EQT COO Gary Gould “Resigns” – Company Eliminates Position
After Toby and Derek Rice seized control of EQT following a bruising proxy fight to control the board, Toby was named CEO of the company. Not long after that, Toby went on record to say he wasn’t cleaning house (see Toby Rice, EQT’s New CEO, is NOT Cleaning House re Top Management). And yet, that’s what it looks like from our point of view. In addition to former CEO Rob McNally and company attorney Jonathan Lushko getting the boot, the company’s chief operating officer (COO), and at least one other senior official, have exited.
Read More “EQT COO Gary Gould “Resigns” – Company Eliminates Position”
Chester County, PA District Attorney Tom Hogan has sunk to a new low. We told you back in January Hogan and his highly-paid staff, motivated by politics, were investigating Energy Transfer, their Sunoco Logistics division and anyone/anything to do with ET’s Mariner East pipeline projects, looking for “crimes.” All he found were minor violations by two off-duty PA constables (see 
Could we *finally* see some movement on an NGL (natural gas liquids) storage facility in the Marcellus/Utica? Indeed it seems possible–even likely. Mountaineer NGL Storage is planning to build an NGL storage operation in Monroe County, OH, located just across the river (and border) from West Virginia.
A paid political activist who is not a doctor but works for the so-called Physicians for Social Responsibility (left wing group), told a hearing in Murrysville (Westmoreland County), PA on Wednesday that she could not prove fracking leads to negative health affects on those living near the activity, but in the very next breath she essentially said it does, saying there’s a “strong correlation” between fracking an ill health. Her proof? A list of Big Green-paid for “health studies” (propaganda campaigns).
Anadarko Petroleum, as an independent company, is no more. The company has officially sold itself and is now merged into Occidental Petroleum in a cash, stock and assumption of debt deal worth $55 billion. At one point Chevron had a deal to buy Anadarko, but Anadarko left them at the altar, along with a $1 billion deal abortion payment (see 
We don’t know if you watched any of the most recent round of Democrat presidential debates. We couldn’t hack it personally. But some brave souls did, including Katie Klaber, former (founding) head of the Marcellus Shale Coalition and now head of her own consulting firm. Katie points out Bernie Sanders said the oil and gas industry is willfully destroying and planet and said those of us in the industry are engaging in “criminal activity.” You might just dismiss it as “just crazy Bernie,” he always talks that way. Except other candidates said equally disturbing things about the fossil fuel industry too. Katie says it’s time for candidates to stop vilifying our industry. She’s right.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: NJDEP extends NESE comment period – sign now!; Dimock pigs to rigs lawyers lose control of Dimock client?; Trump reschedules visit to Beaver County; Pipelines are the safest option for Pennsylvania; NATIONAL: The U.S. leads the world in new oil & gas demand; Halcon Resources files for bankruptcy again; Trees to the Rescue! (video).
Yesterday Southwestern Energy, a major Marcellus/Utica driller, released its second quarter 2019 update and talked about the rest of 2019 and beyond. Southwestern total production in 2Q was 186 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe), an 11% increase compared to 2Q18 (excluding the Fayetteville, which Southwestern sold last year to become 100% focused on the M-U). That 186 Bcfe number includes 148 Bcf of gas production, 937,000 barrels of oil production, and 5.5 million barrels of natural gas liquids (NGL) production.
One of the most liberal governors in America, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, continues his campaign to kill the Marcellus Shale by slapping a severance tax on top of an already-high impact tax. He’s now getting a little help from his lib friends at the polling unit at Franklin & Marshall College. When asked a misleading question, a recent poll of 627 PA residents found 69% of them “strongly” or “somewhat” favor Wolf’s Santa Claus promises in his “Restore PA” plan–if it’s funded by a severance tax on Marcellus Shale.
Monday evening the Mariner East 2 pipeline was down for routine maintenance at a pump station in Chester County, PA (near Philadelphia). When workers relit a pilot in a flare used to burn off excess gases, there apparently was some accumulated gas in the flare stack and it ignited, creating a loud boom. Nobody was injured, there was no danger. Yet that incident is now being labeled an “explosion” by anti-fossil fuel activists and their sycophants in the press.
We have a proud tradition in America of vigorous debate and free speech. We have protests. We still, for now, have a free press where we can express our ideas–whether others agree with us or not. But some on the environmental left go too far. They don’t just protest, they break the law. Some even become violent. Take the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, as an example.