Energy Transfer Says Mariner East 2X Online by End of 2020
It’s been a loooong road getting the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline system, which includes building two pipelines side-by-side from eastern Ohio across Pennsylvania to the Philadelphia area, done. From what we can tell, ME2 is now done–with the possible exception of a few miles where smaller pipeline is being used until a bigger replacement is done. For all intents, ME2 is done. However, ME2X, a second pipeline being built next to the first, is not yet done. But it’s getting close! According to comments from Energy Transfer (ET) made during a quarterly conference call yesterday, ME2X will be in service by the end of this year, and the entire project will be done-done sometime in 2Q21. Finally!
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Most of the layoffs during this particularly brutal (and historic) downturn in the oil and gas market have taken place in oilfield services companies like Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Sclumberger. But exploration & production companies are not immune. Chevron is laying off workers in their Marcellus/Utica operation because the company is selling all of its Appalachian assets and leaving the region (see 
In February MDN told you about an effort by the radicalized Sierra Club to block a New York landfill from accepting drill cuttings from the Pennsylvania Marcellus (see 
Three weeks ago there were 27 new permits issued in Pennsylvania for shale drilling. Two weeks ago there were only three new PA permits issued. But over the past week, from July 27-31, PA permits issued for drilling new wells jumped to 32! New permits issued in Ohio last week were six, and two new permits were issued in West Virginia.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Ohio State students, faculty testify for, against on-campus natural gas plant; Plugged In Podcast: Kathryn Klaber on regulation in Pennsylvania; NATIONAL: More than 100 coal-fired plants have been replaced or converted to natural gas since 2011; US senators aim to ease pipeline permitting after latest Keystone XL setback; Indicator of oil/gas bankruptcy risk falls by half, contrary to negative ratings outlooks.
We have some significant news coming out of yesterday’s 2Q update from Equitrans about the company’s Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. Equitrans is seriously considering expanding compression along MVP to flow an extra 500 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas along the pipeline after it’s up and running.
Two big pieces of news coming from yesterday’s Range Resources 2Q update: (1) The company is not yet done with asset sales, including active discussions on selling its northeastern Pennsylvania leases/wells in Lycoming County; and (2) drilling costs averaged less than $600 per lateral foot last quarter–the lowest average in the Marcellus/Utica region.
The pipeline business is doing just fine, despite COVID-19. That’s according to Alan Armstrong, CEO of one of the country’s largest pipeline companies–Williams. On a conference call yesterday to discuss the company’s 2Q20 performance, Armstrong said: “[M]any people assume that natural gas demand would be greatly diminished by COVID-19 and a stalled economy. Fortunately, we have not seen that play out at all. In fact, natural gas demand has continued to grow, both broadly across the market and on our systems, in particular.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally got its butt in gear and issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) for an amended request by PennEast Pipeline to break the project into two phases–building the pipeline through Pennsylvania in Phase One, and through New Jersey in Phase Two. FERC was supposed to issue its findings on or by July 10. Finally, after two weeks with no report, no explanation, and no communication, PennEast goosed FERC on July 24 (see 
On August 1, 2019, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) pipeline exploded in Lincoln County, Kentucky–killing one and sending six to the hospital (see 
Range Resources has cut a deal to sell its Haynesville Shale assets (220,000 acres plus the wells they’ve drilled since buying those assets) to Castleton Resources, a privately owned company majority-owned by Tokyo Gas, for $245 million (plus an extra $90 million, maybe, contingent on the price of gas). Range bought those assets in 2016 for $4.4 billion (see 
Yesterday the price of natural gas trading on the NYMEX futures exchange, a price based on the spot price at the Louisana Henry Hub trading point, zoomed up, closing 30 cents higher than the trading day before (up 14%). There does not appear to be a single, specific reason why trading took off like wildfire. Some speculate it rose based on the good news that U.S. LNG exports are once again on the rise. Others say short-term forecasts are now predicting continued hot weather. Whatever the reason, we’ll take it!
New Fortress Energy (NFE), which is building an LNG liquefaction facility in northeastern Pennsylvania and a dock on the Delaware River to export their PA LNG, is expanding rapidly. NFE issued its 2Q20 update yesterday. In reading a transcript of a conference call with analysts, the light bulb went off for MDN. NFE has figured out how to deliver (sell) LNG to just about any market on the planet. It’s pure genius. We’ll explain it below.