Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Gov-Elect Wolf Appoints John Hanger Secretary of High Taxes
December 11, 2014December 10, 2014

Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Tom Wolf continues to get the Ed Rendell band back together again–the same bunch that ran PA into the financial ditch under Rendell. First he appointed Katie McGinty, former Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) under Rendell, as his chief of staff. Now Wolf has appointed another Rendell Sec. of DEP, John Hanger, as his Secretary of Planning and Policy. Must be Wolf has a thing for DEP Secretaries. You may recall Hanger ran against Wolf (and against McGinty) in the Democrat primary for governor this year, but dropped out in March (see Pass One Last Joint for John Hanger). Hanger can’t wait to cook up high severance taxes on drillers. Why is it Democrats always salivate when they think about taking other people’s money?…
Read More “PA Gov-Elect Wolf Appoints John Hanger Secretary of High Taxes”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH House Bill 490 in Trouble – Frack Chemical Data for 1st Responders
December 11, 2014December 10, 2014

This is the ongoing saga of Ohio House Bill 490, a Hail Mary comprehensive omnibus bill that would tackle a number of issues, including fixing reporting rules that restore access to a database of chemicals used at various drilling sites to first responders (their access was taken away by anti-drillers last year, see OH Antis Force Change in Chemical Reporting, Everyone Less Safe). The ODNR wants new language in HB 490 to fix the problem, but the language passed, once passed through politicians’ hands, turned from gold into lead (see OH Senate Asked to Fix Language in Frack Chemical Reporting Bill). Although the Senate is trying to plug all of the holes in 490, it looks like the good ship 490 is about to sink…
Read More “OH House Bill 490 in Trouble – Frack Chemical Data for 1st Responders”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

SRBC Hums Along – Approves 17 New Water Withdrawal Projects
December 11, 2014December 10, 2014

You just have to admire the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. They meet, they get things done. Decisions are made, regulations updated, projects approved (or not). And a great many of the things they deal with are related to Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania. Contrast that to the Delaware River Basin Commission where there is no Marcellus Shale drilling–where the DRBC has an ongoing dysfunction when it comes to shale drilling. At any rate, last week the SRBC met again and a whole list of items got completed, including 17 applications for water withdrawals…
Read More “SRBC Hums Along – Approves 17 New Water Withdrawal Projects”
Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Regulation

ND Regulators Pass Rule Making Bakken Crude by Rail Safer
December 11, 2014December 10, 2014

For some time MDN has written and highlighted articles about Bakken Shale crude oil that gets to market largely on railroads. The short version of the story is this: Bakken crude contains a lot of NGLs (natural gas liquids), like ethane, butane, propane. The NGLs make the crude more ignitable and flammable if there’s an accident. And there’s always an accident–at some point in some place. A number of Bakken crude trains run through New York State and of course NY’s anti-drillers object (what don’t they object too?). We’ve heard lovely metaphors and analogies like “bombs on rails” and “death trains.” On Tuesday, the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) met and passed a controversial measure to fix the problem. Starting April 1st, oil companies will have to strip out most of the NGLs before the oil is loaded onto railcars. Of course that won’t appease anti-drillers, but it will make communities through which the trains pass safer than they are now…
Read More “ND Regulators Pass Rule Making Bakken Crude by Rail Safer”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Clock Ticking for Comment on EPA Rule on Greenhouse Gas Reporting
December 11, 2014December 10, 2014

Two weeks ago MDN gave E&P and midstream companies a heads-up that another onerous new “rule” (i.e. law) is coming from the out-of-control Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that requires energy companies to file greenhouse gas emissions reports for just about everything–wellpads, pipelines, compressor stations (see EPA Issues New Rules for O&G Industry on GHG Emissions Reporting). A whole new level of reporting is coming at you. On Tuesday the EPA published their proposed rule change in the Federal Register (copy below)…
Read More “Clock Ticking for Comment on EPA Rule on Greenhouse Gas Reporting”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Benesch Shale Report 3Q14: Upstream, Midstream & Downstream
December 11, 2014December 10, 2014

Each quarter the Ohio law firm of Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP produces an Ohio shale update. MDN often shares their updates–well worth your time to read. The latest edition, covering Utica Shale activity in the third quarter of 2014, is embedded below. This issue highlights infrastructure announcements, financial results for some of the Utica’s largest drillers, supply chain news and regulatory news. Take time to read this well-crafted summary (will only take you a few minutes)…
Read More “Benesch Shale Report 3Q14: Upstream, Midstream & Downstream”
Energy Companies | Ohio | PDC Energy | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

PDC Energy Pushes Pause Button on OH Utica Drilling for 2015
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

PDC Energy, with 67,000 acres of leases in Ohio’s Utica Shale, is not among the largest Utica drillers. But they’re by no means insignificant either. The company released their 2015 capital expenditure (capex) budget and production guidance yesterday. PDC says they will idle their single drilling rig in the Ohio Utica in 2015 and spend just $38 million in the Utica next year (compared to $190 million in 2014) to finish up several wells already begun. PDC says the price of natgas is just too darned low right now and that they will be back when the price goes up. (Our thought: PDC will have a long wait!) PDC is instead spending their money in the Niobrara Shale in Colorado–although the company plans to spend 14% less next year than they did this year…
Read More “PDC Energy Pushes Pause Button on OH Utica Drilling for 2015”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regency Energy Partners | Statewide NY | Statewide PA | Talisman Energy

Talisman Considers Sale of Marcellus Midstream Assets to Regency
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

Three weeks ago Talisman was rumored to be near a deal to sell its New York/Pennsylvania pipeline system to Regency Energy Partners. Talisman owns some 435 miles of gathering and transmission pipelines in NY/PA. However, the deal, which was supposedly imminent and rumored to be worth $1 billion, still hasn’t happened. Why? Could it be the revived talks by Repsol to buy Talisman (see Rumor Mill: Repsol Once Again Interested in Buying Talisman)? We don’t know. One thing we do know is that corporate raider Carl Icahn, who has his claws deeply into Talisman (as he does with Chesapeake Energy), is the puppet master pulling the strings and forcing the company to sell assets. Here’s the sitrep (situation report) as of a few weeks ago, according to sources talking to Bloomberg News…
Read More “Talisman Considers Sale of Marcellus Midstream Assets to Regency”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

MarkWest Builds/Operates Compressor Station w/o Building Permit
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

Hmmm. Here’s a story we don’t like to report, and fear there’s more to the story than we now know, but report it we must. MarkWest Energy, arguably the largest and most important midstream (pipelines & processing plants) company in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, was denied a building permit to construct a building to house several natural gas compressors in West Alexander (Donegal Township, Washington County), PA–but they went ahead and built it anyway, without the permit. The rogue compressor station is now up and running but has to use generators to supply power because the town won’t let them hook up electric since they’re still in violation of the building permit…
Read More “MarkWest Builds/Operates Compressor Station w/o Building Permit”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream

EQT Changing Name (but Not Ownership) of Midstream Subsidiary
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

Two years ago EQT spun off its midstream operations into a subsidiary and sold stock in it. That is, they floated an initial public offering (IPO) and raised over $260 million for the new subsidiary company (see EQT Midstream IPO Rakes in the Cash). On Monday of this week, the company said it will file paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a new company, called HoldCo, as a master limited partnership (MLP). HoldCo is being formed to take ownership of EQT Midstream and the IPO will float 21.3 million units. That is, EQT is getting a second bite of the IPO apple by creating an umbrella company to take ownership the midstream company, although EQT plans to purchase “more than 80%” of HoldCo’s stock themselves…
Read More “EQT Changing Name (but Not Ownership) of Midstream Subsidiary”
Anadarko | Chesapeake Energy | Citrus | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

DOL Action: Several Marcellus Drillers Pay $4.5M in Back Wages
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

In a multi-year so-called “investigation” that cost more money that was “recovered,” the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) announced yesterday they’ve forced Chesapeake Energy, Citrus Energy and Anadarko Petroleum (and perhaps others) to pay $4.5 million in back wages to some 5,300 oil and gas workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The apparent “violation” is that these workers, working for subcontractors (not directly for the energy companies themselves), in some cases worked more than 40 hours in a given week but didn’t get time-and-a-half wages. We’re certainly not against playing by the rules, but it sure seems like utter folly to hype this as some sort of victory by Obama’s Labor Department–to work for more than two years and come up with a thimble-full of violations and carp and complain about how fractured the energy industry is–the same industry that, because of all those many subcontractors, has generated several hundred thousands new jobs in PA & WV that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Here’s the press release by the DOL…
Read More “DOL Action: Several Marcellus Drillers Pay $4.5M in Back Wages”
CNG/LNG | Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Research

Bank of America: OPEC is Dead, Oil Goes to $50/Barrel, LNG Drops
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

The price of oil, as certainly connected to shale drilling. Even the price of natural gas is influenced by what oil is doing (see our recent story Will Low Oil Prices Slow Northeast (Indeed All) Shale Drilling?). So it was with great interest we read that Bank of America analysts have declared that OPEC is effectively dead and that oil prices may make a run at $50 per barrel–and begin to swing wildly in the coming years. BoA also sees LNG prices dropping like rock…
Read More “Bank of America: OPEC is Dead, Oil Goes to $50/Barrel, LNG Drops”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Supply Chain

New Technology Makes Fracking Pumps More Reliable
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

California company Energy Recovery Inc. earlier this week announced a new product, called VorTeq, that makes the pumps used in fracking operations more efficient, less likely to fail, and doubles the useful life for pump components most likely to fail. This new innovation makes fracking pumps more reliable, requiring less maintenance. How does it do it?…
Read More “New Technology Makes Fracking Pumps More Reliable”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Dems Want Gov-Elect Wolf to Follow Obama’s Lawless Example
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

Obama was sworn to uphold the Constitution when he took office. It is the essence of our country–the rule of law by which we live. Obama trashes the Constitution with every executive order he issues, creating new laws (something delegated to the legislative branch under the Constitution) and even treading into the judicial side of things with an out-of-control Attorney General, Eric Holder. Obama’s infamous example of appointing himself judge, jury and executioner hasn’t been wasted on leftists elsewhere, including Pennsylvania. Democrats met in Harrisburg last week to lick their electoral wounds. The meeting was organized by the radically left PennFuture (further illustrating just how far off the left side of the chart Democrats have gone). At the meeting, Dem bigwigs said PA’s Gov.-elect, Tom Wolf, should follow Obama’s example and thumb his nose at the Republican legislature and just make up his own laws, especially when it comes to the environment and gas drilling…
Read More “PA Dems Want Gov-Elect Wolf to Follow Obama’s Lawless Example”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Dec 10, 2014
December 10, 2014December 10, 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: Wed, Dec 10, 2014”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

New Wrinkle in NY: Towns Must Pass Zoning Laws to Allow Fracking
December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

Anti-drilling former “reporter” for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, Tom Wilber, is back with an insightful article in the P&SB. Wilbur highlights an issue just now coming to light for residents in New York. Earlier this year the New York Court of Appeals (NY’s highest court) made a disastrous ruling that allows townships to ban fracking (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). The continuing sliver of hope for NY landowners is that Gov. Andrew “can’t make up his mind” Cuomo will make up his mind, lo these 6 years later, and allow fracking to take place. The thinking has been that the fight (for anti-drillers) will now focus on attempting to get town boards to enact a ban–something not likely to happen in places most likely to drill. Wilber’s article points out a big, fat problem with that thinking: the high court’s decision in July did a lot more than just allow towns to ban drilling. In light of the July decision, towns with zoning ordinances (almost all towns in NY) must specially allow drilling–or it can’t take place by default…
Read More “New Wrinkle in NY: Towns Must Pass Zoning Laws to Allow Fracking”