Marc. Shale Coalition Files Lawsuit to Block PA Chapter 78a Regs
On Oct. 8, after five years in the making, Pennsylvania adopted new shale drilling regulations (see PA’s New Chapter 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8). Although the regs were ready at the end of the Gov. Tom Corbett Administration, Corbett fumbled the ball and the regs didn’t get adopted, which left them vulnerable to the incoming left-leaning Tom Wolf. Wolf’s people mangled the regulations under the Dept. of Environmental Protection Dictator/Secretary John Quigley, who got fired over unethical collusion with Big Green groups (see Smoking Gun: Copy of the Email that Got John Quigley Fired). Some of the good stuff remained, but onerous new elements were introduced. Although the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) represents PA’s conventional (non-shale) drillers, [Correction: PIOGA represents BOTH conventional AND unconventional (shale) drillers] they immediately filed an appeal of the new regs with the PA Supreme Court (see PIOGA Makes Legal Play to Stop Chapter 78a Regs from Taking Effect). The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), which represents shale drillers–the group affected by Chapter 78a–has made noise about the new regs, but hasn’t done anything to stop the regs–until now. Yesterday the MSC filed its own lawsuit to block the new regs [Note: we now have a copy of the lawsuit, see it below]. The MSC’s lawsuit was filed in PA Commonwealth Court…
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We spotted a press release issued yesterday by Cabot Oil & Gas, providing an update for the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Which kind of surprised us. Why would Cabot issue an update on someone else’s pipeline? Is Cabot an investor in the project? We asked–the answer is “no.” However, Cabot is the major shipper that will use the Central Penn Line portion of the Atlantic Sunrise project. And that’s what the announcement was about. Cabot said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has announced it is actively reviewing two alternative routes for the Central Penn Line, accepting public comment until Nov. 14. OK, so that sometimes happens. Is it worth a press release? Then we read that this development means yet another delay for the Atlantic Sunrise project–and investors immediately punished the stock for both Williams and Cabot. Ah, now we understand! The press release is to reassure investors that Cabot believes FERC, while slowing things down a little, won’t delay things too long. THAT’S what the press release is really all about…
Dominion recently announced a new pipeline project called Eastern Market Access Project. The project will beef up two compressor stations in Virginia, build a new compressor station in Maryland, and add a couple of pipeline taps near Washington, D.C. The purpose of the $145 million project is to deliver more gas to Washington Gas, and to deliver gas to a new gas-fired electric power plant being built in Maryland. We suspect Marcellus/Utica gas will be the added gas flowing to both Washington Gas and the new electric plant in Maryland. [Note: A Dominion spokesman later confirmed to us that the gas will come from either the Marcellus or Utica plays.] You may recall that in May 2015 Washington Gas announced a plan to invest in Marcellus wells in Greene and Clearfield counties in PA (see 
You may recall that TransCanada, one of Canada’s leading midstream/pipeline companies, cooked up a deal to pipe natural gas from Canada’s West Coast to the East Coast in order to fend off cheap supplies of Marcellus/Utica gas that will flow into Canada when/if the NEXUS and Rover pipelines get built (see 
EQT, one of the largest Marcellus/Utica drillers, also owns a sizable pipeline subsidiary, EQT Midstream. EQT announced yesterday it is transferring ownership of its Allegheny Valley Connector pipeline system, which includes several Marcellus Shale gathering pipeline systems, from the Mothership to the child company. They will take $275 million out of one pocket and put it in a different pocket–on the same pair of pants. Such is how things are done in high finance. EQT picked up Allegheny Valley Connector in a $720 million deal with Peoples Natural Gas in 2013 (see 
The 2017 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards has received a boatload of nominations for the upcoming awards ceremony in Pittsburgh next March. LOTS of nominations. The folks at the Oil & Gas Awards will be contacting each nominee to see if they want to participate this year. Below is the entire list of nominees. Note: there is still time to nominate your company! The deadline is Dec. 14th. Below we have a list of everyone nominated so far, and the list of categories for which your company can be nominated…
We doubt many MDN readers buy Patagonia outdoor wear (appeals mainly to aging hippies). But just in case, we thought we’d pass along something we noticed. The store chain is making a push to sign up Democrat voters, which doesn’t surprise us. As part of their overt political activism, the Washington, D.C. Patagonia store also elected to bash the Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. We thing that deserves a call to boycott their stores and their brand…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Maryland county council members support statewide frack ban; OH Lt. Gov. talks jobs & Utica; gas prices hit 22-month high; EIA says $3+ gas through 2017; EIA erroneous data lead to spike up in gas price?; oils dirty little secret threatens higher natgas prices; Mexico’s growing natgas demand; and more!
On Monday we brought you the incredulous news that Democrats Sen. John Yudichak (Wilkes-Barre area) is once again pushing a Marcellus-killing severance tax, using a recent PA Supreme Court decision as the excuse (see 
Those willy pandas are on the prowl again. In August 2013, Moxie Energy of Vienna, VA sold the permits/rights to build a new Marcellus gas-powered electric generating plant in Bradford County, PA to Panda Power Funds of Dallas, TX (see 
We’ve kept an eye on several LNG export projects along the Eastern shore of Canada (most of them in Nova Scotia) for some time. Why? Because they’re a huge potential market for Marcellus and Utica Shale gas. One of those projects, in Nova Scotia, is the Goldboro LNG project from Pieridae Energy. In February, the U.S. Dept. of Energy approved the plant for exporting to non-free trade agreement counties, back in February (see 
Marathon Petroleum, which purchased midstream company MarkWest Energy last year, continues to grow and expand–because of the Utica Shale. Marathon operates a refinery in Canton, OH that processes crude oil. Question: Did you know that 25% of the crude oil being processed at the Marathon refinery comes from the Utica Shale? No, we didn’t know that either! Marathon has made some big bets on the Utica. In fact, over the past two years, they’ve bet more than $1 billion on the Utica…
This is so unusual, it qualifies as news: Supervisors in Buffalo Township (Butler County), PA have approved a new compressor station to be built by Mountain Gathering–a subsidiary of XTO Energy. The reason it’s news is for how the approval process was handled. Town residents who live near where the station will be built understandably had some concerns. Those concerns were aired. Town officials visited other compressor stations built by Mountain Gathering. They had XTO officials in to answer questions. There was no bleating and blatting, no parading in front of cameras and microphones, no “die-ins” and radical protests. Just deliberative, calm, adult discussions. And at the end of it, the supervisors voted to grant permission for the compressor station to get built. Unusual!…
In September the Ohio Supreme Court finally ruled on a series of cases involving the state’s Dormant Mineral Act, or DMA (see