Marcellus Drilling News

CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp

Range Announces Multiple Agreements to Sell Natgas & Ethane
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

A big, important announcement from Range Resources yesterday to go along with the big, important news that ETP will build a new Marcellus/Utica pipeline (see today’s lead story). Range confirmed ETP’s announcement yesterday that they (Range) will be a customer for the new Rover Pipeline that crosses Ohio and will eventually connect to Canada. In fact, Range says they are the “foundation” shipper on that new pipeline, which is due to be in service October 2017. Range will ship 400,000 million Btus (or 388 million cubic feet) per day on the Rover Pipeline–for 20 years. In addition, Range also announced agreements to sell their Marcellus gas for export via the Cheniere LNG export facility in Sabine Pass and via a second unnamed LNG facility. And the really big news (for MDN)–Range has signed up to become the second source of ethane for the Odebrecht WV cracker plant. They also plan to sell ethane to the Sasol cracker plant planned in Lake Charles, LA…
Read More “Range Announces Multiple Agreements to Sell Natgas & Ethane”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Corbett Still Says Marcellus Severance Tax a Possibility, if…
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

We continue to be concerned about PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s resolve when it comes to slapping a Marcellus-killing severance tax on drillers in the state in order to fund a state budget that’s simply spends too much. Our latest concern is with comments he made to an AP reporter yesterday…
Read More “Corbett Still Says Marcellus Severance Tax a Possibility, if…”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

Lebanon PA Anti-Drillers Plot Ordinance Against Williams Pipeline
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

The hippie anti-drilling pipeline protesters from Lebanon Pipeline Awareness (Lebanon, PA) once again failed to get more than 50 people to turn out for another stop-the-Atlantic-Sunrise-Pipeline meeting, held last night held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lebanon. As MDN previously predicted, last night’s meeting was to plot a strategy to launch frivolous lawsuits (see Lawsuits Next Act for Anti-Pipeline Group in Lebanon County, PA?). An ambulance-chasing lawyer from out of town showed up and told the anti-drillers in attendance that their best chance of stopping the pipeline is not, however, frivolous lawsuits–it is instead an illegal zoning ordinance…
Read More “Lebanon PA Anti-Drillers Plot Ordinance Against Williams Pipeline”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

Athens, OH Anti-Drillers Lose Appeal to Stop Injection Well
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

In January of this year, the anti-drilling Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN) filed a legal challenge to the permit issued by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) that approved a new injection well in Athens County (see Athens County, OH Anti-Drillers Sue to Stop New Injection Well). Earlier this month the Ohio Oil & Gas Commission, the organization that hears such appeals, dismissed the appeal by ACFAN…
Read More “Athens, OH Anti-Drillers Lose Appeal to Stop Injection Well”
Industrywide Issues | Research

ICF’s Elusive Report Says # of Marcellus/Utica Wells Way Up
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

In what appears to us to be a waste of a good press release, ICF International, a consulting company, issued a release yesterday to announce the release of a new ICF report that is a “complete outlook for U.S. and Canada natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and oil production through 2035.” The release is a waste because if you visit their website, we defy you to locate where you can request or look at a copy of said report, which is titled “2014 Detailed Production Report.” There are, however, a few good tidbits in the press release itself that touch on production and lateral spacing for the Marcellus and Utica Shale…
Read More “ICF’s Elusive Report Says # of Marcellus/Utica Wells Way Up”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

Will NJ Gov Christie Veto Frack Wastewater Ban a 2nd Time?
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

In September 2012 the New Jersey legislature passed a bill that would ban New Jersey from accepting and processing wastewater from the Marcellus Shale. Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the measure (see NJ Gov. Christie Vetoes Frack Wastewater Ban Bill). The NJ legislature yesterday just “opps, I did it again” passed another bill–essentially the same as the one from two years ago–and has sent it on to Gov. Christie. Will he sign it this time?…
Read More “Will NJ Gov Christie Veto Frack Wastewater Ban a 2nd Time?”
Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | New York | NGLs | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY to Cuomo: Authorize Seneca Propane Storage Facility
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

For years MDN has told you about the proposed Inergy (now Crestwood Midstream) plan to open a badly needed underground propane storage facility along the shore of Seneca Lake in New York–in an already depleted salt mining cavern. In March 2013, 12 virulent anti-drilling protesters were arrested for blocking access to the facility–a facility that hasn’t yet been fitted for propane (see NY Protesters Arrested for Blocking NatGas Storage Facility). We’ve also pointed out New Yorkers pay nosebleed rates for propane because our governor refuses to permit the facility (see Northeast Propane Shortage – Andrew Cuomo Partially to Blame). There is a new effort under way to get some action on the Seneca propane storage facility from the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York…
Read More “JLCNY to Cuomo: Authorize Seneca Propane Storage Facility”
C&J Energy Services | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A

2 Companies Merge to Form Top 5 Frack Services Company
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

On Wednesday, C&J Energy Services, a smaller completion services company focused on the Permian and Eagle Ford Shale plays, announced they will merge into Nabors Industries, a completion and production company with operations in many on- and off-shore areas, including a major presence in the Marcellus Shale. The $2.86 billion deal will produce a new company using the C&J name but essentially owned by Nabors that will be in the top 5 fracking services companies in the U.S. They will compete with giants like Halliburton and Baker Hughes…
Read More “2 Companies Merge to Form Top 5 Frack Services Company”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | New Source Energy

Buyouts in Oilfield Services Sector Impact Marcellus/Utica
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

A second oilfield services companies merging story today. Yesterday New Source Energy Partners announced their buying out two smaller companies–Erick Flowback Services and Rod’s Production Services. Both companies being purchased are headquartered in Oklahoma but both have meaningful operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. The $117 million deal means that New Source’s footprint in the Marcellus/Utica just got a lot bigger…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 27, 2014
June 27, 2014June 27, 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: Fri, Jun 27, 2014”
Access Midstream Partners | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

2nd PA Class Action Lawsuit Against Chesapeake re Royalty Fraud
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

We’ve only spotted this news in (so far) two legal publications, but last Friday the Suessenbach Family Limited Partnership, using a Wilkes-Barre, PA law firm, launched a “sprawling class action” lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy and Access Midstream accusing the two companies of a $5 billion scheme to defraud landowners out of royalties rightfully due to them. MDN previously covered how this scheme worked (see Chesapeake Shafting Landowners out of Royalties Mess Gets Messier). This is the second such class action against Chesapeake over royalties in PA we’re aware of (see Bad to Worse: PA Royalty Owner Asks Court for Chessy Class Action). There are all sorts of ramifications from this latest lawsuit…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Trucking

GreenHunter Launches Hydrocarbon Hauling Subsidiary in Northeast
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

GreenHunter Resources is the frack wastewater hauling subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources. You may recall yesterday’s lead MDN story about dismissed lawsuits for MH (see Magnum Hunter Wins Dismissal in 5 of 6 Lawsuits Alleging Mismgmt). Yesterday GreenHunter issued a press release announcing a new sub-subsidiary: GreenHunter Hydrocarbons. This “grandson” of Magnum Hunter (“son” of GreenHunter) is a new business line for this increasingly complex corporate entity: They’re getting into the business of hauling natural gas liquids (ethane, butane, propane) including condensate and oil…
Read More “GreenHunter Launches Hydrocarbon Hauling Subsidiary in Northeast”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Legislation to Split Conventional/Unconventional Regs Advances
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

In early May three Pennsylvania Republican legislators said they would introduce new legislation to separate regulations for conventional (vertical only) and unconventional (shale) drilling in the state (see New PA Bill Would Separate Conventional/Unconventional Regulations). The intent is to plug some holes, they say exist, in the relatively new Act 13 law that makes small mom-and-pop drillers who sink only vertical wells adhere to regulations meant for big shale drillers. The bills were introduced and they’re now receiving attention and we’d say even likely to pass…
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Allegany County | Economic Impact | Garrett County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Maryland | Research | Statewide MD

Maryland Study: Marcellus Drilling Huge Benefit for Western MD
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

A new study recently released by the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) at Towson University says if Maryland would only allow Marcellus Shale drilling, two western MD counties would reap huge benefits. The study, “Impact Analysis of the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative” (full copy embedded below) says Allegany and Garrett counties would benefit from thousands of new jobs and hundreds of million dollars in newfound revenue…
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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Research

Best Minds Say Natgas Price to Remain Under $6 for Next 20 Yrs
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

According to analysts at Goldman Sachs, the days of futures traders running up the price of natural gas are long gone. Goldman says U.S. shale production will “constrain” natural gas prices for at least the next 20 years–if not longer. And it’s not only Goldman making that prediction…
Read More “Best Minds Say Natgas Price to Remain Under $6 for Next 20 Yrs”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA’s PUC Pro-Drilling Chairman Powelson Leads Mid-Atlantic Group
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

MDN told you a month ago that the anti-drilling StateImpact Pennsylvania (PBS “reporters”) had claimed another scalp in their anti-drilling campaign by forcing PA Public Utilities Commission chairman Rob Powelson to resign from the Greater Philadelphia Energy Action Team–a Chamber of Commerce organization aimed at promoting business and all forms of energy in the state (see StateImpact PA Claims Another Scalp for their Anti-Drilling Wall). We’re happy to report Powelson has come roaring back. He’s strongly pro-Marcellus drilling and he’s just been sworn in as President of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (MACRUC). It’s good to have a pro-driller in charge of MACRUC…
Read More “PA’s PUC Pro-Drilling Chairman Powelson Leads Mid-Atlantic Group”