Cabot Cuts Deal to Supply PA’s Largest NatGas-Fired Electric Plant
The pieces of a very complicated puzzle continue to fall into place to build what will be Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating power plant in Lackawanna County, PA–near Scranton. Invenergy plans to build the Lackawanna Energy Center, a 1,480 megawatt plant in Jessup, PA that will cost “well over $1 billion” according to an exclusive MDN source working on the project (not $500 million as we previously estimated). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the plant last December (see PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant). The locals in Jessup approved the project in March of this year (see Jessup Borough Final Approval for PA’s Largest NatGas Power Plant). The plant will use up to 240,000 dekatherms (or 240 million cubic feet) of natural gas per day. We’ve reported on two different companies that building pipelines to the plant to supply it–UGI and Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (see UGI to Feed Jessup, PA Electric Plant with Marcellus Shale Gas and NEPA Pipeline for Power Plant Gets Positive FERC Assessment). One of the final pieces is, who will provide the natural gas that flows through those pipelines and powers the plant? We now have the answer. Cabot Oil & Gas yesterday announced a 10-year deal to provide Marcellus Shale gas from Susquehanna County to power the plant…
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As we do every month, MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for when/if the drop in rig counts for the Marcellus/Utica will turn around. Patterson operates a number of rigs in the northeast, as well as other areas of the continental United States (and Canada). Month by month Paterson’s rig count has declined over the past year plus. We have been waiting for over a year to report this: We’ve finally turned the corner! The Patterson rig count in June ticked up by 2 rigs–to 55 active rigs (up from 53 in May). Perhaps it’s too early to pop the cork on the champagne, but we are excited and hope/think this portends the slow down has finally hit rock bottom and new drilling is, ever so gradually, beginning to pick up again…
Earlier this month MDN shared with you the news that Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH had filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Beck Energy to prevent drilling–after already losing a similar case before the Ohio Supreme Court (see 
MDN has previously reported on efforts in Pennsylvania to substitute a so-called “gross receipts tax” (GRT) on natural gas for a severance tax as a way to raise millions of dollars for Democrats’ voracious appetite to spend money (see 
The litigious Sierra Club, an environmental organization that may have been founded for good reasons long ago but has become radicalized in their opposition to all fossil fuels, was dealt a serious legal blow last week. None other than the very liberal District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Sierra Club–responding to a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club that tries to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider factors not within their purview when deciding on whether or not to issue permits for LNG (liquefied natural gas) facilities. The court decision directly affects two Gulf Coast LNG facilities but also has implications for the Cove Point, Maryland LNG export facility currently under construction by Dominion, now about half completed. The Sierra Club tried to argue that the more LNG you export, the more drilling (i.e. “upstream”) activity is needed, and drilling activity and what it produces (natural gas) is causing man-made global warming. Ergo FERC should be required to consider those “impacts” when making its decision on permitting such facilities. The problem is, under FERC’s charter they are specifically NOT allowed to consider such peripheral considerations. FERC is to make its decisions based on real science: Would a potential project impact the local ecology and environment in a negative way? If so, it doesn’t get a permit. The normally chatty Sierra Club went silent following the court’s decision…
Last week MDN reported that Southwestern Energy, a major Marcellus/Utica driller, was floating up to 86 million shares of new stock looking to raise $1.1 billion (see 
Seems this is the week to report on stock offerings. Last week Eclipse Resources, like Southwestern Energy, announced a new stock offering. And like Southwestern (see today’s companion story), Eclipse completed the offering yesterday. Eclipse, a pure play driller focused on the Marcellus/Utica, had planned to sell up to 43 million shares hoping to raise $131 million (see 
Rex Energy, now a pure play driller focused on the Marcellus/Utica (see 
MDN has long pointed out that the United States has more natural gas reserves than any other country on earth, dethroning Russia years ago on that score–thanks to the shale revolution and the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. We’ve often heard the phrase that “the U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” But what’s this? A new research report issued by the respected Rystad Energy, an independent oil and gas consulting service, finds that the U.S. is now the Saudi Arabia of oil too! That is, the U.S. has more oil reserves, because of shale, than Saudi Arabia. Fracking has handed the U.S. what we’ve wanted for years–total energy independence from the tyrants in OPEC…
We hear it time and again when visiting rallies and talks by fossil fuel haters: The U.S. could transition to so-called renewable energy sources (like solar and wind) TODAY, right now, if we only had the “will” to do it. Having the will to do it typically means mass starvation and death, turning thermostats down to 50 degrees in the winter and the like. But these nutjobs conveniently leave out that part when they talk. The bare naked truth is that fossil fuels are here to stay for AT LEAST the next two generations, and perhaps longer. How do we know? Try this fact on for size (from the U.S. Energy Information Administration): Three fossil fuels–petroleum, natural gas, and coal–have provided more than 80% of total U.S. energy consumption for more than 100 years. In 2015, fossil fuels made up 81.5% of total U.S. energy consumption. It is beyond ludicrous to declare that we can end fossil fuel use any time within the next 100 years–and people who say otherwise are either lying, or delusional. Here’s an update on fossil fuels and their continuing dominance in the U.S….
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Baker Hughes rig count steady in the Marcellus/Utica; New York scrambles to answer why it gives natgas glowing remarks in report; Cuomo’s flotilla folly; PA’s budget logjam; natgas price volatility; how fracking has improved lives; Range Resources makes money at $2.55 natgas; Big Solar leaving Little Solar behind; corruption in the climate industry; Germany backpedals on CO2 plan; and more!
Nearly half of the Williams board (6 of 14 board members) were part of a cabal that tried to force the company to sell itself to Energy Transfer Equity–a deal that went horribly wrong. Following the aborted merger, six of Williams’ board members tried to engineer a palace coup to depose current CEO Alan Armstrong. The coup failed and the board members were either forced out, or resigned in disgust (we’re not sure). Either way, it’s good news for Williams and their operations in the northeast. Among the board members pushing for a sale to ETE (and pushing for the ouster of Armstrong) was Keith Meister, a disciple and student of evil corporate raider Carl Icahn (see 
In April MDN told you about Chesapeake Energy’s deal with bankers to reaffirm their $4 billion line of credit (see 
In 2008 Dominion approached oil and gas producers in West Virginia, before the Marcellus Shale was a household word, looking to build a pipeline for “several hundred million dollars” (ended up costing $750 million). Dominion held several meetings and told West Virginia’s independent natural gas producers that the producers would need to commit to firm transportation if they wanted to sell their natural gas. At those meetings Dominion handed out forms asking producers to write down how much production they might have for firm commitment. Following the meetings, producers received contracts in the mail “out of the blue” with a very short deadline and a not-so-subtle threat that if they wanted to sell their gas, they would sign on the dotted line. The producers say they were pressured into signing a 10-year deal. Dominion’s Appalachian Gateway Project, with 110 miles of new pipeline and upgrades to several compressor stations, went online in September 2012 (see 
Pennsylvania legislators went home for the long Fourth of July holiday weekend without a final budget in place. The clock is ticking. The spending part of the budget–some $31.5 billion (a massive amount) has been agreed to by both the Republican-controlled legislature and Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf. However, the budget needs to find another $1.5 billion to fund it–the shortfall in the current plan. Wolf wants “sustainable revenue”–by which he means permanent tax increases on something. Wolf’s preference is to slap a Marcellus Shale-killing severance tax on the natural gas industry. That’s a non-starter for the Republican-controlled legislature–people who actually know how economics work. It does appear the two sides are close to getting the budget passed. This week should tell the tale of how the state plans to raise enough money to bridge the shortfall…
A new bill in the Pennsylvania legislature, Senate Bill (SB) 1327 looks to undo some of the damage done by the now departed anti-drilling Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently introduced draconian new rules to govern methane emissions from oil and gas drilling (see