Evolution Intends to “Push the Limits” on E-Fracking with Digital
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.
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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 
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.
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 
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 
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 
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 
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Pieridae Energy’s Goldboro LNG project, located in Nova Scotia (with the potential to export Marcellus/Utica molecules) has been on our radar for years. In August Pieridae hired a senior VP to run the project (see 
Consulting powerhouse Ernst & Young (EY) has just published results from a new survey titled “Oil & Gas Digital Transformation and Workforce Survey.” The survey/study finds “digital transformation” of oil and gas companies is essential to the future of our industry. What, exactly, is “digital transformation”? We’ll tell you.