CNX Resources has applied for permits to drill up to seven new Utica shale gas wells on a single pad in Washington Township on the grounds of the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County. The reason it’s raising a few eyebrows is that the new pad is in the general vicinity of the company’s faulty Shaw 1G well.
Read More “CNX Files Permits to Drill 7 New Utica Wells in Westmoreland Co.”
Last week Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a racketeering lawsuit against FirstEnergy, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, and four of Householder’s associates, all related to an alleged $60 million bribery scandal in passing the hugely unpopular House Bill 6 (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). HB 6 gives Energy Harbor, a FirstEnergy subsidiary, $150 million per year for seven years ($1.1 billion) in ratepayer funds to prop up the company’s uneconomic nuclear power plants.
Read More “Ohio AG Files Charges Against FirstEnergy in Nuke Bribery Case”
Last Friday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a “settlement” (with no admission of guilt) with MarkWest Energy, with MarkWest paying a $150,000 fine for failure to monitor for air emissions leaks at its Liberty Bluestone facility in Butler County, PA.
Read More “MarkWest Pays Fed EPA $150K for Clean Air Act Violations in SWPA”
Last week the extremely unpopular Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Wolf, vetoed a bill that would have given all citizens in the Keystone State, via their elected representatives in the state legislature, a say in whether or not the state should join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI is a huge new $2.4 billion tax on coal and gas-fired power plants that will drive up the cost of electricity dramatically across the state.
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Vetoes Bill Giving Citizens Say in Carbon Tax Scheme”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: POGLA Wyoming County meeting tonight – Sept. 28; Under President Trump, America is energy independent; Ohio farmers need natural gas now and in the future; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere Energy made big financial moves in September; Gavin Newsom’s energy hubris relates directly to “peak oil” predictions; NATIONAL: Devon Energy, WPX in talks to merge; Natural gas will rule the us energy market for decades; AEA supports U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett; Q&A with Harold Hamm on prices, politics, swing producers; INTERNATIONAL: Oil heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Russia look ready for a showdown.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Sep 28, 2020”
Two days ago MDN brought you news that natural gas prices in the Marcellus/Utica region are about to get really ugly, at least for the next couple of months (see Ugly Gas Prices Coming to M-U – Demand Falls More than Production). We now have the other side of the coin to share. M-U producers are shutting-in gas production like crazy. Last week M-U gas flows went down a huge 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d)–from 32 to 30 Bcf/d.
Read More “PA & OH Natural Gas Production Nosedived Last Week, Down 2 Bcf/d”
Last week Enbridge asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to bring its Weymouth, Massachusetts compressor station online by Oct. 1 (see Enbridge Asks FERC to Start Up Weymouth Compressor in 2 Weeks). Yesterday, FERC gave Enbridge the green light to start ‘er up!
Read More “FERC Gives Green Light to Startup Weymouth, MA Compressor Station”
Unrepentant. That’s the best single word we can think of describing the attitude of “leaders” in Grant Township (Indiana County, PA) who illegally passed their own set of environmental laws, violating the PA state constitution, in a bid to prevent a safe saltwater injection well from being built in a rural location in the town. Grant continues to use radicalized lawyers in their lawbreaking bid to prevent the well.
Read More “Grant Twp, PA Files to Dismiss Lawsuit re Injection Well Ban”
In September 2018, MDN brought you the news that six men had been charged with conspiring to illegally alter emissions systems on 30+ trucks with heavy-duty diesel engines, trucks used to haul water and wastewater to and from Marcellus Shale wells (see 6 Charged with Bypassing Emissions Controls on Marcellus Trucks). All six eventually pleaded guilty (see Man Pleads Guilty to Bypassing Emissions Controls on Marc. Trucks). The company involved, Rockwater, has now pleaded guilty and will pay a $2 million fine.
Read More “Co. Fined $2M for Bypassing Emissions Controls on Marcellus Trucks”
Once upon a time, FTS International was the largest private (not publicly traded stock) well completion (fracking) company in North America. In 2017 the company went public (see Fracker FTS International Gets Ready to Launch IPO). Earlier this week the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, under a prearranged plan with its creditors.
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Fracker FTS Intl Files for Ch. 11 Bankruptcy”
Time for our weekly check of the rig count. We like to check the Enverus count because we believe it’s more accurate than the Baker Hughes count. According to S&P’s analysis, the Enverus rig count climbed by a big 15 for the week ending Sept. 23 to hit a nine-week high of 308 active rigs. That’s the biggest one-week gain since the current price war/coronavirus downturn.
Read More “Enverus Rig Count Breaks 300 First Time in 14 Wks, M-U Steady @ 33”
Now you know what Joe Biden really thinks about fracking and whether or not he plans to ban it. Up until Monday of this week, the Biden campaign toyed with the Marcellus Shale Coalition, negotiating to have Biden present to virtual attendees of MSC’s annual Shale Insight event. Then on Monday the Biden campaign pulled the plug and said NO. Must be threats from the radicals convinced Uncle Joe’s handlers to finally openly admit their bias against fossil fuels.
Read More “Biden Turns Down Invitation to Speak Virtually at Shale Insight”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Marcellus Shale gas benefits touted by panelists; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Blackstone completes $7 billion Cheniere partnership stake sale; Natural gas company to provide $10M in grants to nonprofits; The crown jewel of the shale patch braces for a Biden ban; California assemblyman says state’s push for electric vehicles fuels ‘environmental racism’; NATIONAL: US LNG export activity recovers after storm moves away from Gulf Coast; INTERNATIONAL: China lies and pursues coal strategy as naive enviros buy the hype; ConocoPhillips sees global oil demand returning, executive says; Are small scale plants the future for LNG?; Greta Thunberg and youth climate protests make a return.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Sep 25, 2020”
Earlier this week we brought you a post exploring whether or not PTT Global Chemical will, in the end, actually build a $10 billion ethane cracker plant in Belmont County, Ohio (see Is PTT Going to Build a Cracker in Belmont County, OH…or Not?). Yesterday gave us one more strong signal for the “yes they will build it” column.
Read More “Range Signs Deal to be Main Ethane Supplier for PTT Ohio Cracker”
On Tuesday Equitrans Midstream sent the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) an official letter (called a filing) politely requesting FERC get off its collective rear end and grant permission to resume construction activities for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) so they can complete certain kinds of work before winter sets in. Equitrans requested an order allowing work to resume no later than…tomorrow!
Read More “Equitrans Asks FERC to Allow MVP Construction Restart This Week”
S&P Global analysts have been looking at natural gas production numbers for Pennsylvania. The most recently available data is from June (numbers are always delayed a few months). S&P found that shale gas production in PA dropped 2% in June from May, to 18.48 Bcf/d. June’s numbers were essentially flat to the same time in 2019.
Read More “Grab the Paddles! PA Shale Gas Production Flatlined in June”