Antero Resources, one of the biggest (and best) Marcellus/Utica pure play drillers, is slicing another $150 million off its previously announced drilling budget, now reset at $1 billion for 2020. The news came via an investor presentation given at the Scotia Howard Weil energy conference on Tuesday.
Read More “Antero Resources Trims Another $150M Off 2020 Capex Budget”
In February Montage Resources said in 2020 it will increase production approximately 6% over 2019 while slicing its capital expenditure budget by 44%, to $190-$210 million for the year (see Montage Resources 2020 Sneak Preview: More OH Marcellus Drilling). That was BC, before coronavirus. It’s now AD, after (oil price) disaster, and the company has just announced it will decrease capex spending by another $45 million. To be fair, the company does not specifically blame either the coronavirus or the oil price shock for its actions. In a statement, the company says it continues to “monitor market conditions” and adjust accordingly. However, there is a big change in drilling strategy coming…
Read More “Montage Resources Trims Another $45M Off 2020 Capex Budget”
This is truly disappointing. A few weeks ago we told you that Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled a long-running lawsuit involving Grant Township (Indiana County, PA) will continue on through the court system (see Grant Lawsuit Using ERA Threatens PA Injection Wells & Fracking). Grant, a town that passed an ordinance cooked up by the extreme radical Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well, is attempting to use the state’s so-called Environmental Rights Act to justify its illegal ordinance. The court gave its blessing to that effort. And because the court is sending the signal it’s OK to invoke the ERA to justify just about anything, the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is now going along by revoking a permit issued to Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) to build an injection well in Grant.
Read More “PA DEP Caves to Radicals, Revokes PGE Injection Well Permit”
Diversified Gas & Oil owns close to 8 million acres of leases with some 60,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. Their focus has been to acquire quality production and cash flow–regardless of the well or commodity type (gas or oil)–in the Appalachian Basin. They currently have over 400 Marcellus/Utica shale wells in their portfolio too. When a gas or oil well quits producing, it needs to be plugged. We were aware of deals Diversified has cut with both Pennsylvania and West Virginia to plug old, non-producing wells (see DEP and Diversified Gas & Oil Compromise on Plugging Old PA Wells and Diversified Deal in WV to Plug 730 Abandoned Wells Over 15 Years). It turns out Diversified also has a deal in place with Ohio to plug old wells, a deal that was recently modified.
Read More “Diversified Agrees to Plug an Extra 2 Wells per Year in Ohio”
We’ve been following the story of whether or not work on the Mariner East 2 pipeline project in Pennsylvania can continue during the current lockdown and order issued by Gov. Tom Wolf to cease all “non-life-sustaining” activity, including construction work on pipelines not yet in service (see Some Mariner East 2 Construction Resumes During Lockdown). Is you is or is you ain’t still building it? It seems *some* ME2 work continues–work to tidy up existing construction sites. However, there are other new pipeline construction projects that serve the Marcellus/Utica being built–both in PA and elsewhere. What about those projects? Are they all shut down? As it turns out, the answer is NO. Some pipeline project work continues even during the coronavirus crisis. Here’s a rundown…
Read More “Some, Not All M-U Pipeline Projects, Affected by COVID-19 Virus”
What a change just a few weeks (and a pandemic and oil price crash) can bring! One month ago MDN brought you the sobering news that the stock prices for most Marcellus/Utica companies had sunk to new lows (see Marcellus/Utica Drillers’ Stock Prices Near/At Historic Lows). The prospects for M-U companies, as far as investors were concerned, were bleak. Oil drillers in other plays like the Permian and Bakken were pumping like crazy producing a lot of associated gas along with oil from those wells, flooding the market with an excess of gas. One month later and the picture has completely changed. M-U company stocks (some of them anyway) are rising again. EQT’s share price is up 50% in the last 30 days!
Read More “Investors Return to ‘Safety’ by Investing in M-U Gas Companies”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Chevron – which is leaving the region – donates $260K to food banks, first responders; Shell’s workforce, construction drastically cut at Beaver County site; Dominion Energy will hold virtual annual meeting in 2020; NATIONAL: Democratic National Committee embraces green new deal; When and how will oil prices recover?; Economic crisis is no reason to push bad policy on the oil sector; INTERNATIONAL: Oil below $20 will wipe over 10% off many exporting countries’ GDP.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Mar 26, 2020”
Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 1100, aimed at attracting new petrochemical investment to the state, was passed by the PA House and Senate earlier this year. The bill provides a tax incentive for companies to build NEW plants in the state that use Marcellus methane gas. HB 1100 was finally delivered to the desk of Gov. Tom Wolf last week (see PA Petchem Bill Delivered to Gov. Wolf – Will He Sign It?). Wolf previously stated (for whatever strange reason) he would veto the bill. Republicans, Democrats, businesses, and labor unions have all pressured Wolf to reconsider and sign the measure into law. Now comes a bit more pressure.
Read More “New Study Says Petchem Tax Credit Bill Would “Transform” PA”
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 went online using Marcellus gas (methane). However, the plant is designed to mix ethane in with methane and burn the mix. CPV announced yesterday tests for blending in ethane are now complete and the plant is operating at a 75/25 ratio of methane to ethane. According to CPV, Fairview Energy Center is “the first and only facility of its scale in the world to possess high content ethane blending with natural gas capabilities.”
Read More “‘First of Its Kind’ Methane/Ethane PA Power Plant Now Online”
The confusion over whether or not the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project has (a) shut down all construction, except certain tidying up aspects at certain locations, or (b) has permission by the state to keep on building, is still not 100% settled. On Monday we told you that ME2 construction was in the process of ceasing under orders issued by Gov. Wolf (see Mariner East 2 Pipeline Construction Shuts Down re COVID-19). However, the PA Dept. of Community and Economic Development granted a waiver to ME2 for certain activities.
3/27/20 UPDATE: As we suspected and have now confirmed with an unnamed (but highly reliable) source, the ME2 sites issued waivers to continue construction on Wednesday, March 25th were areas deemed necessary to continue work in order to protect the environment or the public. While there are numerous “sites” where activity has resumed, it represents less than 20% of total project sites. For example, places where there were open cut ditches or partially complete HDDs (underground horizontal directional drilling), the company requested and was approved waivers to restart construction–after an extensive review by the Wolf Administration.
Read More “Some Mariner East 2 Construction Resumes During Lockdown”
The Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA), a non-profit representing people and businesses who work in the energy infrastructure supply chain, filed an “amicus curiae” (friend of the court) brief in support of PennEast Pipeline’s request to get the U.S. Supreme Court. PennEast has asked the Supremes to overturn a lower court decision that allows states like New Jersey to usurp federal authority by blocking PennEast, a FERC-approved pipeline.
Read More “EEIA Files Brief with U.S. Supreme Court Supporting PennEast Case”
If there’s a silver lining in this tragic COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, this may be it: Radicals who want to deny everyone the right to use fossil fuels with their unending campaigns of protests and legal actions are pretty much stopped in their tracks. They can no longer make mischief to block pipelines and shale drilling and the use of natural gas by ordinary citizens (via municipal bans). The virus has stopped most court cases, public hearings, and even the right to assemble and protest. Antis are apoplectic and scared that pipeline and drilling projects will get approved and move forward because antis can’t bully public officials and courts into bending to their twisted anti-fossil fuel views.
Read More “COVID-19 Crisis Slams the Brakes on Anti-Fossil Fuel Shenanigans”
OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a pact of colluding oil-producing companies that act to artificially lower or raise the price of oil around the world based on how much the colluders are willing to pump. OPEC is the antithesis of free trade. But it does serve a purpose that (unfortunately) all oil drillers, including U.S. drillers, depend on–keeping prices high enough to be profitable. OPEC added Russia in a loose confederation for the past three years or so, something referred to as OPEC+. But then Russia recently told Saudi Arabia, the main OPEC player, to kiss off and left the OPEC+ fold, preferring to pump as much oil as they can. Saudi Arabia responded by increasing its production too, to drive prices into the basement, causing Russia (and U.S. shale drillers) pain.
Read More “U.S. Explores Luring Saudis Away from OPEC into New Oil Alliance”
A week ago we brought you the story that predicted the price of oil would go from the $30/barrel range down to the $20/barrel range–something almost unthinkable. And then it happened within a few days! Now we’re reading of warnings from Barclays, one of the biggest banks in the world, that the price of oil may go as low as (GASP) $10/barrel. At that price, there’s maybe one producer in the world that can still make at least some money–Saudi Arabia. Everyone else would be upside down and heading for bankruptcy court.
Read More “Barclays Warns Oil Price Could Sink to $10/Barrel”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pennsylvania’s oil & gas industry is classified as a “life-sustaining business”; Pennsylvania’s gas region is still open for business, thank you!; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Coronavirus ravages U.S. energy capital; Texas business leaders chafe at coronavirus lockdowns: ‘We’ve got to figure out how to live with this thing’; NATIONAL: Brace for bigger shale crash than five years ago, oilfield giants warn; Amid oil price crash, natural gas is also under attack; In concession to Icahn, Oxy taps former chief Chazen as chair; COVID-19 demonstrates the importance of plastics; Six pipeline companies cut $1.9 billion from their 2020 budgets; INTERNATIONAL: European natural gas storage inventories are at record-high levels at the end of winter.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Mar 25, 2020”
Midstream (pipeline) giant Williams issued a press release last Friday to say they’ve just swallowed a poison pill. They don’t put it in those exact terms, but that’s what it’s called. The company’s board has adopted a “limited duration stockholder rights agreement.” Why? To fend off potential hostile takeover attempts from those who would buy up a significant number of shares of stock while the company’s share price is down due to the worldwide stock market crash over COVID-19 coronavirus concerns. Williams is not for sale and the company is certainly not to be found on the discount rack.
Read More “Williams Swallows Poison Pill to Prevent Company Takeover”