparing to file for bankruptcy (see Stone Energy Enters Bankruptcy, Sells Marc/Utica Assets for $350M). Stone needs the bankruptcy court’s permission to sell the acreage. However, Stone’s bankruptcy plans are facing a challenge from it’s biggest shareholder. Investor Thomas Satterfield, who now owns 9.9% of the company’s stock, doesn’t want to see that stock turned into toilet paper by handing the keys over to debtholders, as is the typical route E&Ps have taken with bankruptcy filings over the past year or so (see Stone Energy’s Largest Shareholder Opposes Current Bankruptcy Plan). Yesterday the company announced it is pushing ahead with its plan to file for bankruptcy including seeking permission to sell its Marcellus/Utica assets, over the objections of Satterfield who now says he’ll see the company in court in a bid to stop the current filing…
Read More “Stone Energy Files for Bankruptcy, Largest Shareholder Opposes”
Keane Group is a Texas-based oilfield services company that provides fracking, wireline and top-hole air drilling services to oil and gas companies in the Marcellus/Utica as well as several other major basins. In January, Keane announced they were buying out Canadian-based Trican Well Service for $247 million (see Oilfield Serv. Co. Keane Group Buys Trican Well Service for $247M). The expansion tripled Keane’s fracking capacity and gave it access to proprietary new technology. Looks like the buyout, and Keane’s hard work, continues to bear fruit. Yesterday the privately-held company announced it will go public with an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. They hope to raise $287.5 million with the IPO. And get this–the stock will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FRAC. Love it!…
Read More “Oilfield Services Co. Keane Group Floats $288M IPO”
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection is using an unspecified amount of grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund a Penn State pilot project that combines a natural gas-fired electric plant with solar cell and battery energy storage systems in a hybrid system to power several office buildings, a sewage pump station and several Penn State training center facilities. The hope is to prove developing “microgrids” like this one can lead to a “low-carbon footprint.” Hey, at least they wised up and are using Marcellus natural gas (a hated fossil fuel) as part of their “low carbon” research. Here’s the details on the latest big money project, using taxpayer dollars, under way at Penn State…
Read More “Marcellus Gas Part of “Low Carbon” Research Project at Penn State”
As we reported in April, the newest member of Dominion’s power generation fleet, the 1,358 megawatt, natural gas-fired Brunswick Power Station (Brunswick County, Virginia) began producing electricity for customers on Monday, April 25 (see Dominion Brunswick NatGas-Fired Plant Begins Electric Generation). The station produces enough electricity to power 325,000 homes. The power plant will eventually be fed by Marcellus Shale gas coming from Dominion’s own $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline. But right now it uses at least some Marcellus/Utica gas coming from the Williams Transco pipeline. There is a power generation conference going on in Orlando, FL right now (wish we were there! brutally cold today in Upstate NY). At the conference, awards have been given out by Power Engineering magazine. The Brunswick Power Station has won two prestigious awards: “Best Overall Generation Project of the Year,” and “Best Gas-Fired Project of the Year.” Congrats to Dominion!…
Read More “VA Marcellus-Fed Electric Plant Snags “Project of the Year” Award”
Gulfport Energy is an Oklahoma City-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (“driller”) with its main operations in the Utica Shale of eastern Ohio and along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Gulfport is considered one of the Top 5 Utica drillers (see Which 5 Drillers Dominate in the Utica Shale?). Just a week ago the company purchased another 12,600 acres in the Ohio Utica (see Gulfport Picks Up 12,600 Utica Acres in Monroe County, OH for $87M). The deal making is far from over for Gulfport. A major announcement yesterday from the company: They are entering a third play, the SCOOP (in Oklahoma) by purchasing 85,000 acres of leases with 48 horizontal wells producing 183 million cubic feet equivalent per day of natural gas. In order to help pay for it, Gulfport also announced new stock and new debt offerings of senior notes (IOUs), hoping to raise the $1.85 billion they’re paying for the SCOOP assets. No, this post has nothing directly to do with the Marcellus/Utica–except (a) we jealously wish they were investing that money here and not there, and (b) it’s yet another sign that we’ve turned the corner and drilling everywhere is once again beginning to pick up…
Read More “Gulfport Energy Expands into SCOOP, New Stock & IOUs to Pay $1.85B”