Westmoreland Gas Different from Mountain V Oil & Gas
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.
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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.
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.
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. 
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 
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.
Big Green insanity continues at the so-called Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF). The only thing they “defend” is their own twisted philosophy of trying to gouge out the eyes of the oil and gas industry in PA–even at the expense of de-funding their own beloved PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).
More than a month ago MDN editor Jim Willis was contacted by PublicSource, an independent non-profit news organization based in Pittsburgh. A reporter wanted to know if Jim would grant an interview as part of a story he was doing on the Shell cracker, pipelines and the petchem industry in southwest Pennsylvania. Jim said yes.
Last Friday Cabot Oil & Gas released its full year 2018 (and 4Q18) update, proclaiming 2018 was the best year ever for Cabot financially in the past almost 30 years the company has publicly traded shares of stock. The company hit new record natural gas production of 735 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) in 2018 (roughly 2 Bcfe/d), up 7% from 2017.
Comments by Cabot Oil & Gas in their 2018 update issued Friday, along with added comments by CEO Dan Dinges during the earnings call on Friday, reveals the big news that Cabot has given up test drilling in Ohio Knox formation.
There had been an ongoing legal squabble in Trumbull County, OH over a proposed Utica gas-fired electric plant in Lordstown, located next door to another gas-fired plant (see 
In November seven anti-pipeline residents of Chester and Delaware counties (Philadelphia suburbs) filed a lawsuit against the Mariner East pipeline projects–1, 2 and 2X–alleging the pipelines are unsafe. It didn’t take long for others to jump on the litigation bandwagon:
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on Canadian energy company Enerplus Corp, which currently owns some 36,000 acres of Marcellus Shale leases in northeastern Pennsylvania. The company doesn’t drilling any wells in the region but does participate by funding the drilling programs of others. On Friday Enerplus issued their 2018 and 4Q18 update, which shows the company’s Marcellus production averaged 208 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).