Another week of double-digit gains in the Enverus rig count! The US oil and gas rig count jumped 18 to 326 in the week ended Sept. 30, according to a Platts report evaluating Enverus numbers. Last week the rig count was up by 15 (see Enverus Rig Count Breaks 300 First Time in 14 Wks, M-U Steady @ 33). The PA Marcellus picked up one additional rig last week.
Read More “Rig Count Soars Again, Up 18 Rigs Last Week – Marcellus +1”
New York State is sad–and pathetic. Andrew Cuomo, the state’s dictator, along with a compliant Democrat legislature, passed new laws last year that will force the elimination of all fossil fuel energy by 2050. Most New Yorkers don’t yet realize their oil and gas-fired furnaces will be outlawed in the not-to-distant future. They will be forced to use electric heat or heat pumps. It’s totally, completely, insane.
Read More “2 NY Gas-Fired Plants Fight for Survival, Promise Hydrogen Someday”
Evolution Well Services, headquartered in Houston with a regional office in Pittsburgh, specializes in “electric” fracking–using natural gas from the well pad (instead of diesel fuel) to power turbines to create electricity that drives fracking pumps. Evolution fracks for at least one Marcellus/Utica E&P (see Another Marcellus Driller Converts to Electric Fracking). Evolution announced yesterday a “first of its kind digital partnership” with Arundo Analytics to advance the science of hydraulic fracturing.
Read More “Evolution Intends to “Push the Limits” on E-Fracking with Digital”
Competitive Power Ventures’ (CPV) Fairview Energy Center, a 1,050-megawatt natural gas AND ethane-fueled combined-cycle electric generating plant in Cambria County, PA, went online ahead of schedule back in December (see CPV Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in Cambria Goes Online Early). The plant is unique in that it can use both methane AND ethane as a power source–the first and only such plant in the world.
Read More “CPV’s PA Marcellus Gas & Ethane-Fired Power Plant Wins Award”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Dave Spigelmyer: Natural gas bridges the partisan divide; Nathan Lord named president of Shale Crescent USA organization; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cameron LNG facility still offline, Sabine Pass exports resume; NATIONAL: Opportunities in latest oil & gas bankruptcy cycle; Biden transition: No place for lobbyists, fossil fuel execs; INTERNATIONAL: Nord Stream 2 gas ‘fall-back option’ for German energy transition: government official.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Oct 2, 2020”
Yesterday the second day of Shale Insight began with a keynote delivered by West Virginia U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D). He mouthed support for the shale industry in an unremarkable talk. We’re not all that thrilled with Manchin. The American Energy Alliance Report Card says Manchin voted only 67% of the time to support affordable energy and fossil fuels (see House/Senate Energy Scorecard: Who to Vote For/Against PA-OH-WV). The real belle of the ball yesterday was another speaker: Mark Mills.
Read More “Shale Insight 2020 Day #2: Renewable Energy Myth; Unions Love Gas”
A few weeks ago Enbridge began testing its Weymouth, Massachusetts compressor station project, the final piece of the company’s $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project. As sometimes happens when you begin testing, there was a problem. A gasket failure led to an unplanned release of 265 Mcf of gas (see Emergency Shutdown at Weymouth Compressor During Initial Test). It’s happened again. A second “emergency shutdown” occurred yesterday when the plant released (drum roll please….) 10 Mcf of natural gas.
Read More “2nd Emergency Shutdown at Weymouth, MA Compressor, Antis Pounce”
Olympus Energy, the renamed Huntley & Huntley Energy Exploration (HHEX) has a new CEO. The new guy is Tim Dugan, who joined Olympus in January as the company’s COO (see Former CNX COO Tim Dugan Becomes Olympus Energy COO). Tim is replacing Chris Doyle who is staying on the board but leaving the area to become CEO of Primexx Energy Partners, a Dallas-based oil driller.
Read More “Olympus Energy (née Huntley & Huntley Energy Expl.) Gets a New CEO”
In February MDN brought you news about a new half-billion-dollar petrochemical plant that will convert Marcellus Shale gas into feedstock (chemicals) to be used in agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, and transportation, coming in Clinton County, PA (see $500M Marcellus-Fed Petchem Plant Coming to Clinton County, PA). The project has just gotten a step closer to reality with a pair of grants to conduct third party studies.
Read More “Clinton County, PA Petchem Plant One Step Closer with Grants”
In July Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law House Bill (HB) 732, a bill that will grant tax breaks to companies willing to build brand new petrochemical plants in the Keystone State–plants that use huge quantities of Marcellus Shale gas (see Victory Lap! Gov. Wolf Signs Tax Break Bill for New Petchem Plants). HB 732 has become Act 66 in PA’s codes and regulations.
Read More “Newly Passed Act 66 Petchem Bill Lights a Fire for PA Econ Dev”
In July Dominion Energy announced it is throwing in the towel and canceling the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project that would have stretched from West Virginia to North Carolina. The company also announced it is selling its pipeline business to Warren Buffett (see Dominion Cancels Atlantic Coast Pipe, Sells Pipe Biz for $9.7B). Dominion announced yesterday it expects to close on most, but not all, of its pipeline deal with Buffet on Nov. 1.
Read More “Dominion Expects to Close Most (Not All) Buffet Pipe Deal Nov. 1”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Ohio-produced natural gas is essential to economic and environmental progress; West Virginia joins coalition seeking to protect pipeline construction; NATIONAL: Key indicator shows signs of oil market recovery; A ban on drilling misses its mark; Renewables won’t save us if the electric grid is not ready; Stable oil prices may finally bring consolidation to the shale sector.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Oct 1, 2020”
Yesterday kicked off the first day of the three-day Shale Insight conference, 10th annual edition. This year’s event is all-virtual due to the coronavirus. Headliners for the first day included presentations by Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, Vice President for Shell (in charge of the cracker plant) Hilary Mercer, and Secretary of the Dept. of Energy Dan Brouillette. There were a number of other presenters too. We have a summary below.
Read More “Shale Insight 2020 Day #1: Plastics, Politics & Crackers”
Equitrans Midstream, which used to be part of EQT as EQT Midstream, is still EQT’s main squeeze when it comes to gathering pipelines connected to its wells. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced yesterday it has fined Equitrans $427,650 for “slips, stabilization, and erosion and sedimentation violations at pipeline sites in Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.”
Read More “PA DEP Shakes Down Equitrans $428K for Pipe Building Violations”
Last Thursday our friend Joe Barone from Shale Directories hosted the 2020 version of the annual Utica Midstream Conference in Canton, OH. Unfortunately, we could not attend. However, Joe has written up a great summary of what was said. The overriding theme of the day? Optimism for 2021.
Read More “Utica Shale Operators Look Forward to a Better 2021”
An unusual situation for permits to drill new wells for last week. Pennsylvania only had 5 new permits while West Virginia had 12 new permits. It’s typically the other way around. Could this be the beginning of the effects from PA raising the permit fee from $5,000 to $12,500 per well? Maybe! Ohio had no new Utica permits issued last week. Drilling seems to have slowed in the Buckeye State.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Sep 21-25”