Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Fracking Legend Harold Hamm – Next Secretary of Energy?
July 22, 2016July 22, 2016

Harold Hamm

Harold Hamm is the legendary CEO of Continental Resources. Hamm is, along with George Mitchell, Aubrey McClendon, and a few others, one of the original pioneers who figured out how to combine fracking with horizontal drilling to access previously-trapped oil in shale deposits. Hamm’s claim to fame is drilling in the mighty Bakken oil fields of North Dakota. Harold Hamm is, by all accounts, one of the biggest frackers in the world. Hamm addressed the Republican National Convention this week, at the request and invitation of Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump. We are super excited to fan the flames of the rumor mill. Hamm is a leading contender to be the Secretary of the Dept. of Energy under a President Trump. What a coup! Can you imagine having someone who “gets it” with respect to the energy industry guiding the agency tasked with developing our national energy policy? Someone like Hamm who would have the President’s ear? This is VERY exciting…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jul 22, 2016
July 22, 2016July 22, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Fractivist puts on doctor’s clothese to hide hypocrisy; NH steam plant closing, customers switch to natgas; US drillers cutting another $150 billion in spending in 2017; Range shareholders meet to vote on MRD merger in Sept; Canada turning away from US to sell oil abroad; and more!
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Spectra Energy | Westmoreland County

Feds Find More Corrosion, Issue Order re Exploded TETCO Pipe in PA
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

An update on Spectra Energy’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). We previously told you that not only was Line 27 out of commission, so too were three other pipelines running through the same corridor, meaning 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day is not reaching certain mid-Atlantic markets (see Update on Spectra Pipeline Explosion Near Pittsburgh). The early evidence points to corrosion along welded seams, although the jury is still out and the exact cause may not be known for months. One of the four lines that was offline (Line 19) was examined and certified by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in early May to go back online (see TETCO Pipeline Up & Running Post-Explosion; Antis Exploit Accident). However, the other three lines have remained idle pending further investigation and won’t be online again until at least November (see Ruptured TETCO Pipeline in PA Offline Until November). In an order issued on Tuesday, federal regulators with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) are requiring Spectra Energy to perform more testing and take corrective actions on the remaining three lines. Although the cause of the explosion is still not 100% verified, it’s still thought to be corrosion around welded pipe joints, i.e. bad pipe tape…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monongalia County | Research | West Virginia

Independent Research @ WVU Concludes Frack Waste is Safe
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

In November 2014 MDN told you that West Virginia University and Ohio State University received an $11 million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy for a joint five-year study of Marcellus/Utica fracking and shale drilling (see WVU/OSU Get $11M Grant to Study Shale Energy Best Practices). The research project promptly got under way with baseline measurements and monitoring at the Morgantown (WV) Industrial Park where a new first-of-its-kind Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory will be located. With baseline measurements for air, noise, light and water at the site complete, the drill bit to start chewing away at rock and dirt in June (see Drilling for WVU/OSU’s $11M Study Gets Underway in Morgantown). We already have some of the first results from the WVU researchers, who have studied drilling wastes produced at two research wells. What did they find? Drilling wastes coming from the wells are far below federal guidelines for radioactive or hazardous waste. That is, they’ve found frack waste is safe. Some of the reason may be due to the “green” drilling mud being used at the site…
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Atlas Energy | Energy Companies

Atlas Resource Partners Close to Chapter 11, NYSE De-lists Units
July 21, 2016July 26, 2016

Atlas Resource Partners (ARP) is a publicly-traded exploration and production master limited partnership (“MLP”) with operations in basins across the United States, including the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. ARP is a subsidiary of Atlas Energy Partners (AEP), which owns 100% of the general partner interest, all the incentive distribution rights and an approximately 23% of the limited partner interest in ARP. Essentially ARP is a big division of AEP. Atlas, as we’ve pointed out in the past, has sold most of its Marcellus assets in two huge deals: a $4.3 billion deal with Chevron in 2011 and in a $7.7 billion deal with Targa Resources in 2014. Atlas operates mostly conventional (some unconventional) oil and gas wells in a number of states: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Alabama, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. In February MDN broke the news that Atlas had laid off 150 employees (see Atlas Energy Issues 2015 Update + More Details on Company Layoffs). In March, we reported that AEP had lost its listing on the New York Stock Exchange and began trading on the Pink Sheets as a penny stock (see Atlas Energy “Penny Stocks” Begin Trading Today on OTCQX). ARP is following suit. Last week ARP reported the NYSE is in the processing of de-listing ARP’s units (the MLP equivalent of stocks). In addition to that news, we have some analysis below from a Seeking Alpha writer that ARP is heading for Chapter 11 bankruptcy…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Lebanon County | Monroe County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco | Williams

PA Game Commission Cuts ROW Deal with Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline map – click for larger version

More progress for the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. It is a much-needed pipeline to move more Marcellus gas south, to new markets. The progress is this: the Pennsylvania Game Commission has cut a right-of-way deal to allow the pipeline to traverse game lands in northern Lebanon County–including a crossing of the Appalachian Trail. But have no fear, Williams plans to drill under the Trail and not disturb the surface. In return for the right to cross a few acres of certain state-owned game lands in Lebanon County, the state is picking up a whopping 285 acres owned by Williams in Monroe and Lackawanna counties…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Constitution Pipeline Gets a Little (Court) Help from Its Friends
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

Constitution Pipeline map – click for larger version

In perhaps the sleaziest of sleazy political moves, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the non-science-based political decision to deny the Constitution Pipeline stream crossing permits in April (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). The man is a menace to all New Yorkers. He caves to his radical, fringe left on a regular basis, as he did with his decision to deny the Constitution Pipeline. Williams, Cabot and the other partners in the project aren’t taking it laying down. They sued New York State in federal court with the very real possibility that the court will neuter NY’s decision-making role in the project (see Williams Sues NY Over Constitution Pipe – DEC May Lose Authority). The Constitution doesn’t stand alone. A number of national industry organizations are coming to the Constitution’s defense. On Tuesday the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) and other groups together filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. “Amicus curiae” means “friend of the court” in Latin. The brief (full copy below) makes the point that states should not be the tail that wags the federal-oversight-of-such-projects dog. That is, the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is preventing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from doing its job. One government entity (especially a state) cannot block the power and authority of another government entity (in particular the federal government)…
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Energy Services | Halliburton

Halliburton 2Q16: $3.2B Loss, Lays Off Another 5K, Thx to Obama DOJ
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

The second-largest oilfield services company in the world, Halliburton (once run by the evil puppet-master himself, Dick Cheney) issued their second quarter 2016 financial and operating update yesterday. The company reports losing $3.2 billion during 2Q16, largely because the Obama Dept. of Justice nixed a buyout of Baker Hughes by Halliburton, which triggered a $3.5 billion payment from Halliburton to BH (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated” and The Road Ahead for Baker Hughes – Post Halliburton Deal). Halliburton also reports revenue fell 15% and they laid off another 5,000 workers during the quarter. Here’s the update…
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CNG/LNG | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Bear Head LNG Parent Lays off 13 People, “LNG…difficult market”
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

We’ve previously reported on a number of LNG (liquefied natural gas) export projects planned for the eastern shore of Canada. There are four to five such projects, depending on how you count them. However, one of those projects–Bear Head LNG in Nova Scotia–seems to have the most momentum. It seems the project has received most (if not all) of the necessary permits it needs to proceed, the most recent one issued just last week (see Bear Head LNG Gets GHG Plan Approval from Nova Scotia). However, the parent company building Bear Head LNG, Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (headquartered in Australia), reports laying off a group of 13 high level executives in a bid to save money. With tens of thousands of people losing their jobs over the past few years, a company laying off 13 people seems pretty minor. But the way LNG Limited is presenting the news, and the way it’s being covered in the media, it makes us wonder about the financial stability of the company and indeed the future of the Bear Head LNG project. After all, if they fire 13 people to save what amounts to $3.15 million (A$4.2 million), and a project like Bear Head costs billions of dollars to build, oy vey!…
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CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Carl Icahn’s Cheniere CEO Buys 37,604 Shares of Stock
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

Jack Fusco

After firing Cheniere Energy’s CEO and co-founder last December, Charif Souki, corporate raider Carl Icahn then installed his own puppet to run the LNG exporting company (see Carl Icahn Installs New Puppet as CEO of Cheniere Energy). The man Carl hired is Jack Fusco. Apparently Jack is confident in himself and in the future of Cheniere. After all, people like Icahn buy just enough stock to control the company, then they fire a bunch of people and sell off assets in a bid to raise the stock price so they can sell and exit with gobs of money in their pockets. That’s what evil corporate raiders do. Back to Jack. Fusco is reported to have snapped up $1.5 million worth of Cheniere’s stock a few days ago. Which makes us wonder–what does Jack know that we don’t?…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Quick Primer on U.S. Electric Grid & How it Works
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

As we’ve been saying for well more than a year now, it’s important to understand the electric generation market because natural gas and electric generation are joined at the hip. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says that natural gas will power more electric generation in this country than another other source, including coal, THIS YEAR (see EIA Says NatGas-Fired PowerGen to Reach New Record High in 2016). The bright minds at EIA have just issued what we would call a tutorial on how the electric grid works in the U.S. It’s carved up into regions (called interconnections) and smaller networks exist within those regions to ensure reliability and backup. Here’s a quick and excellent look at how electric generation works in the U.S….
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jul 21, 2016
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Ohio natgas production up 1000% in 10 years; antis plot to compare fracking with Zika virus; PA health report destroys “fracking causes asthma” study; Vermont scales back on renewables; searching for gas under Jackson, MI; Obama spending your money to give solar panels to poor people; end of the road for Stone; and more!
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Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA July DPR: Utica Only Play with Increased NatGas Production
July 20, 2016July 20, 2016

Earlier this week 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 EIA projects natural gas production cumulatively across all shale plays will once again fall in August–the sixth consecutive month it will have fallen. However, unlike the July projection (see EIA June DPR: The Worm Turns for Utica NatGas Production), natgas production in the Utica will go up by a fraction. The projection last month was that July’s Utica production would, for the first time, go down. So it’s good to see a reversal in the Utica. The Marcellus, on the other hand, continues to bleed off production, although at a slower rate than it had been (down 51 million cubic feet per day–or MMcf/d–in last month’s report, down only 26 MMcf/d in this month’s report). Shale oil production is also forecast to drop once again in the next month. Here’s the lowdown from the EIA…
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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Sham “Study” from Johns Hopkins Says Fracking Makes Athsma Worse
July 20, 2016July 20, 2016

The anti-frackers at the Johns Hopkins-Bloomberg School of Public Health are out with another bought-and-paid-for (by anti-drillers) “study” that implies the presence of fracking in Pennsylvania leads to causing or making worse asthma attacks. You may recall the same group of antis pushed out a study last October that supposedly shows fracking leads to premature births (see New Junk Science Claims PA Fracking Leads to Premature Births). That study was quickly debunked (see EID’s Devastating Critique of PA Premature Birth “Study” and Another Devastating Critique of Fracking/Premature Birth “Study”). This newest study, “Association Between Unconventional Natural Gas Development in the Marcellus Shale and Asthma Exacerbations,” evaluates thousands of health records from the Geisinger Clinic in PA, looking for patterns between people showing up with asthmatic symptoms and correlating it to how close they live to shale wells being drilled. The incredible thing about this latest run at smearing the miracle of fracking is this: the authors (most of them students) admit in their own study they only have theories, no proof that ties fracking to asthma. You read that right–there is no proof, no smoking gun. Only wild theories that are unsupported by the data. Yet fawning (and frankly stupid) reporters at places like the AP, PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania and USA Today are trumpeting this “study” as scientific proof of a link that fracking kills ya. It seems the Johns Hopkins-Bloomberg School of Public Health doesn’t produce science–it produces politics dressed up as science…
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Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Range Resources Corp | Rice Energy

Which 5 Companies Dominate Production in the SW Marcellus?
July 20, 2016July 21, 2016

7/21/16 Update: Please see our note below updating production numbers to include Antero Resources in the top tier of Marcellus producers.

Which companies “dominate” the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania? It depends on how you define “dominate.” Typically that means “which companies produce the most natural gas and/or oil from the Marcellus play.” That makes sense. We spotted an article on The Motley Fool investors’ website on that very topic. However, the Fool article was titled “The 5 Companies Dominating the Marcellus Shale Play.” In reading it, we immediately knew this was tilted to the SWPA area and not all of the PA Marcellus because the three most productive drillers in the entire Marcellus–Chesapeake Energy, Cabot Oil & Gas, and Southwestern Energy–weren’t in the Fool’s Top 5 list! Below we have a portion of the Fool article because it’s still interesting to see which companies are dominate in the SWPA area. We also have a list of the top 20 Marcellus producers for the entire state of PA–including those located and operating mainly in the NE portion of the play…
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Commodity Price | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Range Resources Corp

Which 3 Marc. Drillers Best Able to Ride Price Roller Coaster?
July 20, 2016July 20, 2016

Click for larger version

The price of natural gas at the benchmark Henry Hub trading point has slow risen through the spring and summer–in particular since June (see the chart at left). A collective sigh of relief has come from investors, traders, drillers and just about everyone. But don’t break out the party hats just yet. Analysts are warning that “the party is already coming to an end.” The stark reality is this: the price of natural gas is and will gyrate up and down. That is, the price of natgas is highly volatile and remain so for the foreseeable future. Why? Lots of reasons. Weather is always a big factor. When it’s real hot or real cold, natgas is used to heat or cool, drawing down reserves and boosting the price. When storage levels get high (too much supply, not enough demand), the price goes down. New markets appear to soak up some of the supply, like more electric plants converting to natgas or being built to use natgas, less supply, price goes higher. Hey, it’s complicated. The question is, which Marcellus drillers (i.e. “producers”) are best positioned to ride out these gyrating up and down cycles when it comes to the price natgas will fetch? An analyst with S&P Global Market Intelligence believes he has the answer to that question…
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