When people communicate, that’s a good thing. When a shale well “communicates” with nearby conventional wells, that’s a bad thing. And that’s what happened with a CNX Resources Utica well being fracked in Westmoreland County last week.
Read More “CNX Hits Major Problem Fracking Utica Well Near SWPA Reservoir”
A huge crack of sunshine has just shown through the court system with respect to pipeline projects. A case decided on Jan. 25 in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals which technically has nothing to do with either the Williams Constitution Pipeline project nor the National Fuel Gas Company Northern Access Pipeline project (both being blocked by New York State), may be the one court decision to break open the logjam and allow both projects to begin construction.
Read More “Recent Fed Court Decision Gives NY Pipes Hope for Bypassing Cuomo”
Speaking of National Fuel Gas Company’s Northern Access Pipeline project, NFG asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last November to extend the project timeline by an extra three years, to give them more time to fight with Cuomo in court and actually get the pipeline built once lawsuits from the state are exhausted (see NFG Asks FERC for Extra 3 Yrs to Build Northern Access Pipe in NY). Last Thursday FERC granted that request.
Read More “Northern Access Pipe Gets 3-Year Extension to Build in NY”
Last week National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Western New York State (operates drilling subsidiary Seneca Resources and pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline), issued its first quarter 2019–everyone else’s fourth quarter 2018–update. Via Seneca Resources, NFG drills wells in northcentral and northwestern PA. Via Empire Pipeline, they build and maintain hundreds of miles of pipelines.
Read More “NFG Qtly Update: PA Production Up 28%, 7 New Utica Wells Online”
In November, Dominion Energy said that their 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) would be delayed, with a partial startup in 2019 and full startup for everything else in mid-2020 (see Dominion Energy 3Q18: Atlantic Coast Pipeline Delayed to 2020). The company also said the price tag had gone up from $6.5 to $7 billion. Strike all that. Last week Dominion said the startup will now be even later, and the cost even more.
Read More “Dominion Delays Atlantic Coast Pipeline Again – 2018 Update”
The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry (PA Chamber) recently filed a brief in Commonwealth Court opposing THE Delaware Riverkeeper in a case that still has us angry and baffled. The case brought by Riverkeeper is clear across the state, hundreds of miles from the Delaware River Basin where Riverkeeper supposedly operates, and attempts to force a local municipality to adopt zoning ordinances it doesn’t want to adopt. And it involves Martians.
Read More “PA Chamber Files Brief in Martian School Court Case”
Last week a pipeline at a single Michigan compressor station caught fire and exploded (see Michigan NatGas Compressor Station Catches Fire, Explodes). That single compressor (single point of failure, as it turns out) is responsible for pumping natgas to two-thirds of Michigan residents, including all those big automobile assembly plants Michigan is famous for.
Read More “MI NatGas Compressor Stn Fire Leads to GM, Ford Plant Closures”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: CNX scales back production growth and the market panics; Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf to unveil budget with familiar call for a tax on natural gas drillers, but with a twist; Chevron reports fourth quarter net income of $3.7 billion, annual earnings of $14.8 billion; Despite missing big fish, WV benefits from gas boom; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: King County Council approves 6-month moratorium on major fossil-fuel facilities; Bill seeks to curb flaring by charging taxes, royalties; NATIONAL: Brainwashing kids to take action on climate change; Shell buys charging company Greenlots as oil majors prep for rise of EVs; Green New Deal would be a giant leap on the road to serfdom; US midcon propane discounted to Gulf despite freeze; U.S. natural gas prices plummet, defy ‘polar vortex 2019’; Structural shifts propel U.S. gas demand; INTERNATIONAL: Breakneck LNG demand surge in China is history.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Feb 4, 2019”
The latest edition of the MDN Weekly Digest is now ready. The digest is the meat and “essence” of each story for all posts appearing on the MDN website during the past week, collected in a single PDF document capable of being downloaded and printed. The Weekly Digest is available to paying subscribers only as part of your monthly or annual subscription to MDN.
Read More “MDN Weekly Digest – Feb 2, 2019”
Yes, we told you so. We told you that if our friends in PA were to unwisely reelect Tom Wolf for a second (and thankfully final) term as governor, he would continue to fight for a Marcellus-killing severance tax each and every year of his ignominious second term. Democrats (and some Republicans) just can’t keep their hands off other people’s money–it’s in their DNA.
Read More “PA Gov. Wolf Launches Severance Tax Fight 5th Year in a Row”
How the voters of northeast Pennsylvania who support shale energy continue to reelect Gene Yaw as their State Senator is beyond us. He’s proven in the past that he will fold like a cheap suit on the issue of a severance tax. He did so once again yesterday, implying he supports Democrat Gov. Wolf’s latest effort to tax the shale industry into oblivion.
Read More “PA Sen. Gene Yaw, in Heart of Marcellus, Supports Severance Tax”
In November the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to hear a case, Briggs v. Southwestern Energy, that is hands-down the most important court case to ever happen regarding the Marcellus Shale in PA. And no, we’re not exaggerating. A blizzard of briefs by Southwestern and those supporting Southwestern were filed earlier this week.
Read More ““Rule of Capture” Briefs Filed w/PA Supreme Court in Briggs Case”
The Utica Shale is beginning to get noticed in southwestern Pennsylvania. The rise of the Utica can be traced back to a single well drilled by CNX Resources in 2015.
Read More “The Rise of the Utica…in Southwest Pennsylvania!”
Yesterday CNX Resources, a Marcellus/Utica driller headquartered in Pittsburgh and concentrating on southwest PA, issued its fourth quarter and full year 2018 update, along with looking-ahead guidance for 2019. Like other M-U drillers we’ve recently chronicled, CNX is scaling back its budget for 2019–by 5-10%. But even spending less, the company says it will produce about 5% more gas in 2019.
Read More “CNX Resources: Scaling Back in 2019, Still Loves the Utica”
Tallgrass Energy, builder and operator of the mighty Rockies Express (REX) pipeline which is a critical link that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to Midwestern markets, dropped a bombshell announcement yesterday. The company said that investment firm Blackstone is buying a “controlling” interest in the company. Which raises the question, will Blackstone indeed “control” the company?
Read More “Blackstone Buys Controlling Interest in Tallgrass Energy”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently published its Annual Energy Outlook for 2019. Among the numbers EIA released are predictions about how much natural gas liquids (NGLs) the U.S. will produce between 2018 and 2050. EIA says production will go up 32% over that period, to 5.8 million barrels per day (b/d). Guess where most of that increase will come?
Read More “EIA Says NGL Production Will Grow Massively in Marcellus/Utica”