Marcellus Drilling News

UGI Natgas Price Increase for 2 Regions, Decrease in 3rd Region

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

Record-breaking low winter temperatures drew down inventories of natural gas in the northeast this past winter. The natural gas utility that serves some of the largest markets in PA, including northeast PA and southeast PA, is UGI. They announced yesterday that due to the supply/demand issues from winter, they will need to boost the price of natgas to their customers in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area by 5.7% come June 1st. UGI is also boosting rates for their customers in southeast PA (greater Philadelphia area) by 4% on June 1st. However, UGI’s third natgas service area–in central PA–will not change on June 1st and will actually go down on December 1st by 2.3%. Why is the price going up in two regions but down in the third?…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Regulation

Final Chapter of Ormet Plant Closing – Utica Could have Saved It

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

A sad footnote to a sad story. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) played a high stakes game of chicken with Monroe County, OH’s largest employer–the Ormet aluminum smelter plant that at one time employed 900 people–and lost…
Read More “Final Chapter of Ormet Plant Closing – Utica Could have Saved It”

Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Supply Chain

Moody’s Report: Marcellus Rearranges the U.S. Pipeline Picture

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

Moody’s Investors Service released a new report last week titled, “North American Natural Gas Pipelines: Retooling as Gas Flows Shift, New Demand Emerges from LNG and Power.” The high level conclusions of the report are that if you’re in the Marcellus zone of influence, there are big changes happening with natural gas pipelines. Those changes include brand new pipelines being built, existing pipelines being extended, and entire pipeline reversing their flows. Outside of the Marcellus influence zone? Status quo…
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Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh-area Golf Course Faces Uphill Battle to Allow Drilling

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

The owner of a golf course in North Braddock, PA (Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh) has leased the golf course for Marcellus Shale drilling and he wants drilling on or near the course. And because of it, he’s taking a lot of heat from some local residents…
Read More “Pittsburgh-area Golf Course Faces Uphill Battle to Allow Drilling”

Poignant JLCNY Flyer Shows Dems Who Do/Don’t Support Drilling

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

The 70,000-member strong Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) is circulating a poignant 1-page flyer (see it below). The flyer lists three prominent Democrats on the left side who have publicly voiced support for shale drilling and natural gas. Along the right side are two prominent Democrats and a Communist who don’t support American shale drilling, although one of them may support it if given a swift kick in the pants. Can you guess who the mystery fence-sitter, man-child, equivocating, non-leader is? (Hint: His last name begins with a “C”)…
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Industrywide Issues | Supply Chain

Supply Chain Companies – Exposure Beyond the Marcellus/Utica

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

Listen up companies in the northeast shale supply chain–or those who hope to be. A good resource for you is the online ShaleDirectories.com, a sort of “yellow pages” for companies who want to sell to the shale industry. Until now, ShaleDirectories.com has served the Marcellus and Utica region. However, they’ve just announced a major expansion to several other key U.S. shale plays…
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Shale Innovation Winners of $100K in Prize Money Named

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

Each year the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center (SGICC) conducts a contest for researchers, entrepreneurs and innovators working in the shale gas space in PA or WV (see 2014 Ben Franklin Shale Gas Contest – $100K in Cash Prizes!). They award four $25,000 prizes to those companies or people they believe have unique products and services that will benefit the shale industry. This year’s winners have just been announced! Envelope please…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 20, 2014

May 20, 2014May 20, 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, May 20, 2014”

Hilcorp Lawrence County, PA Forced Pooling Case Update

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014

Today we give you an update about the ongoing forced pooling case by Hilcorp in Lawrence County, PA (see Hilcorp Uses PA Forced Pooling Law Against Lawrence Cty Landowner). We have new information, we break the issue down and explain it in detail, and we offer our own opinion on potential outcomes…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Glimmer of Hope that PA Won’t Enact Severance Tax This Year

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014

Perhaps all is not lost in PA with regard to an insane severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling. On Friday we reported that PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s spokesperson seemed to be waffling about whether or not Gov. Corbett would consider or even support a severance tax, something he’s been opposed to for over three years (see Is PA Gov Corbett Considering a Severance Tax?!). That report caused us some angst. However, also last week, the highest ranking Republican in the House said “no” to a severance tax for this year’s budget…
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Michigan AG Continues Case Against Chesapeake for Lease Collusion

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014

Apparently Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wants his pound of flesh out of Chesapeake Energy. You may recall the case of Chesapeake and Encana being accused of colluding to suppress the price of land being auctioned for drilling leases in Michigan. Reuters claimed private, internal company emails with possibly damning information somehow landed in their lap from the email fairy (see Did Reuters Break the Law with Latest Chesapeake Story?)…
Read More “Michigan AG Continues Case Against Chesapeake for Lease Collusion”

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Oops, I Did it Again: Another Howarth Sham Paper on Evil Methane

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014

Robert Howarth, professor of ecology and environmental biology (not geology) is a self-proclaimed expert on shale drilling and its impact on Mother Earth. Howarth is a man-causes-global-warming true believer, along with his sidekick Tony Infraffea (also a Cornell prof). Both together have issued a string of “research reports” saying outrageously silly things like burning natural gas is worse for the environment than burning coal. Their research is constantly refuted by real experts, but that doesn’t keep Howarth from attempting to peddle his theories. And “oops, I did it again”–there goes Howarth with another “natural gas is worse that your darkest nightmare” study, just published in yet another obscure so-called “peer reviewed” journal…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies

Cabot Presentation in Boston Yields Some Interesting Tidbits

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014

There are a variety of conferences where drillers “pitch” investors on how great their company is, and the enormous promise of how well it will do in the future (hint hint–buy our stock and drive the price up). Citibank hosts a variety of these conferences. One of them was last week and Cabot Oil & Gas was there to present. We got a copy of their presentation, which has a lot of great information. If you want to know what a company is planning, and where they’ve been recently, you could do worse that pour over these investor conference presentations. Below we’ve embedded the Cabot presentation along with a list of our favorite slides…
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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for May 19 – Jun 1, 2014 [Free]

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
Read More “Calendar of Events for May 19 – Jun 1, 2014 [Free]”

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, May 19, 2014

May 19, 2014May 19, 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: Mon, May 19, 2014”

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Is PA Gov Corbett Considering a Severance Tax?!

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

A disturbing article by the Associated Press hints that PA Gov. Tom Corbett may be about to cave and endorse a severance tax. Never in our wildest dreams would we believe it–we don’t want to believe it. But Corbett spokeswoman Lynn Lawson has “declined to say if Corbett still rules out an extraction tax” that would be used to meet a budget short-fall, particularly in education…
Read More “Is PA Gov Corbett Considering a Severance Tax?!”