Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Services | Williams

Williams is Buying Out Williams Partners Subsidiary for $13.8B
May 14, 2015May 14, 2015

In the oil and gas industry, in both the upstream (drillers) and midstream (pipelines) sectors, companies often split themselves into several different companies on paper. It all has to do with taxes and getting as much money as possible to investors. High finance stuff. The trend lately, however, seems to be going in the reverse direction. Instead of creating subsidiaries on paper, midstream companies are recombining into one larger whole. It happened last November when the stockholders (or unit holders) for four Kinder Morgan companies voted to combine into one mothership company (see Shareholders Approve Kinder Morgan Plan to Merge 4 into 1). A couple of things were notable about that recombination: One thing is that Kinder Morgan is the largest midstream company in the U.S. The second thing is that its founder, Richard Kinder, is the man who pioneered the use of MLPs or Master Limited Partnerships as a way of bumping up profits for shareholders. He reversed himself and knit it all back together, on paper. What is perhaps the country’s second largest midstream company, Williams, is now doing the same thing. Yesterday Williams announced that it is buying out its subsidiary Williams Partners LP in a stock deal valued at $13.8 billion. That is, Williams is buying itself–or rather a piece of itself–and streamlining the corporate structure of the company…
Read More “Williams is Buying Out Williams Partners Subsidiary for $13.8B”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Winners of $100K for 2015 Shale Gas Innovation Contest Announced
May 14, 2015May 14, 2015

A huge congratulations for the four winners of this year’s Annual Shale Gas Innovation Content, hosted by the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC). The four winners each received a check for $25,000 and bragging rights as being among the most innovative with products and/or services that are new, and make a difference in Marcellus and Utica Shale energy. The four winners are: Appalachian Drilling Services, EthosGen, Fairmont Brine Processing and PixController. Here’s the unique products/services each one provides…
Read More “Winners of $100K for 2015 Shale Gas Innovation Contest Announced”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

Fracking Shale Will Spur Another 462K Plastics Jobs Next 10 Yrs
May 14, 2015May 14, 2015

Economists at the American Chemistry Council have just published a new report called “The Rising Competitive Advantage of U.S. Plastics” in which they state over the next 10 years U.S. jobs related to plastics manufacturing are expected to grow by 462,000. Why? Because of plentiful and affordable natural gas and natural gas liquids from shale. A decade ago the U.S. was one of the world’s highest cost producers of plastics. Today, because of shale, we’re one of the lowest cost producers. And it gets better every year. More and more manufacturing plants are relocating to the U.S. to take advantage of a cheap supply of plastics and low cost natural gas, made possible by shale energy. Plastics materials makers pay workers on average nearly $85,000 per year. Made possible by the miracle of fracking…
Read More “Fracking Shale Will Spur Another 462K Plastics Jobs Next 10 Yrs”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, May 14, 2015
May 14, 2015May 14, 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, May 14, 2015”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Reversal: Media Discredits Penn State Water Contamination Study
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

The mask has been ripped off fractivist liars peddling what they pretend is science–and it’s been ripped off by mainstream media outlets including the Associated Press, USA Today, the International Business Times and (yes) The New York Times. Let us explain. Last week MDN brought you a story about a new research study that was ostensibly authored by Penn State researchers which found, using “non-traditional” methods of research, that wastewater leaking from an above-ground impoundment had migrated up to a mile and a half away and had contaminated three private water wells in PA–five years ago (see Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010). We told you how mainstream media, including the AP, had gone wild with excitement, endlessly repeating the story with the implication this is the smoking gun. The so-called research paper was published in the peer reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences–a gold standard among academic journals. It seems one of the authors of that paper lied…
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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio

Barnesville, OH Hires Costly Columbus Lawyers in Gulfport Lawsuit
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

In 2012, Barnesville (Belmont County), OH signed a contract with Gulfport Energy to sell Gulfport water from the Slope Creek Reservoir for 1 penny per gallon. Gulfport now wants to begin drilling in the area, following a joint venture agreement with Antero Resources. But Barnesville says the water level in the reservoir is too low and won’t sell. Gulfport sued and the whole matter has ended up in federal court (see Gulfport Energy Sues Barnesville, OH for Access to Water in Reservoir). As we later pointed out, the cost to Barnesville taxpayers because their political leaders “didn’t think” when they signed on the dotted line will now be very expensive (see Barnesville Officials “Didn’t Think” When Signing Gulfport Water Deal). Barnesville has just hired a high priced law firm from Columbus to represent them in court. How will Barnesville pay the new high priced lawyers? From money the town received from (yes) selling water from the reservoir to someone else…
Read More “Barnesville, OH Hires Costly Columbus Lawyers in Gulfport Lawsuit”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Medina County | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines

Medina, OH Landowner Says He’ll Meet NEXUS Surveyors Packing Heat
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

Landowners in Medina County, OH received a letter from the NEXUS Pipeline a few weeks ago telling them that surveyors have the right to enter their property and conduct surveying–whether the landowner has granted permission or not. The letter said that landowners had until May 1 to sign a permission letter, and after that date surveyors would show up. A word of caution for NEXUS surveyors: York Township resident Walter Giebeler says he has a big gun collection with some nasty looking firearms and if surveyors show up on his property, the 80 year-old Giebeler is going to pay them a visit carrying several firearms as a means of threatening them…
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Energy Companies | Rice Energy

Rice Energy Floats 6M Shares of Stock, Looks to Raise $145M Cash
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

Yesterday Rice Energy, a pure play exploration & production company focused on the Marcellus and Utica, is floating a new round of stock–6 million shares of it. It was only January 2014 when Rice launched its initial public offering of 44 million shares of stock and hauled in $924 million (see Rice Energy IPO Soars, Brings in $84M More Than Expected). The IPO was priced by underwriters at $21 per share and by the close of the bell on its first day of trading, the stock had gone to $21.90 per share (a 4% increase). How much does the company want for this new round of stock? They’ve priced it at $24.20 per share–which is pretty good considering the stock closed yesterday at $25.12 per share. If Rice gets the asking price of $24.20 per share, this latest round of new stock sales will haul in just north of $145 million in cash…
Read More “Rice Energy Floats 6M Shares of Stock, Looks to Raise $145M Cash”
Blue Racer Midstream | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Dominion Says Their Pipelines Gather 80% of All Ohio Natural Gas
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

The Guernsey County Energy Coalition heard from utility and midstream giant Dominion last week at their regular meeting in Cambridge, OH. Mack Smith Jr., Dominion’s manager of commercial gas services, had some fascinating things to say. One of them was this: “Dominion gathers about 80 percent of all Ohio gas and interconnects with seven major pipelines to distribute gas to markets, and to sell storage services to marketers and end users.” Did you know that Dominion gathers 80% of all Ohio natural gas? We sure didn’t! Here’s some more pickings from what Smith said last Thursday…
Read More “Dominion Says Their Pipelines Gather 80% of All Ohio Natural Gas”
CONE Midstream | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Noble Energy

CONE Midstream Looking to Add Customers Beyond CONSOL & Noble
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

In August 2014, CONSOL Energy and Noble Energy formed a midstream joint venture called CONE Midstream to connect their Marcellus and Utica wells (see CONSOL & Noble Energy Form New Marcellus Midstream Company). By February of this year, CONE had already flown by the 500 million cubic feet per day of of throughput (see CONE Midstream’s Strong Beginning, Hits 500 Mmcf/d 6 Mos Early). CONE issued their first quarter 2015 update on Monday. Management also held an earnings call and on that call upper management stated they are now looking to open up their pipelines to flow gas for other companies. CONE CEO John Lewis said so far CONE has two customers: CONSOL Energy and Noble Energy. Lewis said they’re looking at taking on new customers as well as looking at possibly buying other pipelines already in place to add to their network…
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Air Quality | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | National Fuel | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Seneca Resources

PA DEP Loses its ‘Common Sense’ in Seneca Air Pollution Ruling
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

Every now and again the legal definition of “adjacent” and “contiguous” pops up in lawsuits in Pennsylvania related to natural gas drilling. Two years ago we highlighted the issue (see Should PA Compressor Plants Miles Away be Considered “Adjacent”?). The argument revolves around lumping together several potential air pollution sources, like compressor plants and even well pads and pipelines–into one, common, larger source of air pollution for the purposes of regulation. Smaller sources are regulated by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and larger sources, over a certain threshold, by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with much stricter and more expensive standards. The PA DEP, for whatever reason, has gone after Seneca Resources and its parent company National Fuel Gas Co. for their operations in Lycoming County, PA. Even though Seneca’s well pads, pipelines and compressor stations are miles apart, because they are all owned by one corporate entity, the DEP wants them all lumped together into one source for pollution regulation. Although the combined single source would not trigger EPA regulation, Seneca/National Fuel Gas is suing the DEP to push back, on principle. The case will get a hearing in court this week…
Read More “PA DEP Loses its ‘Common Sense’ in Seneca Air Pollution Ruling”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia

VA Newspaper Takes AG to Task for Decision Allowing Fracking Bans
May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

Earlier this week MDN told you about Virginia’s far-left Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring giving local municipalities the “right” to regulate and ban fracking (see Virginia AG Says Localities Can “Regulate” & “Prohibit”). What we didn’t know is that Herring’s “opinion” which is taken as law completely contradicts and undoes an opinion issued by his Republican predecessor, Ken Cuccinelli, who wrote that while municipalities can limit drilling to areas zoned for it, they can’t outright ban it. Herring, bowing to pressure from the kook fringe of his party, aims to change it. What gives us comfort is that we’re not the only ones to notice that Herring has stepped WAY over the line on this. None other than the editorial writers for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot wrote an editorial yesterday that calls Herring to task for his recent overreach opinion on fracking…
Read More “VA Newspaper Takes AG to Task for Decision Allowing Fracking Bans”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 13, 2015
May 13, 2015May 13, 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, May 13, 2015”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EV Energy Partners | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Tuscarawas County

EVEP Reports Waterless Fracked OH Well is a Bust
May 12, 2015May 12, 2015

Reading through earnings calls transcripts (hey, somebody has to do it), we discovered what we believe no one else has (yet) discovered or reported. On an earnings call yesterday, top management from EV Energy Partners, one of the largest acreage holders in the Utica Shale, shared interesting initial results from the test Utica well they drilled in Tuscarawas County, OH–a well drilled using waterless fracking technology from GASFRAC (see Details on GASFRAC’s Waterless Frack Test in OH Utica). The theory being tested by EVEP is that using water during fracking of a well targeted for oil recovery somehow damages the chances of oil recovery. GASFRAC used a mix of 75% butane and 25% mineral oil to frack EVEP’s “Nettles” well. The results? On yesterday’s earnings call EVEP Chairman John Walker revealed that after 90 days in production, the Nettles well is producing about half the production of a similar nearby well fracked using water. That is–the waterless frack job was a big disappointment…
Read More “EVEP Reports Waterless Fracked OH Well is a Bust”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Utica Shale

Magnum Hunter’s 5-Point Plan to Raise Cash in 2015
May 12, 2015May 12, 2015

Yesterday MDN reported on Magnum Hunter Resources’ (MHR) first quarter 2015 update yesterday (see Magnum Hunter 1Q15: Prod. Up 66%, Financials Worse Than Expected). Something slipped by our notice–the section in the update that we call “Magnum Hunter’s 5-Point Plan to Raise Cash in 2015.” Buried in the update is a section called “2015 Liquidity Events” that outlines MHR’s strategy for raising money and keeping afloat in 2015. Below we show you what MHR said, and then we break it down and tell you what it means–we interpret what they said. The standout point (#5) is MHR’s plan to sell of $450 million worth of Utica Shale acreage…
Read More “Magnum Hunter’s 5-Point Plan to Raise Cash in 2015”
Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA DPR May 2015: Shale Production Slips, But Not in Marc/Utica
May 12, 2015May 12, 2015

Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), released our favorite government report, the Drilling Productivity Report, yesterday. There is important news to report from the DPR. First, the total amount of natural gas produced across all of the seven major commercial shale plays tracked in the DPR slide backward for the second month in a row. Last month, you may recall, was the very first time in the modern shale era when production month to month was not higher than the month before (see First Time Ever: US Shale Produces Less Oil/Gas Month Over Month). That trend continued this month (forecasting for volumes in June). Last month the total volume reduced by 23 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) than the month before. This month? It goes down 112 Mmcf/d. That is, the shrinkage in production is accelerating. Except in two plays. Can you guess which two shale plays are still in positive territory–producing more shale gas this month than last month, hitting new all-time highs? That’s right–the Marcellus and Utica. All other shale plays produced less natural gas this month than last with the exception of the Marcellus, hitting a new high of 16,737 Mmcf/d (or put another way, 16.737 billion cubic feet), and the Utica, hitting a new high of 2,509 Mmcf/d (2.509 Bcf/d)…
Read More “EIA DPR May 2015: Shale Production Slips, But Not in Marc/Utica”