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    OH Company Buys Canadian Pipeline Coating Manufacturer

    rpmRPM International Inc. is a manufacturing company based in Medina, OH. It is the owner/maker of such name brands as Rust-Oleum. RPM’s subsidiaries that are leaders in specialty coatings, sealants, building materials and related services across three segments. One of those segments is the oil and gas industry. So it’s no surprise that RPM has just bought out Specialty Polymer Coatings, Inc. (SPC), a Canadian manufacturer of high-performance coatings for the global oil and gas pipeline market. No details of the deal were announced, but we do know that SPC has annual net sales of $26 million. The upshot: another Ohio company will get more deeply involved in the shale oil and gas industry–just one more way oil and gas (and shale) benefits everyone…
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    $4.4B Dominion-Questar Merger Happens Tomorrow

    M&AIn February MDN told you that Dominion, with a major presence in the Marcellus/Utica region, had floated a takover offer to Questar Corporation, offering to buy the company for $4.4 billion (see Dominion Resources Makes Play for Western NatGas Company Questar). Questar is a Rockies-based integrated natural gas company operating through three principal subsidiaries. The deal is an attempt by Dominion to diversify out of the northeast/Mid-Atlantic region. It’s also a deal to bump up Dominion’s natural gas footprint, lessening the company’s reliance on electric power generation which is not growing. Since that time the deal has progressed, and tomorrow the two companies will officially tie the knot…
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    Former PA Game Commissioner Fined $75K for Lease Moonlighting

    william-capouillez
    William Capouillez

    In August 2013 an extensive investigative article about a then-director for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, William A. Capouillez, appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer (see PA Director of Game Commission Double-Dipping with Gas Leases?). The article spotlighted a potential conflict of interest between Capouillez’s day job and his moonlighting side job as an agent for property owners who lease their land for oil and gas development. The issue? He was signing private deals with the same companies that often work with his state agency. It became a serious legal issue for at least one driller–Range Resources. The independent 8-member board that runs the Game Commission was about to promote Capouillez to the top job of executive director when then-Gov. Tom Corbett put the brakes on it (see PA Gov Corbett Blocks Promotion of Moonlighter at Game Commission). In September the chairman of the PA House Committee on State Government, Daryl Metcalfe, asked the State Ethics Commission to investigate his activities (see PA Game Comm. Head Not Afraid of Gas Leasing Ethics Investigation). Capouillez’s response was “bring it on.” He said he had not taken on new clients for his moonlighting job in three years and had done nothing wrong. The State Ethics Commission did investigate and now, three years later, the Commission levied a $75,000 fine, which Capouillez has agreed to pay, although he remains defiant and says the fine is a tiny fraction of the original fine sought–indication of his vindication…
    Read More “Former PA Game Commissioner Fined $75K for Lease Moonlighting”

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    PA DEP Tells Mariner East 2 to Correct “Significant Deficiencies”

    Mariner East 2
    Mariner East 2 – click for larger version

    John Hohenstein, the head honcho for dams, waterways and wetlands with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) sent a strongly-worded missive (21 pages long, full copy below) to Matthew Gordon, principle engineer and project manager for Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East 2 pipeline project last week. The letter was an assessment of Mariner East 2’s application with the state to cross numerous waterways and swamps as it is (mostly) built next to existing pipelines and stretches across 17 PA counties, spanning the state. In the letter Hohenstein tells Gordon there are “significant technical deficiencies” in the application, and unless those deficiencies are addressed by November 7, Sunoco can kiss stream-crossing approval goodbye…
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    PA Town’s Angst Over Mariner East 2 Pipeline Near School, Park

    logo-transThere is no doubt Sunoco Logistics Partners has been pushing a boulder up a hill when it comes to the Mariner East 2 pipeline project–a $2.5 billion, 350-mile natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will run from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, carting ethane, butane and propane to the facility from both the Utica and Marcellus region. For over a year the project was mired in legal challenges of whether or not it can claim public utility status, with a right to use eminent domain. In July, PA’s Commonwealth Court ruled it is a public utility with a right to use eminent domain (see Sunoco LP Wins Major Court Decision for Mariner East 2 Pipeline). But the fight continues–town by town. Nowhere is that more evident than Middletown Township in Delaware County, PA. Monday night the town council voted, unanimously, to put an ordinance on the docket for council members to vote on at the Sept. 26 meeting, an ordinance that if passed, will allow Sunoco LP to move forward with building the pipeline on public land in the town–in one case across a park, and in another close to an elementary school…
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    Spectra Admits Detecting Corrision in Exploded TETCO Pipe 4 Yrs Ago

    Spectra blazeOn April 29, Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) “Delmont Line 27” pipeline exploded in Westmoreland County, PA, seriously injuring one resident who still cannot walk after being burned over much of his body (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes near Pittsburgh, Antis Celebrate). The reason for the explosion and fire was corrosion on welds covered with a particular kind of pipe tape no longer in use (see Spectra Says PA Pipeline Explosion “Unacceptable,” Blames Pipe Tape). Brace yourself for news that may make you angry: An investigation four years ago (in 2012) discovered corrosion in the very area where the pipe would eventually explode. Spectra says they documented the corrosion, but pipe corrosion happens over time–this is nothing new–and the thing to do is to monitor it. Spectra planned to reexamine the welds and the corrosion again in 2019, per the normal and accepted safety schedule. According to Spectra, until now it has been observed that corrosion of pipes happens at a rate of no more than 2-3% per year. In the case of the exploding TETCO pipeline, the corrosion rate was vastly accelerated, more like 10-15% per year since the last examination. What made it speed up?…
    Read More “Spectra Admits Detecting Corrision in Exploded TETCO Pipe 4 Yrs Ago”

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    NGSA Lobbies Fed Court, DEC to Advance 2 Stalled Pipelines in NY

    ngsaThe Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) has gone into action to support two currently-stalled pipeline projects in the People’s Republic of New York, where Chairman Cuomo rules. Yesterday the NGSA filed a brief in federal court to respond to an effort by the rogues gallery of environmental extremist groups (including Catskill Mountainkeeper, Riverkeeper, Sierra Clubbers and other ne’er–do–wells) to stop the Constitution Pipeline from getting built. The Constitution is a $683 million, 124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY carrying Marcellus gas. The enviro groups sued in federal court to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) environmental review of the Constitution. If the wackos can get FERC’s review cast aside, they can slow the project to the point where they can (hopefully for them) kill it. That’s the game plan. NGSA is pushing back, legally. Also this week the NGSA asked the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to get off its rear-end and approve air permits for Dominion’s New Market Project–a fairly dull $159 million capacity upgrade to an existing natural gas pipeline which runs across upstate New York from the PA line, west of Horseheads, and then northeasterly to the state’s Capital Region. Once again the DEC is doing their master’s bidding by refusing to grant necessary air permits for the New Market Project to proceed…
    Read More “NGSA Lobbies Fed Court, DEC to Advance 2 Stalled Pipelines in NY”

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    Patterson-UTI Buys Canadian Drilling Tech Company

    Patterson-UTI logoPatterson-UTI Energy is a company we watch as a proxy for when/if the drop in rig counts for the Marcellus/Utica will turn around (see Turn Around! Patterson-UTI August Rig Count Up 3rd Mo in a Row). Patterson operates a number of rigs in the northeast, as well as other areas of the continental United States and Canada. Patterson announced this morning they have agreed to buy out Canadian-based Warrior Rig Ltd., a drilling technology company. No price was disclosed. We consider it a good sign that Patterson can scrounge up enough nickles to buy another company. A sign that things are indeed beginning to look up…
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    Visit MDN at Shale Insight in Pittsburgh Next Week

    Shale InsightBy our reckoning, the 2016 Shale Insight event being held in Pittsburgh next week (Sept. 21-22) will be MDN editor Jim Willis’ fifth consecutive Shale Insight event. In past years Jim has hung out at the NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence) booth. This year Jim and Marcellus Drilling News will have their own booth: #208 (near the entrance). Jim invites MDN readers who are attending to stop by and say hello! Jim will bribe passersby with free candy, so stop by and grab a piece! What’s that? You aren’t (yet) registered to attend Shale Insight? Let’s get that rectified right now. There are many reasons to attend, including keynote addresses by Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, and a closing keynote by none other than The Donald (as in Trump). Here’s a rundown of what’s happening next week at Shale Insight…
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  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Sep 13, 2016

    best of the restThe “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Utica rigs down by 1; Chinese invade PA next week; natgas industry must be proactive with messaging, or else; sizing the shale footprint; big oil’s new focus – natgas; pulling mythical GHG from natgas streams; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Sep 13, 2016”

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    Rex Energy to Ship Marcellus Gas to Midwest & Gulf Coast in Nov

    go west young manHigher prices for Rex Energy’s Marcellus/Utica gas are on the way. Why? Because the company will, beginning in November, begin to ship some of its gas out of the northeast–to the Midwest and Gulf Coast, where it can get higher prices. So says Rex in an update issued yesterday. Rex issued an operational update yesterday to discuss recent results and the next round of drilling they plan to do–4 more wells on the Vaughn pad in Carroll County, OH–and the news that a new high pressure gathering system is on the way in Butler County, PA. Included in the update is the good news that Rex will begin to ship 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natgas to the Gulf Coast and 30 MMcf/d to the Midwest, starting in November, via two different pipelines. Which pipelines?…
    Read More “Rex Energy to Ship Marcellus Gas to Midwest & Gulf Coast in Nov”

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    EIA Sept Drilling Report: Watching DUCs Fly Away

    ducks-flyingYesterday 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. The September marks a new milestone–the EIA has added a new tab of information for Drilled but UnCompleted wells, called DUCs in the business. Beginning with this month’s report, the EIA now includes estimates for how many DUCs there are, by shale play. The ongoing meme for sometime has been that the DUC inventory has been dwindling, with drillers not willing to drill new wells given the low price of oil and gas. To keep things moving (and revenue coming in the door) drillers have taken to completing wells they drilled but never finished, or “completed” as it’s called in the business. Completing a well includes fracking it and hooking it up to production. As DUCs go down, and as new wells are not begun, it portends a coming decrease in supply and therefore a coming rise in prices. That’s what drillers, midstreamers, gas traders and others watch for. So this new section in the monthly DPR will be eagerly watched. So what does the September DPR show for predicted production in the Marcellus and Utica?…
    Read More “EIA Sept Drilling Report: Watching DUCs Fly Away”

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    WVU Scores Another $4M Grant – to Study Produced Water

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    (WVU Photo by M.G. Ellis) — Paul Ziemkiewicz, Director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at WVU, and Jay Hewitt, Northeast Natural Energy, work at the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory in Morgantown.

    At the end of 2014 West Virginia University (WVU) scored a major grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, which forked over $11 million to WVU and Ohio State University to conduct a five-year project to study “baseline measurements, subsurface development and environmental monitoring” in the Marcellus and Utica Shale (see WVU/OSU Get $11M Grant to Study Shale Energy Best Practices). WVU’s efforts are yielding fruit. In July we told you that WVU had studied frack waste and pronounced it safe (see Independent Research @ WVU Concludes Frack Waste is Safe). We’d call that a good use of taxpayer money! One of the innovations WVU has been working on is “green” drilling mud, a more environmentally-friendly drilling mud used to drill Marcellus/Utica wells (see WVU Effusive Over “Green” Drilling Fluid Used in Test Wells). WVU has done it again. WVU, along with the University of Kansas, has just been awarded a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study “produced water”–which is water from the depths that comes out of the borehole long after drilling and fracking are done. This naturally occurring water is super salty–far more salty (with minerals) than sea water. Typically drillers will either recycle it and reuse it for more drilling and fracking, or dispose of it via an injection well. WVU and KU are charged with developing “cutting-edge strategies for better management, treatment, protection and recovery of produced water.” Here’s the announcement and good news that WVU is on the case for better handling of produced water…
    Read More “WVU Scores Another $4M Grant – to Study Produced Water”

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    DOE Gives $13M in Grants for Methane Emissions, Some in PA

    money-bag.jpgLast week the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) doled out a total of $13 million in grants for twelve multi-year research projects. The aim of the projects is to develop ways to mitigate methane emissions from natural gas pipelines and storage infrastructure, ways that don’t break the bank. Two of the twelve projects will be run in Pittsburgh. PPG Industries, the Gas Technology Institute and RTI International received a combined $876,639 to study remote monitoring of natural gas pipelines. The University of Pittsburgh and Corning together got a whopping $1.2 million to develop an advanced distributed optical fiber technology for natural gas infrastructure monitoring. Here’s the lowdown from the DOE…
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    Twitter Fight Over PA HB 1391 Royalty Bill

    tweetmeChanneling our inner Joan Rivers: Can we talk? It hurts when a good friend publicly criticizes you. It feels like you’ve been stabbed in the back. Perhaps a case of public criticism is one of the reasons for the developing rancor (we call it a civil war) between landowners and the Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania. Landowners are upset that their royalty checks are, in some cases, pennies–as in less than one dollar. Drillers claim that super low prices they receive for the gas are to blame–that nobody is making money right now. Landowners say that drillers (e.g. Chesapeake Energy) are deducting post-production costs that they shouldn’t be allowed to deduct, resulting in worthless royalty checks. For a number of years landowners in Pennsylvania have supported legislation to force drillers to pay a minimum 12.5% royalty, which is stipulated under a 1979 law. Drillers say post-production costs are written into many contracts and if it’s there, landowners must live by the contract. It’s turning into a mess. We’ve covered it extensively (see our articles on HB 1391). When we write about it, it’s from the perspective of a broken heart that we have a civil war brewing. When mainstream media writes about it, it’s typically with some degree of glee and happiness that “the other side” has infighting going on. An article appearing in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does a good job of summarizing what we’ve previously posted on the issue. However, the Post-Gazette article adds one new bit of information we didn’t know about: earlier this summer there was a Twitter fight/dust-up between PA-NARO (National Association of Royalty Owners) and the MSC (Marcellus Shale Coalition)…
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    Bought & Paid For “Research” Says 2 Marcellus Pipelines Not Needed

    cest-fauxTwo Democrat-run anti-fossil fuel organizations–the Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachian Mountain Advocates–pooled their donated money together and went out to find a consulting firm with the veneer of respectability that could be bought off to produce a faux “report” slamming two much-needed pipelines. They found an easy mark in Synapse Energy Economics, headquartered in ultra-liberal Massachusetts. The “report” Synapse produced says neither Dominion’s $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina), nor EQT’s $3.5 billion, 301-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA) are needed. The sham report, titled “Are the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline Necessary?” (full copy below) is getting picked up by lazy (or propagandist) mainstream news organizations and reported as real news. It’s nothing of the sort. It’s a joke…
    Read More “Bought & Paid For “Research” Says 2 Marcellus Pipelines Not Needed”