Marcellus Drilling News

Clarion County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Laurel Mountain Energy | Patterson-UTI | Pennsylvania

Laurel Mountain Drilling First Well in Western PA – It’s a Utica
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

One of our ace tipsters alerted us that Laurel Mountain Energy, a relatively new E&P (exploration and production) company is firing up a drilling rig to drill one, possibly two new Utica wells in Pennsylvania. You may recall MDN brought you the news one year ago that Laurel Mountain, essentially a reborn Vista Resources with big money backing from TPH Partners (Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.), had formed and set up headquarters in Pittsburgh (see “New” Pittsburgh Company Forms to Target Marcellus/Utica in W PA). Since that time we’d not heard anything about Laurel Mountain Energy–until now. Below we’ve pieced together information from our tipster and from the forthcoming edition of the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Energy Suspends Preferred Stock Dividends, Saves $170M
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

Last Friday MDN told you that Rex Energy, a small pure play driller focused totally on the Marcellus/Utica has suspended paying dividends on their preferred stock in order to conserve cash and not be forced to keep borrowing money to keep the doors open and the drill bits turning (see Rex Energy Suspends Preferred Stock Dividends to Conserve Cash). A company 54 times bigger than Rex (by market capitalization, as of this morning), Chesapeake Energy, is now using the same strategy. On Friday Chessy announced they are suspending quarterly preferred stock dividends. Shares of those stocks plunged to 13 cents on the dollar on the news, rebounded some, and plunged back down again. Doug “the ax” Lawler, CEO of Chesapeake, said suspending the dividends will let the company keep $170 million in the bank…
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Suspends Preferred Stock Dividends, Saves $170M”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Con Edison Becomes a Partner in Mountain Valley Pipeline
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

The $3.5 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) stretching from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last October (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Files FERC Appl, Now Just Matter of Time). It’s now working its way through the process. Along the way, the number of project partners expanded from the original EQT and NextEra Energy to include WGL Holdings, Vega Energy Partners, and RGC Resources. You can now add one more partner: Consolidated Edison. Con Edison is purchasing a 12.5% interest in the pipeline and at the same time signed a 20-year deal to buy/move 250,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas on the pipeline. In a related deal, Con Edison also agreed to a 20-year firm transportation agreement for 250,000 dekatherms per day on the Equitrans system, located in northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania, providing more direct access to supply resources upstream of MVP…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

John Hanger Says Gov. Corbett “Cooked the Books” re Marcellus Jobs
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

What is it about Democrats that they blame current problems on the last Republican administration. They NEVER blame themselves or their own policies. Ever notice that? Some national Dems still blame George W. Bush for today’s bad economy–even though Obama has owned this economy for seven years now. John Hanger, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection and a former Democrat candidate for governor in PA (someone who wants to legalize pot smoking in PA) blames the Corbett administration for a lack of Marcellus jobs. According to Hanger, currently PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s Policy Secretary, in speaking about the number of rapidly-dwindling drilling-related jobs in the state: “Governor Corbett’s office cooked the books. Everyone knows Corbett was in bed with the Marcellus Shale industry.” Right. John Hanger is perhaps the biggest partisan hack in the Wolf administration, after Wolf himself…
Read More “John Hanger Says Gov. Corbett “Cooked the Books” re Marcellus Jobs”
Ascent Resources | Energy Companies

Ascent Resources Offers to Trade IOUs Due 2021 with IOUs Due 2021
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

Last week Ascent Resources, which is formerly American Energy (Aubrey McClendon’s company), targeting the Utica Shale, launched a note swap. Ascent is offering to exchange 3.50% Convertible Subordinated Notes due 2021 with two sets of new notes, another 3.50% Convertible Subordinated Notes due 2021 and incremental junior secured loans due 2019. We have no clue what it all means–perhaps a sharp MDN reader can elucidate for us? What it looks like to us is some sort of shell game, and in such games the dealer always comes out the winner. Note the phrase in the announcement below: “The New Convertible Notes are not and will not be listed on any securities exchange”…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

US Forest Service Blocks Atlantic Coast Pipeline in National Forests
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

Cow Knob Salamander

In the end it was the cow nobs and red spruce that have slowed down Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. Specifically, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has refused to grant Dominion a special permit to cross teeny tiny sections of the Monongahela and George Washington national forests in West Virginia and Virginia. Why? Because of concerns about cow knob salamanders, northern flying squirrels and red spruce trees. Just last November MDN told you that Dominion and ACP were bending backwards, forwards and sideways to avoid running through cow nob salamander territory (see Dominion Files Pipeline Route Change to Avoid Salamanders, Swamp). Apparently the USFS doesn’t think Dominion’s plan is good enough. It’s now back to the drawing board to see where, in those regions, ACP can safely be run to avoid radical environmentalist demands. Of course the answer is “no where” as they are always unreasonable about these things. There is no “how can we work this out to your satisfaction” when it comes to nut cases. The antis simply demand, like petulant children, that you not do it at all. Which is just what the other side is now saying about ACP…
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Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Landowners, Politicians, Businesses Want Drilling in Wayne NF
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, there has been some progress on finally allowing drilling in the Wayne National Forest (WNF) in Ohio (see Small Progress with Drilling in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest). WNF is a “patchwork” of public land scattered among private land. Some 60% of the mineral rights below WNF are privately owned. The federal government has delayed drilling in WNF for nearly 10 years, and is finally moving. Like a glacier, but at least there’s movement. Landowners and others in that region are keeping up the pressure. Last week a group called Landowners for Energy Access and Safe Exploration (LEASE) issued a press release to detail just how much support there is (it’s a lot) to get moving with drilling in WNF…
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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Takes it Time with 5 Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Projects
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

“Your wait time is 12-18 months, please hold.” That’s what the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is telling midstream companies anxious to build new pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica. Five major pipeline systems representing $15 billion of investment are currently on hold while FERC runs through it’s sloooooow process of approval. FERC’s response/excuse is that it takes 12-18 months, period. Like it or lump it. The five pipelines now on hold in the southwest PA/eastern OH/WV area include: Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Rover Pipeline, Nexus Pipeline, Leach Express Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Rover filed its application with FERC last February, so they’re not even a full year into the process yet. The others filed later. Although industry groups are trying to pressure FERC (via publicity) FERC isn’t moved by calls to speed up the process…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Real Property Bill in OH Legislature has Big Implications for O&G
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

A bill in the Ohio Senate, SB 257 (copy below), would have a “substantial effect” on determining whether or not you have a good title in a real property transaction. Which may sound rather boring, like watching paint dry. Except in this case, the changes to the real property law may have a profound impact on oil and gas interests in Ohio–impacting mineral rights that are part of a property. The changes being proposed under SB 257 expand the scope of what kinds of “defects” in a title that can be “cured,” and reduces the amount of time a title can be contested from 21 years down to 4 years…
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Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

OSU Prof “Optimistic” that OH Ethane Cracker Will Get Built
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

There’s not much new news to report on any of the three ethane cracker plants announced as being thought-about for the Marcellus/Utica. Those three are Shell’s project planned for Beaver County, PA, Odebrecht’s project announced for Wood County, WV, and PTT Global’s project announced for Belmont County, OH. Both the Shell and PTT projects appear to still have a pulse. WV’s does not. Hey, just keeping it real. One professor at Ohio State University says he is an “optimist” regarding the PTT project, for a number of reasons. When an OSU prof is optimistic, it gives us reason to be optimistic too! Here’s the reason our OSU prof believes the PTT Global ethane cracker will get built…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama’s Interior Dept. Sneaks in New Rule to Limit Methane
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

Once again our Dictator in Chief, Barack Hussein Obama, is acting like a tinpot despot ruling a Middle Eastern country, not like the President of the United States. Last Friday, lost amid the Friday afternoon document dump and news about the blizzard in DC, Obama’s Dept. of Interior posted a new rule (i.e. should be a law, but they’re doing another end-run around Congress) that will make it all but impossible for oil and gas drillers to drill on federal lands. The new 298-page rule requires companies to use expensive equipment to capture every last molecule of methane, the stuff these companies already capture so they can sell it, to prevent any “fugitive” methane from escaping into the atmosphere where it contributes to mythical global warming. Obama has also hiked the price drillers will pay to drill on federal lands. The aim is, of course, to shut down drilling on all federal lands…
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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Jan 25 – Apr 24 (90 Days)
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

Below are upcoming events for the next three months (90 days). To see the full list of future events, visit this page: //marcellusdrilling.com/calendar/.

NOTE: To have an item included, please email it to: calendar@marcellusdrilling.com.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Jan 25 – Apr 24 (90 Days)”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jan 25, 2016
January 25, 2016January 25, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Marcellus drillers’ stock price goes up; fracking lawsuit in NY; more opposition to New England pipeline; FERC losing its last Republican commissioner; post mortem on the low price of oil; Saudi Arabia in the fight of its life; Japan importing less LNG first time in 6 years; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jan 25, 2016”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Southwestern Energy Cuts Workforce 44%, 200 Marcellus Jobs Gone
January 22, 2016January 22, 2016

We have some very sad news to share today. Yesterday Southwestern Energy Company, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica and the third largest independent natural gas driller in the U.S., announced it will lay off 1,100 people and pause its drilling program. That 1,100 is out of 2,500 employees–or 44% of the company. It was just a few weeks ago that Southwestern got a new CEO, Bill Way (see Southwestern Energy Gets New CEO – What’s Ahead for 2016?). We mused at the time: “When there’s a change in leadership, it has the potential to impact company strategy. So we’re always interested when changes of this type come along. The question now is, what’s ahead for 2016 with Bill Way at the helm?” Indeed. We can see what kind of changes Mr. Way is bringing. In October 2014 Southwestern announced a deal to buy 413,000 Marcellus/Utica acres from Chesapeake Energy, most of it in West Virginia (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Then in December 2014, Southwestern bought 46,700 net acres of leases in northeastern PA from WPX for $300 million (see First Shoe Drops: WPX Sells 1/2 Marcellus Assets to Southwestern). Southwestern holds about 755,000 acres total in the Marcellus/Utica region. When everyone else was slowing down, Southwestern was doubling down on their drilling program (see Southwestern’s Contrarian Plan: Double Down on Drilling in the Marcellus). It seems that the wind has finally gone out of Southwestern’s sails. The company did not post an official press release on their website, so we’ve pieced together coverage from a number of sources to try and give you a complete picture of what they said yesterday…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Dauphin County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

7 Antis Arrested at Final PA Pipeline Task Force Meeting
January 22, 2016January 22, 2016

Yesterday we reported on the very last Pennsylvania Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force meeting, held in Harrisburg on Wednesday (see PA Pipeline Task Force Wraps Up – Did We Worry for Nothing?). Once again anti-fossil fuelers disrupted the meeting, which is nothing new. Last October a group of 20 or so antis showed up and behaved badly (see PA DEP Sec. Quigley Calls Pipeline Protesters “Badly Misinformed”). At Wednesday’s final Task Force meeting, seven protesters behaved badly enough that they got themselves arrested. To their credit, the Democrat-run PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania is the only “media” outlet that covered the news of the arrests…
Read More “7 Antis Arrested at Final PA Pipeline Task Force Meeting”
Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

WV Gov. Tomblin Proposes to LOWER Oil & Gas Severance Tax
January 22, 2016January 22, 2016

Ohio Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich has been hellbent on raising Ohio’s oil and gas severance tax–for years. As recently as last June Kasich predicted his 6.5% proposed severance tax would get adopted (see Kasich Predicts Severance Tax Deal Will Happen, Others Say No). Last fall OH Republicans continued to flirt with the idea (see Ohio Legislators Continue Dalliance with Kasich Severance Tax). The state still has not raised it, even though Kasich has lobbied hard for over three years. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, continues to consider converting their better impact fee for a less better severance tax. Republicans there are getting weak-kneed too (see Some PA Republicans Beginning to Cave on Severance Tax). It seems the severance tax is like the mythical siren song attempting to lure states onto the rocks of less drilling. But hold on to your hat. In contrast to OH and PA, there’s one state, and one governor, who’s not falling for higher severance taxes. PA Democrats trot out West Virginia as their shining example of how severance taxes don’t chase drillers away–to bolster their argument that PA should adopt a severance tax. Guess what? WV figured out high severance taxes DO chase drillers away, and WV’s Democrat governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, is proposing the state LOWER its oil and gas severance tax in 2016! It’s a devastating blow to PA Gov. Tom Wolf and his obsessive-compulsive insistence on a severance tax…
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