Marcellus Drilling News

Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Marion County | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

Did Antero Pull the Rug Out from Under Fairmont Brine Processing?
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

MDN brought you the news today that Antero Resources is building its own frack wastewater treatment facility in Doddridge County, WV (see today’s lead story). It’s great news–great for Antero, but not great for some. One company feels betrayed by the announcement–Fairmont Brine Processing. Let’s back up. In December MDN told you the story of Fairmont Brine Processing, once called AOP Clearwater (see New Brine Processing Plant Coming to Panhandle of WV). Fairmont operates a small wastewater processing plant in Marion County, WV and has spent $2 million on engineering work and plans to build a new, larger facility near Wheeling, WV. Fairmont’s #1 customer is Antero Resources. All along Fairmont has been sharing plans and inside information with Antero to be sure the new facility they build meets Antero’s needs. And then Antero seemingly pulled the rug out from under them…
Read More “Did Antero Pull the Rug Out from Under Fairmont Brine Processing?”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Inflection Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tioga County (NY)

US Circuit Court: NY Landowners Released from Marcellus Leases
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, located in New York State, released a decision yesterday in a case known as Beardslee v. Inflection Energy, LLC (copy of the decision is embedded below) that may create problems for future shale drilling in New York State–should the existing statewide ban ever be lifted. Yesterday’s decision is good news for landowners in one sense–it officially upholds the right of Tioga County, NY landowners party to the lawsuit to be released from old leases made in pre-Marcellus days when landowners signed leases for $3 per acre. Those leases were signed before the words “Marcellus” or “Utica” meant anything other than municipalities in New York State. (Interesting factoid: both shale plays are named after the NY towns where they were first identified. Further interesting factoid: both Marcellus, NY and Utica, NY banned fracking before the statewide ban was official.) The Second Circuit upheld a previous decision which we first wrote about in 2012 (see Judge Rules Against Chesapeake, Inflection in NY Lease Case), a decision appealed to NY’s highest court that upheld it (see NY High Court Decision Creates Toxic Environment for O&G Companies). The energy companies then appealed the decision to U.S. District Court, where they have now lost. The ultimate issue at the core of this case is whether or not New York’s government action in disallowing fracking of shale wells should be considered a “force majeure” event that extends a lease beyond the initial term. It is the one issue the none of the courts ever directly answered, including the Second Circuit…
Read More “US Circuit Court: NY Landowners Released from Marcellus Leases”
Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Warren Resources | Wyoming County (PA)

Warren Resources Releases Details on 2 “Upper” Marcellus Wells
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

Warren Resources is an independent exploration and production company (E&P, or what we call a driller) with an active drilling program for oil in California, undrilled acreage in the state of Wyoming, and a small but growing operation in the Marcellus Shale. Warren owns 6,982 gross (5,289 net) contiguous acres in Wyoming County, PA, the northeastern part of the state. As of July 2014 Warren had drilled 30 Marcellus Shale wells (some of those drilled by a joint venture partner) in what they call the Lower Marcellus layer. Earlier this year the company drilled two new Marcellus wells in the Upper Marcellus layer. On Tuesday, Warren released initial production results for their first two Upper Marcellus Shale wells…
Read More “Warren Resources Releases Details on 2 “Upper” Marcellus Wells”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services

Marcellus/Utica Gas-to-Liquids Not Dead! Dominion Sniffing Around
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

Once upon a time there was an initial flurry of interest in converting shale gas, specifically Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, into other products like diesel fuel using technologies first pioneered in the 1920s. The process is called gas-to-liquids, or GTL, and there were three our four projects mentioned in the northeast over the past couple of years. The project closest to reality seemed to be the Ashtabula (OH) Energy GTL plant that got a final necessary permit from the Ohio EPA in July (see Ohio EPA Issues Final Permit for Ashtabula GTL Plant). However, parent company Velocys became embroiled in controversy, suspending its CEO for possible “serious misconduct” (see Velocys GTL Company Suspends CEO for Possible Serious Misconduct). With the collapse of the price of oil, all GTL projects seemed to fade away primarily because the substance that the natural gas would be converted to–things like diesel fuel and gasoline–are cheap direct from the refiner. That is, it’s just not economic to use natgas as the feedstock for something made cheaper via different method (refining oil). However, we have exciting news of a potential new GTL project, backed by Dominion, in the Marcellus/Utica area. Dominion’s project would convert natural gas into isobutanol and farnesene…
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Gas-to-Liquids Not Dead! Dominion Sniffing Around”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Marathon Petroleum | MarkWest Energy

What Happened Behind the Curtains of the Marathon/MarkWest Deal?
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

A couple of interesting tidbits have come to light regarding the impending buyout of MarkWest Energy by Marathon Petroleum, announced in July (see Midstream Bombshell: MarkWest Sells Itself to Marathon Petroleum). First interesting tidbit: As recently as February of this year, MarkWest rebuffed an informal offer from Marathon telling Marathon they prefer to be a standalone company. Then the continuing low price apocalypse deepened, changing everything. The second interesting tidbit: Two other companies were bidding to takeover MarkWest, starting in May. It appears that MarkWest didn’t want to be wedded to either of those companies and went running into the arms of Marathon instead…
Read More “What Happened Behind the Curtains of the Marathon/MarkWest Deal?”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Budget: Where Will Republicans “Find” $400M for Big Education?
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

We are holding our collective breath. Yesterday there seemed to be movement toward finalizing a deal for the Pennsylvania State budget. The floundering Tom Wolf administration made a promise to Big Education they can’t keep–raping, er, a, raiding the Marcellus Shale industry and giving the proceeds to teachers’ unions as political payoff for helping to elect him. Republicans, which control both the PA Senate and House, have held firm: You don’t tax a single industry to transfer its wealth to another group that didn’t earn it, no matter how “worthy” and “noble” the cause. It’s called theft. Yesterday word leaked that Republicans and Wolf met and the Republicans offered Wolf $400 million for education. We’re assuming that’s $400 million on top of the increase they already offered (an increase that doesn’t get reported by mainstream media). Wolf fancifully thought by raping, er, a, raiding the Marcellus industry he’d get $1 billion. So there’s a $600 million delta there. But word is that Wolf is seriously considering the offer. What we don’t know is: Where will Republicans get the $400 million? The state is flat busted as it is, thanks to pensions that are bankrupting the state. Our question/warning is this: We sure hope Republicans aren’t getting ready to cave on a Marcellus Shale severance tax. It doesn’t matter if the tax is little or big. Little taxes today get converted into bigger taxes next year with the stroke of a legislative pen…
Read More “PA Budget: Where Will Republicans “Find” $400M for Big Education?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Mahoning County | Ohio | Pennsylvania

Tiny Protest (in PA) Claims to be Part of “Hands Across Our Land”
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

Yesterday we told you about the “nationwide” protest that was a bust–held in three locations in Virginia and one in West Virginia by less than a cumulative 100 people (see Anti-Pipeline “Hands Across Our Land” Protest in VA & WV a Bust). The protest was supposedly against two natural gas pipelines planned to run from West Virginia through Virginia and for one of the pipelines, into North Carolina. We spotted one more protest that claims to have been part of the Hands Across Our Land “movement”–a protest at a well pad site in Pennsylvania. Of course the PA gathering had nothing to do with being against pipelines, the supposed reason for the protest in the first place. This particular group of protesters slipped across the border from Ohio (an anti-drilling group called Frackfree Mahoning Valley) to show their “solidarity” with a family who didn’t want a drill pad operating near their property. Once again it illustrates that whether they claim to be “against” fracking/drilling, or “against” a pipeline–it’s really neither. These protesters are “against” fossil fuels, period. That’s what motivates them–an irrational hatred of fossil fuels…
Read More “Tiny Protest (in PA) Claims to be Part of “Hands Across Our Land””
Education | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

300 Ohio Boy Scouts Earn Oil & Gas Engineering Merit Badge
August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

This goes under the “How cool is that?” department. More than 300 Boy Scouts, attending a special summer camp in Ohio, have earned their oil and gas engineering merit badge over the past three years. The latest batch of 100 have just completed earning their badges. Scouts learn about the key role engineering and science plays in the Ohio oil and gas industry. Scouts visit working oil and gas wells as part of the program and put their learning to use by building scale models of pipelines and drilling rigs. No doubt some of them, as a result of their experiences, will decide to go to work in the greatest industry on the planet…
Read More “300 Ohio Boy Scouts Earn Oil & Gas Engineering Merit Badge”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Aug 20, 2015
August 20, 2015August 20, 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: Thu, Aug 20, 2015”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation

Lawless EPA Issues New Methane Rule to Cripple U.S. O&G Drilling
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

The gloves are now off and everything is out in the open: President Barack Hussein Obama wants to destroy the oil and gas industry in the United States of America. Yesterday Obama’s preferred tool of destruction, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), released a plan that brings the jackboots of the federal government down on the necks of the industry–forcing them to “reduce” methane emissions by 40-45%. Methane, you may recall, is what drillers actually extract from the ground and sell. Methane is what they get paid for–the very thing they are incentivized to capture so they can sell it. Drillers have reduced their methane emissions–the stuff leaking out around the edges–by at least 40-45% over the past few years. In other words, the industry is already doing what the EPA wants them to do. Which means this action is a blatant attempt at stifling drilling in this country. Let us be crystal clear: This action by the EPA is illegal. This is an outright attempt to regulate the oil and gas industry, contrary to the U.S. Constitution which reserves such regulation to the individual states. Just have a look at the so-called “rule” the EPA has published (all 591 pages of it). It is a top to bottom set of unlegislated regulations that will put all oil an gas drilling in the regulatory hands of the EPA.

This is a big and important story, so we’ve broken it into several posts. Below, in this post, is the EPA press release–a masterful propaganda spin job–along with a copy of the 591-page “rule” the EPA will first publish in the Federal Register, and then, 60 days later, adopt as an unlegislated law that will become of the law of the land governing oil and gas drilling. All done through the back door of trying to reduce methane emissions as a way of controlling mythical global warming.
Read More “Lawless EPA Issues New Methane Rule to Cripple U.S. O&G Drilling”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation

Pro-Drilling Groups Weigh in on Lawless EPA Methane Rule
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

As for the good guys, the guys in the white hats who support clean-burning natural gas and fossil fuels, they also weighed in on the EPA’s lawless new methane reduction rule, otherwise known as 40 CFR Part. Here’s what the good guys from ANGA, API, Marcellus Shale Coalition, WVONGA and even what three U.S. Senators had to say…
Read More “Pro-Drilling Groups Weigh in on Lawless EPA Methane Rule”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation

Anti-Drilling Groups Weigh in on Lawless EPA Methane Rule
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

If you wonder whether or not a new regulation is good or bad, you can always tell by who supports it and who doesn’t. In the case of the EPA and their lawless new methane reduction rule, otherwise known as 40 CFR Part 60, national radical environmental groups like Earthjustice and the Sierra Club, along with regional and local radical groups like the Ohio Environmental Council and the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, are applauding the action taken by the Obama EPA…
Read More “Anti-Drilling Groups Weigh in on Lawless EPA Methane Rule”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation | Research

The One Graph that Exposes the EPA Lie re Methane Regulation
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

The graph below puts to rest the lie that the EPA’s action in trying to control oil and gas drilling via the back door of controlling methane emissions will do anything to help so-called global warming. It won’t. Not a thing. Why? One-third of all methane emissions are naturally occurring–coming from “wetlands” (i.e. swamps, representing 22%), the ocean (3%) and yes, termites (4%). Who knew termites fart that much? But wait, there’s even more farting. Of all “man-caused” methane emissions, cow farts, otherwise referred to as “enteric fermentation” represent 16% of all methane emissions, and “animal waste” (i.e. cow manure) represents another 5% of all methane emissions. That is, agriculture is responsible for 21% of all “fugitive” methane emissions. Oil & gas and coal extraction? That represents 19%. So the EPA is focusing on 19% of the problem and ignoring the other 81% of the problem, claiming that will magically reduce global warming. What utter cow manure…
Read More “The One Graph that Exposes the EPA Lie re Methane Regulation”
American Energy Partners | Ascent Resources | Energy Companies

Has Aubrey McClendon Finally Hung Himself with High Debt?
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

An article on Bloomberg takes aim at famed wildcatter Aubrey McClendon, calling his move into the Marcellus Shale a “misadventure” that has left investors holding an empty bag. According to the article (excerpts below), McClendon’s strategy after leaving Chesapeake Energy was to get a bunch of money from investors (load up on debt) and then work off the debt over time as production ramps up. Problem is, the price of natural gas and oil collapsed after he loaded up on debt, and consequently there’s been very little production, and the money that comes from production is tiny. The debt hangs around Aubrey’s neck like a millstone. The question now is, has Aubrey finally hung himself with high debt? Can Ascent Resources–the one-time American Energy Partners subsidiary that broke away–survive the mountain of debt it carries long enough for prices to turn around?…
Read More “Has Aubrey McClendon Finally Hung Himself with High Debt?”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | M&A | Spectra Energy | Williams

More Suitors Line Up to Buy Williams – Spectra Energy Makes a Bid
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

Early in the year, midstream giant Energy Transfer Equity began an attempt to woo another midstream giant Williams into a buyout. Williams resisted and the whole thing went public in June when ETE announced they would pursue a hostile takeover (see Energy Transfer Makes “Indecent Proposal” to Buy Williams for $48B). Williams has continued to spurn the overtures of ETE and has instead gone shopping for another suitor (see Williams Continues to Resist ET Offer, Talks with Other Suitors). We now know of one serious alternative suitor to ETE. Reuters published an exclusive, insider story revealing that Spectra Energy is now bidding to merge with/takeover Williams. Kinder Morgan is also interested and sniffing around, but at this point Spectra seems to be in the lead…
Read More “More Suitors Line Up to Buy Williams – Spectra Energy Makes a Bid”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia | West Virginia

Anti-Pipeline “Hands Across Our Land” Protest in VA & WV a Bust
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

Hands Across Our Land, a minuscule gathering in three locations in Virginia and one location in West Virginia organized by the far left Sierra Club and the extremists of 350.org, held “protests” so small yesterday that if it weren’t for local media looking for any story to report during the summer doldrums, nobody would have noticed there even was a protest. Casual observers would have thought, “Oh, there’s a small group, perhaps a (nutty looking) family out for a stroll.” The “protesters” were there to object to two necessary, innocuous, safe natural gas pipelines from being buried in the ground–Dominion’s 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline which is due to run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina; and EQT/NextEra US Gas Assets’ 330-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline from West Virginia into southern Virginia. As is typically the case, most of the protesters were in their 50s and 60s, former hippies who have found a new cause (anti-fossil fuels) to rejuvinate their otherwise meaningless lives…
Read More “Anti-Pipeline “Hands Across Our Land” Protest in VA & WV a Bust”