Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Summit County

NEXUS Pipeline Sends Armed Guards with Surveyors to Protect Them
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

The City of Green (Summit County), OH is proudly working to prevent a much-needed pipeline, the NEXUS pipeline, from crossing through any of its residents’ properties. Proudly ignorant, we’d day. It’s a shame, but these days workers doing their job–surveying for a pipeline–are sometimes threatened (see FBI Investigates Death Threats Against PennEast Pipeline Workers and Medina, OH Landowner Says He’ll Meet NEXUS Surveyors Packing Heat). So some pipeline companies, like NEXUS, now send armed security guards out with surveyors and pipeline workers–to protect them. City of Green officials seem to imply the armed guards are there to intimidate residents who don’t want to allow a survey of their property. Not true. The guards are there to protect the surveyors who feel threatened for simply taking measurements for a pipeline. What has this world come to?…
Read More “NEXUS Pipeline Sends Armed Guards with Surveyors to Protect Them”
Energy Companies | Rex Energy

Rex Energy Financial Update for 2Q15: Rev Down 37%
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

We now have “the rest of the story” for Rex Energy for second quarter 2015. Last week Rex released a partial update for 2Q15. At the time we used the production numbers they released with the prices they received for that production to calculate simple, back-of-the-envelope numbers for revenue, predicting Rex would show a revenue slide of around 16% from 2Q14 to 2Q15 (see Rex Energy 2Q15: Production Up 61%, MDN Provides Missing Rev # s). Yesterday Rex released their financials for 2Q15. How’d we do? Seems our estimate was rather rosy. Rex’s revenue went down 37% year over year–due to the lower commodity prices they received ($72.9 million in 2Q14 to $45.8 million in 2Q15). Rex’s revenue slide is typical of drillers across the country. However, when you factor in all of Rex’s expenses, the picture becomes a bit cloudier. Rex’s net income (net loss) year over year was minus 1,990% ($8.96 million for net income in 2Q14 compared to to minus $151.8 million in 2Q15). But when you scratch beneath the surface you find Rex took a one-time “impairment” hit of $117.8 million in 2Q15. What’s that? Essentially the value of their leases and assets went down–on paper. That $117.8 million “loss” was not a cash loss–just an accounting loss on paper. If you remove the impairment charge from the mix, Rex’s net income for 2Q15 would have been minus $34.0 million, a “mere” 279% decrease year over year…
Read More “Rex Energy Financial Update for 2Q15: Rev Down 37%”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Salutes Obama, Eagerly Buys into Clean Power Plan
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

On Monday President Obama and his rogue Environmental Protection Agency made another power grab, infringing on our freedom and liberty, with the release of a so-called Clean Power Plan (see Obama Stabs Natural Gas Electric Plants in Clean Power Plan). As we pointed out, natural gas use in electric generating plants is one of the casualties in Obama’s latest “brilliant” strategy, much to the consternation of those in the oil and gas industry. But two very important people in Pennsylvania love Obama’s overreach–America’s most liberal governor, Gov. Tom Wolf, and his minion PennFuture Sec. of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley. They think Obama’s Clean Power Plan is just dandy–and they intend to plunge Pennsylvania down the same rat hole Obama is taking the rest of the country…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Salutes Obama, Eagerly Buys into Clean Power Plan”
CNG/LNG | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

UGI Provides Update on PennEast & Other New PA Pipeline Projects
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

During the AmeriGas Partners quarterly analyst conference call yesterday, Pennsylvania utility giant UGI Corporation CEO John Walsh gave an update on several projects of interest for those in the PA Marcellus Shale. Oh! We should point out AmeriGas is the country’s largest propane company and a subsidiary of PA-based UGI, which is why Walsh was on the call. And what did he say? Walsh provided an update on UGI’s $60 million project to build a new LNG production plant in Wyoming County, PA (see UGI Building LNG Plant in NEPA, Local Marcellus Gas to Feed It). He also spoke in glowing terms about the PennEast Pipeline and how he sees that project unfolding (it should be operational by late 2017). Walsh also updated analysts on several pending pipeline projects that will feed electric plants being built in the Marcellus. Here’s what he said yesterday…
Read More “UGI Provides Update on PennEast & Other New PA Pipeline Projects”
American Energy Partners | Ascent Resources | Energy Companies

McClendon’s American Energy Partners Gets a New CFO
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

American Energy Partners, Aubrey McClendon’s new company founded after he was unceremoniously tossed from Chesapeake Energy (the company he co-founded), continues to befuddle us. As we noted in June, some of the subsidiary companies under Aubrey’s AEP umbrella are leaving the nest–even to the point of changing their name so it’s completely dissimilar to AEP (see McClendon’s New Empire Continues to Separate and Leave). Is that Aubrey’s plan playing out? Or are people running as far and fast as they can from McClendon? Frankly, we don’t know. We tend to think it’s the later, to be honest. One of the folks who has left Aubrey behind was AEP’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jennifer Grigsby. She recently left AEP to became CFO of Ascent Resources. Ascent operates in the Marcellus/Utica and used to be American Energy Appalachia Holdings. They are now 100% independent and free from AEP. So McClendon dipped into the Chesapeake talent pool and lured away an old mate he used to work with at Chessy to become the new CFO for AEP–Elliot Chambers…
Read More “McClendon’s American Energy Partners Gets a New CFO”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Grimm’s Fairy Tales: Rural PA Pipelines Pose “Hidden Risks”
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

Another anti-pipeline screed from PBS reporter Susan Phillips at the taxpayer-funded StateImpact Pennsylvania website. This is another propaganda piece in a series meant to smear the superb safety record of pipelines, which happen to be the safest form of transportation on earth (see StateImpact: PA Pipelines “Risky” & “Mystery” – Might Kill ‘Ya Too). The latest “pipelines will kill ‘ya” fairy tale begins this way…
Read More “Grimm’s Fairy Tales: Rural PA Pipelines Pose “Hidden Risks””
Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Update on Halliburton/Baker Hughes Wedding Plans
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

Whatever happened to the Halliburton merger/buyout (i.e. shotgun wedding) with Baker Hughes? As we told you in July, the two “love birds” have set a December 1st wedding date (see Halliburton & Baker Hughes Announce a December Wedding Date). In the meantime there’s a lot to do: caterers have to be contracted, a DJ, wedding photographer–you know the drill. Oh! And let’s not forget the Dept. of Justice. They have to be consulted too. It appears that (so far) everything is on track with both the DOJ here at home, and with the European Commission overseas. Both groups have to grant their permission for the two companies to wed. There may be one slight wrinkle (last minute nerves?): Notice in the latest Halliburton update below that the two love birds may decide to push off the wedding date until early 2016–but only if absolutely necessary (they’re just so in love)…
Read More “Update on Halliburton/Baker Hughes Wedding Plans”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues

World First: Large RO/RO Ship Converting to LNG Fuel
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

This story is not about the Marcellus/Utica per se, but it’s cool nonetheless and we think you’ll find it interesting. In June we told you that Carnival Corp. had ordered up four new megaship cruise liners that will be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG)–a first for cruise ships (see Carnival Orders LNG-Powered Cruise Ships + Jim’s Cruise from Hell). A second type of large ship is following suit. Totem Ocean Trailer Express (Totem Ocean), located on the Left Coast (Tacoma, WA), announced yesterday it has signed a contract to convert a “roll-on/roll-off” or RO/RO ship to burn liquefied natural gas (LNG). This is the world’s first major conversion of a large RO/RO vessel to LNG. The work will begin in December and is expected to be completed in 90 days. Is LNG set to take the shipping world by storm?…
Read More “World First: Large RO/RO Ship Converting to LNG Fuel”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Aug 5, 2015
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Aug 5, 2015”
Energy Companies | EXCO Resources

More Trouble for EXCO Resources – NYSE Threatens to De-List Stock
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

EXCO Resources is an exploration and production company (an E&P or what we refer to as a “driller”) operating in East Texas/North Louisiana (the Haynesville Shale), South Texas (the Eagle Ford Shale), and in the Marcellus Shale region–in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. EXCO has a sizable Marcellus presence with 145,000 net acres in the Marcellus and having drilled and operating 124 horizontal Marcellus wells. They’re also a company facing stiff challenges. Last December the company suspended paying dividends on their stock–never a good sign (see EXCO Resources Suspends Dividend Payments to Shareholders). EXCO’s major investor, Bluescape, installed a new CEO and COO along with new board members in April (see Bluescape Pulls Strings Installs New CEO, COO at EXCO Resources). EXCO suspended their Marcellus drilling program earlier this year, until further notice (see EXCO Resources Continues Marcellus Drilling Moratorium in 1Q15). And not to throw salt into the wound, but EXCO appears on both Debtwire’s “Distressed Watchlist” (see 4 Marcellus Companies Debut on Debtwire’s Distressed Watchlist) and on David Fessler’s “The Oil Company Death List” (see 19 Oil/Gas Companies on “Death List” – 8 are in Marcellus/Utica). The latest evidence that EXCO is a company in trouble: the New York Stock Exchange sent the company a notice that EXCO’s stock is in “noncompliance” with listing standards and they have six months to get the stock price up–or the company’s stock will be pulled from the venerable NYSE and relegated to penny stock status, trading on the Pink Sheets…
Read More “More Trouble for EXCO Resources – NYSE Threatens to De-List Stock”
Alpha Natural Resources | Energy Companies

Alpha Natural Resources in Bankruptcy – What about Marcellus?
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

Virginia-based coal miner Alpha Natural Resources Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. Thank you President Obama for driving yet another coal company into bankruptcy. But the story doesn’t end there. Alpha is not going anywhere–not yet any way. And there is an important tie-in with the natural gas industry. Alpha is also a driller in the Marcellus Shale–drilling on its own land and as part of a joint venture with Rice Energy. What does the Alpha bankruptcy mean for its Marcellus drilling program?…
Read More “Alpha Natural Resources in Bankruptcy – What about Marcellus?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Small Group Shows Up to Speak Against NED Pipeline in Dracut, MA
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

If you were to glance at the headline and first graf (“paragraph” for those not in the publishing industry where we use a lot of lingo) of a story in the liberal Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, you would think there is a huge, crushing, mammoth, tidal wave (!) of opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project–certainly by people in the Dracut, MA area and possibly by almost every MA citizen in the commonwealth with the exception of a few freakish conservatives who may happen to still live in the state. The headline in yesterday’s issue blares: “In Dracut, public unloads on gas pipeline plan.” The first graf details all of the nightmares that will come true if the pipeline is built: “From the impact on crop yields and watersheds to diminishing property values and the demise of the eastern brook trout, elected officials and citizens from across the commonwealth aired their concerns about the proposed Kinder Morgan natural-gas pipeline before a state regulatory board Monday night.” It’s not til near the end of the second graf you discover there were maybe 100 people who showed up to the meeting–and since it’s a liberal rag with a tendency to inflate the numbers, that means there were actually 50-75 people who showed up to gripe and moan about the pipeline…
Read More “Small Group Shows Up to Speak Against NED Pipeline in Dracut, MA”
Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services

Columbia Pipeline 2Q15: Investing $1.2B in NE Projects This Year
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

We don’t often or usually report on quarterly earnings/operational updates for pipeline companies since most of them operate across large parts of the country and they usually don’t break down their operations in their updates by region. But this one is different. Columbia Pipeline Group is the newly minted, completely independent company that was formerly a subsidiary of NiSource but now stands on its own two feet (see NiSource/Columbia Pipeline Divorce is Final). We believe it’s accurate to say that most of Columbia’s operations are concentrated in the Marcellus/Utica region. So we bring you a portion of their second quarter 2015 earnings/operations update below. Among the highlights: Columbia is on track to invest approximately $1.2 billion during 2015 and expects to triple its net investment level (over $3B!) by 2020–much of that dedicated to projects in the Marcellus/Utica…
Read More “Columbia Pipeline 2Q15: Investing $1.2B in NE Projects This Year”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec Quigley’s Own Committee Appointees Turn Against Him
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

Looks like the PennFuture Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley, didn’t get exactly what he wanted with new appointments to the new Conventional Oil and Gas Advisory Committee (COGAC). You may recall that Quigley, in an unprecedented move, fired all of the members of the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and in its place created a new TAB and a second, new group–COGAC (see Why did PA DEP Acting Sec Quigley Mass Fire Gas Advisory Board?). We speculated he was packing both boards with yes men and women–but it turns out the members of COGAC aren’t saluting the chief. The purpose in having two boards is to represent the different interests of shale drillers (TAB) and traditional, much smaller “mom and pop” conventional drillers (COGAC). New drilling regulations are about to be imposed on both conventional and unconventional (shale) drillers. Conventional drillers have said, for years, that many of the rules applied to shale drillers should not apply to them because it is a vastly different extraction process. The voting members of the new COGAC have weighed in and told Quigley, in a letter, that they will not support the rules he intends to release in late August. In fact, they outright oppose those rules as applied to conventional drillers. Quigley has said, as he typically does, “screw you” in so many words…
Read More “PA DEP Sec Quigley’s Own Committee Appointees Turn Against Him”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Research

Brookings LNG Report: An Assessment of U.S. Natural Gas Exports
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

The nonpartisan Washington, DC-based think tank the Brookings Institution recently released the fourth in a series of briefings by the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at Brookings on developments in the natural gas market. This latest research report (or “brief”), titled “An Assessment of U.S. Natural Gas Exports” (full copy below), provides an overview of regulations in the U.S. that control LNG exports, along with an assessment of how competitive the U.S. is compared with other suppliers emerging worldwide. Interestingly, the Brookings report points out a little known fact: “Although U.S. natural gas export regulation may be cumbersome and the trajectory expensive, to date not a single project has been rejected”…
Read More “Brookings LNG Report: An Assessment of U.S. Natural Gas Exports”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama Stabs Natural Gas Electric Plants in Clean Power Plan
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

Yesterday our glorious Dear Leader, Barack Hussein Obama, made his final push for total (clean) dictatorial power. And since Republicans in Congress have lost their courage and their way, he’s likely to achieve it. Yesterday the Obama administration unveiled its Communist Clean Power Plan, a plan that illegally violates just about every Constitutional freedom we have left in this country. You see, our Dear Leader believes in the fairy tale of man-made global warming–even though it doesn’t exist. And he’s using that belief to not only screw the coal industry, he’s also using it to screw the shale energy industry too. Surprised? We aren’t. We’ve told you for years that Obama’s actions speak much louder than his words when it comes to shale energy–of his lack of support for shale energy. Now his words are matching his actions. Obama abandoned his words of support for natural gas in unveiling his so-called Clean Power Plan that will result in not only coal powered electric generating plants closing in large numbers–but will also put natural gas fired plants on the endangered list too. Lord Obama now touts so-called renewable energy only. No more talk about using natural gas as a bridge fuel. That’s verboten. Instead of letting the free market choose which power source it wants for energy, Lord Obama has made the decision for us. Sieg heil, Obama!…
Read More “Obama Stabs Natural Gas Electric Plants in Clean Power Plan”