Philly Transport Authority Building Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant
Good old fracked Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale gas will begin powering passenger trains in Philadelphia starting in 2017, if all goes according to plan. SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) announced as part of its “sustainability” efforts they plan to build their own electric generating plant powered by Marcellus Shale gas. The $26.8 million plant will save them money, be better for the environment, and heat SEPTA’s largest bus garage (with excess heat from the plant) to boot. It’s a win/win/win all the way around…
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The Keystone Sanitary Landfill is Pennsylvania’s third busiest landfill–located on the outskirts of Scranton. The Keystone Landfill accepts drill cuttings from Marcellus drilling. Last year Keystone applied for a permit to expand the landfill once again–but instead of outward, they want to expand it upward, making it higher, to gain more capacity. At present about 10% of the incoming waste stream at the landfill is shale waste. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) had, as of last summer, delayed granting the expansion request pending more study (see 
Last week 17 top Marcellus Shale-related executives–including those from CONSOL Energy, Chevron, Huntley & Huntley, MarkWest Energy, Williams and Columbia Pipeline Group–sent a letter to the Pennsylvania legislature and to PA Gov. Tom Wolf. The letter point blank said don’t slap a new/high severance tax on Marcellus Shale in addition to the already-high tax (called an impact fee). We couldn’t find a copy of the letter to share with you. However, we do have reaction from America’s most liberal governor, Tom Wolf, whose office responded with the “same tired argument” always trotted out by Wolf: he still wants to tax shale to give the money away to teachers’ unions in return for electing him to office. We don’t know how many times we have to say this: these are not empty threats by the industry. The industry is telling Wolf exactly what will happen if he institutes the tax–they’ll leave town…
Duke Energy, the largest electric power holding company in the United States and a utility with 7.3 million customers in the southeast and Midwest, announced today they are buying Piedmont Natural Gas for $4.9 billion in cash and the assumption of $1.8 billion in existing debt–for a total deal price of $6.7 billion. Piedmont is a midstream and natgas LDC (local distribution company, or utility) with operations primarily in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. This is the story of a big southern electric utility buying a smaller southern natural gas utility. So why is it important for the Marcellus/Utica? Because Piedmont has been active in two very important pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica–and that project ownership will now go to Duke…
Below are upcoming events for the next three months (90 days). To see the full list of future events, visit this page: 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: NY pipelines going live Nov 1; Marcellus picks up housing tab in PA; Patriot-News reporter gets defensive about her biased articles; StateImpact PA continues advocacy “journalism”; EQT elects a new board member; PennEnvironment lies again; pipelines desperately needed in New England; natgas rig count down for the count; and more!
In addition to releasing their third quarter 2015 results yesterday, the top brass from EQT also held an analyst phone call. On that call we got updated details from EQT’s president of exploration and production, Steven Schlotterbeck, about the single highest initial-producing Utica Shale well ever drilled, EQT’s Scotts Run 591340. We also heard from Steve about two more Utica wells they’re currently drilling–one in Greene County, PA (about five miles from the Scott’s Run well), and one in Wetzel County, WV. But the big news from yesterday’s call came from EQT CEO David Porges. He said EQT has decided to suspend drilling in central PA and in the Upper Devonian–anyplace outside of their “core” Utica locations. Essentially, EQT is giving up on the Marcellus (for now) and going after the Utica instead. This is certainly big news and affects landowners in Marcellus-only areas–pretty much any place outside of southwest PA and the northern panhandle of WV. Porges says IF the Utica pans out as expected, it will be bigger than the Marcellus production-wise over time. EQT’s current thinking is that they will trim their drilling program to concentrate on drilling 10-15 Utica wells in 2016…
Yesterday Southwestern Energy Company, one of the the major players in the Marcellus Shale, posted its third quarter 2015 earnings and operational update. In many ways Southwestern is one of the most exciting companies drilling in the northeast. A year ago Southwestern purchased 413,000 acres and 435 operating and non-operating wells from Chesapeake Energy in the southwestern portion of the Marcellus for $5.4 billion (see 
Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the best-performing Marcellus Shale drillers in the entire play, issued their third quarter 2015 update today. They did pretty well all things considered. The company reports a slight increase in production of 7% year over year. However, the even the mighty Cabot can’t overcome wicked low prices for natural gas in northeastern Pennsylvania–the lowest in the country. Cabot made just over $100 million in profit in 3Q14. This year? They lost $15 million–which ain’t all that shabby compared to just about every other driller in the northeast. By comparison Southwestern, with more acreage and a larger drilling program, lost $1.8 billion in 3Q15. Yikes! Here’s the update issued today by Cabot…
EQT published their third quarter 2015 financials and operating update yesterday. Like Southwestern and other Marcellus/Utica drillers releasing their updates, EQT shows good news, like an increase in production (27% higher in 3Q15 than in 3Q14). However, there’s also the bad news: EQT got 55% less money for their gas in 3Q15 than they did a year ago. Consequently it shows up in the bottom line. In 3Q14 EQT had a $77 million profit, in 3Q15 they had a $50 million loss. Here’s the full update with select financials…
Patterson-UTI Energy is an oilfield services company, running in the same circles as Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. We previously reported the hammering oilfield services companies have been getting in the market. Not only are energy companies drilling less (laying rigs down), energy companies are pressuring oilfield services companies–the companies that do the actual drilling and fracking–to lower their prices. Less work and lower money for the work you’re doing has taken it’s toll. However, these companies are handling the downturn in different ways. Patterson-UTI, like several of its competitors, lost money in 3Q15–but Patterson’s loss cut much deeper (and makes us wonder if it’s ripe for a takeover). Let us explain…
Part of the ongoing hit series in the Democrat-owned Harrisburg Patriot-News that attempts to smear the Marcellus industry (see 
Here’s a thought: Why doesn’t the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) convert more of the gas it buys to take gas from the nearby Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale and dump buying gas from the Gulf Coast–because PA’s gas is closer and much cheaper, it will result in lower costs for PGW and lower bills for consumers. Now, where do we go to collect our $1.5 million consulting fee for that fine idea? The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission contracted with Michigan consulting firm Schumaker & Company, Inc. to perform a top to bottom audit of the PGW. While we don’t know how much the audit cost, we did find a 2008 proposal from Schumaker to New York State touting the same kind of audit, with a total price tag (back then) of $1.3 million. So we figured with a little inflation the audit just turned in by Schumaker must have run at least $1.5M. The chief, number one suggestion by Schumaker? PGW can save $6-$7 million a year by buying more of its gas (60% more) from the Marcellus Shale region, upping it from the current 33% they buy from the Marcellus now. Maybe we should get into the consulting business. Sure pays better than blogging!…
In August our Dear Leader, Barack Hussein Obama, introduced his latest edict called the Clean Power Plan. The plan uses the federal Environmental Protection Agency to completely eliminate coal-fired electric plants, and greatly diminish natural gas-fired electric plants (see