Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 20, 2014
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Energy Companies | Forced Pooling | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Litigation | Pennsylvania
Hilcorp Lawrence County, PA Forced Pooling Case Update
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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Glimmer of Hope that PA Won’t Enact Severance Tax This Year
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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Chesapeake Energy | Crime | Encana Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Michigan | Statewide MI
Michigan AG Continues Case Against Chesapeake for Lease Collusion
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?)…
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Oops, I Did it Again: Another Howarth Sham Paper on Evil Methane
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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Cabot Presentation in Boston Yields Some Interesting Tidbits
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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Calendar of Events for May 19 – Jun 1, 2014 [Free]
Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, May 19, 2014
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Is PA Gov Corbett Considering a Severance Tax?!
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…
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Latest Slash and Burn Asset Sales from Chesapeake
Back in March MDN told you that Doug “the ax” Lawler and his boss corporate raider Carl Icahn had decided to spin off Chesapeake Oilfield Operating (COO), the oilfield division of the company (see Chesapeake Rushes to Spin Off Oilfield Services into New Company). Today Chesapeake reiterated that COO will be spun off by the end of June. Not only that, but Chessy is dumping a bunch of other assets in order to work down their debt…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA
Heinz & William Penn Cut Ties with CSSD; 1st Application for Cert
The news keeps rolling in with respect to the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). Yesterday MDN told you about a new grant to the organization (see CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation). Today we know how much the unspecified grant was for, and more importantly, why it was so important. We also have news that after 14 months of existence, the CSSD has it’s very first application for certification…
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Bradford County | Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania
Panda Liberty Breaks Ground on Bradford, PA Electric Plant
Once upon a time there was a Kung Fu Panda…er, no, wrong story. Once upon a time there was a Moxie, as in Moxie Energy, that got the bright idea to build an electric generating plant in the middle of the most abundant and cheap natural gas supply in the world–in the Marcellus of Bradford County, PA. They named it Liberty, as in Moxie Liberty. However, Moxie decided to sell their idea (and the authorizations/permits to proceed) to someone else. That’s where the Panda comes in–as in Panda Power Funds (see Moxie Liberty Sells PA Electric Plant Project to Panda Power). The renamed Panda Liberty officially broke ground yesterday on a project that will create 600 jobs and pump an estimated $6 billion into the local economy…
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Energy = Jobs in Blair County, PA – 50 New Jobs on the Way
It’s a pretty simple equation: Jobs = Energy. It also happens to be true. Makes for a great campaign slogan, which is why it was coined and continues to be used by Pennsylvania Tom Corbett. Yesterday Corbett announced another 50 new energy-related jobs are on the way in Blair County (Altoona area), courtesy of a new facility for a manufacturer of commercial service vehicles used in the Marcellus Shale…
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Broome County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | DTE Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County
Cabot, Southwestern Contract for More Pipeline Capacity in NEPA
An unexpected and pleasant surprise: Cabot Oil & Gas and Southwestern Energy are producing so much Marcellus gas in Susquehanna County, PA (northeastern part of the state), they need extra pipeline takeaway capacity. Even with the forthcoming Constitution pipeline (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route), more capacity is still needed. Enter DTE Energy and their Bluestone Pipeline, which is about to get a major expansion…
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CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD
FERC Final EIS: Cove Point Won’t Hurt Environment
Last September the U.S. Dept. of Energy gave it’s blessing to the Cove Point, MD LNG export facility that Dominion wants to build (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). DOE approval was a major hurdle. A second major hurdle has just been spanned. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (copy below) and found…
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Real Science: Comprehensive Water Study in Lycoming County, PA
Finally, some real scientific inquiry is about to take place in the PA Marcellus. Instead of yesteryear hippies who teach at places like Cornell and “analyze” other people’s data, reading into it whatever they want to (cough Ingraffea/Howarth cough), we’re about to have a groundwater quality monitoring program in the heart of the Marcellus Shale–Lycoming County–and they’re going to use real, in-the-field-measurement science…
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