Marcellus Drilling News

Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

Small NatGas Electric Plant Proposed for Delaware Data Center
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

Today MDN published an article about a proposed natural gas-fired electric plant planned for Ohio (see New Utica-Powered Electric Plant Proposed for Guernsey County, OH). Contrast that article about an 1,100 megawatt plant and its tone of “this is great, look t the jobs it will bring and the energy it will produce” to an article about a data center in Middletown, Delaware. The builders of a proposed data center need a lot of electricity (all those computers use a lot of electricity)–so they filed an application to build their own 52.5 megawatt natgas electric power generating plant. The Delaware plant will produce about 4% of the electricity produced by the proposed Ohio plant. And yet the article about the Delaware proposal is alarmist–as if this tiny little plant will poison the air the neighbors breathe. We find it amusing…
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Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Corporation of America | EQT Corp | Noble Energy | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Rex Energy | Rice Energy | Statewide PA | Vantage Energy | XTO

Top 10 Marcellus/Utica Drillers in SWPA – Ranked by Production
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

Everybody loves a list. We do too! We spotted a ranking in a recent issue of the Pittsburgh Business Times that lists the top 37 shale gas producers in southwestern Pennsylvania, based on the amount of gas they produced in 2015. We pulled the names of the top 10, listed in order from most to least…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

PA DEP’s $8.9M Methane Migration Fine Appealed by Range Resources
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

Last June the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) sent Range Resource a notice they planned to fine the company a whopping $8.9 million for methane migration into water wells and a nearby stream in Lycoming County, PA (see PA DEP Slaps Range with Record $8.9M Fine for Methane Migration). The DEP said the Range well, drilled in 2011, had been leaking methane since at least 2013 (improperly cemented well casing) and the methane had “contaminated the groundwater-fed wells of private water supplies, and a nearby stream.” But the DEP never actually sent a bill for the fine to Range. Why? Because Range immediately appealed the DEP’s initial notice to the PA Environmental Hearing Board. It now appears the appeal process will drag on at least until the dog days of summer–in July…
Read More “PA DEP’s $8.9M Methane Migration Fine Appealed by Range Resources”
Energy Companies | Rex Energy

Sigh of Relief for Rex Energy: Noteholders Agree to 2nd Lien Deal
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

As we previously reported, Rex Energy, a small Marcellus/Utica driller headquartered in State College, PA, had offered to refinance its notes (i.e. IOUs) so the notes expire later, meaning they don’t have to cough up cash sooner to pay off the debt (see Rex Energy Offers to Refinance Outstanding IOUs). With few takers for a second lien, Rex then offered to sweeten the deal (see Rex Energy Extends & Sweetens Offer to Refi Outstanding IOUs). Rex finally closed out the offer last week. They had hoped to refi up to $675 million worth of outstanding notes. In the end, they got 94% of the noteholders to spring for the deal (sigh of relief at Rex)…
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Allegheny County | Meetings | Pennsylvania

MDN Subscriber Does Bang-Up Job as Moderator at NE O&G Awards
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

Charlie Schliebs

Each year the Oil & Gas Awards hosts an industry summit followed by an award ceremony in various locations across the country. For the past couple of years MDN editor Jim Willis has been a moderator at the summit. However, Jim could not attend the event held last week in Pittsburgh (see Winners of 2016 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards [FREE Access]). So in his place, Jim nominated Charlie Schliebs, Co-founder and Managing Director at Stone Pier Capital Advisors in Pittsburgh (and long-time MDN subscriber), to be moderator. By all accounts from those we’ve corresponded with, Charlie did a magnificent job. His was the one session reported on by NGI’s Shale Daily (see below). We’d like to once again thank Charlie for his willingness to moderate and for the great job he did. We sincerely hope he puts next year’s event on his calendar! Charlie wrote the following post on LinkedIn about the experience…
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Energy Companies | EXCO Resources

EXCO Reaffirms No New Marcellus Drilling in 2016, Capex Cut 69%
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

On March 1 EXCO Resources issued a press release with fourth quarter and full year 2015 results. In the release EXCO, once a sizable player in the Marcellus with 145,000 net acres in the Marcellus and having drilled and operating 124 horizontal Marcellus wells, said there would be no new Marcellus drilling in 2015 (see EXCO: No Marcellus Drilling in 2015/2016, NYSE Threatens Delisting). Last week EXCO reaffirmed that sentiment, saying they are cutting capital expenditures by 69% in 2016 over what they spent in 2015. EXCO spent $277 million last year, and now plans to spend $85 million this year. The only place they plan to spend money on drilling is a few wells in the Haynesville Shale. Also of note, their borrowing base went down…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Democrat Attorney Generals Back Away from Al Gore, NY AG
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

Remember the story we ran last week noting a big climate change meeting in New York City where Al Gore partnered up with the New York’s odious, anti-drilling Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to smear fossil fuel companies and threaten them with lawsuits if they don’t admit global warming is real and that their companies are killing the earth (see Climate Change Hucksters, Incl. NY AG & Al Gore, Threaten O&G)? Along with Gore and Schneiderman there were attorneys general from 11 states also attending–and got their picture taken with the King of Climate Change himself. Turns out it was all just a photo op. While Gore and Schneiderman wanted the world to think that all of these states are prepared to sue fossil fuel companies, the attorneys general from 9 of the 11 states are backing away. They don’t want to sue fossil fuel companies. Only California and Massachusetts joined New York in the threat. So the entire thing was a charade, a scam, one more in a line of scams from Gore…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Apr 4, 2016
April 4, 2016April 4, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Antero Midstream is bullish about wastewater; Gastar faces borrowing base blow due to late Marcellus sale; solar farm developers target upstate NY farmers; CELDF failed initiatives cost Youngstown taxpayers $80K so far; Philly energy hub concept struggles; US rig count hits all time low again; good news & bad news on America’s leaking methane; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Apr 4, 2016”
Allegheny County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Winners of 2016 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards [FREE Access]
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

Earlier this week (March 30th) the 2016 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards and Industry Summit was held in Pittsburgh. Once again the Awards and the Summit were a smashing success. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners! Each year the Oil & Gas Awards recognize organizations operating responsibly and supporting the communities they operate within. Now in their 4th year, the Oil & Gas Awards are judged by over 100 senior industry professionals. Partners in the Northeast Awards are The US Chamber of Commerce, The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, The Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Western Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association. Here is a complete list of the winners, by category…
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Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Chesapeake Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Rice Energy | Susquehanna County | Washington County

Top 10 Shale Wells of 2015 for Marcellus, Utica, Entire Country
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

Rystad Energy Ranks, a data company based in Norway, hosts web-based portal with easy-to-use access data on oil and gas wells around the globle. They call their service “Rystad Energy cubes.” Rystead has made a wealth of data available in predefined “ranking lists” where the user can change filter settings to drill into and slice and dice the data. They call it their “database list format Ranks.” Up to now, Rystad Energy cubes have been available only through Rystad Energy’s proprietary Cube Browser. With “Ranks” users can now access predefined analyses based on the same databases. The really cool thing? They offer the “top 10” for various queries absolutely free. No registration required. We took it for a spin and produced Top 10 lists for Marcellus Shale well production in 2015, Utica Shale well production in 2015, and all American shale wells for 2015. As you might imagine being an MDN reader, most of the wells in the “all American” list are wells located in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Crude Oil | Industrywide Issues | Research

Top 10 Largest Publicly Traded Oil & Gas Companies in the World
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

No doubt about it–oil and gas are joined at the hip. Bosom buddies. Blood brothers. When you talk about the top oil companies in the world, you’re also talking about the top natural gas companies. It’s a rare oil borehole that also doesn’t produce “associated” natgas–either a little or a lot. Earlier this week the Forbes magazine website published a list of the Top 25 publicly traded oil companies in the world. Interesting factoid: 7 of the top 25 publicly traded oil companies are headquartered in the U.S. Another factoid: Even though the price for oil decreased by more than 50% over the past year, production of oil in the U.S. went up nearly 11%–thanks to shale. Below we’ve grabbed some of the commentary from the Forbes article, along with the Top 10 (of the Top 25) list of the largest oil companies in the world…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Services | Huntingdon County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

‘Wackos in the Trees’ Protest Continues in Huntingdon County, PA
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

Yesterday we told you about a Big Green effort to stop tree clearing for the Mariner East 2 pipeline in Huntingdon County, PA–about a young woman who climbed 40 feet up a tree to sit in a tree house so crews could not cut down the trees around her (see PA Anti Literally Goes Up a Tree to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipeline). She’s still “up a tree.” Looks like her publicity stunt worked because starting today crews can’t legally cut any more trees for fear of hurting an Indiana bat. (We say it’s more than bats that are batty in Huntingdon County.) The young woman’s mother, who happens to own the property and the trees, was arrested approaching the cutting crews (after being told by a judge to stay away) because, she says, she feared they would cut a tree close to her ~~blithering idiot~~ daughter and hurt her. There’s also another nutter up a tree on the property. Even though the tree climbers prevented harvesting of a few trees, Sunoco Logistics, the builder of the pipeline, says it’s no big deal–they got almost all of the trees cut they needed to and come fall it won’t take long to nip the last few. Here’s how anti-drilling PBS (funded in part with taxpayer dollars) reported the ongoing “tree-sit,” as they call it…
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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Philly Green Group Throws Temper Trantrum After Energy Hub Meeting
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

Petulant, spoiled rotten children often grow up to be petulant, spoiled rotten adults–adults who throw temper tantrums when they don’t get their own way. Such is the case with members of Green Justice Philly, a coalition of anti-drilling groups opposed to fossil fuels and opposed to a plan to bring more fossil fuels to Philadelphia as part of a northeastern “energy hub” concept. Yesterday we told you about Wednesday’s closed-door meeting where a new study was released, a “road map” that can be used to bring more natural gas and natural gas liquids to the City of Brotherly Love (see Philly Chamber Publishes Roadmap to Turn Region into “Energy Hub”). There certainly wasn’t much love displayed by a handful of boisterous protesters outside of the meeting. The meeting was private and the disruptive protesters were not allowed inside to conduct their normal mischief. And therein lies the winter of their discontent. Following the event Green Justice Philly issued a press release to pout like little children crying that mommy wouldn’t let them into the room. Awww, poor babies…
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Energy Services | Fairmount Santrol | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Sand/Proppant | Statewide OH

SEC Investigates OH Frac Sand Company for Allegedly Paying Bribes
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

One of the largest frac sand providers for shale drillers in the U.S. is Fairmount Santrol. Based in Ohio, Fairmount sells proppants (sand and other substances used in oil and gas drilling) around the world. Apparently Fairmount’s dealings in another country is what has landed them in hot water with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is investigating Fairmount under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company is accused of paying bribes to foreign officials for help in getting business. We’re not excusing such behavior, but come on, really? You don’t think such things don’t go on a million times a day in every industry from oil & gas to dog food?? Sounds more like a fossil fuel industry witch hunt to us than a legitimate investigation…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Cheap NatGas Blamed for Higher Electric Rates Coming in Ohio
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved a plan yesterday that is deeply complex and has us scratching our heads. From the press accounts we’ve read, we would summarize like this: The plan allows American Electric Power Co. and FirstEnergy Corp. to operate coal plants and a nuclear plant that currently (and for the foreseeable future) are uneconomical. The electricity produced by the plants can’t compete with electricity being produced by new natural gas-powered electric plants. But PUCO believes it is in the public interest to keep the old coal/nuclear plants running–so electric resellers will be forced to buy from the old plants at a high rate, and sell that electricity on the open market at a lower rate–and ratepayers (Ohioans) will pick up the difference in the price. Ohioans will subsidize the old plants. Because it’s in the public interest. Somehow. Even though the average Ohioan will pay $100-$130 more for the same electricity. Yes, it’s far more complex than that–there are provisions for more renewable energy sources, etc. baked into the plan. But what it boils down to is subsidizing old forms of energy that can’t compete with natgas…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake’s Doug Lawler Gave Himself a Raise After Firing 1,500+
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

This is rich. We spotted a reference in a Seeking Alpha story that Chesapeake Energy CEO Doug “the ax” Lawler–the guy who’s fired more than 1,500 people (see The Great Chesapeake Massacre II: Lawler Fires Another 740 People)–that guy gave himself a pay raise last year. He made $15.4 million last year–more than Shell’s CEO…
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