EQT “Streamlines” 196 Employees Right Out the Door
Ever wonder how it feels to be “streamlined” (laid off, fired) to help the company’s “bottom line”? We can assure you, it feels lousy. It feels like the end of the world has just happened. The future is now uncertain. Will you have to sell the house? Pull the kids out of school? File for food stamps (something you’ve never had to do)? Those are some of the thoughts that are swirling through the heads of 196 soon-to-be former employees of EQT after the latest round of “streamlining” and “workforce reductions.”
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Well, score a victory for the forces of evil. Sometimes Darth Vader wins–that’s life. Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that PennEast Pipeline cannot use the power of eminent domain to “condemn” (take possession of) land that is owned or otherwise controlled by the State of New Jersey because it violates the Eleventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. According to the judges, the Eleventh Amendment says states have sovereign immunity from such actions.
In July rumors circulated that Energy Transfer is looking to sell its 33% ownership stake in Rover Pipeline, a project they worked so hard to build (see 
EQT contracted two drilling rigs from Orion Drilling in 2014 that later, in 2015 and 2016, experienced trouble–like a 50,000-pound drilling block slamming to the ground kind of trouble. EQT canceled the contract and would no longer use the two rigs. Orion sued claiming breach of contract. A jury decided EQT was in the right by canceling the contract. Orion asked a judge to overturn the jury decision and order a new trial. Yesterday the judge refused, meaning the jury decision stands and Orion now owes EQT $2.8 million to cover EQT’s attorneys’ fees and costs. Ouch, that didn’t go as planned.
Shah Capital, which owns three million shares (about 1.9%) of Gulfport Energy stock, last week sent an open letter to the Gulfport board strongly recommending the company trim next year’s budget by 29% (maybe more) in an effort to generate more cash for investors. Gulfport Energy, one of the biggest drillers in the Ohio Utica Shale (210,000 acres), concentrates its drilling in the Ohio Utica and the Oklahoma SCOOP plays.
On Monday MDN told you that radical anti-fossil fuelers and the City of Oberlin, OH won a minor victory of sorts against the long-completed NEXUS Pipeline project (see 
Sunoco is performing “optimization work” at the Marcus Hook export terminal this month. Marcus Hook is where two (soon to be three) Mariner East Pipelines terminate, hauling NGLs (propane, ethane, butane) from western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio all the way to the Philadelphia area. At Marcus Hook the NGLs get separated and most (not all, but most) get loaded onto ships for export to other countries. Sunoco needs to upgrade a few things to export even more. They’re shutting down Marcus Hook this month, and that’s a (temporary) problem for the main shipper sending NGLs to the facility–Range Resources.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Time between drilling and first production has little effect on oil well production; NATIONAL: Zell, Barrack Equity ready to infuse U.S. upstream ventures; BP launches gas cloud imaging, drones to monitor methane emissions; Trump’s hard sell of American LNG; A giant bet against natural gas is blowing up; If Democrats cared about the environment, they’d talk about China; INTERNATIONAL: U.S. LNG cargo heading for Portugal; Why Russia and Saudi Arabia secretly want the Democrats to beat Trump.
The Pittsburgh Business Times‘ ace report Paul Gough is reporting an exclusive: EQT is getting ready to fire (i.e. layoff) around 200 employees. “Multiple sources” have confirmed the plans to the PBT. Since the company employs around 800 employees, that represents 25% of the entire workforce. This comes on the heels of the company laying off over 100 people earlier this year, when the company was run by a different management team (see 
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According to analysis by S&P Global Platts, new drilling permits for shale wells across Pennsylvania have “plummeted” over the past few months–down 14% in July and down 23% in August from the same months a year ago. But, does comparing two months from this year against last year for the entire state really tell the whole story?
Like it or not, landowners are joined at the hip with the shale drillers who produce the natural gas from their land. When “the price” (which is actually a lot of different prices, depending on geography) of natural gas is high, everyone is in tall cotton. But when the price tanks, as it has over the past few months, every suffers. PA landowners are noticing very thin royalty checks. The big bone of contention is when drillers look to share more of their pain with landowners by claiming post-production deductions.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), which once supported (in court) Sunoco Logistics Partners method of requesting permits for the Marcus Hook facility (near Philadelphia), has just flip flopped and change sides, now siding against Sunoco and the permits the DEP itself issued for the Marcus Hook facility. DEP is now siding with the radical Clean Air Council demanding that all of the work at the Marcus Hook facility be done under a single emissions permit, not separate permits.
Just prior to taking a long Labor Day holiday weekend, MDN brought you news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has overruled New York State to allow the Constitution Pipeline to move forward with construction (see