A group of Pennsylvania landowners from Lancaster County are begging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case in which they say they’ve been screwed over by Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline.
Read More “PA Landowners Beg US Supreme Court to Hear Atlantic Sunrise Case”
According to new data released this week by our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Pennsylvania accounted for 25% of new clean-burning natural gas electric power generation added last year.
Read More “PA Residents Saving $1K+ per Year Thx to Shale-Fired Electric”
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) with sites in Morgantown, WV and Pittsburgh, PA performs valuable research in shale energy. We’ve highlighted a number of their projects over the years. Here’s another one we just noticed: Using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technology, researchers have found a way to rapidly target shale layers with greater accuracy.
Read More “New Way for Marcellus Frackers to Quickly ID Best Places to Drill”
‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.’ – George Santayana. Here’s a bit of history you may not know: In 1212 thousands of Catholic kids from France and Germany took off to “liberate” Jerusalem from Muslims, part of the Crusades. None made it. They either died along the way or were sold into slavery. Is history repeating itself? A group of kids are today “battling” so-called “climate change” (modern day Crusade), and they’re being used by adults to do so.
Read More “Ignorant Kids Exploited by Adults for Climate Change Lawsuits”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Campbell Town Board approves zoning change for landfill expansion; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Jones Act leaves New England out of LNG boom; NATIONAL: Technology expected to counter productivity declines of low permeability formations; U.S. cuts oil production forecast for the first time in 6 months; U.S. supermajors could form new cartel to rival OPEC; Rystad Energy: Oil majors are preparing for a greener future through shale; Perry calls for a full-strength FERC to boost energy exports; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC to be squeezed by U.S. shale until mid-2020s, IEA says; OPEC threatens U.S. once again – privately warns not to pass NOPEC bill.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Mar 14, 2019”
A West Virginia Circuit Court case in September 2017, Crowder and Wentz v EQT, found in favor of surface landowners ruling that EQT did not have the right to extend underground shale wells to adjacent properties where EQT also owned the mineral rights (see WV Surface Owners Win Important Case Against EQT re Drill Pad). The decision was appealed all the way to the WV Supreme Court, where arguments were heard yesterday. This is a VERY important case.
Read More “WV Supreme Court Ponders Important Case, Surface v Mineral Owners”
Every now and again we traffic in rumors here on MDN, but we do so rarely and only when we trust the source of the rumor. We have such a rumor to share, from a source we trust implicitly. We’ve been carping for over a year that PTT Global Chemical has repeatedly violated our deep well of patience by hinting that a “final investment decision” (FID) is “coming soon” for their $7-$10 billion ethane cracker complex in Belmont County, OH (see Still No Ohio Cracker Announcement, Preparations Continue). We now know why the FID is tardy.
Read More “Rumor: Holdup in PTT OH Cracker Final Decision Due to Labor Rate”
BTU Analytics, according to their website, “provides independent fundamentals-based consulting and analytical subscription reports to the North American oil, NGL, and natural gas markets. Our focus is giving clients answers to complex questions supported by data and backed by analysis of the market from wellhead to burner tip.” BTU recently made a bold prediction. The company predicts Marcellus/Utica natural gas production will (already has) plateau at around 31 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).
Read More “Industry Consultant Predicts M-U Output Ceiling is 31 Bcf/d”
In contrast to a prediction by BTU Analytics that the Marcellus/Utica region has plateaued and likely won’t produce more than 31 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas (see Industry Consultant Predicts M-U Output Ceiling is 31 Bcf/d), the number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (our favorite government agency) have a different view.
Read More “EIA: Texas (Even with Prolific Permian) Needs Marcellus/Utica Gas”
Big Green groups are asking the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a case it recently decided that says when the federal Clean Water Act gives states one year to review requests for 401 water crossing permits, they have one year (365 days)–not two or three years by gaming the system (see Recent Fed Court Decision Gives NY Pipes Hope for Bypassing Cuomo).
Read More “Antis Ask DC Court to Rethink Decision re Water Permit Timing”
The leftists who run states like New York and Massachusetts are arrogant snobs. And pretty stupid to boot. They pretend (maybe even believe) they’re saving the planet by blocking natural gas pipelines into and through their respective states. Like most faulty leftist thinking, they actually make the problem worse–they are harming the planet–with their policies and actions. How? A guest post by attorney Dan Markind (Flaster Greenberg PC) explains.
Read More “NY, New England Blocking Pipes Causes Environmental Destruction”
Would you feel better if a driller building a shale well pad near your home was “green certified”? Meaning the company has been reviewed and certified by an independent agency for evidence that company adheres to strict environmental standards as it drills. Researchers at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs set out to answer that question–and they found public opinion of shale drilling would greatly improve if such a “green certification” were in place.
Read More “Study Says O&G Should Seek 3rd Party “Green” Certification”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Ohio Utica permits go up, Pennsylvania Marcellus permits go down; Hilcorp eyes two new wells in Columbiana County; Is Westchester already experiencing a natural gas shortage?; NY AG refuses to comply with Exxon discovery requests in defiance of judge’s ruling; Encino well pad in Ohio named after deceased college student; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: The world’s biggest shale field is on the brink of an M&A boom; NATIONAL: Look to U.S. for reliable, ‘cleaner’ fossil fuels, says EPA chief; Green New Deal: Money and Jobs (video); The rise of U.S. feedgas demand in 2019; Pompeo says energy abundance can mean national security; CEOs call for investments to grow shale in North America; Court: Directional drilling engineers can be independent contractors; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC Secretary General Barkindo wants to find the secret behind US shale’s success.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Mar 13, 2019”
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) issued fourth quarter 2018 numbers for Utica shale oil and gas production yesterday, and wow! Both natural gas and oil production rocketed upward. Natgas production was up 32% over the same period last year, to a new all-time high of 663.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf), and oil production hit 5.8 million barrels, up 39% over last year’s 4Q.
Read More “Ohio Utica O&G Production Rockets in 4Q18 – Top 25 Wells”
Diversified Gas & Oil has been on a mission to buy as many non-shale (conventional) oil and gas wells as it can in the Appalachian Basin. It owns over millions of acres and tens of thousands of wells–many of them located in Pennsylvania. Last fall the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) told Diversified it wants 1,000 of its nonproducing wells plugged in the next five years. Diversified countered it would like to plug 2,000 wells, but over the next 20 years. They ended up compromising.
Read More “DEP and Diversified Gas & Oil Compromise on Plugging Old PA Wells”
West Virginia has the right idea. Their legislature meets for 60 days total at the beginning of each new year, and then they’re pretty much done for the year. Go to Charleston, work hard, then leave and go back to your day job. Part-time legislators. Love it! The 2019 session is now done and dusted. In the closing days of the session, two bills to help the oil and gas industry got passed and now wait for Gov. Jim Justice to sign them. However, one very important bill for the industry did not pass.
Read More “WV Legislative Session Closes w/Several Pro-Drilling Bills Passed”