Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Oct 16, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA
Bobby Vagt Out as Pres of Heinz Endowments – Fracking Connection?
In August MDN told you about a shake-up taking place at the Heinz Endowments with the firing of “longtime head” of environmental grant making for the Heinz Endowments, Caren Glotfelty (see Heinz Endowments Fires Head of Enviro Grants – Change Coming?). The story is an important one because of the role played by the Heinz Endowments in funding anti-fracking causes. Earlier this year, president of the Heinz Endowments, Bobby Vagt, dared to strike up first a conversation, then a pact, with drillers and a few other brave environmental organizations to found the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (see Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program). Apparently Vagt’s “sell-out” to the drilling industry was the beginning of the end and the enviro-nut long knives came out for him (see Heinz Endowments President Owns $1.2M in Kinder Morgan Stock).In what appears to be a move by one of the Endowments’ board members–one of the Heinz boys, Andre–Vagt announced he is “retiring” from his job as president of the Endowments. Looks like the long knives finally found their mark…
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Can Donald Trump Save Fracking in NY?
While NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues to delay his decision about whether to go up against the nutjobs of his own party–to “man up” and allow fracking, or not–he continues to dream about running for president in 2016. But before he can do that, he has to win re-election as governor of NY next year, in 2014. A shoo-in? A fait accompli? Foregone conclusion? Don’t be so sure. There are a LOT of angry landowners in Upstate NY. And now, there’s Donald Trump.
Rumors are circulating that NY state Republicans are teeing up Trump to run against Cuomo next year, and so far, Trump is not saying “no” to the idea. Could it be that Trump will be the savior of fracking in NY?…
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Unexpected News in Latest BH Rig Counts – 42% Jump in Rigs in…
From time to time MDN takes a look at the Baker Hughes “rig count”–the number of rotary drilling rigs operating in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The “received wisdom” in the drilling industry that is as goes the rig count, so goes production numbers. Used to be if you saw a decrease in the number of rigs in a given geography, maybe 6-12 months later you would see a corresponding decrease in production from that area. No more. Shale drilling has changed all of that. Nowadays the rig counts go down, and production (in PA anyway), doubles! Why? A lot of wells previously drilled are still waiting to be hooked up to pipelines and begin their production. And shale well production is different from conventional well production. The once simple measurement of more rigs/more production (and the reverse) no longer holds completely true.
Rig counts are still, however, a useful metric to track. And sometimes they reveal something surprising, as MDN found out today in reviewing the latest numbers. Rig counts are an indication of where there is an increase (or decrease) in new drilling activity. Landowners eager to have a well drilled on their property can use rig counts to gauge how quickly (or not) that may happen. Supply chain companies that sell services to drillers are also interested in tracking rig counts. So what, exactly, did MDN find that surprised us? The big surprise is where rig counts have recently spiked–significantly. It’s in a Marcellus/Utica state you may not expect…
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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Muskingum County | Ohio | Roads
ATEX Pipeline Ponies Up $572K to Repair Damaged Roads in Muskingum
Under the “ask and ye shall receive” department… Muskingum County was not happy that heavy truck traffic from companies working for Enterprise Products Partners, building the new ATEX Express ethane pipeline through the county, had damaged some of the county’s roadways. So the county asked Enterprise to pony up over $700K to fix the damaged roads.
Enterprise did not pay the amount requested, but they did agree to pay over a half million smakaroos. Not a bad result for just asking…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams
Williams Takes Next Step with Transco Leidy Pipeline Expansion
Williams is hard at work on expanding their Transco Leidy interstate natural gas pipeline–especially in northeast PA around the Scranton area. The “Transco Leidy Southeast Expansion Project” is a massive $610 million project designed to increase the pipeline’s capacity by 525,000 decatherms per day–enough natural gas to serve 2 million homes. The expansion will pipe Marcellus Shale gas to points from New York City to the southeastern U.S. The project includes construction of approximately 30 miles of additional pipe segments, called loops, in PA and NJ, in addition to modifying some existing compressor stations and valve sites.
The Transco Leidy Southeast Expansion is a multi-year project that Williams hopes will be in service by the end of 2015. They recently took the next step in the project with an official filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). An update on the project’s status and what will happen next…
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Spectra Energy’s Algonquin Pipeline Expansion in CT
Spectra Energy wants to bring more of the northeast’s Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to markets in…the northeast! Now there’s a novel idea. In order to do that, Spectra is looking to spend at least $500 million (MDN’s estimate) to expand the pipeline capacity of their existing Algonquin Gas Transmission system. The project calls for 25.6 miles of various segments of existing mainline relay and loop that includes 1.2 miles of new pipeline to be installed beneath the Hudson River using a horizontal directional drill; construction of approximately 18 miles of lateral pipeline relay, loop and expansion; modifications to existing compressor stations in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island; construction of three new meter stations; and modifications to existing meter stations. The upgrades and expansion will increase the pipeline’s capacity by up to 433,000 dekatherms per day.
One of the markets Spectra will take the extra gas to is Connecticut. We get an update on Spectra’s Algonquin project in that state from the Connecticut Post…
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Gas-to-Liquids Trend Picks Up Steam in Northeast
An interesting trend to keep an eye on: gas-to-liquids (or GTL). Gas-to-liquids converts natural gas into other hydrocarbon compounds–like diesel fuel and chemicals used in manufacturing. If the economics are right, GTL may well become an important market for an abundance of very cheap natural gas in the Marcellus/Utica region. In fact, MDN has brought you stories about three such facilities that have been announced in the Marcellus/Utica region (see Chemical Manufacturer to Build Gas-to-Liquids Plant in PA; Altoona Area Getting $200M Marcellus Gas-to-Liquids Plant; and Utica Shale Gas-to-Liquids Plant Planned for Ashtabula, OH).
An article by SNL Financial highlights the fact that GTL is not just a northeastern U.S. trend and not just a national trend, but indeed it is an international trend…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Oct 15, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Bradford County | Chief Oil & Gas | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County
PA’s Top 10 Marcellus Shale Wells – Full Details
Who doesn’t like a Top 10? We have one for you: What are the Top 10 producing Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania? Would it surprise you to learn that 8 of the top 10 wells are found in a single PA county, drilled by the same driller?Here’s the Top 10 PA Marcellus Well List, complete with the name of well, county, driller, estimated earnings per day and estimated royalties paid per day:
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Wirt County Landowner Deal Falls Through, Still Searching
In August, MDN reported that the largest Marcellus landowner group we’re aware of, the Wirt County, WV Landowner group with 241,000 acres, was close to signing a deal (see Wirt County Landowner Group Close to Deal for Huge 241K Acres).
According to the group’s chairman James Lydon, that original deal has fallen through and the group is now back in the hunt for a deal, talking with other drillers…
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Tipping Point: More NatGas Now Produced by Shale than Conventional
According to energy consulting firm PIRA Energy Group, the United States has reached a tipping point: We now produce more natural gas from shale deposits and “tight gas” formations (i.e. “unconventional sources”) than we do from traditional, conventional sources.
In a wide ranging article (below), PIRA and others quoted talk about the tremendous drop in prices for natural gas and gas liquids, the startling turnaround in chemical manufacturing in this country (because of the abundance of cheap natural gas and feedstocks like ethane), and the importance of the Marcellus/Utica in this whole equation. Hint: Nearly 1/3 of the natural gas being produced from shale comes from the Marcellus/Utica…
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Purdue Researchers: Shale Energy Adds $478B Per Year to US Economy
Researchers at Purdue University recently presented the results from two studies analyzing the economics of shale energy and its impact on the U.S. economy (summary embedded below). They discussed their findings at the annual North American joint conference of the United States and International Associations for Energy Economics in Anchorage, Alaska (in July). What did the Purdue researchers find?
Purdue researchers found that shale oil and gas will increase the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States by an average of 3.5% per year through 2035. In raw numbers, that means each and every year shale is adding $478 billion to our economy–a number so large it’s breathtaking. It seems to MDN that shale energy is single-handedly keeping our country out of yet another recession…
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New Trend? Bi-Directional NatGas Pipelines in Marcellus/Utica
A new and interesting trend is beginning to happen in the Marcellus/Utica region: flexible pipelines. No, we don’t mean natural gas pipelines traditionally manufactured from steel are now being manufactured with a new material–we mean the flows of gas moving along pipelines is starting to reverse and flow in the opposite direction, depending on the time of year.
In wintertime the northeast uses more natural gas than can be produced in the Marcellus/Utica alone, and as has been the case for decades, pipelines bring gas supplies into the northeast from other areas of the country. However, with the explosion of production coming from the Marcellus/Utica, at other times of the year the Marcellus/Utica produces more than enough gas, and so some pipelines are starting to upgrade so they can flow the gas in the opposite direction. However, as industry giant Rusty Braziel notes, it ain’t easy to just change directions…
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Marcellus Supply Chain Lessons: Local Drillers & WOM
Do you work for a small or medium-sized business and want to plug in to the Marcellus Shale supply chain? Judy Wojanis, from the Wojanis Hydraulic Supply Co. in the Pittsburgh area, has a few pieces of sage advice…
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Home Rule Case Before OH Supreme Court – Background
In 2004 the Ohio legislature passed a law that gives “sole and exclusive authority to regulate the permitting, location and spacing of oil and gas wells” to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR). However, like Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia, local municipalities have bridled against a law that says locals have no say in where an oil or gas well may be drilled. And like those other Marcellus/Utica states, Ohio municipalities have sued to overturn the law.
In June MDN told you the Ohio Supreme Court has accepted a case that challenges the 2004 Ohio law restricting so-called “home rule” or the right for municipalities to zone oil and gas wells (see Home Rule Case Heads to Ohio Supreme Court). With that case now under active consideration by the OH Supremes, here’s a bit more background…
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In August MDN told you about a shake-up taking place at the Heinz Endowments with the firing of “longtime head” of environmental grant making for the Heinz Endowments, Caren Glotfelty (see 
Who doesn’t like a Top 10? We have one for you: What are the Top 10 producing Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania? Would it surprise you to learn that 8 of the top 10 wells are found in a single PA county, drilled by the same driller?