Stone Energy Update on Marcellus Gathering Deal with Williams
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 a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale with 75,000 acres of leases. Last year Stone quit drilling in the northeast and actually shut-in part of their production due to low prices (see Stone Energy 3Q15: Shut Down 110 Mmcfe/d of Marcellus Production). As we pointed out in April, the company is in financial trouble and inching toward bankruptcy (see Stone Energy Appoints Special Liaison, Inches Toward Bankruptcy?). However, Stone has not, like some others, tipped into bankruptcy. Yet. And perhaps things are beginning to turn around for Stone. In June Stone cut a new midstream gathering agreement with Williams to return some of their shut-in Marcellus wells to full production (see Stone Energy Opens Marcellus Spigots Again; New Midstream Deal). Stone issued a production update yesterday. Part of the update addresses the Williams midstream deal–how it’s doing so far, and what to expect…
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Yesterday ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabian petrochemical giant SABIC announced they have formed a joint venture partnership and are evaluating (and plan) to build yet another ethane cracker plant complex along the Gulf Coast–in either Texas or Louisiana. The Gulf Coast has numerous such plants already in operation. The northeast has (so far) none. Why the two companies are not looking to the northeast is beyond us. In their announcement the companies said they want to locate along the Gulf Coast “near natural gas feedstock.” Why is this an MDN story? Because (a) pipelines are planned from the Marcellus/Utica region to the Gulf Coast, and this cracker, if built, will be yet another new market for our gas, and (b) because it will likely compete with the crackers that do get built in the northeast. Shell has committed to building one in Pennsylvania, and PTT Global Chemical will make a final investment decision in 2017 on a planned cracker in Ohio. A new Exxon/SABIC cracker will compete for our gas supplies, we have no doubt. Here’s yesterday’s joint announcement…
It’s not the place of a news organization, the “fourth estate” and watchdog of the government, to whore itself to a major political party. But that’s exactly what Bloomberg News has done. Shame on them. Yesterday in Philadelphia, at the Democrat National Convention, Bloomberg News sponsored a meeting of radicals in the Dem party to discuss the myth of man-made global warming–and how the Dems can force autocratic action down the throats of all Americans in the name of so-called climate change (the euphemism for global warming, something that hasn’t happened now for 20 years). Does anyone care anymore that our mainstream news services have sold their souls to the Democrat Party? Apparently not…
A group of rabidly left “environmental” groups–including Oil Change International, Appalachian Voices, Bold Alliance, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Earthworks, Environmental Action, Sierra Club (national), 350.org, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Protect Our Water/Heritage/Rights (Virginia & West Virginia), Sierra Club West Virginia Chapter, and Friends of Water (West Virginia)–recently published a piece of fiction titled, “A Bridge Too Far: How Appalachian Basin Gas Pipeline Expansion Will Undermine U.S. Climate Goals” (full copy below). As indicated by the title, these Nazi-like groups want to stop all new pipeline construction, repairs to existing pipelines, ANYTHING to do with a pipeline that flows natural gas or other fossil fuels. Why? They’re true believers that the earth is catastrophically heating up (it isn’t), and that mankind is causing it by burning fossil fuels (we aren’t). Their answer is to take the human race back to the Stone Ages when we burned cow dung and wood, apparently. One thing is for certain–you can’t even build windmills and solar panels without fossil fuels–so their so-called precious renewables aren’t an option. We wonder if they ever listen to themselves actually talk…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Bullish on Antero Resources; Southwestern loses $1.8B, but still committed to WV; Cheniere’s 2nd LNG export plant progressing; fracklogging has stopped; US rig count jumps again; half of America’s LNG exports heading to Asia; and more!
Although he still wants to tax the Marcellus Shale industry out of his state, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (with the dubious title of “most liberal governor in the U.S.,” see 
In June Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf was forced to accept half a loaf–he agreed to reject new drilling regulations for the conventional drilling industry in the state, if lawmakers would allow his administration’s rework of shale drilling regulations to take effect (see 
On Friday MDN reported Southwestern Energy’s second quarter 2016 update, with indications that things are turning around for the company and that they intend to re-start their drilling program in the Marcellus (see 
MDN told you in May that Halcon Resources, a Utica Shale driller that “guessed wrong” by leasing 140,000 Utica Shale acres in the northern part of the play (in Ohio) and currently doesn’t drill on any of that acreage, was preparing to file for bankruptcy (see 
You’ve heard of “whitewashing” before. How about “title washing?” No, we hadn’t either. But this funny sounding practice has a great deal to do with mineral rights in Pennsylvania, with possible implications for landowners and drillers. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a 5-0 ruling last week that upholds the practice of title washing in the Keystone State. What in the world is it, and how does it affect landowners and drillers? In the case of Herder Spring Hunting Club v. Keller there had been a tax sale in 1935 for a property in Centre County, PA where the mineral rights had previously been separated. Prior to 1948 if mineral rights that had been separated were not properly recorded (it was incumbent on the owner of the subsurface rights to ensure the sale was recorded at the assessor’s office), and the surface land was later sold, both the mineral rights (subsurface) and the surface land became part of the sale. That, in essence, was title washing. After 1948 a law prevented this from happening, so such cases only apply to land sold before 1948. The legal beagles at Babst Calland have a good overview of what the practice of title washing is, and how the Court’s decision affects Pennsylvanians. We also have a copy of the decision embedded below…
One of the important new markets that Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers have been salivating over is Canada. Indeed, flows of natural gas, via pipelines, have increased to Canada over the past several years (see 