Marcellus Drilling News

Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Drillers Hope to Get Forced Pooling Law Passed in WV This Year
June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

Supporters of the forced pooling bill that failed to pass in the 60-day regular session of the West Virginia legislature this year are not done. MDN previously reported on House Bill (HB) 2688 which was “a sure thing” for passage earlier this year. But at literally the eleventh hour the bill died in a tie vote (see The Real Story of Why Forced Pooling Bill Failed in WV). It seems the bill died because Democrats got their knickers in a twist over other legislation they couldn’t get passed, so they denied the Republican-controlled legislature a win on this bill. Politics. We’ve previously covered the various aspects of this bill of which we are aware (see our stories here). We also predicted the bill may get another chance this fall (see WV Forced Pooling Bill HB 2688 May Get Another Vote This Fall). Seems that was prescient. WV media is reporting that forced pooling was once again front and center at an interim meeting of the Joint Committee on Energy in the WV legislature on Monday. The West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association is on a mission to educate and promote forced pooling with the hope of getting a compromise bill passed this year…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

PennEast Pipeline Hands Out Another $70,000 in “Grants”
June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

Another round of “largesse” has just been served up from the PennEast Pipeline (see PennEast Payola? Buying Support One Community at a Time). Don’t get us wrong–the organizations receiving the latest round of $70,000 in “grants” from PennEast are exceptionally worthy organizations–volunteer fire departments, after school programs, etc. We just a have a problem with the timing of it all (see our thoughts here: Will Companies Continue Making Grants after Pipelines are Built?). Here’s the list of the 14 organizations that each received a $5,000 check from PennEast this week…
Read More “PennEast Pipeline Hands Out Another $70,000 in “Grants””
Beaver County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain

Marcellus Slowdown Causes Pittsburgh Pipe Plant to Close for 1 Mo
June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

The slowdown in drilling in the Marcellus (and Utica) continues to reverberate and affect supply chain companies that depend on the industry for part or all of their livelihood. The latest example is TMK IPSCO, a pipe manufacturing plant located near Pittsburgh. Last year the company laid off 10% of its workforce. This year? They’re going to “take advantage” of the slow down by shutting the plant down for an entire month, to perform upgrades. The upgrades will allow the plant to do even better when drilling activity picks up again, but in the meantime, a one-month forced/unpaid “vacation” for workers will hurt…
Read More “Marcellus Slowdown Causes Pittsburgh Pipe Plant to Close for 1 Mo”
Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies

Carrizo CEO Chip Johnson Sells Another 6K Shares of Stock
June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

Last week MDN told you that four of Carrizo Oil & Gas’ top managers had sold a cumulative 49,689 shares of company stock valued at $2,476,038 (see 4 Top Carrizo O&G Officers, Incl CEO, Sell 50K Shares of Company Stock). Carrizo’s CEO Chip Johnson sold 24,661 of those shares–about half of the total. This week Johnson just sold another 6,000 shares, netting himself another $308,760 to add to the $1,228,858 he got last week. Also selling 1,000 shares of Carrizo stock this week is a member of the board of directors, Roger Ramsey. Makes us wonder what’s going on–why the top brass in the company is selling some of their stock. Of course, it may be no big deal since Chip Johnson after selling 30,661 shares of stock still owns 631,843 shares worth $32.5 million. We suppose his stock sales thus far amount to little more than a rounding error!…
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BP | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Research

BP’s Annual Energy Report: Smallest Demand Increase since 1990s
June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

BP (what used to be known as British Petroleum) is, and has been for years, North America’s top natural gas marketer. Although first quarter 2015 marketer rankings aren’t out just yet, if you look at fourth quarter 2014, BP sold (i.e. marketed) twice as much natural gas on a daily basis as the next nearest company, which happens to be Shell (see NGI’s 4Q14 NatGas Marketer Rankings). Like other oil “majors,” BP issues a yearly outlook on worldwide energy consumption and trends. BP calls their version of this report the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. The company released the 64th edition of that review today (full copy below). BP themselves say this edition, “highlights the continuing importance of the US shale revolution, with the US overtaking Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest oil producer and surpassing Russia as the world’s largest producer of oil and gas.” Readers of MDN already know those two facts: that the US years ago dethroned Russia as the #1 natural gas producer, and that more recently we’ve dethroned Saudi Arabia as the world’s #1 oil producer. What else do we learn from this year’s report?…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jun 10, 2015
June 10, 2015June 10, 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, Jun 10, 2015”
Butler County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants

ETP Announces $1.5B Revolution Pipeline/Plant Project in SWPA
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

An important new project in the Marcellus/Utica was announced by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) yesterday. The project, dubbed the Revolution Project, includes a new 100-mile gathering pipeline system in Butler County, PA along with a new cryogenic gas processing plant to be constructed “in western Pennsylvania.” The processing plant will be called the Revolution Plant. A pipeline (called the Revolution Pipeline) will be constructed to connect the Revolution Plant to Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East NGL pipeline to handle NGLs coming from the plant. Another pipeline will be built to connect the plant to ETP’s Rover pipeline to handle natural gas coming from the plant. Also part of the Revolution Project will be a new fractionation facility to be built at the Marcus Hook refinery in the Philadelphia area. Total price tag for the whole shebang: $1.5 billion…
Read More “ETP Announces $1.5B Revolution Pipeline/Plant Project in SWPA”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marathon Petroleum | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Utica Crude Oil Barged Down Ohio River to Marathon Plant in KY
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

This one kind of slipped by our radar. Marathon Petroleum, the nation’s fourth largest refiner (headquartered in Findlay, OH), has just brought online a new $170 million condensate splitter at its refinery complex south of Catlettsburg, Kentucky. The purpose of the new splitter, which took two years to build, is to process sweet crude oil being produced in the Utica Shale of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. And how, you may ask, is all that Utica crude getting to the facility? By barge, along the Ohio River…
Read More “Utica Crude Oil Barged Down Ohio River to Marathon Plant in KY”
Cambria County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

New Marcellus-fired Electric Plant Coming to Cambria County, PA
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

We’ve heard plenty about Marcellus-powered electric generating plants in northeastern Pennsylvania (see Panda Power Building 3rd Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in PA and Invenergy Buys Land in NEPA for Natgas Electric Generating Plant and 7 Small Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to NEPA). We’ve also heard about a string of new Marcellus-powered electric plants coming to West Virginia (see Big News: 3 More Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to WV). Plus there’s a batch of plants planned for Ohio, to tap into Utica Shale gas (see List of 6 New Natural Gas-Fired Electric Plants Coming to Ohio). We haven’t heard much about southwestern or south central PA as a potential site for a new electric generating plant…until now. A Boston company plans to build a new Marcellus-powered electric plant in Cambria County…
Read More “New Marcellus-fired Electric Plant Coming to Cambria County, PA”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

NY DEC Claims Their Sham Studies Better than Federal EPA Study
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

Even though faced with overwhelming scientific evidence that fracking has and is being done safely everywhere it’s tried (see EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies), New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo won’t relent and change his mind to allow fracking. That’s the upshot of comments by Cuomo’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC would rather use sham “studies” perpetrated by anti-drilling radical environmentalists rather than believe a four year, in-depth study by the federal EPA on whether or not fracking can be done safely. But then, we didn’t expect Cuomo would change his mind, because his decision was 100% political–not based on science at all…
Read More “NY DEC Claims Their Sham Studies Better than Federal EPA Study”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Mariner East Invokes Eminent Domain Against 2 SWPA Landowners
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

Another “nobody wins” eminent domain lawsuit has been filed by a pipeline company. This time it’s Sunoco Logistics filing for their Mariner East pipeline against two different families/landowners in Washington County, PA. The landowners don’t want the pipeline but Sunoco insists it’s necessary to have those specific properties. The problem is, will an eminent domain claim hold up in court? Last July, two independent administrative law judges working for the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) ruled that Mariner East is not, according to the definition, a “public utility” (see Setback for Mariner East NGL Pipe – Judges Say Not Public Utility). But then in October, the full board of Commissioners for the PUC voted to send the case back to those judges with instructions to “reconsider” their decision (see Major Milestone: PA PUC Rules Mariner East IS a Public Utility). Sunoco has a lot riding on whether or not their claim to be a public utility will hold up in court. If Mariner East is not a public utility, they have no claim to eminent domain powers…
Read More “Mariner East Invokes Eminent Domain Against 2 SWPA Landowners”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lorain County | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation

CORNy Letter to FERC: NEXUS Pipeline will Contaminate our Creeks
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

The anti-drillers who inhabit Oberlin (Lorain County), OH are nothing if not determined. In November 2013 Oberlin voted to commit economic suicide by passing a so-called Community Bill of Rights law, which is nothing more than a ban on shale drilling (see Economic Suicide Avoided in 2 OH Cities but Oberlin Pulls Trigger). Of course so-called “home rule” laws have since been overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court (see OH Supreme Court Strikes Down Home Rule in Gas Drilling Case). The NEXUS gas pipeline is planned to run through the Oberlin area, so a group calling themselves CORN–Coalition to Reroute NEXUS–popped up in Oberlin and surrounding counties to oppose the pipeline. Why? Because it will flow nasty, evil fossil fuels. We call it the CORNy opposition. A member of CORN from the Oberlin City Council has written to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–which is reviewing the NEXUS project–to say if the pipeline is built, it will “result in the contamination of the streams that produce water for the city’s domestic use.” Just one CORNy lie right after another…
Read More “CORNy Letter to FERC: NEXUS Pipeline will Contaminate our Creeks”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

List of Republican Senators Who Voted to Confirm Quigley @ DEP
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

Last week the Pennsylvania State Senate held hearings and voted to accept John Quigley, who used to work for the anti-drilling PennFuture, as the Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Spineless Senate Republicans Confirm Quigley to Head PA DEP). Inexplicably, otherwise solid, pro-drilling Republican Senators, like Sen. Gene Yaw from northeastern PA, voted to confirm Quigley. Below is a copy of the roll call votes and who voted for Quigley, and the brave four Republicans who voted against. If your senator voted to confirm (a “yea” vote below), perhaps you’d like to make your displeasure known to your senator? We’ve also included a list of the senators and their party affiliations and mailing addresses to make it easy to send a hand written note…
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Energy Companies | Hess

Newsweek Names Hess #1 “Green” Big Oil Company
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

Perhaps this is anti-“green” day on MDN (see our story on the G7 today). We have nothing against people and companies who pretend to be better than the rest of us by saving the planet (“go green”), or saving the whales/polar bears/snail darters/whatever. Knock yourself out if supporting some “cause” makes you feel better/worthy/superior. What we do take exception to are people who want to force the rest of us to participate in your cause. We don’t see anti-fossil fuelers ever showing us how it’s done–how to stop using fossil fuels in their day to day lives. Their come back is that we all have to engage in this lunacy together for it to work. We say–you go first. You show us how it’s done. You show us the “superior” way to save the planet. When it comes to using the “green” banner, what’s really funny to us is when fossil fuel energy companies pretend to be “green” and “sustainable”. We think that’s laugh out loud funny. Here’s the latest example, courtesy of Hess, one of the planet’s biggest fossil fuel companies (and a driller in the Ohio Utica Shale), proud of being ranked #1 among energy companies for being “green” in a ranking by a magazine nobody reads anymore–Newsweek…
Read More “Newsweek Names Hess #1 “Green” Big Oil Company”
Alternative Energy | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Taxation

Hunger Games: G7 Seeks to End all Fossil Fuel Use This Century
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

There is no escaping the fact that when a group of hardened socialists get together, bad things happen. Witness the meeting called the G7 that took place in Germany yesterday. The assembled “leaders” of seven of the world’s biggest economies, including Barack H. Obama, agreed to commit their respect countries to committing economic suicide–i.e., ending the use of fossil fuels by the end of this century. By the middle of this century (35 years from now), they aim to reduce burning fossil fuels by “40 to 70 percent in the 2010 global emission levels of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.” What happens when, by 2050, everyone figures out that mankind burning fossil fuels actually doesn’t cause so-called global warming? The threat of global warming is yet another sham, another way to convince people to willingly give up their freedom so so-called smart people will “save them” from themselves. It’s sick…
Read More “Hunger Games: G7 Seeks to End all Fossil Fuel Use This Century”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

THIS is the Loyal, Anti-Drilling Opposition in WV?? [Video]
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

It always helps to know who the loyal opposition is. When we witness anti-drillers at public hearings we’ve attended about regulations and pipelines, we often marvel. This is the opposition? How on earth do they achieve the successes they achieve? We also wonder, do people “in the middle” who haven’t made up their minds about who to believe in the great fracking debate–do they know that these are the people behind the push to eliminate fossil fuels? Would it make a difference if they did know?…
Read More “THIS is the Loyal, Anti-Drilling Opposition in WV?? [Video]”