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    PA Superior Court Overturns “Rule of Capture” for Marcellus Well

    STOP PRESS: Shortly after this post was published, a MDN reader (an energy attorney) called us to alert us that our initial take on this case is not right. The case is NOT about a company stretching a lateral too far so that it trespasses under an adjoining property. Instead, the case is about the “zone of fracking”–that is, that fracking, by its nature, creates cracks that may open up and drain some of the gas under a neighboring property–even though the fracking was done properly within the boundaries of the leased property. The case (ominously) says that fracking itself can cause a trespass. Our attorney friend said this case has the potential to negatively affect Marcellus drilling in PA–in a BIG way. We will write another post on this issue tomorrow. In the meantime, just be aware that our initial take below is not correct. – Jim Willis, Editor

    The Pennsylvania Superior Court handed down an important decision yesterday that impacts both Marcellus landowners and drillers. The decision removes “rule of capture” as a way for shale drillers to drill under adjoining neighbors who haven’t specifically leased their property for drilling. The rule of capture came about with conventional (vertical only) drilling, cases in which a pool of oil or natural gas exists that runs underneath the property owned by multiple surface owners (see the image to the left). The rule of capture principle says “the first person to capture a natural resource owns that resource.” If you put a well or two or three on your property to extract the oil/gas, if it flows from the neighbor’s side to your side and up the well, it’s yours. Same for your neighbor. He/she can grab the oil and gas under your property if the pool exists under both. The principle originated in England (it’s a very old principle). However, Southwestern Energy tried to use the rule of capture principle to drill under property not leased for drilling that sits next to property that is leased–claiming the rule of capture. The molecules in shale are a whole other story than molecules sitting in a common pool. That’s what the Superiors ruled. Southwestern (and by extension, other Marcellus drillers) can’t simply extend a lateral well a few hundred feet under an un-leased neighbor, which certainly makes sense to us…
    Read More “PA Superior Court Overturns “Rule of Capture” for Marcellus Well”

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    Cyber Attack Hits Pipeline Computer System, Rover Pipe Affected

    We’ve read warnings about the potential for cyber (computer) attacks on the U.S. energy industry for several months. We understand how such an attack might affect a nuclear plant, or perhaps the electric grid. Screw up the computers managing and running a nuke plant or a significant portion of the electric grid and you have a class-one serious situation on your hands. However, we didn’t really think about pipelines. Did you know that pipeline networks, like electric grids, are monitored and controlled by computers and those computers can be compromised? We have to admit it was not on our radar screen. But that has now happened–and it affects not only pipeline systems in other parts of the country, but right here in the Marcellus/Utica. Energy Transfer Partners uses a third party service called Energy Services Group to manage all of its pipelines–a massive nationwide network. Energy Services provides EDI (electronic data interchange) services that reportedly cut costs and increases the speed with which companies exchange documents that used to be paper-based. Documents like those used in buying and selling natural gas at various trading hubs along major pipelines. On Monday, Energy Services was attacked electronically, knocking the service out of commission until further notice. Note that gas flowing through pipelines has not been affected. The affected computers don’t turn valves on and off. However, the ability to know who’s gas is flowing through the pipeline (who bought and who sold) has been slowed–on all of ET’s pipelines, including the newly-minted Rover Pipeline…
    Read More “Cyber Attack Hits Pipeline Computer System, Rover Pipe Affected”

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    Blue Ridge Mountain Res. Jazzed by Utica Wells in Washington, OH

    Blue Ridge Mountain Resources is jazzed about a pair of Utica wells originally drilled in 2014, but completed this past December, located in Washington County, OH. Blue Ridge is the renamed remnant of Magnum Hunter Resources. Magnum Hunter filed for bankruptcy in December 2015, emerging from bankruptcy in May 2016 minus CEO Gary Evans (see Magnum Hunter Emerges from Bankruptcy with CEO Gary Evans Gone). Looking to shed the image of the past, the company renamed itself as Blue Ridge in January 2017 (see Magnum Hunter Changes Its Name, Leaves the Bankrupt Past Behind). Blue Ridge is 100% focused on the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. The company’s current production is 100 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d). They own 119,000 acres of leases with huge potential–96% of their acreage is not yet developed (i.e. undrilled). In 2014 Magnum Hunter drilled two Utica wells in Washington County, OH but never completed them. In December Blue Ridge completed those wells. The early production results from the two wells is very encouraging and has allowed Blue Ridge to “de-risk” 6,700 surrounding acres that will support another 40-50 new wells. Translation: Washington County landowners signed with Blue Ridge can expect drilling activity soon…
    Read More “Blue Ridge Mountain Res. Jazzed by Utica Wells in Washington, OH”

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    Offer to Relocate Families Near ME2 Sinkholes; ME1 Down Until May?

    Sinkhole in Chester County, PA

    Sunoco Logistics Partners (aka Energy Transfer Parnters) has had its challenges in constructing the twin Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipelines across Pennsylvania. In March, MDN told you that underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) work in Chester County had led to a third sinkhole developing in that area (see 3rd Sinkhole Appears Near ME2 Construction in Chester County, PA). For most of its length, ME2 is being built next to the existing ME1 (Mariner East 1), a liquids pipeline originally built in 1931. The third sinkhole in Chester County exposed a portion of ME1, leading to the state Public Utility Commission “temporarily” shutting down ME1 on March 7 (see PA PUC Shuts Down Mariner 1 Pipeline Due to Mariner 2 Sinkhole). ME1 would be, according to Sunoco, out of commission for “10 to 14 days.” Nearly a month later it’s still not running and until the state Dept. of Environmental Protection gets solid answers about the sinkholes, it won’t restart. It now looks like ME1 won’t be operational again until May. ME1’s closure has put several shippers, primarily Range Resources, in a bind (see Range, CNX Look for Alternatives to ME1 Pipe Following Shutdown). Sunoco needs to conduct geotechnical studies near the sinkholes to get answers that will allow it to resume work. So, Sunoco has offered to temporarily relocate five families living near the three sinkholes–for up to six weeks–while it conducts tests of the area…
    Read More “Offer to Relocate Families Near ME2 Sinkholes; ME1 Down Until May?”

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    Ascent Resources Marcellus Exits Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

    In February, MDN brought you the news that Ascent Resources Marcellus, a company founded by Aubrey McClendon after he left Chesapeake Energy, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see Ascent Resources’ Marcellus Unit Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy). Ascent Marcellus is one of several companies using the Ascent name. The Ascent Marcellus piece of the pie owns 43,000 of leases and has drilled some 547 wells in West Virginia. Big operation. The good news (if there’s ever good news in bankruptcy), is that 75% of the debtholders signed onto a prepackaged bankruptcy plan. The plan worked. On March 30 Ascent announced it has officially emerged from bankruptcy with a new board of directors and the same management team as before…
    Read More “Ascent Resources Marcellus Exits Chapter 11 Bankruptcy”

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    Will Trade War with China Affect $83.7B Investment in WV Shale?

    Chinese moo goo gai pan

    Last November President Trump and assorted state officials, including West Virginia State Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher, visited China as part of a trade delegation. On that trip, China agreed to invest a total of $250 billion in American (mostly energy) projects, $83.7B of which (a full third!) will go to investments in West Virginia (see China Agrees to Invest Amazing $83.7 BILLION in WV Shale, Petchem). It was all sunshine and flowers and butterflies. But now there’s a big, black cloud on the horizon (perhaps we always knew it was too good to be true). Following a seven month investigation into Chinese theft of American intellectual property, last week President Trump told the U.S. trade representative to levy tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports. China is threatening to impose tariffs on U.S. products in return. A good, old-fashioned trade war. The question has been raised, What about that promised $250 billion of Chinese investment in Uncle Sam? Will China move forward with those investments, or perhaps withhold them? According to one global energy expert, “The Chinese are going to see these things [the promised investments] as bargaining chips.” Which points out the problem with relying on an enemy’s investments…
    Read More “Will Trade War with China Affect $83.7B Investment in WV Shale?”

  • Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Apr 3, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Fed grant helps buy 4 CNG buses for NEPA; son of fractivist trial lawyer harasses CAMA in Potter County; WV Gov. Justice signs co-tenancy bill into law; two crackers could yield big dividends in Ohio Valley; Unimim & Fairmount Santrol announce management team post-merger; Duke Energy gas-fired plant in Florida nears startup; LNG protesters on Pacific Coast illegally block PSE HQ; natgas storage capacity expanded, slightly, in 2017; China plans to double LNG capacity; Japan sees LNG as opportunity; and more!
    Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Apr 3, 2018”

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    PA Supreme Court Axes DEP $4.5M Fine in EQT Tioga Wastewater Leak

    EQT had to take their case all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but in the end, the company was victorious over a wildly overinflated $4.53 million fine levied by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County dating back to 2014 (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). While EQT did not say there wasn’t a problem with leaks at the site, they did say the way the DEP calculated the fine was unreasonable and arbitrary. In fact, EQT says the DEP levied the fine and took EQT to court because a few weeks prior EQT had sued the DEP over a different, unrelated matter (i.e., sour grapes on the part of the DEP). EQT appealed the fine and the case all the way to the PA Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments last November (see PA Supreme Court Hears Arguments in EQT Wastewater Leak Case). Last Wednesday the PA Supremes ruled (5-2) in favor of EQT, saying that the DEP’s levied fine was excessive and that the DEP misinterpreted language in the 1937 Clean Streams Law…
    Read More “PA Supreme Court Axes DEP $4.5M Fine in EQT Tioga Wastewater Leak”

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    Marcellus-Fired Panda Hummel Electric Plant Roars to Life in PA

    It takes a long time to build a natural gas-fired electric power plant–especially a big one. We began writing about one of the largest coal-to-gas conversion projects in the country, happening in the heart of PA Marcellus country, back in February 2014 (see Panda Power Building 3rd Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in PA). Panda Power Funds, a private equity firm located in Dallas, TX announced a partnership with Sunbury Generation to build a whopping 1,124-megawatt Marcellus gas-fired electric plant on the site of a retired coal-fired plant near Shamokin Dam in Snyder County, PA. Final testing is now underway at the facility, which was supposed to go online in February but is now scheduled to begin operations in May. Here’s an inside look at the complicated process of bringing a new power plant online…
    Read More “Marcellus-Fired Panda Hummel Electric Plant Roars to Life in PA”

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    One MVP Radical Protester Arrested, Another Goes Up a Pole

    Click image for larger version

    First they went up trees to try and stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from getting built (see WV Judge Refuses to Eject Tree Sitters Blocking Pipeline Work). Now they’re illegally erecting poles for crazies to sit in. That’s what paid, radical protesters do these days: think up the most freakish, idiotic, outlandish stunt they can pull (or pole), in an effort to get publicity for their misguided cause. Not far from where radicals built tree houses in the Jefferson National Forest, a group of protesters gathered on a gravel access road, erected a 50-foot pole (held in place with ropes to nearby trees), and one of the crazies scampered up to the top to sit there (and is still there) in an attempt to block construction vehicles from passing down the road. The protesters on the road near the pole were ordered to move by the police. Most did, although one of them was arrested. As for the woman up the pole, she’s sitting in a makeshift shelter up there and refuses to reveal her name, nor will she come down…
    Read More “One MVP Radical Protester Arrested, Another Goes Up a Pole”

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    PA DEP Releases Draft Final GP-5 & 5A Methane Regulations

    Last December the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued “draft final language” for the proposed General Permit 5A (GP-5A) and the revised General Permit 5 (GP-5)–regulations that supposedly will cut down on fugitive methane from escaping from drill pads and pipelines (see PA DEP Signals Onerous New GP-5 & 5A Methane Regs Coming 1Q18). The onerous regulations, which for now only apply to *new* sources (not existing) were originally prompted by bullying from the Obama Environmental Protection Agency. Even though EPA pressure has disappeared under President Trump, PA Gov. Wolf is still pushing these onerous new regs. GP-5 applies to pipelines and compressor stations, while GP-5A applies to well pads and drilling. Following a flood of new comments, the DEP tweaked the onerous regs once again (for maybe the third or fourth time) and last Friday afternoon, when nobody was working or looking or caring, the DEP published yet another revised final final final final final version of the regs (below). Are they any better than previous versions?…
    Read More “PA DEP Releases Draft Final GP-5 & 5A Methane Regulations”

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    FERC Won’t Extend Atlantic Coast Pipeline Tree Cutting Deadline

    Two weeks ago Dominion Energy asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to extend tree cutting/felling season by an extra 45 days, from March 31 to May 15, in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina (see Atlantic Coast Pipe Asks FERC for More Time to Cut Trees). Due to restrictions for species like the threatened Indiana bat, tree cutting season is limited–from November 16 to March 31. ACP said it couldn’t meet the March 31 deadline due to a late start following state bureaucratic delays. In a presentation Dominion gave to North Carolina environmental officials a few months back, the company said if “we cannot start [pipeline construction] in time to ensure a full and efficient construction season and have to delay service by one year, the impact would be $1 billion.” Dominion maintains that worst case scenario has not yet happened. Following the FERC decision to deny extending the date for tree cutting, Dominion said they’ll shift things around and can still meet their contractual deadline of getting ACP up and running by the end of next year…
    Read More “FERC Won’t Extend Atlantic Coast Pipeline Tree Cutting Deadline”

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    The Critical Role of Subcontractors in WV Shale Industry

    Charlie Burd, IOGAWV

    A recently published interview with Charlie Burd, executive director of the Independent Oil and Natural Gas Association of West Virginia, yields new insights into the current status of the oil and gas industry in the Mountain State. One of those insights is the importance of subcontractors–what we call the supply chain–to the oil & gas industry in WV (and elsewhere). We often refer to producers or exploration and production companies as “drillers.” To be honest, it’s almost always a hired subcontractor that does the actual drilling. And subcontractors do a host (most of) the other pieces of getting a well up and running–everything from water deliveries for fracking to fencing around well pads to hauling away drill cuttings and brine. Burd talked about the key role subcontractors play in the process. He also said that 99.9% of the small, “mom and pop” independent producers (conventional drillers) that have been around for the past 150 years are now out of business in WV, since the rise of shale drilling. That’s a pretty startling statistic. Oh! And Burd explained the difference between “major” oil and gas companies, like Exxon and Chevron, and “independent” companies like Antero Resources and Cabot Oil & Gas. We always wondered what earned the biggies their name “the majors,” even though there are some “independents” nearly as large (in revenue) as the majors. We now know the difference…
    Read More “The Critical Role of Subcontractors in WV Shale Industry”

  • Other Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Apr 2, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: FirstEnergy Generation bankruptcy puts OH, PA nuke plants in jeopardy; Atlantic Sunrise Pipe clipped for unauthorized form of drilling; PA DEP Secretary goes on the record with Platts; pig poop to the rescue in NC; DOE Sec. Perry praises Trump energy policies, LNG exports; U.S. heading for a natgas surplus; longer shale well laterals lead to more M&A activity; judge dismisses Exxon lawsuit to block AG climate change hoaxers; first Sabine Pass LNG cargo arrives in India; Europe’s biggest natgas field to close, permanently; German kicks out Russian diplomats while authorizing Russian pipeline; and more!
    Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Apr 2, 2018”

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    Natural Gas Prices in Texas Permian Drop Below Marcellus/Utica

    The biggest oil play in the United States is the Permian, located in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Two weeks ago MDN warned readers that natural gas in the Permian, which is a byproduct of the oil wells drilled there, is increasingly competing with Marcellus/Utica gas (see “Free” NatGas in Texas Permian Changes Shale Gas Economics in M-U). The coming clash continues to grow. In a Bloomberg article published yesterday, we learn that the price of natgas in the Permian at major trading hubs is now lower than the price for hubs around the Marcellus/Utica, which is truly a first! We also get an ominous prediction from an analyst who watches these things, who said in the next three to four weeks, “natural gas prices in the Permian can go to zero because it’s literally a byproduct.” Free gas! As we pointed out in our previous post on Permian and gas prices, oil drillers can actually pay up to $2.36 per thousand cubic feet to dispose of the natgas coming out of Permian oil wells. That is, they can pay people to take the gas–as a cost of extracting the oil. Roughly one-third of the hydrocarbons coming from Permian wells is natgas. The biggest problem in the Permian for natgas is also the biggest problem in the M-U: lack of pipelines…
    Read More “Natural Gas Prices in Texas Permian Drop Below Marcellus/Utica”