OTHER U.S. REGIONS: ‘Forced march’ to heat pumps is bad policy; Sempra to open Houston office to support LNG business; NATIONAL: Low U.S. natural gas prices lock in more demand; The key distinction between U.S. energy independence and energy security; United States holds competitive advantage in natural gas industry.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jan 8, 2020”
Yesterday Range Resources issued its 2020 budget plan, which calls for spending $520 million to drill mainly in Range’s Marcellus assets. That figure is down from the $728 million Range spent in 2019 (a 29% decrease). What about production? Will that drop in 2020 too?
Read More “Range Releases 2020 Budget: Spending 29% Less, Focus on Marcellus”
In a lawsuit filed last week, three couples who own land along the route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in Virginia, who don’t want the pipeline crossing their land, are trying to overturn federal approval of MVP by emasculating the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This is not the first time someone has tried to emasculate FERC using MVP.
Read More “Virginia Landowners Sue to Emasculate FERC in Bid to Block MVP”
On Jan. 15 the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environment Protection’s (DEP) Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board will meet to hear a presentation on a draft Horizontal Drilling Pipeline Construction Guidance and stakeholder report. The so-called guidance is the first step in adopting new regulations (i.e. laws) to govern underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for pipeline projects.
Read More “PA DEP Proposes New Horizontal Pipeline Drilling Regulations”
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). They currently have over 400 M-U shale wells in their portfolio. In November Diversified closed on a deal to raise money via securitization–meaning to issue securities (“notes”) based on the value of their gas wells (see Diversified Gas & Oil Securitizes Appalachian Wells to Raise $200M). Turns out Diversified is a trail blazer in using wells as collateral.
Read More “Diversified Gas & Oil Blazes Trail Using Wells as Collateral”
Last week the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) announced it has selected 16 projects to receive nearly $25 million in federal funding for cost-shared projects to advance natural gas infrastructure technology development. DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy will provide federal funding for these projects. Two of the 16 are located in West Virginia and will receive a cumulative $4.5 million of the $25 million (18% of the total).
Read More “DOE Awards $25M to Improve Natural Gas Ops, $4.5M Going to WV”
In September Longview Power filed an application with the West Virginia Public Service Commission to build and operate a Marcellus gas-fired electric generating facility in Monongalia County, WV, near Maidsville (see 1200 MW Gas-Fired Power Plant Files to Build in Mon County, WV). The Longview Power Clean Energy Center will include a 1,200 megawatt combined cycle power plant AND a 70 megawatt solar farm–both built next to Longview’s existing state-of-the-art 710 megawatt coal-fired power plant. A real “all of the above” type of facility. The nutters at the Sierra Club want to stop it all.
Read More “Sierra Club Radicals Oppose Clean NatGas Power in Morgantown, WV”
Once upon a time conventional wisdom said if the price of natural gas or oil rose, the rig count would also rise and consequently more production would be the end result. The reverse was also true: falling prices equal fewer rigs and less production. But that conventional wisdom has been turned upside down with the shale revolution.
Read More “Do Falling Rig Counts Equal Falling Production? Not Necessarily!”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Garth Everett isn’t running after finishing out 7th term; ODNR issues 2 permits for Utica Shale drilling; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Summit Midstream Partners relocating corporate headquarters to downtown Houston, Texas; The 2020 outlook for Permian oil and gas markets; NATIONAL: Energy commodity prices rose more than other goods in 2019; Hard as it is, frackers should ignore Iran; Oil and gas group launches campaign to advertise itself as combating climate change; U.S. LNG exports soar in 2019 but supply glut may await in 2020; Natural gas looks awful now that it’s 2020.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Jan 7, 2020”
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just issued the largest single fine to any single company in its history–$30.6 million assessed on Energy Transfer for the explosion of the Revolution Pipeline–a gathering pipeline located in southwestern PA. The fine, along with new plans and assurances by ET, means the company can finally, some 17 months after the explosion, fix the damaged pipeline and return it to service.
Read More “ET Allowed to Fix/Restart Revolution Pipe…After Record $30M Fine”
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) recent settlement with Energy Transfer (ET) concerning the Revolution Pipeline explosion in southwestern PA also has significant impact on southeastern PA. How? The signed consent order in which ET pays the state $30.6 million lifts a moratorium on granting new permits to ET for *any* of its pipeline projects in PA for the past one year–including permits to complete the Mariner East (ME) projects. With the consent order comes a lifting of that permit moratorium, meaning the final bits of ME can now be completed.
Read More “PA DEP Clears Way for ET to Complete Mariner East Pipelines”
Snyder Brothers, headquartered in PA, used to drill mostly conventional (vertical only) wells in PA. However, these days the company drills horizontal shale wells in the Marcellus in southwestern PA. Just coming to light now is a lease Synder Brothers signed with the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) in 2019 to pay DCNR $1.2 million to lease land under the Allegheny River in Armstrong County.
Read More “Snyder Bros Pays $1.2M to Drill Under Allegheny River in W PA”
MDN previously reported in mid-December the very first load of Marcellus molecules liquefied at the Elba Island, Georgia LNG export facility was loaded onto a ship and headed to Pakistan (see Elba Island Finally Exported First Marcellus LNG Cargo on Friday). Elba Island is a series of 10 small liquefaction units, and December’s cargo was from one (maybe two) of those units. What’s happened since that time?
Read More “KM’s Elba Island LNG Makes Rapid Progress, Units 1-4 Now Online”
Columbia Gas of Ohio (NiSource) recently announced a new $135 million pipeline project to bring new supplies of Utica-sourced natural gas to homes and businesses located north and west of Columbus, in central Ohio (see Columbia Gas Plans New NatGas Pipeline in Central Ohio). The project, called the Northern Loop Project, includes a 4.78-mile pipeline segment in Union County, called the Marysville Connector. County officials oppose the plan–because (they say), it’s not long enough!
Read More “County Says Proposed Columbia Gas Central OH Pipe Not Long Enough”
EQT has just lured CONSOL Energy’s chief financial officer (CFO) away and hired him–for BIG money. Big in our book anyway. David Khani was paid a signing bonus of $2 million and will get an annual base salary of $540,000 per year. Plus bonuses. Who says bean counters don’t make big money? Oh! And Khani has a connection to MDN’s home town too.
Read More “EQT Pays Big Money to Hire Former CONSOL Exec as CFO”
This is a slightly older story (from December), but an important story that deserves your attention. Last October Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf went completely off his rocker with a power-grab to force PA into a regional alliance to tax natural gas-fired electric plants out of existence (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO Destroying Gas-Fired Elec, Carbon Tax). Republicans controlling both the PA House and Senate have pledged to stop him (see PA House & Senate Republicans to Stop Wolf’s Insane Carbon Tax). Republicans now have an important new ally in their effort to stop Wolf–some 130,000 trade union members.
Read More “130,000 PA Union Members Join Fight Against Wolf’s Carbon Tax”