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    PA’s CELDF Unmasked as Troublemakers in Ohio Utica Shale

    Energy in Depth is out with a dynamite expose that rips the face off the Pennsylvania-based anti-drilling organization behind much of the anti-drilling mischief happening in Ohio. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) seeks to ban fracking and anything to do with it, like pipelines, in every community with a sympathetic (and undiscerning) ear. CELDF founder, Thomas Linzey, is a real piece of work. EID’s expose shines the light on the unapologetic Linzey and his outrageous assertions–like instead of humans having rights he thinks nature should have rights. In fact, the potty-mouthed Linzey says, on camera (watch the video) that there should be a ballot initiative that bans all finance companies in New York City from funding new projects “that exasperate climate change.” Talk about a Cuckoo Bird. The worst part is Linzey’s arrogance and smugness–he really believes this stuff, and he believes he’s better (and smarter) than you and me. He’s on a mission to tear apart this country and our Constitution from the inside out to further his radical environmental agenda. Here, read and listen for yourself…
    Read More “PA’s CELDF Unmasked as Troublemakers in Ohio Utica Shale”

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    CONSOL’s #1 Stockholder Says Spin Off CNX Gas…or Sell It

    told you soThe plot thickens. Last week MDN was the first, and until now the only, source reporting on rumors that CONSOL Energy may sell it’s CNX Gas division (see Rumors Circulate that CONSOL May Sell Itself to Noble Energy). We were roundly criticized (privately) for our speculation and reportage of gossip heard round the water cooler–even though we made it clear it’s just rumor and speculation. We told you on Monday that rumors continue to persist (see CONSOL Energy/Noble Energy Rumors Continue to Swirl). Indeed, the rumors of a CNX sale DO continue to persist–but now it’s not just some obscure industry blog like MDN doing the speculating. Now it’s none other than CONSOL Energy’s #1 investor–corporate raider Mason Hawkins–the guy who owns 21% of CONSOL’s stock. Yes, the same Mason Hawkins who conspired with villainous corporate raider Carl Icahn to oust Aubrey McClendon from Chesapeake Energy and has since caused Chessy to sell off many of its assets. According to an SEC filing on July 20, Hawkins is actively talking to CONSOL and to potential buyers of the CNX Gas division. Hawkins is telling CONSOL to either spin off CNX Gas into its own company–or sell it…
    Read More “CONSOL’s #1 Stockholder Says Spin Off CNX Gas…or Sell It”

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    Tough Times: Baker Hughes Net Income Drops 153% in 1 Year

    chart going downYesterday MDN told you about the tough times in the oil patch for Halliburton, the second largest oilfield services company in the world (see Tough Times: Halliburton’s Net Income Drops 93% in 1 Year). Today, the “other shoe” drops. Halliburton, you may recall, is buying out the fifth largest oilfield services company in the world (and the third largest in the U.S.)–Baker Hughes (see Halliburton & Baker Hughes Announce a December Wedding Date). Baker Hughes released their second quarter financial and operating results yesterday and the picture is even bleaker than it was for Halliburton. Baker Hughes’ revenue for 2Q14 (a year ago) was $5.935 billion. Revenue for 2Q15 was $3.968 billion–a drop of 33% year over year. When you add in expenses of all types, the picture is apocalyptic: In 2Q14 Baker Hughes’ net income was $359 million. In 2Q15 it was minus $190 million, or $190M in the hole–which is a 153% drop year over year. Not pretty! The company predicts “unfavorable market conditions to continue across all segments” for the balance of 2015…
    Read More “Tough Times: Baker Hughes Net Income Drops 153% in 1 Year”

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    Mickey Mouse Loves Marcellus Shale Gas – More Gas Heading to FL

    Sit tight Florida: Marcellus Shale gas is on the way! That’s the message from Genscape and Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. When will Marcellus gas make its way to Florida? Actually, it already is. In fact, Mickey Mouse (i.e. Disney World) is already benefiting from cheap, abundant, clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas. But there’s plenty more on the way beginning later this year when both Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline system and Spectra Energy’s Ohio Pipeline Energy Network are completed and begin sending gas to the Sunshine State…
    Read More “Mickey Mouse Loves Marcellus Shale Gas – More Gas Heading to FL”

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    $800M Utica Gas-Fired Electric Plant Breaks Ground in Carroll Cnty

    Exactly two years ago this month MDN brought you news that Carroll County Energy in Carroll County, OH–a subsidiary of Advanced Power Services–would spend $800 million to build a new 700-megawatt natural gas electric generating plant in the county to be fed by Utica Shale gas (see New NatGas Powered Electric Plant Coming to Carroll County, OH). It took a while, but yesterday officials held the official ground-breaking ceremony for the plant. Over the next 30 months Advance will create some 700 “temporary” jobs to build the plant–and when it goes live, the plant will employ 25-30 permanent full-time employees…
    Read More “$800M Utica Gas-Fired Electric Plant Breaks Ground in Carroll Cnty”

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    Report Says New England Pipelines Not Cost Effective for Maine

    A disappointing report was recently delivered to the Maine Public Utility Commission (PUC) that may result in Maine sticking its head in the proverbial sand along its lovely coastline and miss out on cheap, abundant, clean-burning natural gas. In an effort to lower electric power prices, in 2013 the Maine Legislature authorized the PUC to spend up to $75 million a year to buy up to 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas through an “energy cost reduction contract” (ECRC) that would be paid for by electric ratepayers if it is cost effective. Three companies provided proposals to the PUC: Spectra Energy, Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Portland Natural Gas Transmission System. The PUC hired the Boston-based London Economics International (LEI) to evaluate the proposals and the report is in (full redacted copy below). LEI says none of the three proposals provide enough cost savings to Maine consumers to make them worthwhile…
    Read More “Report Says New England Pipelines Not Cost Effective for Maine”

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    OH Gov. John “Utica Severance Tax” Kasich Runs for President

    jerkOhio Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich announced yesterday he’s running for president, as we predicted he would back in May (see John “Foreigner Hunter” Kasich Ready to Announce Run for President). Kasich is, like Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham, Chris Christie and perhaps a few others in the Republican presidential race, a RINO–a Republican in Name Only. He left the conservative (i.e. common sense) side of the party long ago and does not deserve your vote. He’s trying to slap a high tax on Utica Shale in Ohio and transfer the money it raises to those who didn’t earn it in the form of an income tax break. We’re all for income tax breaks–as long as they don’t come at the expense of a single industry or group of people (like drillers and landowners). We’ve long considered Kasich to be, well, a jerk. It seems we’re not the only ones. A Cleveland Plain Dealer article examines Kasich’s “jerk” image problem…
    Read More “OH Gov. John “Utica Severance Tax” Kasich Runs for President”

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    White Paper Shines Light on Marcellus/Utica NGL Supply Chain

    One of the great stories about shale drilling in the Marcellus/Utica that often gets overlooked is the story of NGLs–or natural gas liquids. NGLs include “other” hydrocarbons that come out of the borehole–like ethane, pentane, butane, isobutane and propane. Ethane is typically the most voluminous NGL coming out of the ground and is the chemical that feeds giant cracker plants that turn it into ethylene–the raw feedstock used to make plastics and anti-freeze. The NGL market has been transformed, seemingly overnight, by the abundance of NGLs in the Marcellus/Utica region–now the #1 NGL producing region in the country. Tracking how much natural gas and NGLs flows through pipelines is a service offered by Genscape–a great company with great people. They use innovative technologies and techniques to figure out how much gas and/or liquids are flowing in a pipeline–including infrared cameras! They also use cameras mounted near facilities to snap pictures of tanker trucks exiting a facility. All in an effort to estimate how much of a given product is moving through the system. It’s really cool stuff. If you want to know who’s processing and flowing how much natural gas, NGLs or other types of power (even including electric power), Genscape is the company to use. So when we spotted a new white paper from Genscape titled “Disruptions & Vulnerabilities Impacting the Evolving Marcellus/Utica NGL Supply Chain,” we knew we had to read it. The white paper highlights the impacts of NGL expansion in the northeast, vulnerabilities to the NGL supply chain, infrastructure trends, and expectations for pricing…
    Read More “White Paper Shines Light on Marcellus/Utica NGL Supply Chain”

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    GE/Statoil Announce Winners of Sand-Alternatives Contest

    Quick–what two things do you need in abundance in order to horizontally drill and frack a well? Yep–water and sand. The two together make up 99.5% of what goes down the borehole to drill and frack a shale well. Water is used to fracture or break open the rock and deliver the sand, which is called a proppant because some of it stays behind and “props open” the fractures in the rock, allowing gas and oil to escape into the borehole. The vast majority of truck trips to a well pad are to deliver water and sand. GE and Norwegian giant Statoil have teamed up to run an “Open Invitation Challenge” which is a contest for technology innovators to propose alternatives to water and sand, to reduce the amount of each and therefore reduce truck trips to and from well pads. The results are in for the sand challenge and five winners will each take home a check for $25,000. The winners have some fascinating technologies and if they meet certain other criteria are eligible for more money to develop and commercialize their technologies. And what are some of these interesting bits of tech? How about a polymer that swells to 10 times its initial size when liquid is added. Or a ceramic proppant that’s shapped in the form of an X acting like a tiny steel girder to keep rock fractures propped open. This is truly creative and potentially industry changing stuff…
    Read More “GE/Statoil Announce Winners of Sand-Alternatives Contest”

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    PA Landowners Sue XTO Energy for Shorting Them on Royalties

    cha chingTwo Butler County, PA landowners with a combined 245.7 acres of land leased to XTO Energy have sued XTO claiming that XTO is breaking the lease agreement by paying royalties below 1/8 of what XTO receives in revenue for the gas. So far we’ve heard about Chesapeake Energy being the focus of these types of lawsuits for their shenanigans of inflating post-production costs from the pipeline company and then receiving a “kick back” of investments by the same pipeline company (see Chesapeake Shafting Landowners out of Royalties Mess Gets Messier). Although we don’t believe the XTO lawsuit claims the exact same thing, what it does claim is that the lease signed with the landowners does not include language that would allow XTO to deduct certain charges that they are now deducting. That’s the claim. Of course you need lawyers to sue and the lawyers in this case aren’t content with representing just two landowners. They want to turn this into a massive class action and represent hundreds of landowners (cha ching!)…
    Read More “PA Landowners Sue XTO Energy for Shorting Them on Royalties”

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    Muskingum Watershed District Royalties Fall 73% in 6 Months – Why?

    Ace reporter and MDN friend Bob Downing from the Akron Beacon Journal has written an insightful article about the dramatic decrease in royalty payments being received by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD). The MWCD was organized in 1933 to reduce the effects of flooding and conserve water for beneficial public uses, and oversees 16 dams and reservoirs across 22 counties in Ohio, covering 20% of the state. It is a massive area of Ohio under the oversight and control of the MWCD. They’ve leased thousands of acres to Antero Resources for Utica Shale drilling and currently there are 13 Utica Shale wells drilled on MWCD property. Here’s the bombshell: Over the past six months, royalty payments to the MWCD for production from those 13 wells has dropped 73%, from just over $1 million per month last December to just under $275,000 in May. Why? That’s the question Bob set out to answer…
    Read More “Muskingum Watershed District Royalties Fall 73% in 6 Months – Why?”

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    CONSOL to Announce 2Q15 Earnings Loss & Future Plans on July 28

    A brief statement was issued yesterday from CONSOL Energy, the mothership of CNX Gas and center of ongoing rumors about whether it may either sell CNX or possibly sell it’s controlling interest in its 50/50 joint venture in some 663,350 of 750,000 net acres it owns in the Marcellus/Utica to jv partner Noble Energy (see CONSOL Energy/Noble Energy Rumors Continue to Swirl). Yesterday CONSOL telegraphed to investors that during a forthcoming July 28 second quarter earnings announcement it will show a loss from operations because of the low commodity price of natural gas. CONSOL also said in the July 28 it will discuss a plan “to generate free cash flow over the next 18-months, beginning in the second half of 2015, while maintaining annual gas production guidance at 30% growth for 2015 and 20% for 2016″…
    Read More “CONSOL to Announce 2Q15 Earnings Loss & Future Plans on July 28”

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    Tough Times: Halliburton’s Net Income Drops 93% in 1 Year

    chart going downIt’s tough times in the oil patch. Halliburton, the world’s second largest oilfield services company, posted second quarter financial results yesterday. While the marketers and bean counters do their best to put a happy face on the results, there’s no papering over the fact that Halliburton and other oilfield services companies have been hammered hard by the downturn in oil and natural gas prices and the rapid decline in drilling, as evidenced by lower rig counts. Halliburton’s revenue for 2Q14 (a year ago) was $8.051 billion. Revenue for 2Q15 was $5.919 billion–a drop of 26% year over year. When you add in expenses of all types, the picture becomes even clearer–and bloodier. In 2Q14 Halliburton’s net income was $775 million. In 2Q15 it was $53 million–which is a 93% drop year over year. It’s clear that oilfield services companies like Halliburton are being asked to discount their prices by producers and consequently they bear the brunt of the downturn…
    Read More “Tough Times: Halliburton’s Net Income Drops 93% in 1 Year”

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    2nd Canadian LNG Plant Gets U.S. Approval to Export Marcellus Gas

    In May MDN told you that one of four proposed Canadian LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facilities that wants to export American shale gas received a green light from the U.S. Dept. of Energy to export our shale gas (see Canadian LNG Project to Export Marcellus Gas Gets DOE Approval). Good news. A second Canadian LNG export facility, Bear Head LNG in Nova Scotia, has just received the DOE’s official approval to export American shale gas. The shale gas they will export, if the plant gets built (still a big “if”), for both of the approved plants, would be Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas. There are still many hurdles, including: (1) the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline has to get FERC permission to reverse its flow; (2) the gas has to get to the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline in the first place via new pipelines from either Kinder Morgan or Spectra Energy; and (3) the price of oil has to rise to make the whole thing economical, since LNG is so closely tied to the price of oil. Here’s the announcement from Bear Head LNG…
    Read More “2nd Canadian LNG Plant Gets U.S. Approval to Export Marcellus Gas”