Critical Project for Canadian LNG Exports Gets Favorable FERC Review
Spectra Energy’s Atlantic Bridge project has just gotten an important “favorable” Environmental Assessment (EA) from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A favorable EA is a signal that FERC will, later this year, grant a full approval for the project. And that’s really good news for Canadian LNG export plants–and equally good news for Marcellus drillers. Here’s how this news all ties together. The Atlantic Bridge project is a series of upgrades to two different pipeline systems already in existence: the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) pipeline and the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (M&NE). The two pipelines will be connected along the coast of Massachusetts, near Boston. Thing is, right now the M&NE flow gas from north to south, from Canada to the U.S. Part of the Atlantic Bridge project is to make M&NE bidirectional, able to flow gas from south to north. The AGT will collect gas from the prolific Marcellus via a third Spectra-owned pipeline–the Texas Eastern Transmission Company (TETCO) pipeline–delivering Marcellus gas to New England. Yes, much/most of the gas will go to New England, but excess gas produced during periods of the year when not as much gas is used in New England will then be available to flow on up to Canada and to one of several new LNG export facilities either in planning or under construction. It all starts with a favorable EA…
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It was four years ago last month that BP entered the Utica Shale in a big way by signing a lease with members of the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley (ALOV) group to lease 84,000 acres in Trumbull County, OH (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that the Halliburton buyout of Baker Hughes is now officially dead (see 
Crazy Bernie Sanders believes that we can just stop fracking for oil and gas, and turn off our nuclear plants, and sing Kumbaya to each other and usher in the nirvana age of Bernie renewable energy. What a dope. The people who support him are bigger dopes (sorry if you’re a Bernie supporter–but you need to wise up, quick). Below is a column that points out that shale gas and nuclear are the PROVEN path to a lower carbon emissions future–not reverting back to the stone ages with everyone parking their cars and turning down the thermostat. Carbon emissions in the U.S. have gone down faster than anywhere else in the world–BEFORE Obama’s idiotic Clean Power Plan and BEFORE any of the draconian measures cooked up by the out-of-control federal Environmental Protection Agency. Why? Because of the dramatic increase in the use of shale gas to power energy plants. And because nuclear powers energy plants. Here’s the story Crazy Bernie doesn’t want you think about (thinking not a requirement to be a Bernie supporter)…
EPIX is on the way. What is it? A joint venture between Weir Oil & Gas, the world’s leading provider of upstream pressure pumping equipment, and Rolls-Royce Power Systems subsidiary MTU, a market leader in heavy-duty industrial power systems based on diesel and gas engines. EPIX will provide the drilling industry’s first integrated system for hydraulic fracturing. Here’s the low down on the Rolls-Royce of fracking…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Inside Climate News should be a RICO target; National Oilwell Varco cuts 6,000 jobs, closes 200 facilities; Clean Energy signs LNG deal with Hawaii Gas; Exxon Mobil reaches for the credit card; Enbridge considers dumping U.S. natgas business; and more!
There was an explosion and fire in Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission’s “Delmont Line 27” pipeline last Friday. The explosion occurred in Salem Township (Westmoreland County), PA, about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. One man was seriously burned when his house caught on fire (his house was destroyed). Nine homes in the area of the explosion/blaze were evacuated. As of yesterday six of the nine were able to return to their homes. Texas Eastern Transmission is one of the largest natural gas pipelines in the U.S.–running from the Gulf Coast through Marcellus/Utica country to New Jersey. The really disgusting part was the way the NJ chapter of the radical Sierra Club immediately, with a few hours, used the explosion by implying this is what awaits homeowners if the PennEast Pipeline is built. FYI, the Texas Eastern pipeline was built in 1981 and the portion that exploded was last inspected in 2012. Below are pieces of news accounts and the running response from Spectra about the accident…
It’s a sad day for Halliburton and Baker Hughes. The two companies intended to get married, with Halliburton buying out BH and merging it in a deal worth $35 billion (see 
Ultra Petroleum, based in Houston, TX, is an independent exploration and production (E&P) company mainly focused on drilling in the Green River Basin of Wyoming. Ultra also drills for oil in the Uinta Basin/Three Rivers area in Utah. In addition, Ultra maintains a position in the Pennsylvania Marcellus shale with leases on 184,000 gross (91,000 net) acres–no small amount. They aren’t currently drilling on their Marcellus acreage, but if prices change, they likely would. That is, if they make it through bankruptcy. On Friday Ultra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Houston. The company listed $1.28 billion in assets and $3.92 billion in debt. One (we would say stupid) investor owns a whopping $1.46 billion in unsecured IOUs (i.e. notes) from Ultra. Good luck with getting that paid. Here’s the low down on Ultra’s bankruptcy filing…
Reuters has written a wide ranging article on Magnum Hunter Resources (MHR) and the results of bankruptcy. The article implies MHR is nearly out of bankruptcy now (although it looks to us like a hearing in June will likely be the grande finale). The deal that MHR cut with debtors was to turn their debt into equity–note and bond holders are now stockholders. So MHR CEO Gary Evans now has a new board of directors composed of the new owners of the company. The problem is, the investors who used to hold stock in the company before bankruptcy have essentially lost their ownership–with the value of their previously issued stock now worthless. At least that’s our understanding of how this works (we’re open to being corrected on this). The Reuters article does a close-up of Gary Evans and recounts how he assured investors that a major asset sale was in the works that would save the company–shortly before he had the company file for bankruptcy. Some investors are not very happy with Mr. Evans over what they consider a deceptive practice…
Cabot Oil & Gas issued their first quarter 2016 update last Friday. The company reports losing $51 million in 1Q16 (compared to making a $40 million profit in 1Q15) because the price for natural gas slide 40% last year. Production numbers continue to impress. While they operate just a single rig in the PA Marcellus (in Susquehanna County), Cabot’s production increased 10% from 4Q15 to a whopping 1.628 million cubic feet per day average. In addition to the official update, we also selected out portions of Friday’s analyst phone call with Cabot’s top management. Among the topics discussed: the Constitution Pipeline, Cabot’s love of the PA Marcellus, “keep it in the ground” anti-drilling nutjobs and more…
A circuit court judge recently ruled on a case in West Virginia with implications for unitization or pooling. No, NOT forced pooling–or forcing landowners who haven’t signed a lease into a drilling unit, forcing drilling under their land. That’s not what this case was about. This case was about landowners with an already-signed lease for vertical wells now being used to allow that land to be pooled with other land and a horizontal well allowed to be drilled under it. The landowners, who wanted a new lease for horizontal drilling (and more money, which is reasonable in our opinion) said because the lease was silent on the matter of pooling or unitizing, it should not be allowed. The judge disagreed and found in favor of the energy company, in this case American Energy…
As we pointed out to you last December, evil corporate raider Carl Icahn (invests in companies so he can fire a bunch of people, boost the stock and pocket the profit) had fired Cheniere Energy CEO Charif Souki (see