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    EIA Dec ’17 Drilling Report: New Year to Begin in Record Territory

    Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR is the EIA’s best guess, based on expert data crunchers, as to how much each of the U.S.’s seven major shale plays will produce for both oil and natural gas in the coming month. EIA has adjusted their previous prediction for December’s natural gas production from 61.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) to 62.3 Bcf/d. Wow! Not only that, EIA predicts average production in January 2018 will hit 63 Bcf/d–yet another record high in a string of successive monthly record highs going back more than a year. The 800-pound gorilla is, of course, the Marcellus/Utica region. Our region will add another 347 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas production from December to January. Yikes! Of the seven major shale play regions tracked in the DRP, Appalachia (the Marcellus/Utica) represents a full 42% of total U.S. production! Our region is a MONSTER natural gas producer. Here’s the latest DPR, along with some analysis from Reuters…
    Read More “EIA Dec ’17 Drilling Report: New Year to Begin in Record Territory”

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    Converted Pipeline Near Philly Gets 2X More Interest than Capacity

    In November MDN shared the exciting news that an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, had been purchased by a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources and will get converted to flow more Marcellus natural gas to the greater Philadelphia region (see Oil Pipeline Near Philly to be Converted to Flow Fracked NatGas). The project/pipeline is called the Adelphia Gateway. On Nov. 2nd, the project began an “open season”–a period of time when shippers can reserve capacity along the pipeline. Such contracts typically run for 10-20 years and guarantee the pipeline (which will invest millions) can recoup its investment and make a profit. The open season was scheduled to expire on Nov. 20th, but Adelphia extended the open season to Dec. 8th, owing to the Thanksgiving holiday and folks not being at their desks to make such decisions (see Converted Oil Pipeline Near Philly Extends Open Season for NatGas). Looks like extending the open season was the right call. New Jersey Resources says the open season was a huge success, with requests for double the amount of offered capacity along the pipeline…
    Read More “Converted Pipeline Near Philly Gets 2X More Interest than Capacity”

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    PA DEP Goes Paperless, Jumps # of Well Inspections in 2017

    It’s GO-TIME at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). GO-TIME stands for Governor’s Office of Transformation, Innovation, Management and Efficiency. In English, please! “Eliminate paper by using electronic devices.” Yesterday DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management Scott Perry said that by dumping paper and using apps on iPads, oil and gas inspectors save goodles of time by not filling out paperwork “back at the office” and instead stay in the field longer. All of which means that even with using less inspectors in 2017, the DEP actually increased the number of well site inspections by an extra 2,000 over 2016, saving the agency half a million dollars. It’s about time the DEP came into the 21st century. Now if we could only get them to speed up well permit approvals…
    Read More “PA DEP Goes Paperless, Jumps # of Well Inspections in 2017”

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    Lansing, MI to Build New 250 MW Gas-Fired Electric Plant

    The Lansing, Michigan Board of Water & Light (BWL) announced yesterday it will build a brand new $500 million natural gas-fired power plant. The new plant will generate 250 megawatts of electricity, create 1,200 construction jobs, and go online in 2021. The plant will be located at the Erickson Power Station facility in Delta Township as part of its Lansing Energy Tomorrow plan, replacing (and retiring) BWL’s coal-fired Eckert plant at that location. Out with old, in with the new. Why report about a new gas-fired power plant in Michigan here on MDN? Because the mighty Rover Pipeline, which is due to be completed and online by the end of March 2018, terminates very close to Lansing (see the map below). While we’ve not spotted any stories indicating where the gas will come from to feed the new Lansing plant, we’d wager a lot of money that at least some–perhaps most/all–of the gas to feed the plant will come from the Utica/Marcellus, gas hitching a ride along the Rover Pipeline. The nuts from the Sierra Club are ecstatic that BWL will close the coal plant, but opposed to building a clean-burning natural gas plant. Some people are never happy…
    Read More “Lansing, MI to Build New 250 MW Gas-Fired Electric Plant”

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    Trumbull Residents Want Extra 60 Days to Fight 3 Injection Wells

    Last Friday MDN told you about three proposed new injection wells planned for the Town of Brookfield, in Trumbull County, OH (see 3 More Injection Wells Coming to Trumbull County, OH). Highland Field Services recently brought two new injection wells online in Brookfield, and now wants to build three more wells in close proximity to the existing two. Highland recently published notices in area newspapers eliciting public comments–a step required under law. Public comments will be accepted until Dec. 25. However, some residents in the area (and likely a number of antis) are complaining that’s not enough time. They want the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to extend the public comment period by an extra 60 days. They also want at least one public hearing (i.e. circus freak show) in order to get in front of cameras and microphones to make a scene. The update below seems to say the existing two Highland injection wells are still under construction. We believed (perhaps incorrectly) the two were already done and running. Comments by unnamed “opponents” appear to indicate they are still lobbying ODNR to prevent the two already-permitted Highland wells (now under construction) from actually going online–to say nothing of approving another three…
    Read More “Trumbull Residents Want Extra 60 Days to Fight 3 Injection Wells”

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    WV Rolls Out the Red Carpet – Welcomes China Trade Delegation

    red carpet

    Every time we write about the China deal to invest an amazing $83.7 billion (!) in West Virginia, we still shake our head in disbelief. Pinch us–it seems too good to be true! We suppose if half that amount, even a quarter of that amount, ends up getting invested, it’s still an unbelievable bonanza for the Mountain State. We first brought you the news in early November that the Trump Administration, in cooperation with the WV Gov. Jim Justice Administration, had brokered and signed a deal for China to invest $83.7 billion in WV’s shale and petrochemical industries (see China Agrees to Invest Amazing $83.7 BILLION in WV Shale, Petchem). Since that initial deal was signed (in China) delegations of Chinese representatives have been visiting WV, no doubt assessing just where and how much they will spend. Last week such a delegation visited WV on a four-day “relationship building” mission. West Virginians are hospitable people (that’s been our experience)–and they turned on the charm last week. You might say WV rolled out the Red Carpet for the Red Chinese…
    Read More “WV Rolls Out the Red Carpet – Welcomes China Trade Delegation”

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    Con Edison Looks for “Non-Pipes” Solution for More NatGas to NYC

    Only in New York State do you find this kind of lunacy. Yesterday Consolidated Edison (Con Ed), one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, announced a request for proposals (RFP) looking for an alternative to building a new pipeline to get more natural gas into New York City–where the gas is desperately needed. Yes, pipelines are the safest mode of transportation in existence. Yet Con Ed wants something less-safe. Why? They don’t say, but no doubt to avoid dealing with the increasingly violent enviro left that opposes anything to do with fossil fuels–particularly pipelines. In Con Ed’s RFP they throw out some helpful hints at what enterprising businesses might consider proposing: “energy efficiency” (i.e. turn the thermostat down); “beneficial electrification of space or water heating” (i.e. use electricity instead of natural gas for water heaters and heating your apartment); “demand response programs” (i.e. use less by shifting the time when you use the gas); “provision of biogas” (use biogas–cow farts–instead of filthy fracked gas). Dead last on the list: “distributed natural gas storage, CNG, or LNG”–if you *must* propose using natural gas, figure out how to get it into the city without a new pipeline. Use less-safe tanker trucks, or figure out how to store gas from existing pipelines. Most of Con Ed’s proposed solutions aren’t about getting more gas into NYC, they’re about using less gas overall. Yeah, only in New York…
    Read More “Con Edison Looks for “Non-Pipes” Solution for More NatGas to NYC”

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    Cuomo Shafts NY State Yet Again; Bans Oil Barge Storage on Hudson

    Freedom in New York State is all but gone–snuffed out by a corrupt dictator by the name of Andrew Cuomo. Warning to other states: Be careful who you elect in high office. Cuomo is not content to simply destroy the drilling industry in NY–he wants to destroy anything to do with fossil fuels. Crude oil from the Bakken in North Dakota has, for some time, arrived in New York’s capitol city of Albany via rail cars where the oil is loaded on barges at the Port of Albany for a quick trip down the Hudson River. Cuomo went after those rail shipments, trying to slow them down or stop them altogether (see NY’s “Progress” to Control Bakken Crude Trains Passing Through). Somehow those oil trains continue to roll into the Empire State, over the objections of Cuomo & company. The Port of New York/New Jersey, the American Waterways Operators, and the Hudson River Pilots’ Association floated a plan earlier this year to allow up to 43 barges filed with crude oil to temporarily anchor along a 70-mile stretch of the Hudson River, south of Albany, between Kingston and Yonkers NYC. The barges could add capacity and transport more oil down the river to NJ refineries than is currently possible. Yet enviro Nazis rose up and pressured the state legislature into passing a bill to (essentially) prohibit the oil barge plan. Cuomo gleefully signed the bill in October, cutting NY out of yet more commerce it could have had. All because of an irrational hatred of fossil fuels…
    Read More “Cuomo Shafts NY State Yet Again; Bans Oil Barge Storage on Hudson”

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    Anarchists Threaten VA Water Board Member at Her Home re Pipe Vote

    Last week MDN brought you the news about a vote from the Virginia State Water Control Board that gave Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline a non-approval approval (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline Delayed in Virginia by Water Board Vote). The Water Control Board voted to delay granting a full approval until certain studies are completed next year–thereby slowing down the entire project. It was a disappointment to be sure. As disappointed as those of us who support fossil fuels and projects like Atlantic Coast are, we don’t tip over into threats of violence. However, the other side does. Just prior to the vote, someone or someones from the anti-pipeline anarchy movement (we’re not exaggerating, they call themselves anarchists–meaning those who don’t obey laws), draped a big, handwritten banner on the front porch of the vice chair of the State Water Control Board which said, “Stop Poisoning Our Community!” It was a threat. It was meant to bully her and make her feel unsafe and threatened in her own home. This is how some (an increasing number) on the other side behave. With threats and intimidation. And if that doesn’t work, with outright violence…
    Read More “Anarchists Threaten VA Water Board Member at Her Home re Pipe Vote”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Dec 19, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Korean SK Holdings gets $10M dividend from Marcellus/Utica investment; plans for new CNG station near Scranton; public hearing tonight on natgas pipeline under the Potomac River; Tellurian plans pair of pipelines in southwest to feed LNG plant; pipeline to Mexico on track; anarchists brag about sabotaging railroad tracks in Pacific Northwest to stop fracking; energy sector biggest winner in tax overhaul; climate change activists used arbitrary adjustments to exaggerate sea level rise; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Dec 19, 2017”

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    FERC Gives Rover Phase 1B Permission to Begin Service, 1.7 Bcf/d

    Energy Transfer Partners (ET) announced on Friday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has granted ET permission to bring Rover Pipeline Phase 1B online–as of now. Building the mighty Rover, a $4.2 billion, 713-mile Utica/Marcellus natural gas pipeline that will stretch from PA, WV and eastern OH, through OH, into Michigan, and eventually on to Canada, has always been a two-phase project–Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase 1 was further broken down into 1A and 1B. Phase 1A, which is the main line through most of Ohio, went online Sept. 1 (see Big Portion of Rover Pipeline Now Up & Running – Thru Most of Ohio). Phase 1B is the completion of several important “laterals” (or offshoot pipelines), along with compressor stations. This new segment will serve to feed more gas to the main Rover pipeline. It was Phase 1B that got approved on Friday, and is presumably now up and running as you read this. With the addition of Phase 1B, Rover now has the capacity to flow 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas. When Phase 2 is done in 1Q18, the pipeline’s full capacity of 3.25 Bcf/d will go online…
    Read More “FERC Gives Rover Phase 1B Permission to Begin Service, 1.7 Bcf/d”

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    Leach XPress Starting Up Jan 1 – Marc/Utica Gas Heading to the Gulf!

    Last week Columbia Pipeline Group (now part of TransCanada) filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin service on their Leach XPress pipeline. This is BIG and important news. In August 2014, MDN told you that Columbia Pipeline Group decided to move forward with investing $1.75 billion dollars for two new projects: Leach XPress and Rayne XPress (see Columbia Gas: $1.75B for 2 Projects to Send Marcellus Gas to Gulf). The Leach XPress project involves building ~160 miles of natural gas pipeline and compression facilities in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia’s northern panhandle, flowing 1.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas all the way to Leach, Kentucky (hence the name). Rayne XPress works hand in glove with Leach. There is an existing natgas pipeline from Leach, KY all the way to the Louisiana Gulf Coast, called Rayne. The pipeline is named for the location it flows to: Rayne, Louisiana. The Rayne Xpress project beefs up the Rayne pipeline with new compressor stations to add an additional 1 Bcf per day of capacity–Marcellus and Utica Shale gas capacity that will flow to the Gulf Coast. Rayne went online in early November (see FERC Clears 1 Bcf/d Rayne Xpress Pipe to Begin Service). When Leach goes online Jan. 1, 2018 (yes, we expect FERC will approve it), Marcellus/Utica gas will begin flowing along the combined pipelines all the way to the Gulf. That’s big news!…
    Read More “Leach XPress Starting Up Jan 1 – Marc/Utica Gas Heading to the Gulf!”

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    IOGA WV Gets it Right on Co-Tenancy & Joint Development

    For some time we’ve reported on the effort to pass new legislation in West Virginia on co-tenancy and joint development (see WVONGA Makes Plans to Push Forced Pooling Lite in 2018). These two concepts together somewhat replace what the oil and gas industry once wanted in WV–a forced pooling law. The West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) has been the driving force behind the effort to adopt co-tenancy and joint development. MDN has been right up front about our views: co-tenancy is fair and reasonable, joint development is not. WVONGA continues to push for both. However, WVONGA is not the only oil and gas trade association in the Mountain State. WV also has the Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia (or IOGA WV), which broke off from WVONGA in 1959. We were delighted to spot an article that reports IOGA WV is pushing for co-tenancy, but NOT for joint development. IOGA of WV recognizes joint development for what it is–an attempt to allow drillers to use old leases for shale drilling without having to negotiate new terms (i.e. pay more to rights owners). Kudos to IOGA WV for getting it right. What, precisely, is co-tenancy and joint development? Glad you asked…
    Read More “IOGA WV Gets it Right on Co-Tenancy & Joint Development”

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    Plan to Frack Shale Well in New York State Using LPG Still Alive

    Whatever happened to the idea of fracking a shale well in Tioga County, NY using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, or propane)? We sometimes get asked that question. In July 2015 a group of landowners flying under the name of The Snyder Farm Group (five families make up the group) contracted with Tioga Energy Partners (based in Texas) to drill a fracked Utica Shale well, and follow it up with drilling a fracked Marcellus Shale well, using LPG and sand (see NY Landowners File to Frack Horizontal Well w/Waterless Tech and NY Heroes: More Details on NY Propane Fracking Proposal). The wells would not use water for fracking–and therefore, according to the landowners, avoid New York’s ban on high volume fracking imposed by NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo. NY’s corrupt Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) does not disagree with the Tioga landowners. It certainly *may* be possible to use LPG fracking and avoid the prohibition on water-based fracking. Yet the DEC continues its standard operating procedure of delay by declaring they don’t have enough information (we’ve seen this movie before). The last time we reported anything about the Tioga project was May 2016, when the DEC began its latest round of death-by-delay tactics (see NY DEC Calls Propane Fracking “Unique Technology”; Wants More Info). So where does the Tioga project stand now? Same. The DEC says they still don’t have all the answers they want about LPG fracking, leaving the project in limbo. But that’s better than declaring it dead–maybe. The good news is that after 2 1/2 years, the Tioga project is still alive because the farming families involved are still pushing for it have not given up. Neither should we…
    Read More “Plan to Frack Shale Well in New York State Using LPG Still Alive”

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    NYSE Threatens EXCO Resources with Stock Delisting – 4th Time

    EXCO Resources continues to be a company in trouble. The company flirted with bankruptcy for some time, but in the end they effectively turned over control of the company to creditors this past summer in order to stay out of bankruptcy court (see EXCO Issues 2.7M Shares of New Stock in Lieu of Paying $23M). As we pointed out in early November, the turnaround expert EXCO hired to continue keeping the company out of bankruptcy flew the coop (see EXCO Resources Heading for Bankruptcy, Turnaround Expert Resigns). EXCO is now in trouble with the New York Stock Exchange–for the fourth time! Two times in the past the New York Stock Exchange notified the company it had fallen below the NYSE’s standards for listing and trading the stock because the share price was too low (see EXCO Resources Stock Threatened Again with De-Listing by NYSE). EXCO was able to fix the low stock price by crafting a reverse stock split–combining outstanding shares into fewer shares worth more. Then in August, NYSE threatened EXCO with delisting a third time, but for a different reason: Because EXCO’s market capitalization has fallen below $50 million (see EXCO Resources Receives 3rd NYSE Notice of Delisting). EXCO pulled their bacon out of the fire with NYSE in August by cutting a deal that allows them until February 2019 (yes, 2019) to get company valuation back up over $50 million. So why the new/fourth threat from NYSE? Same reason as the first two times–the stock price is once again in the toilet–well below $1 per share. We doubt they can do another reverse stock split to save the share price this time…
    Read More “NYSE Threatens EXCO Resources with Stock Delisting – 4th Time”

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    EQT Bd Member Continues to Stir Controversy in WV Gov Office Role

    Bray Cary

    This is a story that won’t go away. Last week MDN told you about the kerfuffle over EQT board member Bray Cary and his work as an unpaid, “informal” adviser to WV Gov. Jim Justice (see EQT Board Member Unofficial Adviser to WV Gov Justice and More on EQT Board Member Serving in WV Gov’s Office). Cary has his own “swipe card” giving him 24/7 access to the Capitol. Cary has been “taking part in policy-oriented meetings.” He’s not on the payroll and he doesn’t answer to anyone. He’s also not subject to the state Ethics Act. Because Cary sits on the EQT board, and EQT has big assets in WV, critics see a conflict of interest. In our own simple words, Bray Cary has become a problem for EQT–a problem that needs to get fixed, fast. He either needs to end his role as unpaid adviser to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, or resign from EQT’s board of directors. Continuing to function in both roles is clearly a distraction EQT doesn’t need–and doesn’t want…
    Read More “EQT Bd Member Continues to Stir Controversy in WV Gov Office Role”