Marcellus Drilling News

Allegheny County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Invenergy Gets Pushback on Proposed Natgas Power Plant in SWPA
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

Invenergy is in the process of building a $500 million Marcellus gas-fired electric plant in Jessup (Lackawanna County), PA–near Scranton, PA in the northeastern part of the state (see PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant). When built, the 1,480 megawatt plant will be the largest natgas-fired electric plant in the state. In January Invenergy announced they want to build a second natgas-fired electric plant–in southwestern PA (see Invenergy Eyes SWPA for Second Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). The second plant would be much smaller, at 550 megawatts, and would be built on a brownfield site near Pittsburgh. Even though the site where Invenergy wants to build is a former landfill where fly ash was dumped, making it unusable for just about any other purpose, a group of local residents would prefer to keep it a dump rather than convert it to a beneficial use like generating electricity…
Read More “Invenergy Gets Pushback on Proposed Natgas Power Plant in SWPA”
CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Repsol

Repsol’s Eastern Canadian LNG Export Plant “On Hold”
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

In early 2015 Spanish oil giant Repsol accelerated plans to build an LNG export terminal on the coast of Saint John, Newfoundland (see Repsol Accelerates Plan for Canadian LNG Exports Fed by Marcellus). The Canaport LNG project, as it’s called, is one of five potential projects we identified in eastern Canada back in August 2014 that will potentially export Marcellus/Utica gas (see List of LNG Export Projects for Marcellus/Utica Shale Gas). Last fall the Canaport project received approval from the Canadian National Energy Board to proceed (see 3rd Eastern Canada LNG Export Plant Receives Approval). However, LNG World News is reporting they’ve received an email confirmation from Repsol that the company is slamming on the brakes with respect to the Canaport LNG export project…
Read More “Repsol’s Eastern Canadian LNG Export Plant “On Hold””
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Former GDF Suez CEO Launches New Energy Marketing Company
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

LifeEnergy sounds like it might be a new age acupuncture treatment–or perhaps an energy drink. But it’s neither. LifeEnergy is an energy company with a “focus on delivering energy products and services to residential and business customers across North America.” It is, as near as we can tell, an energy marketing company. You know how you get telemarketing calls to change your electric and/or gas from the local utility to some other company that delivers electricity or gas to your home via the same local utility, but reportedly at a better/different price? We think that’s what this company is all about–except on a national scale. It is who is behind the company that first got our attention. The new head of LifeEnergy is the former CEO of GDF Suez Energy North America, a division of the French electric energy giant ENGIE. And who is GDF? They’re the company with an LNG import terminal near Boston that keeps trying to screw Kinder Morgan and Spectra Energy out of building pipelines to New England (see Guess Why GDF Suez Doesn’t Want Marcellus Pipeline to New England and LNG Importer Publishes Sham Report Slamming New England Pipelines). GDF would rather import natural gas–because they personally profit from it–rather than see local gas from the Marcellus/Utica find its way to New England markets. The guy who used to run that has stepped away to run this instead…
Read More “Former GDF Suez CEO Launches New Energy Marketing Company”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Carbon Crazies Try to Scare Investors Away from O&G Companies
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

Ever hear of the concept called “the carbon bubble?” No, we hadn’t either. It is a concept floated in 2011 by the radical Carbon Tracker Institute and made popular a year later by global warming climate kook Bill McKibben. In essence, McKibben and others are trying to scare investors away from investing in fossil fuel companies because, they claim, renewable sources of energy are coming on strong and will make fossil fuel companies worthless. We’re pretty cynical. We don’t think McKibben and others actually believe in man-made global warming from fossil fuels any more than they believe in the tooth fairy. We think it’s an elaborate sham to eliminate personal liberty and choice–forcing people to behave in ways McKibben and those of his ilk want them to behave. They pretend to be the smart ones that know better than we which energy sources we should be using. A recent Forbes magazine article does a good job explaining, and debunking, the false “carbon bubble” theory…
Read More “Carbon Crazies Try to Scare Investors Away from O&G Companies”
Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Banks Reaffirm Range Resources’ $4B Line of Credit
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

Range Resources, one of the premier drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, and the company that drilled the very first Marcellus well in 2004, just passed its annual financial physical. The 29 banks that loan Range money say the company’s $3 billion “borrowing base” and its $4 billion line of credit are still OK by them. Which put a smile on the face of Range’s CFO Roger Manny…
Read More “Banks Reaffirm Range Resources’ $4B Line of Credit”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Considers Unusual 1.5 Lien Debt Exchange
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

If you can help us figure this one out–please do! Reuters is reporting that Chesapeake Energy is considering swapping out some existing debt for “new 1.5 lien debt.” We know a first lien means you have “first dibs”–you’re first in line to receive something/anything if a company goes bankrupt. A second lien means you’re second in line, behind the first guy. But a one and a half lien? Apparently its possible to create a legal situation where someone is behind the first guy but ahead of the second guy in line–the 1.5 guy. Boggles the mind. What it says to us is that Chesapeake is engaged in some dramatic financial contortions in order to avoid bankruptcy court…
Read More “Chesapeake Considers Unusual 1.5 Lien Debt Exchange”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Mar 18, 2016
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Go West young molecule; Dimock lawsuit likely to spur other lawsuits; natgas perfect storm; regulators want new regs for old pipelines; little change in natgas storage; financial lifelines for drillers “slipping away”; Canada sees new potential for shale gas; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Mar 18, 2016”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

MDN Exclusive Analysis of Ohio’s 2015 & 4Q15 Shale Production
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

As MDN previously reported, as of the third quarter 2015 Ohio’s oil and natural gas production from shale deposits had already surpassed production for all of 2014 (see OH Shale Wells Already Smash 2014 Record, 3Q15 Results). The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) recently issued production numbers for the fourth quarter of 2015, as well as reporting on the entire year. Ohio’s oil production from shale in 2015 doubled over 2014–up 99.9%. Ohio’s natural gas production in 2015 more than doubled, up 110% over 2014. Below we have the ODNR’s high level overview of the numbers, along with MDN’s own exclusive analysis showing: the top 25 producing gas wells, the top 25 producing oil wells, and then the top 25 gas and oil wells as ranked by average production per day. There is a difference! The longer an oil or gas well is online, the less it produces. Newer wells produce more. So we show you which wells are not just producing the most quantity overall, but which wells are producing at the fastest (most productive) rates–even if they haven’t yet been online a full three months. We also include a link to the complete list of 1,265 wells that had at least some Utica oil or gas production in 4Q15, in a more usable format than that provided by the ODNR…
Read More “MDN Exclusive Analysis of Ohio’s 2015 & 4Q15 Shale Production”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

Concerned Citizens Test Water Near NWPA Injection Well, No Leaks
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

In early 2013 Bear Lake Properties in Warren County, PA (near the New York border) opened a new injection well to accept Marcellus Shale wastewater (see NW PA Frack Wastewater Injection Well Begins Operation). The new injection well faced stiff opposition. Columbus Township, where the well is located, originally passed and later rescinded a ban on injection wells under threat of lawsuit (see Columbus Twp, PA Ban on Injection Wells Rescinded). A few local residents tried to pressure the federal EPA, the agency that permits and oversees all injection wells, into reconsidering their approval (see Local Residents Protest 2 Wastewater Injection Wells in NW PA). Finally, anti-drilling group Clean Water Action tried to get the EPA to reverse their decision (see Anti-Drillers Go After EPA on PA Injection Wells Approvals). In the end, it didn’t matter. The EPA reviewed and re-reviewed and said the location and construction for the well is safe. Since that time, a group of local citizens began and have continued testing every well, pond, creek, swamp and mud puddle anywhere close to the injection well, looking for evidence that the well is leaking. Guess what they’ve found? Nothing…
Read More “Concerned Citizens Test Water Near NWPA Injection Well, No Leaks”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

30 Big Green Groups Ask FERC to Pay Them to Oppose Pipelines!
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

In a day and age when we see our country slipping away from us at an alarming rate, and we witness outrage after outrage, when yet a new outage appears, it’s hard to focus attention on it and get worked up about it. We’ve told you the about the latest angle of attack against the fossil fuel industry by fossil haters like THE Delaware Riverkeeper. That angle is to attack the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with multiple lawsuits, hoping to tie it up in knots and make it dysfunctional (see THE Delaware Riverkeeper Sues FERC, Tries to Close it Down and Dela. Riverkeeper Sues FERC Again – Over Leidy Pipeline Expansion). Here’s the latest outrage that has us hopping mad. Some 30 Big Green groups have filed a petition with FERC asking the agency to set up an Office of Public Participation. The groups, including such luminaries as the Sierra Clubbers, National Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, want to be able to aggressively challenge pipeline (and other) projects that come before FERC–and get this, they want to be compensated for the work they do to challenge those projects! Can you believe it!! They want TAXPAYERS to pay their staffers and lawyers to try and stop the very projects that benefit those same taxpayers! Simply amazing. We’ve truly fallen Through the Looking Glass, Alice…
Read More “30 Big Green Groups Ask FERC to Pay Them to Oppose Pipelines!”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

How Rich White Billionaires Control the EPA – Connecting the Dots
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

Ever wonder how in the world fossil fuel haters have such success in places like liberal New York? There’s a pretty simple explanation: follow the money. Anti-drilling shills forever bleat about Big Oil and powerful corporations with deep pockets having undue influence. It’s actually the reverse. Rich, white, liberal billionaires are using their money to buy influence over environmental policy adopted by states and the federal government. How do we know? In 2014 the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works published the results of an investigation into how the EPA and other agencies are being influenced by big money in the Big Green movement. The report is titled “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA” (full copy below). The report name names and fingers foundations like the odious Park Foundation as being behind many of the anti-drilling efforts in the Marcellus/Utica region. The report connects the dots between billionaires, the tax exempt foundations they fund, and how money gets laundered through those foundations and put into the hands of anti-drilling activist groups. Although the report is from 2014, we only recently became aware of it when an MDN reader pointed it out to us (thanks Frank!). The report exposes the irrefutable corruption that exists in the environmental movement…
Read More “How Rich White Billionaires Control the EPA – Connecting the Dots”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Ohio | Statewide OH

Dominion East Ohio Distributes $110,000 Community Impact Awards
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

Last September MDN told you that Dominion East Ohio had allocated $110,000 to award in community grants to non-profits that have “made a difference” in the Ohio communities they serve (see Dominion Does It Again – $110K in Grants to OH Community Groups). As we said at the time, Dominion is a company that is “doing it the right way” with respect to giving back to the communities in which they operate. Yesterday Dominion announced they’ve awarded that $110,000 to 15 groups. Here’s who the winners are…
Read More “Dominion East Ohio Distributes $110,000 Community Impact Awards”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Just What is in Frack Fluid Anyway?
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

It’s been a while since we’ve revisited the topic of “Just what the heck is in fracking fluid anyway?” Recently Energy in Depth published a graphic to illustrate what’s in a drop of fracking fluid. First up, did you know that 99.51% of fracking fluid is–water and sand? No, we didn’t think you knew that. For all of the nightmare, scary talk fossil fuel haters pedal, somehow they forget to mention that almost all fracking fluid is water and sand. “But it takes millions of gallons of frack fluid for each well, so maybe the chemicals in that other one-half percent really do pose a threat.” Fair enough. What’s in the other 1/2 of 1% of fracking fluid–the other few thousand gallons used to frack a shale well? Things like instant coffee, walnut shells, table salt, laundry detergent, make-up remover, lemon juice and soap. Everything in fracking fluid is stuff you find under your kitchen sink or in your bathroom medicine cabinet. Here’s that excellent graphic from EID…
Read More “Just What is in Frack Fluid Anyway?”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 17, 2016
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Residents oppose NEXUS compressor station in OH; WV budget busted thx to low coal & natgas royalties; VA lawmakers back pipeline; final Clean Power Plan a trojan horse meant to kill natgas; Obama disallows Atlantic Coast drilling by fiat; Chesapeake & Anadarko wisely hedged in 4Q15; Brazil taking all LNG exports from Sabine Pass; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 17, 2016”
Energy Companies | Rex Energy

Rex Energy 2015: $373M Paper Loss; Production Up 27%
March 16, 2016March 16, 2016

Rex Energy, a Marcellus/Utica driller based in State College, PA, filed its fourth quarter and full year 2015 financial and operating update yesterday. Although production was down in 4Q15 compared with 3Q15 and 4Q14 (4% and 5% respectively), overall production for Rex for all of 2015 increased 27% over 2014. On paper Rex lost $373 million in 2015–but most of that loss was from the write-down of assets, or “impairments”–meaning it’s a paper loss and not an out-of-pocket money loss. As we’ve previously noted, Rex entered a joint venture deal to get money to keep drilling in the Marcellus and Utica (see Stayin’ Alive: Rex Energy $175M JV to Keep Drilling in PA & OH). What previously escaped our attention is that the NASDAQ stock exchange put Rex on notice that the company’s stock will be delisted if it doesn’t get the per share price over $1 for ten consecutive days. Below yesterday’s update along with information about Rex’s liquidity issues…
Read More “Rex Energy 2015: $373M Paper Loss; Production Up 27%”
Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | NOVA Chemicals | Pipelines

Canadian Cracker Gets $400M Upgrade to Handle More Marc. Ethane
March 16, 2016March 16, 2016

Nova Chemicals’ Corunna (Ontario, Canada) cracker plant is in for a $400 million makeover to convert the plant into using 100% ethane feedstock. The project will also invest in a second pipeline to feed ethane from the Marcellus/Utica to the plant. Nova’s board of directors recently approved the investment and work is scheduled for 2017/2018. This is good news for Marcellus/Utica drillers who are waiting (seems like FOREVER) for a regional ethane cracker plant to get built somewhere in the northeast. Even if one of the three major (and one minor) cracker plants is green lighted for the Marcellus/Utica, will will take 4-5 years to build it. In the meantime, if they can contract pipeline space, drillers can send their ethane to nearby Corunna cracker plant–so this is good news indeed. Here’s the details…
Read More “Canadian Cracker Gets $400M Upgrade to Handle More Marc. Ethane”