Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Nov 18, 2013
The ābest of the restā ā stories that caught MDNās eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Braskem | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Odebrecht | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County
WV Announces Brazilian Company to Build Ethane Cracker Complex
Yesterday West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was flanked by representatives from BrazilianĀ chemical company Odebrecht to announce the company has chosen a site near Parkersburg, WV (third largest city in the state) to be the potential site of an ethane cracker plant complex. The complex will have an ethane cracker,Ā three polyethylene plants and infrastructure for water treatment and energy co-generation. Gov. Tomblin was justifiably proud to make the announcement, calling it a “game changer” for West Virginia. He’s right.Odebrecht will build the plant, and once built, it will be operated by Braskem, another Brazilian company with operations in Pennsylvania (51% owned by Odebrecht). MDN told you about Braskem’s interest in a WV ethane cracker all the way back in March 2012 (seeĀ Second Company Interested in Building Cracker Plant IDed). So it appears Odebrecht/Braskem have been sniffing around the concept of building a cracker in WV for at least a year and a half. We have a lot of coverage of the announcement below. The key word here is: caution. Like the Shell cracker, this is very early in the process and not yet a 100% done deal…
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Beaver County | Braskem | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Odebrecht | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County
Clash of the Ethane Cracker Titans: PA vs WV Smackdown
As MDN mentions in today’s companion story about the newly announced potential ethane cracker plant complex to be built near Parkersburg, WV, there is angst in Pittsburgh about whether or not a WV cracker plant will help or harm the potential cracker plant to be built by Shell northwest of Pittsburgh in Beaver County, PA.
The Pittsburgh Business Times, a bit critical and skeptical of the WV cracker (no surprise there), tackles the question of, “Is you a friend or is you foe?”…
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Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County
Officials Say Cracker Will be Truly Huge for WV Jobs & Economy
One final story in MDN today about WV ethane cracker mania (see our other two stories posted today for full coverage of the announcement from yesterday). Although WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and officials with the companies that would build and operate a proposed ethane cracker in WV–Odebrecht and Braskem–were careful to say this is a preliminary announcement and not a 100% done deal, it’s still just too juicy a carrot to leave alone for the Tomblin administration.
Although Tomblin says Oderbrecht is “exploring” the possibility of building an ethane cracker, he’s also shouting that this is the best thing for West Virginia since sliced bread was invented (our words, but certainly his sentiment). And sure enough, right on the heels of his announcement, Tomblin officials were talking about the thousands of new jobs this project will generate and the incredible economic impact it will have on WV. IF built, they are 100% correct, this will be an economic and jobs-generating engine like none we’ve seen in the northeast for generations–no doubt about it. The key word, though, is IF…
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Important New Shale Energy Resource Launches: NaturalGasIntel.com
As some MDN readers may know, in addition to writing and publishing Marcellus Drilling News each weekday and writing/editing the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, MDN editor Jim Willis also consults for Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI). You may recognize the NGI name–they’re the publishers of the fabulous Shale Daily newsletter–the first and still the only daily publication dedicated to news coverage from all North American shale plays. Jim works with the fine folks at NGI to help with marketing Shale Daily and other NGI publications and products (like a really cool shale/pipeline wall map). One of the projects Jim has had a small hand in is the design and launch of theĀ NaturalGasIntel.com website.
NaturalGasIntel.com is an incredibly important new resource for those interested in the shale energy industry. It incorporates all of the great content from Shale Daily PLUS content from NGI’s other publications PLUS brand new featuresĀ like shale basin resource pages–individual pages dedicated to each of the major (and many of the minor) commercial shale plays in North America. MDN will tell you more about how you can leverage these new features in the coming weeks. For now, we include the NGI press release announcing the new site (read it below) and we encourage you to head on over and get a free 7-day trial and try it out for yourself…
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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain
NE PA Audience Hears How to Plug in to the Marcellus Supply Chain
The Marcellus means jobs and an economic boom for northeast Pennsylvania. That was the message delivered yesterday in Wilkes-Barre at a Marcellus forum hosted byĀ State Sen. John Yudichak and State Sen.Ā John Blake (both from the Scranton/W-B area). The forum was attended by over 100 people–local contractors, trade unions, small manufacturers and others. MDN friend John Augustine from the Marcellus Shale Coalition was one of the featured speakers, with lots of good tips for those who want to plug in to the Marcellus supply chain.
The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader was on hand and filed this helpful report:
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Berks County, PA Hosts Pipeline “Education” Forum – LOL
A supposedly non-partisan “pipeline education forum” was held yesterday inĀ Berks County, PA (near Philadelphia)–payed for with taxpayer money and hosted/organized by the Berks County League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters. To their credit, the League had two pro-drillers on the panel: someone from utility giant UGI and someone from Spectra Energy. But the rest of the panel was packed with anti-drillers, like a rep from the rabidly anti-drilling Delaware Riverkeeper and the anti-drilling director of the so-calledĀ Pipeline Safety Coalition, based in neighboring Chester County. They were there to scare the *&@# out of attendees.
Such is “fair and balanced” from the “non-partisan-doesn’t-take-a-position” League. Excuse us as we pick ourselves up off the ground from laughing so hard…
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The Important Role of Engineering/Construction Firms in Shale
Engineering and construction firms play a big and important role in the shale drilling industry. If you ever attend a trade show, like the top-notch Shale Insight event hosted by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, and walk around the exhibition area, there are a LOT of engineering and construction companies with booths. And rightfully so–because without them drilling and the associated work (clearing sites, constructing buildings, installing pipelines, siting compressor plants, etc.) would not get done.
Uber big consulting firm PricewatershouseCoopers (PwC) recently released a “report” (i.e. white paper) thatĀ discusses how engineering and construction companies can successfully help deliver shale oil and gas products at quicker speeds and lower costs through integrated project planning. That is, PwC is trying to drum up some business. If you’re an engineering/construction company, they can show you a way to do it better, by using their high-priced consultants. š Still, the white paper has a few useful points to make, and so we pass it along to you…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Nov 15, 2013
The ābest of the restā ā stories that caught MDNās eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County
BIG NEWS: West Virginia is Getting an Ethane Cracker Plant
TheĀ Parkersburg News and Sentinel is reporting that WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will make an announcement today that has been years in coming: West Virginia is getting its own “multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker chemical plant” and it will be located in Wood County. If this rumor, which seemingly originates with reliable sources, bears out, this is seriously good news for WV. In fact, we’re jumping up and down happy! For years MDN has been pulling/cheerleading/advocating for WV to get their own cracker–we think they deserve it.The speculation is that Tomblin sealed a deal for a cracker plant on a recent European trade mission trip (seeĀ WV Gov Going to Europe to Find Him a Cracker). While he was in Europe, he said by phone he would have a big announcement a few days after he returned home. We speculated at the time, three weeks ago, that he might be talking about a cracker (seeĀ Did Gov Tomblin Find a European Investor for a WV Cracker Plant?). Was our speculation accurate? We will know today…
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JLCNY Landowner Lawsuit Against NY & Gov. Cuomo Ready to Go
MDN recently received an email update from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY)–posted below. The JLCNY reports their “takings” lawsuit against New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah is now ready to go. Cuomo, Martens and Shah together form a cabal working against NY landowners by intentionally denying them their 5th Amendment Constitutional private property rights without just compensation. The JLCNY is ready to expose the cabal by filing this case.
According to JLCNY President, Dan Fitzsimmons, the legal team spent over 300 hours preparing the necessary court documentation, called a “complaint” in legalese (we’ve embedded a copy of the complaint below). The lawsuit will be filed on behalf of six New York landowners. The landowners are not (yet) named in the complaint, but if you read the complaint, you’ll see each one is uniquely identified–these are real people that are ready to go to court…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mountaineer Keystone | Ohio | Portage County | Utica Shale
ODNR Says Methane in OH Water Well NOT Caused by Utica Drilling
In January MDN told you about the Kline family, in Portage County (near Cleveland), who claimed nearby Utica Shale drilling had contaminated their water well with methane (methane migration) to the point they could, yes, light their water tap on fire. It made big headlines at the time and the family (with flaming faucet) was featured on the NBC Today show (seeĀ Methane Migration into Water Well Near Cleveland, OH). At the time MDN said it certainly appeared like they had a case against drillerĀ Mountaineer Keystone for methane migration. Our assumption was completely wrong.
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) performed an extensive investigation of not only the Kline family’s water well but a dozen other nearby water wells. Using test results from before and after drilling, they concluded the methane in the Kline’s water well is NOT from nearby Utica Shale drilling but is instead naturally occurring. Oops. Think the $25 million/year salaried Matt Lauer will now have the Kline family back on Today to ask them if they’re ready to apologize for making a false claim against the driller? Yeah, don’t hold your breath on that one…
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EVEP 3Q13: No New Land Deals to Announce
EV Energy Partners/EnerVest has, almost by happenstance, accumulated a huge position in the Utica Shale–760,000 acres according to NaturalGasIntel.com. They are the second largest leaseholder in the Utica, behind Chesapeake Energy (who has about 1 million acres). A little over a year ago EVEP put half a million of those acres on the auction block. No takers. They eventually soldĀ 22,535 acres in Guernsey, Harrison and Noble counties in Ohio for $284.3 million (seeĀ EVEP/EnerVest Cuts Deal to Sell 22.5K OH Utica Acres for $284M).
On a 3Q13 analyst call earlier this week, EVEP Executive Chairman John Walker said there’s still no new deals to announce and that selling off a big slug of their acreage is “too valuable not to be patient.” Translation: Sit tight, we’re still working on it, but we won’t sell it at fire sale prices. It’s going to take more time. Here’s a transcript of John Walker’s opening comments on the analyst call:
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Belmont County | Carroll County | Economic Impact | Housing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Stark County | Utica Shale
OH Utica Shale Gives Rise to Crop of New Hotels
It seems as if new hotels are springing up all over the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio. The latest announcement: A New York City asset management firm says they’ll spend $5.2 million to build an 83-room hotel in…Carrollton, OH. Where? Exactly. Carrollton isn’t even a city–it’s a village, population 3,200, and it’s in Carroll County–in the middle of nowhere. But Carrollton also happens to be in the middle of one of the hot spots of the Utica Shale. And this hotel isn’t the only new hotel going up in Carrollton! A second hotel is already under construction in Carrollton–for $13.3 million (100 rooms).
Here’s the low-down on the new Carrollton hotel, and several other recently announced hotel projects in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale region:
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MarkWest CEO Frank Semple Talks about 3Q13 Results on Call
Yesterday MarkWest Energy Partners’ Chairman, President and CEO, Frank Semple, held a conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s third quarter results (seeĀ The Marcellus/Utica Games: MarkWest Catching Fire for MarkWest’s 3Q13 update). Semple talked about the company’s financials and about their incredible portfolio of projects underway in the northeast Marcellus and Utica Shale region. Semple talks about what, where and who with respect to their plans for the northeast.
Here’s a transcript of Semple’s remarks from yesterday’s analyst call:
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Cameron County | Endeavour International | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Samson Investment Co
Endeavour Intl & Samson Exploration Form 50/50 Marcellus JV
One of the Marcellus Shale’s smaller drilling/midstream companies is Endeavour International, with 15,800 acres of leased Marcellus acreage according to NaturalGasIntel.com. EndeavourĀ announced yesterday they’ve sold a 50% stake in their Marcellus assets to Samson Exploration, forming a joint venture with Samson. The amount of cash involved in the transaction was undisclosed.
According to the announcement, Endeavour will use the money from Samson to complete three previously drilled Marcellus wells in Cameron County, PA and hook them up to an EQT Corp. gathering pipeline. The wells should be online by the middle of 2014…
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Yesterday West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was flanked by representatives from BrazilianĀ chemical company Odebrecht to announce the company has chosen a site near Parkersburg, WV (third largest city in the state) to be the potential site of an ethane cracker plant complex. The complex will have an ethane cracker,Ā three polyethylene plants and infrastructure for water treatment and energy co-generation. Gov. Tomblin was justifiably proud to make the announcement, calling it a “game changer” for West Virginia. He’s right.
TheĀ Parkersburg News and Sentinel is reporting that WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will make an announcement today that has been years in coming: West Virginia is getting its own “multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker chemical plant” and it will be located in Wood County. If this rumor, which seemingly originates with reliable sources, bears out, this is seriously good news for WV. In fact, we’re jumping up and down happy! For years MDN has been pulling/cheerleading/advocating for WV to get their own cracker–we think they deserve it.