Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus, Utica and other Appalachian shales happening in the next 90 or so days. Send your calendar items (listed for free!) to: jim (at) marcellusdrilling.com.
Read More “Calendar of Marcellus/Utica Events Now Thru Sept 2019”
Exactly three years ago, TransCanada Corporation (now renamed TC Energy) completed a deal to buy out and merge in Columbia Pipeline Group for $10 billion (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). Columbia (now TC Energy) owns significant assets in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday TC Energy announced it is selling some of those M-U assets to PA-based utility UGI for $1.275 billion.
Read More “TC Energy Sells Columbia Midstream M-U Assets to UGI for $1.28B”
Yesterday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the court that handles challenges to regulatory agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), refused to toss out a case filed by the City of Oberlin, OH and a regional anti group (with the backing of Big Green lawyer$). The lawsuit challenges FERC’s approval of the NEXUS Pipeline project. Even though NEXUS is built and flowing, and even though Oberlin settled with NEXUS, meaning there is no longer a reason to sue, that doesn’t matter to antis. There’s a larger issue at play, and the D.C. Circuit played right into the hands of Big Green manipulators.
Read More “DC Court Allows NEXUS Case (to Emasculate FERC) to Proceed”
Global warming fundamentalists certainly are a persistent lot. They can’t win elections, and they can’t force state or federal legislatures to pass laws banning pipelines (and shale drilling), so they do the next best thing. They twist our own court system against us in an attempt to block pipelines. Which has worked to some degree, at least in the northeast. The aim is to block all pipelines everywhere, eventually. Even in Texas. One of the ways antis attack the ability to build pipelines is by challenging what they pejoratively call “quick take” eminent domain–the right for a pipeline company to access and build a pipeline on property ahead of actually settling how much money the landowner will receive (in the case of landowners who refuse to negotiate).
Read More “Another Supreme Court “Quick Take” Eminent Domain Case – Using MVP”
Who’s winning the proxy war to control the board of EQT Corporation? According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the ultimate outcome doesn’t much matter, at least for investors. “Investors love a proxy fight,” begins the article. Why? Because the share price for the company’s stock almost always rises during a proxy fight. As for who has more momentum going into next week’s July 10 annual meeting, it’s hard to deny that the Rice brothers have the big mo. The #1 shareholder in EQT, T. Rowe Price (owns 10% of all EQT stock), along with two other “top 10” EQT shareholders, are backing the Rice plan.
Read More “Handicapping the EQT/Rice Proxy Fight – Does it Matter Who Wins?”
Yesterday saw the latest round of shareholder letters from both sides in the proxy war to control the board of EQT Corporation–the largest natural gas producing company in the United States (not to mention they are focused 100% on the Marcellus/Utica). The Rice brothers, Toby and Derek, crowed about the fact the country’s most prominent shareholder advisory service, ISS, has sided with them, along with three of the top 10 EQT shareholders. EQT made the case that current management and the coming “refreshed” board mean that EQT is essentially a new company, and now is not the time to screw it up (our words, their sentiment).
Read More “EQT & Rice Trade Barbs Again, EQT Releases Refreshed Slide Deck”
In May the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a draft report titled “Study of Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management Under the Clean Water Act” (see EPA Draft Study re Disposing Frack Wastewater in Lakes, Rivers). The study examines the possibility of treating oil and gas wastewater and releasing the cleaned-up wastewater into lakes and rivers, instead of injecting it back down holes in the ground. EPA accepted public comments on the draft report until last Monday. The oil and gas industry provided comments last week supporting the plan to recycle and dispose of wastewater on the surface.
Read More “Will EPA Allow Treated Frack Wastewater Disposal in Lakes, Rivers?”
In April President Trump signed and issued an Executive Order (EO) directing the Secretary of Transportation to write a new rule allowing specially constructed tanker cars for railroads to ship LNG, i.e., liquefied natural gas (see Here Come the “Bomb Trains” – Trump to Allow LNG by Rail). The plan makes eminent good sense. Yet liberal Democrats and swamp-dwelling RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) who oppose anything Trump does, are actively opposing this plan. In fact, a Flordia RINO, Rep. Bill Posey, is bragging that with his help the House recently passed an amendment to a budget bill that will specifically disallow LNG tanker cars by rail. Disgusting.
Read More “House Dems & RINOs Vote to Block Trump LNG by Rail Plan”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PA, NY, NJ shortchange Delaware River Basin Commission budget $1.1 million; Dear New Yorkers complaining about no gas; It’s your governor, stupid!!; Gas agreement readies Mahoning County, OH for next shale boom; Analysts say Philadelphia refinery, shut down after fire, unlikely to find a willing buyer; State regulators question Roanoke Gas Co.’s need for new pipeline; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere readies first cargo from Corpus Christi LNG Train 2; Building LNG-powered ships newest industry along U.S./Mexico border; NATIONAL: Lower 48 natural gas injections into underground storage fields have been on a record-setting pace; LNG exports will keep floor under US natural gas prices; INTERNATIONAL: Oil plunges in worst reaction to OPEC since 2014 on demand woes; Is this the beginning of the end for OPEC?; Russia and OPEC draw closer on oil, joining other producers to manage market.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jul 3, 2019”
Two weeks ago at the Northeast Petrochemical Conference in Pittsburgh, a panel of speakers from West Virginia, including former Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette, addressed the topic of Advanced Manufacturing and Petrochemicals related to the shale industry. At the end of the prepared talks, the session was opened to questions from the audience. MDN asked the first question, which was this: “The $83.7 billion question is, what’s going on with the proposed investment in shale and petchem promised by China?”
Read More “WV Still Waiting for First Penny of Chinese $83.7B Investment”
PennEnergy Resources, a Pittsburgh based independent oil and gas company focused on the Marcellus/Utica Shale, is getting ready to drill new wells on a pad in Economy (Beaver County), PA. The plan is facing stiff opposition from local residents because it’s located near a housing development in a residential (albeit rural) area, and will use a local road for access.
Read More “PennEnergy Resources Gets Ready to Drill in Economy, PA”
Another day, another round of press releases from both EQT and the Rice brothers over the future of the company. The two sides are locked in a proxy battle to nominate a majority of board members, who in turn will appoint (or keep) top management for the company. Yesterday’s round of letters was, in essence, a recap of news that broke late last week: One major shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), supports the Rice brothers’ attempt to take over the company, while a second major advisory firm, Glass Lewis & Co., believes existing management is the right answer for EQT’s future.
Read More “Latest Round of Proxy Announcements from Rice Bros., EQT”
Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a $7 billion, 600-mile pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia into North Carolina, is facing an existential threat by leftist environmentalists. The project is stalled waiting on an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, filed last week (see Atlantic Coast Pipe Officially Asks US Supreme Court to Hear Case). If you bother to search through Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filings on the project, you’ll notice a number of protests filed by Big Green groups and their well-organized supporters. What you don’t see nearly as much are letters of support. We have one–a big one.
Read More “6 NC Mayors Send Letter to Feds Supporting Atlantic Coast Pipe”
A recent article on the Forbes website helps crystallize and expose the strategy of a group we call global warming fundamentalists in their religious quest to block fossil fuels by blocking pipelines. That strategy works this way: Mount enough legal challenges to ramp up costs and ultimately convince pipeline builders to walk away from projects. “Ground zero” in pipeline wars right now is, according to the author, two projects: the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Both projects are right here in the Marcellus/Utica.
Read More “Pipeline Delay Tactics Exposed – Strategy to Kill ACP & MVP”
This business of “we must dump the use of fossil fuels and migrate to renewables asap” is not only impractical, it’s lunatic. Yet many adults have bought in to this notion because, we dunno, because they were maleducated in their youth. Radicalized in college. Lied to by the Democrat Party. Take your pick. Just how lunatic is this notion? For the past 100 years the United States has used fossil fuels for 80% *or more* of the energy we use. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. That statistic, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (which tracks these things) says that in 2018 fossil fuel consumption went UP! Not down. We need fossil fuels now more than ever for our energy supplies.
Read More “Fossil Fuels 80% of US Energy Consumption, Have Been for 100 Yrs”
The legal beagles of top energy law firm Babst Calland recently released their ninth annual energy industry report called, “The 2019 Babst Calland Report – The U.S. Oil and Gas Industry: Federal, State and Local Challenges & Opportunities; Legal and Regulatory Perspective for Producers and Midstream Operators.” This latest annual review provides perspective on issues, challenges, opportunities and recent developments in the oil and gas industry that are relevant to producers and midstream operators. In an MDN exclusive, we have the first seven pages of the 92-page report (see below), along with details on how you can request a full copy. Worth the read! Here’s an overview…
Read More “Babst Calland Report: Issues, Challenges, Opportunities in Shale”