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    Shell PA Cracker Already Attracting New Factories…to Ohio

    Stark County, OH

    The Stark County (OH) Economic Development Board has landed what is hopefully the first (of many) tenants from the plastics manufacturing industry. IML Containers was looking for a spot to locate a new plant near one of their big customers, Land O’Lakes (has a facility in Cleveland). Stark County offered a small tax break, and the big advantage of being close to the under-construction Shell ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA. It’s also close to a likely second cracker plant in Belmont County, OH. IML makes plastic shipping containers for Land O’Lakes, and plans to set up “research and development, die cutting, molding, production and warehousing for packaging use with a variety of food products” at their Stark facility. IML is beginning now, at a temporary location (70 new jobs!) and will build a new plant in the next two years. In addition to a cheap source of plastics from the crackers, another advantage is being located within a six-hour drive of most of IML’s North American customers…
    Read More “Shell PA Cracker Already Attracting New Factories…to Ohio”

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    Marcellus/Utica Gas Heads South to the Sunshine State

    Marcellus/Utica gas is powering natural gas-fired plants in Southeast Florida?! Yep. How? Through a series of pipelines. First the gas goes south from our region by hitching a ride through the mighty Williams Transcontinental Gas Pipeline (Transco)–all the way to Alabama. Then, the Sabal Trail Pipeline, a 1.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) pipeline, runs more than 500 miles from an interconnect with Transco in west-central Alabama to the Orlando, FL-area gas hub. Finally, a pipeline related to Sabal Trail called the Florida Southeast Connection delivers gas from the Orlando hub into South Florida. It’s a beautiful thing to behold. Our gas going all the way to the Sunshine State. The experts at RBN Energy do a deep dive to connect the dots and identify the gas-fired plants using our gas…
    Read More “Marcellus/Utica Gas Heads South to the Sunshine State”

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    Columbia Appoints Chief Restoration Officer After Boston Disaster

    Pablo Vegas, NiSource’s new Chief Restoration Officer

    Today we have another chapter in the unfolding story of the chain-reaction of explosions in local natural gas delivery pipelines owned by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts (NiSource) which happened about 25 miles north of Boston (see Local NatGas Pipes Explode Near Boston Killing 1, Injuring 25). The explosions and resulting fires tragically killed one teenager and injured 25 others. It left some 8,600 households and businesses without natural gas–for up to two months. Earlier this week MDN reported that Columbia/NiSource has appointed an outside-the-company “Chief Recovery Officer” at the prompting of Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker (see Columbia Gas Appoints Ret. Navy Captain to Oversee Disaster Recovery). Retired Navy Captain Joe Albanese, founder and CEO of Commodore Builders (construction management firm) is the new CRO attempting to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Assisting Captain Albanese is retired Rear Admiral Richard Cellon, president of Cellon and Associates. Columbia announced yesterday the creation of a new inside-the-company position called Chief Restoration Officer. Pablo Vegas will serve in the Chief Restoration Officer role. Vegas will “support the work” of CRO Albanese, and will be accountable “for executing the restoration program, including pipeline replacement, customer mitigation and house readiness” as well as “community and customer support efforts in the region.” Perhaps NiSource needs fewer “chiefs” and more Indians?…
    Read More “Columbia Appoints Chief Restoration Officer After Boston Disaster”

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    VA Anti Goes for 600-Mile Horseback Joy Ride to Protest Pipeline

    What would happen if your faithful editor took to horseback to ride along the entire 600-mile route for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline as it travels from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina–in a campaign to *promote* the project? We’ll tell you what would happen in the media: Crickets. Nothing. No mentions. But when a young anti sets off to do just that, it’s heralded as a quest. Something akin to the Lord of the Rings–Frodo Baggins leaving on a mission to vanquish an evil foe, against all odds. Such is the case with Sarah Murphy, who left on horseback this week from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Television cameras were there to document her departure. Murphy says she is trying to call attention to the Atlantic Coast project, to whip up protesters to oppose it. She says the project will “corrupt” the mountains through which it passes. Perhaps like the Blue Ridge Parkway “corrupts” those same mountains? Here’s the story of a young lady and her horsey, off to rally faithful environuts…
    Read More “VA Anti Goes for 600-Mile Horseback Joy Ride to Protest Pipeline”

  • MDN Milestone: Over 17,000 Posts!

    It’s not often we toot our own horn here at MDN. We recently hit a milestone and thought you may want to know about it. A few weeks ago MDN passed the 17,000 mark, as in there are now more than 17,000 posts here on the MDN website. Whew. That’s a lot of writing! We’d like to take a moment to thank YOU, our faithful readers. It is by your ongoing support that we are able to continue the MDN blog/news service.

    How do you access all those articles? Two ways: (1) You can search our article database by enter keywords in the search box on the upper right. (2) Visit the Article Index page. Every time we post a new article, we tag it with one or more category names, to make it easy to locate articles on that particular topic (or geography). We have tags for each county we write about. We have tags for each main issue we write about. We even have a tag for stories that contain royalty and lease bonus payment details! It’s a long page, scroll all the way down, and locate a topic you’re interested in.

    Again, our humble thanks, and please celebrate this milestone with us! You’re a part of it.

  • Energy Stories of Interest: Fri, Sep 28, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: A pipeline construction moratorium would make Pa. less safe; Three Circuit Courts set up CWA application to groundwater for Supreme Court test; Searching for ‘data,’ anti-Exxon researcher taps blog that bragged about suppressing climate dissent; NYMEX Nov natural gas futures soar to $3.057/MMBtu on first day of trading on bullish injection; Scientific Drilling International introduces HALO rotary steerable system; Meet the machine that drives the environmental movement: Big Green, Inc.; Analysis: Europe set for tight winter in natural gas, power markets; China’s natural gas production has quietly surged; B.C. carbon tax now costs more than natural gas it is charged on.
    Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Fri, Sep 28, 2018”

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    OH Supreme Court Rules Independent Landmen Need Real Estate License

    Sometimes the law, and justice, is mysterious to us. Last November we told you about an Ohio Supreme Court case with profound implications for both landmen and for the drillers who employ and use them (see OH Supreme Crt Considers Whether Landmen Need Real Estate License). The case, Dundics v. Eric Petroleum Corp., was appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court by Dundics who was not happy with the outcome in lower courts that ruled landmen must have a real estate license in order to get paid for their valuable services. Even more to the point, if you don’t have a real estate licence, the company hiring you (like Eric Petroleum) can decide to not pay you–and it’s OK! The Supremes ruled at the end of August to uphold that principle. That is, if a landman is compensated via a commission and/or royalties for the deals he or she brokers, that person needs to have a real estate license. And if they don’t have such a license, they are considered (under the law) to be committing fraud. (It is our understanding that if the landman is paid a “day rate,” that is, paid a flat rate by the day, or if the landman is an employee of the drilling company, someone whose compensation is not directly tied to the number and value of deals, that landman does not need a real estate license. Please verify that!) The Ohio Supremes decided, in essence, that when you accept a commission or are paid a percentage of each deal, you must have a real estate license. In the case of Dundics v. Eric Petroleum, Mr. Dundics was repeatedly assured (according to the court documents we read) by Eric Petroleum that he (Dundics) would be compensated according to an agreed-on formula. But Dundics didn’t have a real estate license, so Eric Petroleum abrogated the agreement–with the court’s blessing…
    Read More “OH Supreme Court Rules Independent Landmen Need Real Estate License”

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    Mystery Seller of Ohio Utica Acreage to Ascent Finally Identified

    At the end of June, Ascent Resources, a company founded by Aubrey McClendon after he left Chesapeake Energy, announced it is buying 113,400 Utica Shale acres along with 93 operating wells located in eastern Ohio for $1.5 billion (see Ascent Resources Spends $1.5 Billion to Buy OH Utica Acreage, Wells). The new acreage tips Ascent over the 300,000 Utica acre line and catapults the company into one of the largest privately owned drillers (exploration and production) in the U.S. The companies selling their Utica assets are CNX Resources and Hess (selling a joint venture they co-owned, each selling their share for $400 million each, for a total of $800 million), Utica Minerals Development (a subsidiary of First Reserve, a private equity firm headquartered in Greenwich, CT, and EMG), and a fourth, unnamed mystery seller. Now that all of the deals have closed, the mystery seller has been revealed…
    Read More “Mystery Seller of Ohio Utica Acreage to Ascent Finally Identified”

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    Out with the Old (Coal), in with the New (Natgas) @ Shamokin Dam

    The former coal-fired power generation plant at left along the Susquehanna River in Shamokin Dam. At right is the new Panda gas-fired Hummel Station. (Credit: Sunbury Generation)

    In July, MDN told you that Panda Power’s Marcellus gas-fired Hummel Station Power Plant, located at the Shamokin Dam along the Susquehanna River, is now “complete” and online (see Marcellus-Fired Panda Hummel PA Power Plant Now “Complete”). Hummel Station is a whopping 1,124-megawatt gas-fired electric plant built on the site of a retired coal-fired plant. The old coal plant is still there, sitting next door to the new gas-fired plant, closed down in 2014. The coal plant is set to be demolished–a process that will take up to two years due to asbestos throughout the plant. In a story about the old coal plant’s demolition, we were struck by the comparison between the coal plant and the gas plant. The old coal plant produced 400 megawatts of electricity, the new gas plant 1,124 MW. The new gas plant produces more than twice the power, but uses 97% less water than the coal plant. The new gas plant produces 90% less sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions than the old coal plant. On and on. The differences are striking! No wonder gas is replacing coal…
    Read More “Out with the Old (Coal), in with the New (Natgas) @ Shamokin Dam”

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    Hubbard Twp, OH Still Trying to Block Injection Well

    Two weeks ago MDN told you that liberal Democrat State Rep. Glenn Holmes (from Girard, Trumbull County, OH) is attempting to use a hammer to kill a fly (see Ohio Democrats Float Bill to Cap Injection Wells at 23 per County). Holmes is sponsoring House Bill 723 to cap the number of injection wells at 23 per county, in an attempt to block a single new injection well from getting built in Hubbard Township. Currently Trumbull County has 17 live and functioning wastewater injection wells. Five more are currently under construction. If the bill passes, it would prevent a newly-proposed well in Hubbard from getting built. Holmes has some company in his opposition. Hubbard township officials are “bitterly opposed” to the injection well and raising their own fuss to try and stop it. The preferred solution for Hubbard officials is for the state to allow local towns to write their own oil and gas zoning laws–a prescription for NIMBY disaster. No town would allow it, which is why the review and authorization of injection wells is a joint process between the federal EPA and the state. But that well-thought-out solution of federal/state review doesn’t stop the locals from kicking up a fuss…
    Read More “Hubbard Twp, OH Still Trying to Block Injection Well”

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    Acting EPA Admin. Wheeler to Keynote Shale Insight in Pittsburgh

    Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler

    Here’s some exciting news! The keynote speaker at this year’s Shale Insight 2018 event in Pittsburgh will be Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. MDN editor Jim Willis has attended every annual Shale Insight except for the very first one, going back years. Unfortunately he won’t be attending this year’s event to hear Wheeler in person. However, many MDN readers live in western PA and eastern OH, and if you do, and if you can make it, we encourage you to attend! This year’s event is pushed back a bit from the usual September into October–Oct. 23-25. Wheeler is speaking on the 24th in the morning. Here’s the details…
    Read More “Acting EPA Admin. Wheeler to Keynote Shale Insight in Pittsburgh”

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    Proposed Rhode Island Gas-Fired Plant on Life Support

    MDN previously told you about a new natural gas-fired plant planned for the socialist paradise of Rhode Island, home to old money and people who oppose change of any kind (see New NatGas Powered Electric Plant Coming to…Rhode Island?!). The plant would lower RI residents’ electric bills by a collective $280 million and replace aging coal and oil power plants–cleaning the air in the process. With the jobs created, the investment in the facility, and lower electric rates, it’s calculated this single plant will have a $1.3 billion impact on the economy of RI. And yet so-called environmentalists still oppose it. The plan was to begin construction in summer 2016 and have the plant up and running by 2019. What’s happened since the initial announcement? A lot of bureaucratic bull. The project has been under review and a final decision by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission was slated for January 2019. But that’s all now in doubt. Because of delays in building the plant, the Independent System Operator (ISO) New England filed an application last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to cancel the plant’s capacity supply obligation, or CSO. CSO’s are contracts awarded years in advance to supply electricity. ISO says there’s no way this plant will be producing electricity on time, and so they want out of the contract, to find someone else to produce the electricity. Yesterday RI state regulators put their review of the project on hold until FERC makes a decision about canceling the CSO contract. At this point we’d have to say the project is on life support, and RI is reaching their withered, old hand over to the outlet to pull the plug…
    Read More “Proposed Rhode Island Gas-Fired Plant on Life Support”

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    Chesapeake, Ascent Resources Float New Round of IOUs

    Although the two companies and their actions are unrelated, we found it interesting that both Ascent Resources and Chesapeake Energy (big Marcellus/Utica drillers) floated plans yesterday to raise more money by issuing new IOUs (called “notes”). In the case of Ascent (founded by Aubrey McClendon), they’re issuing $600 million of new notes (due payable in 2026) in order to pay off $525 million worth of notes due in 2022. In the case of Chesapeake Energy (co-founded by Aubrey McClendon), they’re issuing $1.25 billion in new notes (due payable in 2024 & 2026) to repay a loan due in 2021. Keep kickin’ that debt can down the road…
    Read More “Chesapeake, Ascent Resources Float New Round of IOUs”

  • Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Sep 27, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Williams completes mechanical construction on pipeline; Pittsburgh airport expects to break ground on World Trade Center site this year; Massachusetts to hire independent firm to evaluate statewide natural gas system; Resistance campaign airs concerns over Columbia Gas pipeline project; Trump attacks OPEC, Europe gas dependence at UN General Assembly; Natural gas responsible for 61 percent of U.S. electricity generation CO2 reductions since 2005; Natural gas price prediction – prices tumble and form outside reversal day; Policy changes would help U.S. natural gas industry; Report: India’s Petronet LNG seeks to buy 9 cargoes; The gas revolution in Central and Eastern Europe; In Mexico’s shale patch, cartel violence scares off drillers; Anti-fracking activists jailed for ‘causing a public nuisance’ during four-day protest.
    Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Sep 27, 2018”

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    New Pipeline Designed to Connect M-U Gas to Gulf Coast LNG Exports

    Gulf Run Pipeline – click map for larger version

    An exciting new pipeline project to tell you about. Two days ago Enable Midstream Partners announced a plan to build an interstate natural gas transportation project called the Gulf Run Pipeline. The pipeline itself is 165 miles of large-diameter pipeline to be constructed from northern Louisiana to Gulf Coast markets. The pipeline will connect to other pipelines, and that’s how Marcellus/Utica gas will reach it and go on to the Gulf Coast. In fact, the plan is to connect to multiple pipelines that in turn connect to not only the Marcellus/Utica, but also to the Haynesville, Barnett, and the Mid-Continent shale region too. The Gulf Run Pipeline project is backed by an agreement with an undisclosed “cornerstone shipper” that has signed up for 20 years, committing to use 1.1 billion cubic feet per day of capacity along the pipeline–to deliver the gas to an LNG export plant. If the LNG plant doesn’t get built the deal is off and the pipeline won’t get built. Still, Enable is confident enough in the project that they are running a non-binding open season from now until Oct. 26…
    Read More “New Pipeline Designed to Connect M-U Gas to Gulf Coast LNG Exports”

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    4th Circuit Again Blocks NPS Permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

    Last week we told you that the forces of good had overcome the forces of evil–evil being the Sierra Club and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and their mission to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) from getting built (see Victory! FERC Lifts Stop Work Order for Atlantic Coast Pipeline). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission stop-work order for ACP in early August came after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals pulled permits for approximately 100 miles of ACP, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Clubbers and SELC (see Federal Court Stops Works on Some (All?) of Atlantic Coast Pipe). The Fourth Circuit overturned permits granted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), granted to ACP to cross the Blue Ridge Parkway. FWS and NPS reworked and reissued their permits, which is why FERC lifted the stop-work order. Predictably, SELC, on behalf of the Clubbers and a few other far-out leftist groups, filed an appeal with the Fourth Circuit to overturn the newly-reworked permits. The Fourth Circuit has just issued an order temporarily blocking the NPS permit (not the FWS permit), while they consider the new lawsuit. The NPS permit stops 21 miles of pipeline work. The radicals are demanding a new stop-work order from FERC for the entire project (we despise these loathsome people). Dominion isn’t budging–they will keep working everywhere else on the 600+ mile project. Hopefully FERC will not issue a new stop-work order for the entire project…
    Read More “4th Circuit Again Blocks NPS Permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline”