Marcellus Drilling News

Brooke County | Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Marshall County | West Virginia

Big News: 3 More Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to WV
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

Three weeks ago MDN reported a Buffalo, NY-based company had successfully gotten all necessary permits to move forward with building a $615 million, 549 megawatt electrical generating plant near Moundsville, WV that will be powered by Marcellus Shale gas (see Marshall Co Gas-Powered Electric Plant Gets WV Green Light). Then we told you the plant will burn not only methane (natgas), but also up to 25% of the mix will be ethane (see WV Moundsville Electric Generating Plant to Burn Methane + Ethane!). Looks like the Moundsville project was the proverbial canary down the WV coal mine–and it lived! In the past few days the father and son team behind the Moundsville project have announced three (yes 3!) more just like it–all in WV. Why is this a big hairy deal? The Moundsville plant was already slated to be WV’s single largest user/consumer of natural gas. Just think how much gas will be used quadrupling that number…
Read More “Big News: 3 More Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to WV”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Kinder Morgan Fails to Sign Up New NED Customers in Last 8 Mos
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

Yesterday Kinder Morgan announced they have contracts in hand for “anchor” shippers to use 500,000 dekatherms of capacity on the proposed new Northeast Energy Direct (NED) Project. NED, you may recall, is the project that will extend the Tennessee Gas Pipeline from New York through Massachusetts into New Hampshire and back into Massachusetts delivering much-needed natural gas to New England (see Kinder Morgan Changes Route for Pipeline from MA to NH). The project is bitterly opposed by small pockets of anti-drillers–particularly in Deerfield, MA where they’ve illegally attempted to ban it (see Deerfield, MA Hoping Kinder Morgan Sues Them over Pipeline “Ban”). The interesting thing about yesterday’s announcement from Kinder Morgan is that there’s really nothing new in it! Other than the fact that they now have the officially signed agreements in hand. MDN brought you the same news about the same shippers signing up in the original open season last August (see Kinder Signs up New Customers for MA Pipeline, 63% of Capacity). Kinder continues, according to the announcement yesterday, to try and sign up more shippers. So the real news–for us–is that since August, Kinder hasn’t signed up any other new shippers, even though they’ve been trying to…
Read More “Kinder Morgan Fails to Sign Up New NED Customers in Last 8 Mos”
Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH

Eclipse Resources has “Transformative” 2014, Cutting Back in 2015
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

Eclipse Resources released their full year and fourth quarter 2014 update on Wednesday. Eclipse is a small but rapidly growing driller headquartered in State College, PA but doing most of its drilling in eastern Ohio. The company reports last year they drilled 57 gross (41 net) operated wells, completed 36 gross (27 net) operated wells and placed 28 gross (22 net) operated wells into sales. The vast majority of wells they’ve drilled are condensate producers. Last year was, as CEO Ben Hulburt said, a transformative year for the company. They went from producing an average 4.5 million cubic feet equivalent per day (Mmcfe/d) in 2013 to producing 73.5 Mmcfe/d in 2014. The company spent $809 million last year–but this year they’re whacking that, perhaps in half. In December they planned to spend $640 million in 2015, down 38% from last year. On Wednesday they didn’t put a number to it, but Eclipse said they were lowering it even more. Ouch. Here’s the low down on what happened in 2014, and what Eclipse has planned for 2015…
Read More “Eclipse Resources has “Transformative” 2014, Cutting Back in 2015″
Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies

Eclipse Resources March Analyst Phone Call + Slides
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

It doesn’t happen often (with other companies), but yesterday on an analyst/investor phone call, Eclipse Resources top management, including CEO Ben Hulburt, EVP/COO Tom Liberatore and EVP/CFO Matt DeNezza conducted a well-organized dog and pony show (and we say that affectionately) by talking through the company’s latest PowerPoint presentation. Slide by slide they give us the rundown. So we thought we would bring you a transcript of their explanations, along with a copy of the slide deck so you can look at the slides and read through their comments. Eclipse, drilling in the Marcellus/Utica of eastern Ohio, is a smart operator and a company to keep an eye on. It was founded by several top people who left Rex Energy, another small company we like…
Read More “Eclipse Resources March Analyst Phone Call + Slides”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Says Super Size Me – Floats 13.1M Shares of New Stock
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

Antero Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, wants cash and they want it bad. Two days ago we told you that Antero is in the market floating IOUs (or “notes”) looking to raise a huge $1.25 billion (see Antero Shops for $1.25B Cash from IOUs, Wants to Pay Down Old Debt). Just two days later the company put out a pair of press releases announcing a new stock offering too. At first they issued a press release saying they will float 11.5 million shares of new stock. A few hours later they issued another press release saying they are “upsizing” the offering to 13.1 million shares. Apparently McDonald’s meals aren’t the only thing that can get super sized (ba dop bop). Antero hopes to raise $485 million with this latest round. If everything happens as desired, they’ll haul in $1.25 billion from debt financing, and $485 million from equity financing, for a total of $1,735,000,000…
Read More “Antero Says Super Size Me – Floats 13.1M Shares of New Stock”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Rep. Vitali Wants to Force Residents to Use LESS Natgas
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

Some days you just shake your head. With all due respect to our many Democrat readers and friends–how can some Democrats be so utterly stupid? The latest example comes from Pennsylvania. State Rep. Greg Vitali (Democrat from the Philly area, why are we not surprised) wants to force natural gas utilities–the folks who sell you gas to burn in your furnace or use in your stoves for cooking–to sell you less natural gas. Why? Because of his personal views about so-called global warming. His justification (picked up and amplified by the dictationists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) is that electric utilities are already being forced to do it–and hey, Dems like to spread the misery around, ya know?…
Read More “PA Rep. Vitali Wants to Force Residents to Use LESS Natgas”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Mar 6, 2015
March 6, 2015March 6, 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: Fri, Mar 6, 2015”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY

NY Antis Flood FERC in Fight Against Dominion’s New Market Project
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

By Andy Leahy

By most measures, Dominion Transmission’s New Market Project is a fairly dull $159 million capacity upgrade to an existing natural gas pipeline which runs across upstate New York from the PA line, west of Horseheads, northeasterly to the state’s Capital Region (see the map below). We are now about a month away from the originally forecast April 2015 date when Dominion thought it might get a green light from FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Docket Number CP14-497). September 2015 was originally forecast for beginning construction (280 jobs, all temporary, as are all construction jobs), while November 2016 was the target in-service date (adding 10 to 12 permanent jobs, running forward)…
Read More “NY Antis Flood FERC in Fight Against Dominion’s New Market Project”
Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania

More Permits Issued for Drilling in (Yes) Northern Utica in OH/PA
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

More evidence that drilling in the northern Ohio and Pennsylvania Utica is most definitely NOT dead. Both Chesapeake Energy and Hillcorp recently received permits to drill in the northern Utica on both sides of the border…
Read More “More Permits Issued for Drilling in (Yes) Northern Utica in OH/PA”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Forced Pooling HB2688 Passes House, Heads to Senate
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

West Virginia House Bill (HB) 2688 (see WV HB2688 Forced Pooling Bill Continues March Toward Passage) has done what no other forced pooling bill over the past six years has done–it’s been approved by a full vote in the WV House. The House approved HB2688 on Wednesday by a vote of 60-40. The vote came after two hours of spirited debate over the merits–or lack thereof–in forcing some holdout mineral rights holders to allow drilling in certain, limited situations. Why has this bill gone further than the others before it? Probably because it creates a standard that 80% of the mineral rights in a unit must be leased in order to “force” the other 20% into the unit–to allow drilling. That’s one of (perhaps the) highest percentage for any state with a forced pooling provision. The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote…
Read More “WV Forced Pooling HB2688 Passes House, Heads to Senate”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

CBS Philly Manufactures False Story about Marcellus Freight Trains
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

Is it a case of yellow journalism? Anti-drilling conspiracy? Or is it the case of an ignorant editor at a major Philadelphia news outlet? Take your pick. We’re referring to the headline and accompanying picture (see below) that are 100% false. The headline says, “Local Environmental Groups Warn of Accident Potential From Marcellus Shale Freight Trains” and shows a picture of a train derailment from three years ago that has nothing to do with shale oil. That’s called manufactured news folks. It’s also called a lie. And it appears boldly on the website of Philadelphia’s CBS News affiliate (channeling the lying Dan Rather are we?). The article refers to a new propaganda piece issued by Penn Environment and Frac Tracker Alliance–both strongly anti-drilling organizations. The “report” issued is a “boy who cried wolf” missive that warns PA residents of oil trains passing through the state, coming from the North Dakota Bakken Shale, with scary stories of exploding trains because of shale oil. And therein is the egregious lie–not only is the picture false (nothing to do with Bakken oil or oil of any kind), the headline is false–THERE ARE NO MARCELLUS OIL TRAINS. Any oil or condensate or natural gas liquids in the Marcellus region are transported by pipelines–not rail cars…
Read More “CBS Philly Manufactures False Story about Marcellus Freight Trains”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Increases DRBC Funding by 73% to 3/4 Million Bucks
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

On Tuesday, PA Gov. Tom Wolf delivered the most expensive budget in PA history, a budget that plans to steal money from landowners and drillers and give it away to Big Education (see Post-Gazette: Wolf Budget with Severance Tax “a Miss…Utter Folly”). Not only does Tom Wolf want to “restore funding” for Big Education, he also, disappointingly, intends to restore funding for the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) so it can continue its anti-drilling ways. Wolf wants to lavish the DRBC with 3/4 of a million dollars, which is a 73% increase over last year’s funding under then-Gov. Tom Corbett. The problem with funding the DRBC is that PA taxpayers are footing most of the bill because other member states, including NY, NJ and the federal government, are short-changing the DRBC–not paying what they owe. Delaware is the lone member that pays what it’s supposed to (which is much less than PA). So PA taxpayers are in the unenviable position of propping up an organization that acts against their interests…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Increases DRBC Funding by 73% to 3/4 Million Bucks”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Cleveland Fed Finds PA Natgas Production Up 1000% from 2009-2014
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

Earlier this week the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland published a paper titled “Trends in Energy Production and Prices” (full copy below). In the paper, Cleveland Fed researchers examine national and Fourth District (KY, OH, WV, PA) trends in energy production and prices. What did they find? OH and WV doubled their natural gas production from 2009 to 2014. However, production in PA went up 1000% during that time, thanks to the Mighty Marcellus. Because of shale gas, energy prices are generally down across the region. Coal production is also on the decline in the northeast…
Read More “Cleveland Fed Finds PA Natgas Production Up 1000% from 2009-2014”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Anti Groups Sue ODNR to Stop All Frack Waste Disposal in State
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

With seeming endless supplies of money to file frivolous lawsuits, the virulently anti-drilling and misnamed Food & Water Watch (FWW) along with the so-called FreshWater Accountability Project (FWAP) have, yes, filed yet another lawsuit. Surprise! This time to the two organizations are suing the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) in a case that, if successful, would prevent the ODNR from issuing permits to allow the safe disposal of frack wastewater and drill cuttings. That is, drillers in Ohio (and Pennsylvania, which sends a lot of waste to Ohio for disposal), would have no place to safely dispose fracking wastes, which would (you guessed it) shut down drilling in the Utica and Marcellus…
Read More “Anti Groups Sue ODNR to Stop All Frack Waste Disposal in State”
Industrywide Issues | Research

Bentek Energy: Feb Natgas Production Comes Close to All-Time High
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

Researchers at Platts’ Bentek Energy division estimate natural gas production in the lower 48 States increased by 0.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) to 72.3 Bcf/d during the month of February. That’s a 10.5% increase over February of 2014. It still doesn’t quite match the all-time production high achieved just last December of 72.8 Bcf/d, but it comes close (see Marcellus/Utica Lead in New Record High Production for Dec 2014). The main reason February didn’t fly by last December’s high is due to “freeze-offs”–wells that freeze up and stop flowing due to the cold winter weather…
Read More “Bentek Energy: Feb Natgas Production Comes Close to All-Time High”
Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

New Report: Housing and Marcellus Shale Development in PA
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, continues to pump out the reports on the Marcellus Shale and its impacts on the state. In January, the Center published their third report in the Marcellus series (see New Report: Marcellus Shale Drilling’s Impact on PA Schools). In February, they issued their fourth report (see Report: PA’s Youth Not Impressed with Marcellus Industry). In March? Yep–a fifth report. This one is titled “Housing and Marcellus Shale Development” (full copy below). This study takes a look at how you house all those Marcellus workers when they show up to start drilling–and does it affect rent prices?…
Read More “New Report: Housing and Marcellus Shale Development in PA”