After Merging 2 Yrs Ago, TechnipFMC Splitting in Two Again
In May 2016, U.S.-based oilfield services company FMC Technologies announced they would merge with their much larger quasi-competitor, France-based Technip, in an all-stock deal to create a new company called TechnipFMC (see FMC Technologies & Technip to Merge, Create $13B Oilfield Giant). FMC had some operations in the Marcellus/Utica, hence the merger had implications for our region. That merger finally happened in May 2017 (see Fat Lady Sings – Technip & FMC Now TechnipFMC). And now, a little over two years after the merger–the combined company has just announced they’ll split again!
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Natural gas bags: Pols scream at the results of their own war on fossil fuels; Rep. Keller gets crash course in education for gas workers; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Feds approve billion dollar conversion of LNG plant on Mississippi coast; NATIONAL: US shale industry credited with driving 10% of US GDP growth; Bullish EIA data unable to stop natural gas price slump; LaFleur exit fuels concern of future FERC slowdown; Seasoned association CEO tapped to head U.S. Chamber Global Energy Institute; Green “Real” Deal? (video).
To his credit (we don’t often heap praise on him), Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf toured a Mariner East 2 pipeline construction site in Chester County near Philadelphia last Thursday, along with some Democrat politicians, and told anti-pipeline residents “NO” to their faces when they asked him to shut down the Mariner East pipeline system. He was polite, but firm, telling them he disagrees with their position of the need to permanently shut down the Mariner pipelines. “Do a better job” with construction and impacts from the project? Sure, according to Wolf. Shut it all down permanently? NO.
Last October NEXUS Pipeline, a $2.6 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that runs from Ohio to Michigan, received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to begin partial operation (see 
Last Wednesday MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources had laid off some 50 employees, with rumors circulating that more layoffs were coming (see 
Can it be possible that the shale industry and anti-shale environmentalists (those who irrationally espouse the end of using all fossil fuels) can actually agree on something? Turns out, we can! The something we agree on is opposition to PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to tax a single industry, shale drilling, $4.5 billion in order to use that money for Big Government programs.
In October 2017, officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells on a single well pad in their municipality (see 
How dumb must you be to not understand that if there’s not enough gas supply, you can’t hook up new customers to the distribution grid? Yet some New York City legislators, 17 of them, are vilifying National Grid, one of NYC’s two main natural gas utilities, because National Grid continues to deny new customers who want gas service to be hooked up. It’s clearly Andrew Cuomo’s fault–he denied permission to build a pipeline to bring new supplies of gas to the region. Yet the legislators close ranks for this putz and blame the company that can’t get those new supplies. Some of these same legislators OPPOSE the pipeline! Yet they want more natgas. What kind of mental gymnastics does that require?
MDN is taking a rare vacation day today, Friday, August 23. We will be back on Monday to catch you up on all the latest news. In the meantime, we’ve updated our Calendar of Events (next post).
Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus, Utica and other Appalachian shales happening from now through the end of this year.
In May, Columbia Gas Transmission was forced to haul the State of Maryland into court over the state’s refusal to grant an easement to drill a tiny 3.5-mile pipeline under the Potomac River (see 
Last September MDN brought you news that six men had been charged with conspiring to illegally alter emission systems on 30+ trucks with heavy-duty diesel engines used to haul water and wastewater to and from Marcellus Shale wells (see 
We should have seen this one coming (but didn’t). Yesterday MDN told you that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) had revoked the right of the Beaver County Conservation District (BCCD) to issue and monitor permits for erosion and sediment control, two permits used in building both pipelines and drill pads (see