Marcellus Drilling News

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Washington County

Cecil Twp Approves MarkWest Compressor, with Poison Pill Conditions
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, one of the seven selfish towns that sued to overturn a portion of PA’s Act 13 oil and gas drilling law granting them the right to retain local zoning authority over oil and gas related activities, have found their Act 13 victory to be somewhat hollow. As MDN reported nearly a month ago, Cecil has steadfastly refused to grant a permit to MarkWest Energy to build a compressor station since 2010 (five years ago!). After a lawsuit that worked its way through various levels of courts, and after Cecil exhausted all other options, a judge ordered them to grant the permit no later than May 30. Cecil proceeded to violate that deadline (see Cecil Twp Violates Court Order re MarkWest Compressor Permit). Last night, after intense last minute negotiations with MarkWest, the town finally voted to grant the permit, but not before sneaking in two last minute changes to conditions both sides worked out in advance, changes that will likely mean yet another trip to the judge. Seems Cecil is still intent on stopping the compressor station…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Robinson Twp Delays MarkWest Compressor, Approval Coming Soon
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

This is a tale of two Pennsylvania townships. Both towns were part of the original seven selfish towns that sued the State of Pennsylvania to overturn portions of the Act 13 oil and gas law (see PA Court Says 7 Towns Can Keep Marcellus Money & Ban Drilling Too). Both towns share a border and both are in Washington County, PA. The residents of one town have clung to their anti-drilling views and continue to obstruct and obfuscate and block anything to do with drilling or pipelines. That town would be Cecil (see today’s story titled Cecil Twp Approves MarkWest Compressor, with Poison Pill Conditions). The other town, Robinson, has done a complete reversal. The residents of Robinson tossed their anti-drilling supervisors out of office, elected new ones, and have embraced the Marcellus Shale revolution happening around them (see Robinson Twp, PA Offers a Preview into Future of NY Frack Debate). Whereas Cecil is still trying to block a single MarkWest compressor station in their town, Robinson is moving forward with plans for a second MarkWest compressor station…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

VA Gentry Class Raising $1M to Oppose Atlantic Coast Pipeline
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Wealthy landowners in Virginia are halfway to raising $1 million in their effort to torpedo Dominion’s planned $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Just yesterday we told you that a majority of residents in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina support the project (see Poll: Majority of Voters in VA, WV, NC Favor Atlantic Coast Pipeline). The pipeline will flow natural gas from the Marcellus/Utica to points across the southeast. That is, unless NIMBY’s raise enough money to run advertising campaigns to convince officials and regulators that this pipeline should not get built. Never underestimate the power of a bribe, er, a, “advertising” money. The new favorite phrase of those who oppose pipelines (watch for it in sycophantic media stories) is that pipelines are a “scar” on Mother Earth. How wicked and despicable to want to scar your mother…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Supply Chain | Vallourec

Youngstown Plant Starts Operations, Selling Pipes to Shale Industry
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Although drilling activity in the Marcellus/Utica, indeed across all shale plays, has decreased in the past six months, that doesn’t mean all gas and oil related businesses have been adversely affected. Take Vallourec’s VAM USA LLC subsidiary–a pipe manufacturer with a facility in Youngstown, Ohio. In May, VAM began producing the first pipes for commercial sale at its new premium threading plant in Youngstown. More money, more jobs, rolling into eastern Ohio–thanks to the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. Here’s the details on VAM’s startup in producing pipe products for the shale industry…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Bumper Sticker: Ban Food & Water Watch Now
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Ban Food & Water Watch Now. That’s the bumper sticker we think people should put on their vehicles to express displeasure with the lies peddled by this un-American organization. Big Green organizations like the Park Foundation and the William Penn Foundation fund the activities of Food & Water Watch and other virulently anti-drilling organizations (including the Sierra Clubbers). In turn, these partisan hacks peddle lies at public meetings, and use money from their Big Green benefactors to launch frivolous lawsuits that slow down and in some cases stop shale drilling and pipeline projects. We think they should be stopped. They should be banned. What? “That’s outrageous! They have a right to express themselves!” So too, do pro-drillers. We have as much right to demand that THEIR organization be banned as they have to demand that fracking and pipelines (and all of the jobs and economic benefits that come from it) be banned. We’re simply putting the shoe on the other foot to see how they like wearing it. At a minimum, the IRS needs to investigate their tax exempt status with an eye to revoking it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Antis Hate Marcellus Shale Drilling…Because of Richard Nixon?!
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

One of the most hated politicians (for the liberal left) in all of American history was Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of these United States. Which is ironic, because it was Nixon who created the blight on America we have today known as the Environmental Protection Agency–one of the libs’ favorite government agencies. Anywho, imagine our delight when we read this headline from a letter to the editor in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale fulfills President Nixon’s dream of energy independence.” The letter (full copy below) is written by MDN friend Joe Massaro from Energy in Depth. It got us to thinking, maybe the libs hate Marcellus Shale drilling not only because they consider it a crime against Mother Earth, with so-called global warming, but maybe they instinctively hate it because they hate Richard Nixon! Yeah! Libs don’t have to make sense (they rarely do)–and this explanation is as good as any, right? Read on to see how our buddy Joe found yet another liberal sore spot–associating Marcellus drilling with Richard Nixon–and jammed his foot on it…
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American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

Problematic: McClendon’s AEP Not Paying Some of its Bills
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Does Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP)–the new company he founded after being unceremoniously booted from Chesapeake Energy–have cash problems? You certainly wouldn’t think so. At last check in May 2014, McClendon had raised a staggering $8.7 billion in little more than a year (see Aubrey McClendon Raises Huge $8.7B for Shale Drilling…So Far). But the evidence keeps piling up that Aubrey isn’t paying his bills. In April, McClendon created a “blank check” company to raise $200 million in cash (see Aubrey McClendon’s New “Blank Check Company” Looks to Raise $200M). In May, Paloma Resources said a 3-way deal including McClendon’s AEP to lease 130,000 acres in the Ohio Utica Shale went bust because Aubrey didn’t have enough money to close the deal (see McClendon Running Out of Money?! Paloma Utica Deal Goes Bust). Last week MDN told you about a contractor working for AEP with several hundred thousand dollars in outstanding invoices that have gone unpaid–for more than 120 days (see Big McClendon News: Sells 35K Utica Acres, Creates New Company). Now the latest: a group of Ohio landowners have sued McClendon’s AEP along with an affiliate company and a land services company working for AEP, for non-payment of lease bonuses…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

List of Who’s Still Active/Drilling in the Ohio Utica Shale
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Who’s still drilling/active in the Ohio Utica Shale? Depends on what criteria you use to measure it. We spotted a list of 19 “active” drillers in the Utica based on the criteria of who had producing wells in the first quarter of 2015. Fair enough. But as for who is actively drilling new holes in the ground right now? That’s a slightly different list. MDN recently published Volume 1 for the 2015 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook (now in our fourth year of publishing this series). Our list shows 12 drillers who received at least one permit to drill in the Utica during the first four months of 2015. We have both lists below…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Snyder Brothers | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA PUC Sues Snyder Bros to Collect $500K in Unpaid Impact Fees
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

CORRECTION: The PUC misspoke in the figures given to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Snyder Brothers were actually fined a total of $499,520 — $390,250 for impact and administrative fees, $11,707.50 in interest and a fine of $97,562.50. Our thanks to NGI’s Shale Daily for tracking down the mistake and alerting us to it!

Last year we brought you the interesting story of strippers in the Marcellus–stripper wells, that is (see High-Priced Strippers in PA: Semantic Gymnastics with Impact Fee). Synder Brothers is an oil/gas producer in Pennsylvania. Most of the wells they drill are vertical-only wells. Among them are 24 wells from 2011 and 21 wells from 2012 that are vertical only–but all targeting the Marcellus. According to the definition of a stripper well under the Act 13 law passed in 2012, a well qualifies as a stripper well if it doesn’t produce over 90 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas per day. Synder Bros. says their wells don’t, ergo their wells are stripper wells and not liable to pay an impact fee. The PA Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with evaluating what does and does not qualify, says nope–your wells target the Marcellus formation and produced above 90 Mcf for at least one month out of the year, therefore must pay the impact fee. So the PUC has sued Snyder Bros. and intends to collect $500,000 in unpaid fees in the next 20 days, PLUS a $50,000 fine for inconveniencing the PUC…
Read More “PA PUC Sues Snyder Bros to Collect $500K in Unpaid Impact Fees”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Why Haven’t Anti Groups Opposed Andrew Place for PA PUC?
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Surprisingly, a very perceptive article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News asks the question, Why hasn’t there been a peep on the part of anti-drillers over the nomination of EQT’s Andrew Place to become a member of the board for the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC)? Indeed, it’s a great question. EQT is a major Marcellus Shale driller based in Pittsburgh. The PUC is charged with collecting impact fees from shale drillers. The author of the article says imagine this headline, if it were 2014: “Corbett administration taps shale industry exec for key regulatory post.” Mainstream (Democrat) media would have a field day! We would have been treated to nonstop exposés on how Tom Corbett is in the back pocket of the drilling industry…political payoff…political patronage…backroom dealing…conflict of interest…et cetera ad nauseam. A year later it’s a Democrat governor doing the appointing, so the obedient Democrat media hasn’t breathed a word questioning the appointment. We’ve seen wingnut groups disagree with Wolf when it comes to drilling–they’d rather have no drilling than tax it, given the option. So why are these same “environmental” groups, like PennFuture which is opposed to the drilling industry and anyone/anything connected to it, apparently OK with the nomination of Andrew Place?…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | North Carolina | Pipelines | Public Opinion | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Poll: Majority of Voters in VA, WV, NC Favor Atlantic Coast Pipeline
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

The Consumer Energy Alliance, a non-partisan group providing consumers with sound, unbiased information on U.S. and global energy issues, recently published the results of a scientific poll of residents in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia that has major implications for pipelines and infrastructure work in the Marcellus/Utica. The poll found majorities of voters in NC, VA and WV have heard about Dominion’s $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline–and they support it. Voters overwhelmingly believe pipelines are the safest means to transport natural gas. More than 80% of the voters surveyed said energy will be a significant factor in how they vote. This is really good news for the shale industry. Seems we’re constantly bludgeoned in the northeast when it comes to pipeline projects (NY, MA, NH, et al). But not in the southeast. Voters there have their heads screwed on straight and can tell the difference between the truth and lie–and they know that pipelines like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will be good for their region. Of course, voters in the southeast tend to be Republican/Conservative and sure enough, the results show that a large majority of those identifying as Republicans and/or Conservatives support pipelines, whereas a majority of Democrats/Liberals don’t. Pipelines, like drilling, are a partisan issue. It shouldn’t be that way! These issues should be decided on the science–but science was thrown out the window a long time ago. Drilling and pipelines–indeed your attitude on the use of fossil fuels–is largely determined by your political philosophy. Below we have a summary of the poll, along with the details (crosstabs), for those who want to dig into the nitty gritty…
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Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lorain County | NRG Energy | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Utica Shale

OH Agency Greenlights NRG Utica Pipeline to Feed Electric Plant
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Utility energy giant NRG, with loads of coal and natural gas electric generating plants scattered across the country, has just received the OK from the Ohio Power Siting Board to build a 20-mile pipeline from rural Lorain County, OH (where it will connect with a Dominion East Ohio pipeline) and connect to an NRG-owned natural gas powered electric generating plant in Avon Lake. The pipeline will flow Utica Shale gas to power the plant. Some landowners along the proposed route fought the plan, but the Ohio Power Siting Board rejected their claims there are better routes, saying NRG looked at all the possible routes. With the Board’s approval, NRG is taking the landowners to court with eminent domain cases…
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Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies

Eclipse Resources Floats $650M in New IOUs
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Eclipse Resources, the State College, PA-based pure play driller that drills mostly in the Ohio Utica Shale, is the latest contestant to enter the mad-dash-for-cash sweepstakes. On Friday Eclipse announced they are floating a round of “senior notes” (essentially IOUs) with the aim of raising $650 million in cash. They’ll use some of the money to pay off older debts/IOUs…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

Manhattan Institute Report Says Shale 2.0 Just Getting Started
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

The New York-based Manhattan Institute, a non-profit think tank with a mission “to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility,” released a new report in May titled, “Shale 2.0: Technology and the Coming Big-Data Revolution in America’s Shale Oil Fields” (full copy embedded below). The report explores and debunks the current meme coming from mainstream media, Saudi Arabia and other opponents of shale energy that with the current low price climate shale energy in the U.S. is done…fini…kaput. Mark Mills, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of the paper, says Shale 1.0 is now done, having run it’s course. But we’re still very early in the game and Shale 2.0 is just getting started. And oh, the (economic) places Shale 2.0 will take us!…
Read More “Manhattan Institute Report Says Shale 2.0 Just Getting Started”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Pitt. Post-Gazette Affirms AMA Lie re Frack Chemical Disclosure
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Shale drillers already full disclose the relative thimbleful of chemicals used in fracking solutions. They do so by listing them on the FracFocus.org website–well by well for each well they drill. Recently the American Medical Association, either through ignorance or (more likely) an intentional desire to mislead the American public voted to adopt a resolution calling for the full disclosure of chemicals used in fracking (see American Medical Assoc Votes for Full Disclosure of Frack Chemicals). Makes no difference that this already happens. The point is to further the myth that it doesn’t happen. Just to ensure low information headline readers are 100% brainwashed on this issue, the editorial writers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette come along to affirm the AMA’s lie…
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CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Congressman Bill Johnson: It’s Time US Ramps Up LNG Exports
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

U.S. Congressman Bill Johnson, who represents eastern and southeastern Ohio (Utica Shale country) has introduced HR 315, a bill to force the Dept. of Energy to make decisions within 30 days for each new LNG project filed with the agency. Johnson also recently went on a trip to Portugal, Belgium, and the Ukraine to discuss energy policy–specifically liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the United States. Johnson penned the following column following his trip, advocating for U.S. LNG exports and discussing HR 315…
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