Marcellus Drilling News

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, May 16, 2016
May 16, 2016May 16, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Fracking will pay off for Appalachia; natgas-fired power plants proliferating in OH, PA, WV; northeast gas supply/demand hits another milestone; the noose tightens around corrupt Gov. Cuomo; new Souki venture files with FERC for LNG plant approval; which shale plays will increase 2016 production; the perfect natgas storm; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, May 16, 2016”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Does it Again: Tries to Destroy O&G with New Methane Rule
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

Yesterday the federal Environmental Protection Agency–a rogue agency that is out of control and drunk on its own power (and needs reigning in)–issued more shale-killing regulations, designed to suppress the very revolution that has kept the United States out of an economic depression despite Obama’s wild spending spree. The EPA issued 600 pages of new regulations that require drillers to install expensive new equipment to locate so-called fugitive methane that may or may not be leaking from wells, pipelines, etc. And if they find such microscopic amounts of methane, they need to capture it. All in the name of preventing non-existent man-made global warming. What a lark. But it’s no laughing matter. You can tell it’s a bad regulation because the oil and gas industry has lined up against it, and radical, leftist environmental groups have lined up to support it. They should–they helped create it…
Read More “EPA Does it Again: Tries to Destroy O&G with New Methane Rule”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Drillers Rush Stage at NY Power Event, Threaten FERC Chairman
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

Norman Bay, Chairman of FERC

Once again anti-drillers have engaged in childish, petulant behavior in an attempt to call attention to themselves. Yesterday Norman Bay, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–the agency charged with reviewing and approving or denying pipeline projects–spoke at a conference organized by the Independent Power Producers of New York (IPPNY) near Albany, NY. As he was speaking, a half dozen radical “keep it in the ground” protesters “rushed the stage” hollering at Bay, who had to make a quick exit–concerned he would be assaulted by the out-of-control protesters. The conference organizer said the protesters were “aggressive” and “disruptive” and “out of line.” It was a private event. The group’s ring leader seems to have been Igor Vamos, a media professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Vamos is the founder of “Yes Men,” a radical protest group that has staged fake press conferences on so-called climate change. Their display shows how precariously close these unbalanced people are. Watch the video below…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Rush Stage at NY Power Event, Threaten FERC Chairman”
Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

PTT Global Says Belmont, OH Ethane Cracker NOT Delayed
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

PTT Global Chemical, based in Thailand, announced in April 2015 they are interested in building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). From the beginning, PTT let it be known a final decision on whether or not to invest the whole $5 billion would not come until 2016 or 2017. Last week MDN picked up a story from the Bangkok Post which said the decision will definitely come in 2017, calling the decision “delayed” (see PTT Global Says OH Cracker Decision “Delayed” Until 2017). Apparently stung by that story, a local PTT spokesman in Ohio has responded to say the Bangkok story is wrong–the decision is not “delayed” and is, in fact, on track…
Read More “PTT Global Says Belmont, OH Ethane Cracker NOT Delayed”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Transco | Williams

Williams Pre-Files with FERC to Expand Transco Pipeline in PA, NY
May 13, 2016March 28, 2017

Transco Northeast Supply Enhanacement Project map – click for larger version

Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company (Transco) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to begin the pre-filing process on a new project, called the Northeast Supply Enhancement project. The new project is meant to increase pipeline capacity and flows heading into northeastern markets. In particular, Transco wants to provide more natural gas to utility giant National Grid beginning with the 2019-2020 heating season. National Grid operates in New York City, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Northeast Supply Enhancement project would build 10 miles of new pipeline in Lancaster County, PA (laid next to three existing pipelines, in the same corridor). It would also require 22 miles of new offshore pipeline located in New York Bay. A new compressor station would be built in Somerset County, NJ along with other upgrades, including an added compressor unit at a plant in Chester County, PA…
Read More “Williams Pre-Files with FERC to Expand Transco Pipeline in PA, NY”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Gary Evans, Ex-CEO of Magnum Hunter, Starts New O&G Company
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

Gary Evans

That didn’t take long. Gary Evan, former CEO of bankrupt Magnum Hunter Resources lost has job as CEO of the company post-bankruptcy, just last week (see Magnum Hunter Emerges from Bankruptcy with CEO Gary Evans Gone). He’s already started a new drilling company–this one aimed at scooping up leases in the oil-rich Permian Basin and Eagle Ford fields of Texas. Apparently the Marcellus/Utica, once the apple of Gary’s eye, has left a bad taste in his mouth. He’s already raising investment capital–from friends and family–for Energy Hunter Resources, as he’s calling it. Gary does love the “Hunter” name…
Read More “Gary Evans, Ex-CEO of Magnum Hunter, Starts New O&G Company”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Partisan PA Anti Groups in Urge Support of Onerous New DEP Regs
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

Two more partisan organizations in Pennsylvania are publicly supporting PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed redo of drilling regulations–regulations that threaten conventional and unconventional drilling in the state. The fact that the radical PA Trout Unlimited and the League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters of Pennsylvania are supporting the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s update of Rule 78 and 78a is all you need to know about just how bad a proposal it is. These groups join other anti-drilling groups in supporting the new rules (see PennFuture “Lauds” PA Vote to Accept Onerous New Drilling Regs). Wolf hopes by having such groups publicly endorse the changes, he can force it through…
Read More “Partisan PA Anti Groups in Urge Support of Onerous New DEP Regs”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Williams

Dela. Riverkeeper Launches Lawsuit Against Atlantic Sunrise Project
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

It’s time to sue THE Delaware Riverkeeper out of existence. The group is a litigious nuisance and anti-American. It is led by Maya van Rossum and fed by money from the Heinz Endowments and William Penn Foundation. Even with repeated calls the IRS has refused to investigate violations of the group’s non-profit status. The latest outrage from this group of virulent radicals is to launch a lawsuit to try and stop Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project through southeastern PA. Just last week Williams received a favorable Environmental Assessment (EA) from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Gets Positive EIS from FERC). That was all it took. The writing is on the wall that FERC will approve the project and Williams will build it. This is a last-ditch effort by van Rossum and other radicals to shut down the project…
Read More “Dela. Riverkeeper Launches Lawsuit Against Atlantic Sunrise Project”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Appalachia NARO Calls for Drilling in Wayne Natl Forest – NOW
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

Yesterday we reported that a group of Ohio landowners calling themselves LEASE (Landowners for Energy Access and Safe Exploration) are encouraging Ohio residents to write in support of drilling in the Wayne National Forest (see OH Landowners Urge BLM to Proceed with Wayne Natl Forest Drilling). The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been holding up drilling in WNF, even though some 60% of the mineral rights for the land in the forest is privately owned. Another landowner group has stepped up to add their voice–and to push back a little harder than LEASE has. The Appalachia chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) is calling on the BLM to allow drilling–now. NARO points out most of the mineral rights are privately owned–not controlled by the government. For the government to stop development of private land is an offense…
Read More “Appalachia NARO Calls for Drilling in Wayne Natl Forest – NOW”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Carl Icahn Installs New Puppet as CEO of Cheniere Energy
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

Carl Icahn is an evil corporate raider–a man who invests just enough in companies to control them, who then fires a bunch of people and sells off assets so the price of the stock will rise from his initial investment so he can turn around and sell the stock and screw another company. That’s what evil corporate raiders do. Icahn has lately spent his time in the oil and gas industry making trouble. Last December he fired the CEO of Cheneire Energy, Charif Souki (see Evil Corporate Raider Carl Icahn Claims Another CEO Scalp). Earlier this month he gloated about it (see Corp Raider Carl Icahn Admits He Fired Cheniere CEO Charif Souki). Since firing Souki, Icahn has been looking for the appropriate puppet to install who will do his bidding. He found one in Jack Fusco…
Read More “Carl Icahn Installs New Puppet as CEO of Cheniere Energy”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 13, 2016
May 13, 2016May 13, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: FERC wants more info on TGP 300 Line project; big divide between Ithaca and Watkins Glen; $48.8 billion worth of Marcellus/Utica deals in 5 years; Doylestown seeks a NEXUS reroute; new natgas-fired electric plant coming to Florida; o&g board members survive bankruptcy, sometimes; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 13, 2016”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

More Progress at Shell’s PA Ethane Cracker Plant Site
May 12, 2016May 12, 2016

Proposed Shell cracker plant site plan – click for larger version

All signs continue to point to a “go” decision for Shell’s planned ethane cracker plant facility in Monaca (Beaver County), PA. Shell has now spent over half a billion dollars out of a projected $2-$3 billion (25%) on the project already (see Shell has Spent “Half a Billion Dollars” on PA Cracker Already!). Last month a local mall owner said that Shell has leased part of the mall’s parking lot for big bucks (see More Evidence that the Shell Ethane Cracker Plant in PA is a Go). And just last week Shell’s CFO said the PA cracker project is “an excellent project” and they expect to make a decision soon (see Shell Says PA Cracker Decision Coming < 12 Months – Looking Good). We can throw a few more positive signs into the mix. A bridge Shell was building over top a local highway to give trucks easy access to the site is now complete. Shell has committed $69 million to build a new water treatment plant for the local town. And they are now building a new dock facility which, according to Shell, will be “critical” to building the new plant…
Read More “More Progress at Shell’s PA Ethane Cracker Plant Site”
Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Supply Chain

New Tech Converts NatGas into Ethylene, Bypassing Cracker Plants
May 12, 2016May 12, 2016

Siluria’s Oxidative Coupling of Methane to ethylene (OCM) demo plant in La Porte, Texas

Ethane cracker plants are big deals. We’ve been writing about cracker plants possibly coming to the northeast since 2012, when Shell first floated their idea for a plant and selected a site outside Pittsburgh, in Beaver County, PA (see Shell Announces Location of Ethane Cracker Plant). A cracker plant is a big deal for a couple of reasons. One reason is that building the plant generates thousands of short-term jobs and injects $2-$3 billion (or more!) into the local and regional economy. It’s an economic stimulus the federal government just can’t match–and it doesn’t come from taxpayer’s wallets! In addition, once the plant is built, manufacturing plants begin to locate around it, like mini-satellites. Why? Because an ethane cracker chemically “cracks” ethane turning it into ethylene, the raw material used to make plastics. And plastics are used in just about everything you touch every day. These satellite companies represent thousands of permanent jobs and perhaps an infusion of $15-$20 billion into the regional economy–off the charts! But what if cracker plants were not needed to create ethylene? What if you could bypass cracking ethane and instead go right from natural gas (or methane) to ethylene? That is the premise behind a disruptive new technology from Siluria Technologies. Siluria has operated a pilot plant in Texas for the past year that essentially converts methane into ethylene, without using ethane. Here’s the details…
Read More “New Tech Converts NatGas into Ethylene, Bypassing Cracker Plants”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Westmoreland County

Spectra Says PA Pipeline Explosion “Unacceptable,” Blames Pipe Tape
May 12, 2016May 12, 2016

Last night representatives from Spectra Energy held a town hall meeting at the Congruity Presbyterian Church in Westmoreland County, PA to discuss the explosion of Spectra’s Texas Eastern Transmission’s (TETCO) “Delmont Line 27” which exploded in Westmoreland County, PA on April 29 (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes near Pittsburgh, Antis Celebrate). Speaking and taking questions from the audience were Devin Hotzel, manager of stakeholder outreach, Tom Wooden, vice president of operations, Andy Drake, vice president of operations, and Randy Putt, local area manager. According to Spectra, they think a tape coating used on the welds of the pipeline is the culprit–having corroded over time. There may be other contributing factors, but right now they are concentrating on the tape coating which they say was only used for a short period of time–in the early 1980s when the pipeline was built. Here’s a report from the meeting…
Read More “Spectra Says PA Pipeline Explosion “Unacceptable,” Blames Pipe Tape”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Driller Wins Right to Nominate Candidates for CONSOL’s Board
May 12, 2016May 12, 2016

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer

The anti-drilling nutjobs who run the finances for New York City have been (potentially) successful in interfering with the operation of CONSOL Energy, a coal company rapidly transforming itself into a Marcellus/Utica driller. The Comptroller for New York City is Scott Stringer, a hardened leftist and anti-fossil fuel nutjob. He apparently likes to invest in fossil fuel companies with OPM (other people’s money) in order to try and shut them down. At least that’s the way it appears. He uses the pension funds of NYC residents to try and force the companies he invests in out of business. And somehow he gets elected and re-elected–go figure. Stringer sponsored a proxy resolution that passed at CONSOL’s annual meeting yesterday–a resolution that will allow any single investor owning 3% (or more) of the CONSOL’s stock for three consecutive years the ability to nominate a candidate to the board of directors. The board, of course, hires and fires top management and essentially guides the company on the path it wants the company to go. The proposed candidate must still pass a vote by all shareholders. If Stringer can motivate enough other investors, over time he may be able to get anti-fossil fuel candidates elected, which would be a disaster for the company. Needless to say, CONSOL’s management was not happy…
Read More “Anti-Driller Wins Right to Nominate Candidates for CONSOL’s Board”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Attorney Predicts DMA Ruling to Come Soon, Settle Now
May 12, 2016May 12, 2016

David J Wigham

MDN has been reporting on the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act (DMA) for years (see Video: OH Lawyers Explain Dormant Minerals Act & Impact on Utica). 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 have gone before the Ohio Supreme Court. Some of the minor cases have been decided (see Ohio Supreme Court Rules in Important Dormant Mineral Act Case). However, most of the big cases remain stalled at the Supreme Court. That is, until now. Ohio attorney David Wigham (Roetzel & Andress law firm) says there are signs that the Supremes are about to release a massive, all-in-one-go ruling on the DMA. He says if landowners (and drillers) were waiting to see which way the wind will blow, they may want to settle now before the Big Decision comes down…
Read More “OH Attorney Predicts DMA Ruling to Come Soon, Settle Now”