Although Big Coal tried its best to prevent a single new gas-fired electric plant from getting built in West Virginia–indeed delaying several projects for years–we’re happy to report the first such project, in Brooke County, finally has ALL of its necessary permits and will begin construction this year.
Read More “WV NatGas Power Plant Gets Final Permits, Construction Begins Soon”
Anti fossil fuel freaks have scored a victory in reducing the amount of electricity available to New Jersey’s southern shore area (rolling blackouts anyone?). There was a plan to convert a now-closed coal-fired electric generating plant to use natural gas, fed to it by a new (very short) pipeline.
Read More “Cape May NatGas Power Plant Dead – Scrub Pines Pipeline Too?”
The West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization (SORO) says WV has a serious problem. Drillers are not plugging old/non-producing wells (most of them conventional). In fact, SORO says there are some 4,500 wells that have been unplugged for so long, they are considered “orphaned”–the original driller is long gone, out of business, and there’s nobody around to do the plugging. Something’s got to change.
Read More “WV Surface Rights Group Wants State to Enforce Plugging Old Wells”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: McDonnell says natural gas helped Pennsylvania reach clean power plan goals; Two Va. bills aimed at screwing pipeline companies fail; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere eyeing sixth Sabine Pass LNG train, potential Corpus expansion; Tellurian says it is well-positioned to meet current timeline for Driftwood LNG project; Cheniere Energy sues former CEO Charif Souki over $46 million loan; Communities feeling pipeline pressure; NATIONAL: Sen. Whitehouse sought to advance climate lawsuit brought by his donors; Dozens of climate protesters storm McConnell’s office over Green New Deal; Green New Deal polling (video); INTERNATIONAL: Coalition sees LNG forming pathway to IMO 2050; Germany set to draw more Russian gas, regardless of what Trump says; Saudi Arabia has oil. Now it wants U.S. natural gas.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Feb 28, 2019”
Range Resources, the very first company to sink a Marcellus well back in 2004, issued its fourth quarter and full year 2018 update yesterday. Range’s overall production increased 5% year over year, but production in 4Q18 actually fell from 4Q17 in part due to an explosion and extended processing plant outage at MarkWest’s Harmon Creek operation.
Read More “Range Resources: MarkWest Outage Cost Company 10 Bcfe in 4Q18”
Summit Midstream has a meaningful presence in the Marcellus/Utica region. The company not only released their 4Q and full year 2018 update yesterday, they also released the bombshell announcement they have fired (our word, not theirs) CEO Steve Newby. Summit COO Leonard Mallett has become interim President and Chief Executive Officer while the company conducts a search.
Read More “Summit Midstream Fires CEO; M-U Volumes, Profits Down in 2018”
The light at the end of the tunnel for Constitution Pipeline just got brighter. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to pass the ball back to them so they can reconsider whether or not to overrule New York State’s blockage of a permit for the Constitution. FERC’s action signals they may be ready to rule against NY and allow Constitution to begin construction.
Read More “FERC Signals it May Overrule NY to Allow Constitution Pipe”
Dominion Energy has about had it up to *here* with the clown judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circus. Dominion asked for all of the judges sitting on the Fourth Circuit to rehear a case that blocks the pipeline from drilling *under* the Appalachian Trail because of a lawsuit brought by colluding Big Green groups trying to kill the entire project. The clowns refused.
Read More “Dominion Appealing Atlantic Coast Pipe Case to U.S. Supreme Court”
PennEast Pipeline, a $1 billion, (previously) 120-mile natgas pipeline that will stretch from northeast PA to the Trenton area of New Jersey, has made a few minor route adjustments, the most recent of which will make it another mile shorter, and anti-fossil fuelers like THE Delaware Riverkeeper is up in arms.
Read More “PennEast Pipeline Tweaks Route in PA, Antis React”
About a month ago MDN ran a story in which we said we think it’s likely that a new company called Westmoreland Gas is really just Mountain V Oil & Gas under a new name (see Is Westmoreland Gas Really Mountain V Oil & Gas Renamed?). We based that observation on the fact the CEO of Mountain V is co-CEO of Westmoreland, and because all of Westmoreland’s wells are contract operated by Mountain V. Westmoreland has just responded to say no, they are in fact two different companies.
Read More “Westmoreland Gas Different from Mountain V Oil & Gas”
We really dig maps and charts that illustrate data about permits and drilling. Yeah, we’re shale geeks. We recently came across a series of maps issued by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that summarize how many permits were issued, and how many wells were drilled, across all relevant counties in PA. And does so on a super-handy map. We grabbed the two maps you need to view and have them below–one showing permits, the other showing wells drilled.
Read More “PA Permits & Wells Drilled in 2018 – Maps”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Westchester County bashes moratorium; Oil & Gas impact still being felt; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Extreme cold in the Midwest led to high power demand and record natural gas demand; Cheniere reports fourth-quarter profit drop; Pipeline force majeure in Texas continues to impact natural gas prices; Permian producers face diverging outlook for oil, gas in 2019; NATIONAL: Green New Deal: Climate Change (must-see video); US oil & gas blockchain consortium launches with Chevron, ExxonMobil; The juvenile world of AOC, where debate is verboten; Ocasio-Cortez: people maybe shouldn’t reproduce due to climate change; The liquefaction train ramp-up process and timelines; INTERNATIONAL: BP CEO Dudley: U.S. shale is ‘a market without a brain’; Burned by Russia, Poland turns to U.S. for natural gas and energy security.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Feb 27, 2019”
Last week an Ohio man was arrested for allegedly calling in a bomb threat last November against Myers Well Service, located in Eighty Four (Washington County), PA. A cell phone belonging to Ryan Dougherty of Belmont, OH was used to make the threat. Dougherty claims he called the business, but didn’t make any threats. The investigation took three months. Last Tuesday authorities arrested and charged Dougherty. Read More “OH Man Arrested for Making Bomb Threat Against Marcellus Biz in PA”
In January the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave permission to TransCanada’s Columbia Pipeline group to start up a portion of the Mountaineer XPress Pipeline in West Virginia (see FERC OK’s Mountaineer XPress Pipe to Start Up in WV). Yesterday FERC gave Columbia permission to start up a wee bit more of the project.
Read More “FERC Says More of Mountaineer XPress Pipeline OK to Start Up”
We’ve written extensively over the years about the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act (DMA) and even about the Ohio Marketable Titles Act (MTA), both of which impact Utica shale rights. There has been an ongoing question of whether or not the MTA can be used to return previously severed mineral rights back to a surface landowner. The answer to that question appears to have been rendered in a court decision made earlier this month.
Read More “OH Court Says Marketable Title Act Applies to O&G Rights”
NEXUS Pipeline, a $2.6 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that runs from Ohio into Michigan, has been fully online for the past four months (see More of NEXUS Pipe Goes Online, FERC Approves Compressors). Yet anti-fossil fuel groups continue to litigate and try to shut it down. One such lawsuit was just tossed by one federal court, and another lawsuit just filed briefs in a different federal court.
Read More “Fed Court Tosses One NEXUS Lawsuit, Hears Another”