Marcellus Drilling News

CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL 1Q14: Top Mgmt Changes, Change to Shale Driller Continues
April 30, 2014April 30, 2014

It’s hard to believe, but CONSOL Energy, originally a coal company, is 150 years old. The company was founded when Abe Lincoln was alive. As CONSOL’s current CEO Brett Harvey (retiring in May) says mentioning Abe and the age of CONSOL is relevant “because good assets, with the right strategy, are timeless.” CONSOL issued their first quarter operating and financial report yesterday (see it below). After experiencing a net loss last year at this time, CONSOL’s 1Q14 net income was a healthy $116 million on the black side of the ledger.

In the Marcellus Shale, CONSOL Energy and its joint venture partner drilled 35 wells, completed 23 wells, and had 11 wells turned in line. In the Utica Shale, CONSOL Energy and its joint venture partner drilled 7 wells, completed 3 wells, and had 10 wells turned in line. Below we have an overview of yesterday’s CONSOL 1Q14 report, the report itself, and a portion of an analyst call with top management…
Read More “CONSOL 1Q14: Top Mgmt Changes, Change to Shale Driller Continues”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Latest Attack on PA Drillers: Discrimination
April 30, 2014April 30, 2014

Pennsylvania’s Act 13 Marcellus drilling law, passed two years ago and now partially gutted by seven selfish towns (see Act 13 Case Goes Back to Court, Drillers Petition to Join Lawsuit), has a provision that requires PA drillers to provide “maximum practicable contracting opportunities for diverse small businesses,” defined as minority, women, or veteran-owned businesses. Please don’t get us started on reverse discrimination in this country. Just play along for the moment and pretend such silly ideas are good and righteous (when indeed they are not). Fortunately the Act 13 law does not set quotas–but it does require an annual survey to be filled out and returned to the state. Apparently some drillers have not been filing their paperwork (naughty white boys) providing platitudes about how they try to find “diverse small business” to shower with their largess. Voila! A new, instant issue which anti-drillers will use to try and bludgeon to death the miracle of hydraulic fracturing and the economic miracle happening in Pennsylvania.

The hew and cry will go out that drillers are all white, rich men who discriminate against the poor and disadvantaged. Which is, of course, horse manure…
Read More “Latest Attack on PA Drillers: Discrimination”
Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Attorney Says Sunoco Should Seek FERC Approval for Mariner East
April 30, 2014April 30, 2014

A Pittsburgh attorney, writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, weighs in on the complex issue of whether or not Sunoco Logistics is a public utility corporation under Pennsylvania’s definition with the right to use eminent domain to force landowners in Washington and Westmoreland counties to allow Sunoco to lay pipeline under their land. The pipeline in question, as we previously wrote about, is the Mariner East ethane pipeline. Sunoco needs to lay 50 miles of pipeline in western PA. Most of the Mariner East pipeline already exists (being repurposed) and stretches from western PA all the way to Philadelphia and the Marcus Hook refinery. Sunoco still needs to build 31 compressor stations along the pipeline’s route as it crosses PA (see More Pushback from PA Residents on Proposed Mariner East Pipeline).

Sunoco is facing a plethora of lawsuits and filings to counter their request to be declared a public utility corporation (not to be confused with being a public utility proper). Pittsburgh attorney William P. Bresnahan II says that Sunoco likely is a public utility based on a definition by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He hints that if Sunoco plays their cards right–by which he means seeking and getting FERC approval for the Mariner East project–Sunoco will put to rest endless local lawsuits. However, getting FERC’s buy-in is not an easy matter…
Read More “Attorney Says Sunoco Should Seek FERC Approval for Mariner East”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Seismic Testing | Statewide PA

Anti-Drilling PA Dem Rep. Matzie to Introduce Seismic Testing Law
April 30, 2014April 30, 2014

Anti-drilling Democrat PA Rep. Robert F. Matzie (District 16) is set to introduce new legislation in the Republican-controlled PA House that will make it nearly impossible for seismic testing to take place in the state. He intends to introduce a bill that automatically assumes seismic testing is responsible for damage to property within 1,000 feet of where it happens. If a thumper truck goes down your road, and you want to get that crack fixed that’s been in your basement wall for the past 10 years, here’s your chance. Just claim seismic testing is at fault and send the bill to the testing company. Nuts.

Here’s the rather funny announcement from Matzie saying this legislation is really not anti-drilling, oh no, and that he only wants to protect Pennsylvanians from evil, nasty seismic testing companies…
Read More “Anti-Drilling PA Dem Rep. Matzie to Introduce Seismic Testing Law”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

More Specifics on Deal for Georgia Pipeline Flowing Marcellus Gas
April 30, 2014April 30, 2014

Two weeks ago MDN told you the good news that Marcellus Shale gas will soon be on its way to Georgia (see Marcellus Gas Heading to Georgia via Transco Pipeline). The Williams Transco pipeline expansion to Georgia is called the Dalton Expansion Project and is already 100% spoken for. In the announcement from two weeks ago we learned that Williams’ partner in the expansion is AGL Resources, a natgas distribution, wholesaler and midstreamer with headquarters in Atlanta, GA. The new pipeline expansion in Georgia will be owned 50/50 by Williams and AGL.

We now have a few more specifics about the AGL/Williams deal, including the fact that AGL is putting up $210 million to help fund the project…
Read More “More Specifics on Deal for Georgia Pipeline Flowing Marcellus Gas”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Apr 30, 2014
April 30, 2014April 30, 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, Apr 30, 2014”
BP | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

BP Calls it Quits in the Utica Shale – Total Write-off
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

A sad day for landowners in Trumbull County, OH. Flashback: In March 2012 BP leased 84,000 acres in Trumbull County, OH from the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley (see BP’s Big Utica Shale Deal, Leases 84K Acres in Ohio). Just two years later and what started out with great fanfare is all down the toilet. BP announced today they are pulling out of the Utica Shale and writing it all off. In a very brief mention in a press release issued this morning about first quarter 2014 results, BP says: “Following on from the decision to create a separate BP business around its US lower 48 onshore oil and gas activities, and as a consequence of appraisal results, BP has decided not to proceed with development plans in the Utica shale. The Upstream result includes a write-off relating to the Utica acreage.”

Last November MDN wondered aloud whether BP would decide to move forward, or call it quits (see Decision Point: Will BP Drill Their Utica Acreage? Or Pass?). Now we know. Why leave? As we pointed out at the time, Trumbull County has proven to be mostly dry gas, and not wet gas (or natural gas liquids) which makes it a much less profitable part of the play to drill in. BP rolled the dice and bet wrong. The only other driller in Trumbull has been Halcon Resources. They pulled out too (see Halcon Resources Stops Drilling, Gives Up on the Utica Shale). Is there any hope for future Utica drilling in Trumbull County?…
Read More “BP Calls it Quits in the Utica Shale – Total Write-off”
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Williams

Williams Stops Work on Bluegrass Pipeline, Boardwalk Says “It’s Not Dead”
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Really big news that affects drilling throughout the Marcellus and Utica Shale region: Williams announced yesterday they are suspending work on the Bluegrass Pipeline, a $1.5 billion project that would have piped natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Utica/Marcellus all the way to Gulf Coast for processing and sale. Looks like we now know who the winner of the “midstream knife fight” is: the Kinder Morgan/MarkWest joint venture UTOPIA pipeline (see “Midstream Knife Fight” – Who Will Have 1st Operational NGL Pipeline to Gulf?). Although Williams says the project is done, their joint venture partner in the Bluegrass, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, says “it’s not dead.” Really? What does that mean?

Below we have the Williams statement that the Bluegrass is dead, the quote from Boardwalk saying it isn’t dead, and our opinion as to what may have pushed Williams to throw in the towel on this very important project, potentially leaving northeast drillers without options for NGLs…
Read More “Williams Stops Work on Bluegrass Pipeline, Boardwalk Says “It’s Not Dead””
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Williams

Boardwalk Talks About Bluegrass: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Yesterday Boardwalk Pipeline Partners held an analyst call to update investors on their first quarter 2014 performance. As we wrote about a few months ago, Boardwalk’s stock fell off a cliff (down 50%) and is just now beginning to inch it’s way back up the cliff (see Serious Concerns about Boardwalk Pipeline Partners Continue). Yesterday’s analyst call coincided with the release of information that both Williams and Boardwalk, together in a joint venture to build the Bluegrass Pipeline, an important northeast to Gulf Coast NGL pipeline, have decided to suspend work on the pipeline. Williams hints that the project is all but dead, but Boardwalk says it isn’t (see our related story today).

We located the transcript of yesterday’s analyst call with Boardwalk and have extracted out all of the places where the Bluegrass was discussed. It’s interesting reading, providing us with a bit more color and context. For us it evokes Collin Raye’s song, “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It” as we read the comments by Boardwalk and the press release by Williams. Both partners have obviously decided to script the announcement–both are singing from the same song sheet, as it were. The stated reason they’ve stopped working on the Bluegrass? Not enough customer interest. Which, as we point out in today’s related story, we think is sort of bogus. Here’s what was said yesterday on the Boardwalk call about the Bluegrass suspension…
Read More “Boardwalk Talks About Bluegrass: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Top 10 Oil Wells & Top 10 Gas Wells in Ohio for 4Q13
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Contrary to the all-but-silent treatment Utica Shale oil gets, drillers are pumping oil from the Utica. Quite a bit of it, as it turns out. They’re also pumping huge quantities of natural gas.

Last week MDN friend Bob Downing, reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal, did a great analysis of Q413 production numbers. He produced these two lists of “top 10” for oil producing wells and for natgas producing wells…
Read More “Top 10 Oil Wells & Top 10 Gas Wells in Ohio for 4Q13”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Production for 4Q13: Natgas Up 28%, Oil Up 8%
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Last week the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) released it’s now quarterly production report–for fourth quarter 2013. The report shows natural gas production zoomed up by 28% while oil production increased by 8%. The report shows 352 wells were producing as of the end of the year. They produced a collective 1.4 million barrels of oil for the quarter, and 43 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Below is an overview and analysis of the numbers, followed by the raw report (spreadsheet format) from the ODNR…
Read More “OH Production for 4Q13: Natgas Up 28%, Oil Up 8%”
Blair County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Altoona Hearing on Latest EPA Outrage: Redefining Clean Water Act
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

The latest breath-taking power grab attempt by the rogue and out-of-control federal Environmental Protection Agency was highlighted at a Congressional hearing held yesterday in Altoona, PA. The EPA wants to redefine which bodies of water fall under the 1972 Clean Water Act–so that the agency essentially would oversee not only “navigable waterways” but all waterways, usurping states rights in the process. It is, as Congressman Bill Shuster (from PA) said, more evidence of President Obama’s “imperial presidency”–by which he means Obama is grabbing power by force that is not his Constitutionally. The hearing yesterday was an attempt to point out the perils of the EPA’s latest overreach.

Shale drillers clearly understand the implications and at least one attended to voice concerns. According to CONSOL Energy, the new “guidelines” from EPA would add upward of $10 million per natgas pipeline they install due to the delays, paperwork and new hoops they will need to jump through. It is unnecessary and (in our opinion) unconstitutional…
Read More “Altoona Hearing on Latest EPA Outrage: Redefining Clean Water Act”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Anti-Drilling PA Gov Candidate Allyson Schwartz Spits and Sputters
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

In a hilarious set of meetings with reporters in Harrisburg, PA, Democrat primary candidate for governor Allyson Schwartz had a spitting and sputtering fest. We truly wish we were there. She repeatedly attempted to lob verbal molotov cocktails at both Republican Gov. Tom Corbett (running for re-election) and at her chief primary rival and fellow anti-driller Tom Wolf. But the verbal bombs she lobbed just wouldn’t go off–and one of them exploded in her own face. At times pleading and at other times scolding, Schwartz essentially begged reporters to criticize Wolf and Corbett on her behalf.

One of those reporters had had enough and asked her: since Tom Corbett has released 10 years of tax returns, why don’t you? Schwartz went nearly apoplectic. How DARE a reporter challenge the Queen Bee!? Her response was, essentially, “good for thee but not for me.” Which is the way anti-drillers like Schwartz always operate, with double standards…
Read More “Anti-Drilling PA Gov Candidate Allyson Schwartz Spits and Sputters”
Erie County | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Labor Unions Break Ranks with Dems to Support Shale Industry
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Organized labor continues to roar its approval for fracking, pipelines and the shale oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania and beyond. Breaking ranks with its own anti-drilling Democrat Party in PA, Laborers International Union of North America (LUNA) with more than 20,000 PA members, wrote an editorial appearing in the Erie Times-News that supports expansion of fracking in PA as opposed to silly moratoriums and more restrictions proposed by the Democrat Party and their candidates for governor on down…
Read More “PA Labor Unions Break Ranks with Dems to Support Shale Industry”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Northeastern Ohio Benefits from Shale Too, Just Different
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

There’s not much drilling in the Utica Shale in northeastern Ohio, but that doesn’t mean folks in the northern part of the state don’t benefit (and profit) from it. In fact, many in northern Ohio are downright excited about what’s happening in the state. Why? Because the plastics industry, which uses byproducts from natural gas liquids (NGLs) being extracted in Ohio, is taking off like a rocket, providing jobs, products and an economic bonanza in northern Ohio and indeed throughout the state…
Read More “Northeastern Ohio Benefits from Shale Too, Just Different”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Meetings | Ohio | Utica Shale | Washington County (OH)

Marietta Meeting Highlights Big Economic Impacts from Drilling
April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

Marietta (Washington County), OH residents and business owners had a chance last Friday to hear how the northeast shale boom has already benefited that area, and how the area will benefit in the future. The changes statewide are dramatic. The changes locally are starting to be felt too–and more changes are on the way. Exciting changes…
Read More “Marietta Meeting Highlights Big Economic Impacts from Drilling”