Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

Phila. Energy Solutions Tells Mayor & City Council: Start Talking
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) is the joint venture between The Carlyle Group and Sunoco (now part of Energy Transfer Partners) that owns and operates the Point Breeze and Girard Point oil refineries in Philadelphia–the largest such refining complex on the Eastern Seaboard. PES CEO, Philip Rinaldi, has weighed in on the corrupt Philadelphia City Council’s scuttling of the purchase of Philadelphia Gas Works (see Philly City Council Kills the Phila. Gas Works $1.86B Deal). We suppose it’s understandable, but Rinaldi says precisely nothing in his comments beyond Mayor Michael Nutter is a great guy, but so too is City Council President Darrell Clarke, head of the cabal that scuttled the deal. As head of the Greater Philadelphia Energy Action Team which is attempting to position Philly has an “energy hub,” Rinaldi’s comments are of the tone “Why Can’t We Be Friends” (cue music). He hopes that Nutter and Clarke can start talking to one another again to get this deal done…
Read More “Phila. Energy Solutions Tells Mayor & City Council: Start Talking”
Energy Services | Seventy Seven Energy

Seventy Seven 3Q14: Numbers Head in Right Direction
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

Seventy Seven Energy, with major operations in the northeast, is the old Chesapeake Oilfield Operating division of Chesapeake–spun off into its own company on July 1, 2014 (see Long Labor & Delivery: Seventy Seven Energy Born Yesterday). Right out of the chute Seventy Seven’s beginning was a little rocky (see Seventy Seven Energy’s 1st Quarterly Update: Revenue Down 6%). However, we now have their second quarterly update–for third quarter 2014–and it seems Seventy Seven has found its sea legs. The numbers are now heading in the right direction for Seventy Seven…
Read More “Seventy Seven 3Q14: Numbers Head in Right Direction”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

IPAA Fracking Update: Legislation, Regulation, Litigation
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

What’s the latest legislative, regulatory and litigation developments with respect to hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus and Utica region? Thanks to the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and their partnership with PIRA Energy Group, a consulting firm that specializes in U.S. and international energy markets research and intelligence, we have an update. Recently the IPAA sent around the quarterly Fracking Policy Monitor. In this latest issue of the Monitor (full copy embedded below) we have news from PA, OH and WV, where drilling happens now, and even news from NY, where drilling doesn’t happen now (thanks to being blocked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo)…
Read More “IPAA Fracking Update: Legislation, Regulation, Litigation”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

MDN’s “Juvenile” Needling of Shell over Slow Cracker Pace
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

An MDN reader wrote editor Jim Willis yesterday to take issue with our observation that “it’s about time” Shell did something to advance their ethane cracker project in Beaver County, PA (see Shell to Hold Info Session on Monaca Ethane Cracker Next Week). In a not-so-subtle way, the reader essentially told us to get our heads out of our…frac sand…and take note that Shell has been very active over the past year or so with advancing their project, contrary to our “juvenile” remarks suggesting otherwise. In particular, the old Horsehead Holding Corp. zinc smelter at the site was shut down this past May. The buildings were knocked down and are now almost completely removed from the site. Our not-so-subtle source also pointed us to Jeff Burd’s excellent blog site called Building Pittsburgh. Jeff refers to Shell and their cracker project as being like a duck…
Read More “MDN’s “Juvenile” Needling of Shell over Slow Cracker Pace”
Chevron | Commodity Price | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnLink Midstream | Industrywide Issues

EnLink Takes Ownership of Henry Hub from Chevron
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

Technically this is not a Marcellus or Utica story–but it does has implications for the Marcellus/Utica region. If you’re around the natural gas marketplace in the United States for any amount of time, you will soon run into this strange-sounding price point called “the Henry Hub.” The HH is a market point where natural gas is bought and sold in southern Louisiana. Once upon a time, because of the pipelines running through the Gulf Coast (many of them from off-shore), some 20% of all natural gas flowed through the HH, making it the “benchmark” or best average price for natural gas–used for futures contracts and by NYMEX in commodity trading. All natural gas prices quoted at other sales locations use the HH as its benchmark or “basis” and compare themselves with the HH price. It’s been that way for two decades. The new news is that EnLink Midstream (the former Crosstex Energy and Devon Energy midstream units merged together) has just taken ownership of the pipeline system that includes the HH…
Read More “EnLink Takes Ownership of Henry Hub from Chevron”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Nov 4, 2014
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

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: Tue, Nov 4, 2014”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs

Some Welding Jobs in Marcellus/Utica Fetch $120K per Year
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

If you’ve been out of school a couple of years and you’ve been trained to weld pipelines–and you’re willing to work long hours in tough conditions–it’s not out of the question that you can earn $120,000 per year, according to speakers at a recent meeting at West Virginia Northern Community College (WVNCC). Educators recently met at WBNCC to discuss job opportunities in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. The biggest challenge the industry has in attracting hordes of would-be new employees?…
Read More “Some Welding Jobs in Marcellus/Utica Fetch $120K per Year”
Chautauqua County | Economic Impact | EmKey Gathering | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Pipelines | Taxation

Cuomo Dithers and Towns Like Gerry, NY Pay the Bill
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

Not only has NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s dithering and refusal to make a decision on whether or not to allow horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the state materially harmed tens of thousands of landowners and farmers in the state (not to mention all of those who would have had high-paying jobs in the industry), it’s also harmed taxpayers in places like Gerry (Chautauqua County), NY. Because Cuomo dithered and Norse Energy went bankrupt, a division of Norse, Norse Pipeline, also went bankrupt because the gas wasn’t available to run through their pipeline in places like Gerry. That pipeline was sold to Emkey and a court has just re-adjusted the assessment of that pipeline’s value–from $2,616,444 to $320,439, causing Gerry to lose $2,305,368 of its tax base. Not only that…
Read More “Cuomo Dithers and Towns Like Gerry, NY Pay the Bill”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell to Hold Info Session on Monaca Ethane Cracker Next Week
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

All’s we can say is, It’s about time! Shell will hold a pair of public meetings next Thursday, Nov. 13, at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland (Beaver County) PA to discuss their plans for an ethane cracker plant in Monaca with area residents. Yes, no doubt the crazies from outside of the area will show up to gripe and complain, as always happens. No big deal. As of next week it be exactly one year ago that Odebrecht announced their “world scale” ethane cracker for Parkersburg, WV (see WV Announces Brazilian Company to Build Ethane Cracker Complex). Seems to us that since that time all of the momentum to actually build a cracker plant has been with Odebrecht/WV and that Shell’s PA effort seems to have lost steam. Perhaps Shell is finally stepping up their game once again and getting serious about building a plant, originally announced all the way back in March 2012 (see Shell Announces Location of Ethane Cracker Plant)…
Read More “Shell to Hold Info Session on Monaca Ethane Cracker Next Week”
Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Sand/Proppant | Supply Chain

Center Port Transload Facility Already Up & Running in OH
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

MDN reported last Friday about an auction happening this week in Hannibal, OH at the old Ormet aluminum smelting plant (see Out with Old Ormet Plant, In with New Center Port Transload Facility). Niagara Worldwide is converting the old plant into a new transload facility that will accept and redistribute frac sand, pipes and other materials and equipment used in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. As part of that story we floated some questions to Eric Spirtas, president of Niagara Worldwide about what they have planned (and the timing) for the facility. Here are those questions and his responses…
Read More “Center Port Transload Facility Already Up & Running in OH”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline
November 3, 2014November 17, 2014

Last Friday Dominion officially asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin an environmental review of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a 550-mile, $5 billion natural gas pipeline that will run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina to deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to VA and NC. Here’s Dominion’s statement from Friday…
Read More “Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline”
Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

U.S. Fracking Lowers Gasoline Prices by Nearly $1 per Gallon!
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

Do you like paying nearly a buck per gallon less for gasoline now over what you were paying a year ago? Yeah, we do too. But little did we know that the primary reason gas prices are so much lower is thanks to fracking! A new report released last week by the American Petroleum Institute (full copy embedded below) shows that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which are now responsible for 48% of all U.S. oil production, shaved up to $0.94 per gallon from fuel prices in 2013. How cool is that?…
Read More “U.S. Fracking Lowers Gasoline Prices by Nearly $1 per Gallon!”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Fracking is Feeding Americans by Saving the Family Farm
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

Natural gas drilling is saving the family farm in Pennsylvania–literally. Farmers who receive bonus and royalty checks are using that money to buy new equipment and continue doing what they love to do–operate the family farm. It would not be a stretch to say that fracking is helping to feed Americans. Take the case of this organic farmer in Washington County, PA…
Read More “Fracking is Feeding Americans by Saving the Family Farm”
Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain | Westmoreland County

Big Georgia Engineering Firm Buys Marcellus Engr Firm in SWPA
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

Bigger companies gobbling up smaller companies is certainly not a new story–even in the Marcellus/Utica region. However, when the bigger company is from outside of the region (Georgia, in this case) and the company being purchased is in our region (Pennsylvania), it bears coverage. Enercon Services, Inc. with headquarters in Atlanta (Kennesaw), GA and 29 offices (with 1,600 employees) nationwide is an engineering services/consulting/land surveying company. They’ve just purchased, for an undisclosed sum, TRI-COUNTY Engineering of New Stanton, PA. New Stanton is located in Westmoreland County, in the southwest region of the state–positioned perfectly for the flurry of Marcellus and Utica drilling in the tri-state region of PA, WV and OH…
Read More “Big Georgia Engineering Firm Buys Marcellus Engr Firm in SWPA”
New York | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Election Day 2014: PA & NY at the Crossroads
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

MDN has largely stayed out of detailed coverage of tomorrow’s election cycle. For those in New York, we recommend to you the always-excellent Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, a 70,000-member organization that seeks to get drilling moving in the Empire State. The JLCNY has a list of pro-gas candidates that they support here. We can’t point you to a similar list for PA (or WV or OH), although we assume such sources exist. If so, list them below in the comments! However, we do want to share with you a press release from the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) concerning the election of PA’s next governor. Tom Wolf (largely an anti-drilling Democrat) is running against Tom Corbett, the incumbent Republican who is pro-gas. Wolf recently made what we consider to be a lunatic statement–worthy of institutionalization. He said slapping a new 5% severance tax on natural gas production in the state will actually help the drilling industry! How does one even respond to such utter stupidity?…
Read More “Election Day 2014: PA & NY at the Crossroads”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

New Book: The Law of Oil & Gas in Pennsylvania
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

The Pennsylvania Bar Institute (no…silly, not the drinking kind of bar, the practicing law kind of bar!) recently published the first comprehensive book on oil and gas law in the Keystone State since the Marcellus Shale revolution began less than 10 years ago. The 494-page books is “meticulously researched” by 28 authors (at least one of whom subscribes to MDN) who wrote 21 chapters that span the history of PA’s oil and gas law (did you know the very first oil well drilled in the U.S. was drilled in PA?) to the recent decision by the PA Supreme Court with regard to the Act 13 law that gutted the zoning provisions of the law. It’s all in there. Here’s an overview…
Read More “New Book: The Law of Oil & Gas in Pennsylvania”