Seneca Resources Begins Shipping Marcellus Gas to Canada Nov 1
Finally! Some new takeaway capacity for Seneca Resources is about to become reality when they begin shipping Marcellus Shale gas from western Pennsylvania through Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) Niagara Expansion into western New York State where it will connect to the TransCanada Pipeline (in Niagara County, NY) and from there send the gas into Canada. In 2013 MDN brought you the good news that TGP would expand service on the pipeline northward (see TGP Signs up Seneca Resources for Niagara Expansion to Canada). Against all odds, the TGP expansion project is now almost complete and will begin sending gas to the TransCanada Pipeline on November 1st, on schedule…
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Last Thursday the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission issued its first order addressing the issue of forced pooling. The Commission upheld a forced pooling order against Ohio landowner Gary Teeter Trust (Ronald Roudeush is the trustee of the trust) by reaffirming that Ohio’s pooling and unitization provisions work to protect landowners–even those landowners like Roudeush who prefer not to be part of a drilling unit–by fairly compensating them. Rex Energy has leased land around the Teeter Trust (in Carroll County, OH) and sought to include 71 acres of the Teeter Trust property in a drilling unit, which Roudeush objected to and appealed. We have a copy of the decision below along with a further explanation of the case from the legal beagles at the Vorys law firm (the firm representing Rex Energy in the case)…
The September edition of our favorite government report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), shows an interesting change from the August report. In August, the EIA predicted that for the coming month (September) every single major shale play of the seven plays they track, including the Marcellus and Utica, would see a decline in the amount of natural gas produced (see 
The one ethane cracker plant project announced for the Marcellus/Utica region that once seemed the mostly likely to proceed now seems the least likely to move forward–the Brazilian-based Odebrecht project planned for Wood County, WV. The ASCENT (Appalachina Shale Cracker Enterprise) project seemed to have the most momentum in 2014 (see 
Something we’ve noticed for some time: When Magnum Hunter Resources (MHR) and its subsidiaries (like GreenHunter and Eureka Hunter) make a pronouncement like “such and such will be online next month” or “so and so asset will be sold this quarter” the timing rarely matches the pronouncement. For Magnum Hunter “the next few weeks” turns into “the next few months” and “sometime this quarter, maybe next” turns into “next year.” Somebody else has noticed MHR’s timeline peculiarity too–and has written about it on the Seeking Alpha investors website. This particular post notes that MHR’s CEO Gary Evans announced he would name the winning bidder in the “next week to 10 days” for the Eureka Hunter midstream subsidiary, a deal that will bring in something like $600-$700 million (see 
Only in America, and only in Ohio (slowly shaking our heads). Last Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court voted 7-0 to force an anti-fracking ballot measure that has been on the ballot in Youngstown, Ohio four times previously to be added to the ballot once again in November–for a fifth time. Even though (as the justices acknowledge) the ballot measure itself “may be” unconstitutional, as their own court recently found (see 
Over a year ago MDN broke the news that Moxie Energy was in the hunt to begin a third new Marcellus gas-powered electric plant project in Pennsylvania (see 
Question: Where did Robin Hood live? Answer: Sherwood Forest. Everybody knows that! Don’t look now but those evil, vile, filthy frackers want to begin fracking in Sherwood Forest. Yes, THE Sherwood Forest where the mythical Robin Hood once roamed with his merry band of outlaws. Believe it or not, and against all odds, the United Kingdom recently re-elected a conservative government, by a strong majority, and that government is pushing forward with a program to encourage shale drilling in merry ole’ England–including in Sherwood Forest…
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: Fractivism goes blue; welders needed in Ohio; budget compromise or political suicide in PA; Cabot’s $50K scholoarship; Penguins & PNG partner up; Dominion says no easy fixes for pipelines; pipes in NH; Goldman sees 15 years of cheap oil; and more!
It seems anti-drillers love to launch lawsuits, but when the shoe is applied to the other foot and lawsuits are filed against them, they don’t like it so much. Hypocrites. A small group of anti-drilling parents in the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA–folks we call Martians–want to prevent the legal, legitimate, and now fully permitted right of Rex Energy to drill a few Marcellus Shale wells three-fourths of a mile away from the Mars School. We’ve long chronicled this battle (see 
Antero Resources announced today it will sell its integrated water delivery business in the Marcellus/Utica to itself for $1.05 billion. That is, Antero Resources (the drilling company) is selling the water business to Antero Midstream (subsidiary pipeline company) in what is called a “drop down” transaction–for more than a billion dollars. All lighthearted joking aside about Antero selling something to itself, this is a big and complex deal. In the announcement below we get a number of details for both Antero the driller and Antero the pipeline company, including how much Antero the driller will pay for the water from Antero the pipeline company ($3.69/barrel in WV, and $3.64/barrel in OH)…
Below are articles written by others who attended this year’s Shale Insight event in Philadelphia. MDN editor Jim Willis sat in on some of the general sessions and took notes. He’ll share his own notes and insights on Shale Insight next week. In the meantime, here’s what mainstream media said about the sessions happening on Day Two…
Good news for the citizens of Ohio. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a report on Ohio’s Class II Underground Injection Control (UIC) program–that is, wastewater injection wells–and found that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) regulatory program is of “good quality” and continues to provide strong protections for Ohio’s underground sources of drinking water (USDW). The federal EPA just gave Ohio a big, fat, sloppy kiss right on the mouth along with a big two thumbs up that the state is doing it right when it comes to wastewater injection wells…
The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) has been at the forefront in opposing an industry-killing severance tax proposed by new governor Tom Wolf (see