The following Shale Directories Members are OPEN for BUSINESS during COVID-19 related shutdown.*
Support them when and how you can!
1st Choice Energy Services
ACF Environmental
Allison Crane & Rigging
Anderson Excavating
Barbco, Inc.
Beaver Excavating
Cintas
Dawood Engineering
Frontier Group of Companies
Furbay Electric, Oil & Gas Division
Green Valley Seed
HYTORC Penn Ohio
Inland Tarp and Liner
Kessel Construction
MJ Painting Contractor Corp.
Mansfield Crane Service
Marshall County Co-Op – Southern States
Mustang Sampling
NAI Ohio River Corridor
Oglebay Resort and Conference Center
ORT Tool
Skycasters Converged Wireless
Wampum Hardware
Water Transport
Zimmerman Steel and Supply Company, Inc.
*list subject to change
Shale Directories Conferences
4th Annual Appalachian Storage Hub Conference
New Date – August 27, 2020
Hilton Garden Inn
Southpointe, Canonsburg, PA
8th Annual Upstream PA 2020
New Date -September 1, 2020
Toftrees Resort
State College, PA
8th Annual Utica Midstream
New Date – September 24, 2020
Walsh University
North Canton, OH
8th Annual Midstream PA 2020
November 12, 2020
Toftrees Resort
State College, PA
8th Annual Utica Downstream
New Date – November 19, 2020
Walsh University
North Canton, OH
Latest facts and a rumor from the Marcellus, Utica, and Permian, Eagle Ford Plays
Coronavirus FLASH REPORTS
No Flash Reports
Facts & Rumors Newsletter
Cabot to Buy Chesapeake. By now, I assume everyone knows that Chesapeake is in bankruptcy.
Cabot will buy Chesapeake when Chesapeake comes out of bankruptcy. It makes sense. Chesapeake has good leases in Bradford County, Pennsylvania and Cabot has 250,000 acres under lease in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. These two counties are along side each other in NE PA. (RUMOR)
PennEast Pipeline Committed. PennEast Pipeline partner companies remain committed to their pipeline project as they await a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the high court will hear its appeal, which could decide the projects fate. The appeal centers around a 2019 Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision denying the condemning of 42 parcels of New Jersey state-owned land for its $1 billion pipeline project.
Atlantic Coast Pipeline Cancellation. On the day energy giants Dominion Energy and Duke Energy announced they’ve canceled the $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dominion went a massive step farther, announcing it’s selling its natural gas transmission and storage operations.
The buyer is billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, in a $9.7 billion deal which includes $5.7 billion in debt assumption.
The sale includes more than 7,700 miles of gas pipelines and 900 billion cubic feet of gas storage.
Dominion will retain a 50% interest in the Cove Point liquefied natural gas export/import terminal on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, but Berkshire will receive a 25% interest in the facility and operate it.
“Today’s (Sunday’s) announcement further reflects Dominion Energy’s focus on its premier state-regulated, sustainability-focused utilities that operate in some of the most attractive regions in the country,” said Thomas F. Farrell II, Dominion’s chairman, president and CEO.
Farrell said over the past several years Dominion had taken a series of steps, including mergers with Questar Corp. and Scana Corp., and the divestiture of Blue Racer Midstream and merchant generation assets, to increase the company’s state-regulated nature of its operations.
“This transaction represents another significant step in our evolution as a company, allowing us to focus even more on fulfilling utility customer needs and positioning us for a bright and increasingly sustainable future,” Farrell said.
Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said: “I admire Tom Farrell for his exceptional leadership across the energy industry as well as within Dominion Energy. We are very proud to be adding such a great portfolio of natural gas assets to our already strong energy business.”
Farrell said the deal would allow the company to focus on its electric utilities in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as local gas distribution companies in the Carolinas, West Virginia, Ohio and Utah.
He said the company plans to invest $55 billion over the next 15 years in technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming, retire fossil fuel power plants, and develop sources of renewable natural gas, including animal waste.
Dominion has sought to expand its pipelines along the Atlantic Coast for years to take advantage of the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays.
However, after a number of regulatory hurdles, the Virginia-based company is abandoning those plans and ceding control of its natural gas and storage network to Berkshire Hathaway.
Dominion has more than 7 million energy customers across 20 states in the U.S. Berkshire Hathaway Energy provides service to 12 million customers worldwide.
ETP Refuses to Shut Down the Dakota Access Pipeline. Energy Transfer LP said it’s not making any moves to empty its Dakota Access oil pipeline after a judge on Monday ordered the conduit shut while a more robust environmental review is conducted.
The Dallas-based company run by billionaire Kelcy Warren said it’s also accepting nominations for capacity on the pipeline in August. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had ordered the pipeline to be drained by Aug. 5.
“We are not shutting in the line,” Energy Transfer spokeswoman Vicki Granado said in an email, adding James E. Boasberg “exceeded his authority and does not have the jurisdiction to shut down the pipeline or stop the flow of crude oil.”
It’s the latest sign that Energy Transfer is preparing for yet another battle over the Dakota Access crude pipeline, which four years ago drew months of on-the-ground protests from environmental groups and tribes opposed to the project’s route across Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri River just a half-mile from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in the Dakotas.
Paving the way for Dakota Access was one of President Donald Trump’s first actions when he took office. Warren last month hosted Trump’s first in-person fundraiser since the coronavirus outbreak locked down much of the country in March.
Biden and Bernie Don’t Ban Fracking! The task forces created by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and former candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders to unify the party’s agenda around key topics published their policy recommendations July 8.
Noticeably, a climate-change focused panel did not call for a ban on hydraulic fracturing. However, the panel did recommend eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 and a dramatic expansion of renewable generation, including the installation of 500 million solar panels and 60,000 wind turbines.
The recommendations of the panel, led by former Secretary of State John Kerry and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., took up 19 pages of a 110-page report that also covered the suggestions of other panels charged with tackling such issues as healthcare, education and criminal justice reforms.
Biden has historically outlined policies to reduce fossil fuel production and market share, including to halt fossil fuel leases on federal land. But unlike some of the more progressive Democratic contenders such as Sanders who have since pulled out of the race, Biden has not called for a ban on hydraulic fracturing. Also not mentioned in the report by name was the Green New Deal.
But the report did call for ending financing for coal projects overseas, repealing fossil fuel subsidies, reducing methane pollution through federal standards, and providing “targeted support” for replacing or repairing aging fossil fuel distribution systems. And the report suggested that Biden require that any federal approval or financial support for domestic and international infrastructure projects include a climate-change test that includes a full-lifecycle assessment.
The report specifically mentioned seeking ways to avoid, minimize and mitigate climate impacts from fossil fuel projects and export terminals, which has been a point of contention for some gas infrastructure projects approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
More broadly, the report embraced the concept of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 in the U.S. and globally. Some of the steps toward achieving that goal would include achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for all new buildings by 2030, transitioning all American school buses to “zero-emission alternatives” within five years, installing half a million electric vehicle charging stations, and transitioning the 3 million vehicles in the federal, state, and local fleets to zero-emission vehicles.
As for the power industry, the report said technology-neutral clean energy and energy efficiency standards should be used to eliminate carbon pollution from power plants by 2035. Of the 500 million new solar panels called for by the report, 8 million would be placed on roofs and community solar projects. And the 60,000 new wind turbines would be built both onshore and offshore. Biden should also create a battery storage and clean energy transmission line moonshot program, the report said.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would also play a role under the report’s recommendations, being called upon to “increase transparency and fairness in power markets for clean energy.” In addition, the report cited a need to create a long-term transmission plan for effectively moving generation from renewables to markets but did not explain how that would be achieved.
The climate panel also stressed the importance of environmental justice in its recommendations. “For too long African American communities, tribal nations, immigrants and low-income families have been excluded from a clean and safe environment, basic infrastructure, and economic prosperity,” the report said. “We must not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Some of the related recommendations included building a more inclusive workforce by expanding training to recruit historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. In addition, the task force urged Biden to target investments in job-creating clean energy and infrastructure projects in communities in transition. The plan would also require the use of U.S. made iron, steel and aluminum for water and clean energy infrastructure as a way to help promote American jobs.
The report said Biden should also create a task force focused on helping communities impacted by fossil fuel retirements such as coal-fired plants to attract private sector investments and receive federal resources.
OH 1st Qtr. Report ODNR. Ascent Resources made the biggest move, up or down, in first-quarter oil and natural gas production vs. a year ago, data from the Ohio Department of Environmental Resources reveals.
The Oklahoma City-based company is one of the largest privately-held producers in the U.S., and bills itself as the largest O&G producer in Ohio, Shale Directories reports.
And during this year’s first three months, no other producer came closer than 20% lower to its O&G production.
From January through March, Ascent Resources Utica produced 2.31 million barrels of crude, natural gas liquids and condensate, up 15.5% from first-quarter 2019’s liquids production of 2 Mmbbl. (ODNR does not separate out NGL and condensate from O&G production.)
During the quarter, Ascent produced a whopping 189.69 billion cubic feet of natural gas NGL and condensate, up 4.7% from 181.12 Bcf produced one year earlier.
The No. 2 crude producer in Ohio in the first quarter was another private company: EAP Ohio, formed in 2017 by Encino Energy and its financial backer, the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, formed Encino Acquisition Partners (EAP).
First-quarter 2020 crude production reached 1.91 Mmbbl, up 1.91 Mmbbl from a minuscule 251 barrels produced in the year-ago quarter.
Rounding out the top 5 crude producers during the first quarter were Eclipse Resources (1.21 Mmbbl), PennEnergy Resources (97,643 barrels), and Antero Resources (85,358 Bbls).
Gulfport Energy was the second-biggest natural gas producer in the first three months of 2020, bringing 91.89 Bcf of product to the surface, vs. 91.67 Bcf one year ago.
Other top natural gas producers in this year’s first quarter include EAP Ohio (79.72 Bcf), Rice Drilling (68.97 Bcf), and Eclipse Resources (58.06 Bcf).
Chesapeake Energy’s Chesapeake Exploration took the biggest quarter-over-quarter plunge, dropping from 1.02 Mmbbl of crude production in first-quarter 2019, and 60.67 Bcf of gas production, to zero production earlier this year.
Two years ago, Chesapeake sold its Ohio assets to EAP for $2 billion.
MSC Defends the O&G Industry Again PA AG. The Marcellus Shale Coalition has soundly criticized Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and defended the state’s shale drilling industry and state agencies, Kallanish Energy reports.
That occurred in a seven-page letter to state legislators from David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a pro-drilling industry trade group.
The letter follows a June 25 grand jury report released by Shapiro that attacked the natural gas industry and two state agencies: Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health for failing to protect Pennsylvania from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling over the last 10 years.
“The sheer breadth of factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations, legal omissions, and unsubstantiated allegations compel my response on behalf of tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians – your constituents – who take pride in working safely and responsibly develop the commonwealth’s natural gas resources for all of us,” Spigelmyer wrote in the letter that was released on Tuesday.
He added that Shapiro’s report “exhibits a jarring lack of reality as to how shale gas development occurs in Pennsylvania,” the letter said.
That report also “exhibits an equally disturbing ignorance as to the laws and regulations which govern shale gas development in the commonwealth,” he said.
“Much of the report conveys ‘evidence’ that simply relays anecdotal stories offered without proof, corroboration or attribution,” Spigelmyer said.
” The report fails to identify any specific instance that substantiates its claims of impacts, which conveniently means they cannot be directly refuted,” he said.
The grand jury called for extending the setback from wells from 500 to 2,500 feet. That would make it impossible to drill wells in much of the state and impact landowners with leases, Spigelmyer said.
Pennsylvania currently has the second farthest setback provision in the nation, he said.
Pennsylvania has also taken legislative actions over the years to toughen drilling regulations, he said.
It is, he said, “a report which ignores facts and science, is ignorant of current law, omits several dozen regulatory enhancements made over more than a decade, lobs unsubstantiated allegations of uncorroborated events, questions the integrity of state environmental regulators and seeks to sensationalize that which the attorney general clearly does not understand.”
A two-year investigation
The grand jury report is part of a two-year state investigation, Shapiro said.
It “uncovered systematic failure by government agencies in overseeing the fracking industry and fulfilling their responsibility to protect Pennsylvanians from the inherent risk of industry operations,” he said in a statement.
The grand jury also made eight recommendations to tighten state rules on fracking to protect drinking water, air quality, and public health.
Pennsylvania suffers from what Shapiro called a “culture of inadequate oversight” and political pressure was used to protect shale drilling over the years, he said.
The grand jury documented cases of well water being contaminated, dead livestock, air pollution, and mysterious health problem in children and adults. Other issues included heavy truck traffic, around-the-clock fracking, and waste impoundments. There are continuing investigations of childhood cancers near drilling sites in southwest Pennsylvania.
The report was released after Shapiro filed criminal charges against Range Resources and Cabot Oil & Gas, two of the biggest players in the Marcellus Shale.
Range has pleaded no contest to seven criminal charges of negligent oversight in connection to two environmental cases in Washington County in southwest Pennsylvania. The company will pay $50,000 in fines and $100,000 in charitable contributions to a local watershed group.
The grand jury has charged Cabot Oil & Gas in connection with 15 environmental crimes in northeast Pennsylvania. The company was charged with seven counts of prohibition against discharge of industrial wastes, seven counts of prohibition against other pollutions, and one count of unlawful conduct under the state’s Clean Streams Law. The violations took place in Susquehanna County in northeast Pennsylvania.
A similar report defending DEP and knocking Shapiro and the grand jury has been released by Michael Krancer, secretary of DEP from 2011-2013.
“It would be inappropriate for me as their former secretary to sit idly while 3,000 DEP personnel are attacked with a broad brush. I know that the people at DEP never wavered from the law, never turned a blind eye to wrongdoing and always kept the safety of Pennsylvania’s citizens paramount,” he said in an eight-page statement.
“Were we perfect? Of course not and we never claimed to be,” Krancer said. “Did we make mistakes? Yes, we never claimed we didn’t. No government, much less any organization, is ever perfect. But to besmirch the entire agency and all 3,000 employees as is done here is unfair.”
U.S. Dominance in NatGas Growing. Natural gas is the cleanest of the fossil fuels. It is also fastest-growing fossil fuel, with a global 2.6% average annual growth rate over the past decade. In comparison, oil grew at a rate of 1.3% over the past decade, and coal grew globally at 0.8%. Looking ahead, natural gas is projected to be the only fossil fuel that will see substantial demand growth over the next two decades.
Jerry Jones Drilling in East TX. Comstock Resources, an oil and natural gas company controlled by Dallas Cowboys billionaire owner Jerry Jones, plans to drill new wells in East Texas. The exploration and production company filed for four drilling permits over the past week with the Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry.
NatGas Markets Showing Signs of Life. Natural gas markets have had a bit of a run higher as of late, so the fact that we pulled back a little bit from the recent run should not be a big surprise. We pulled back to the $1.80 round figure, which of course features the 50-day EMA just below it, so that is something worth paying attention to as well. Ultimately, I think that the market finds a reason to go higher, to reach towards the $2.00 level.
Harvest Sells Appalachian Basin Assets. Harvest Oil & Gas Corp. has announced that a subsidiary has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Appalachian Basin assets for $20.5 million, Kallanish Energy reports. The assets being sold represent substantially all of the company’s assets, the Texas-based company said. The buyer was not identified.
TX Permits. Big Drop in June. The number of oil and gas drilling permits in Texas fell by a third in June from a year earlier, the state’s oil and gas regulator body said on Tuesday. The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) issued 312 drilling permits last month, compared to 1,001 permits issued in June of last year. Of those 312 permits, 262 were to drill new oil and gas wells. The rest of the 312 were for re-entering plugged well bores and re-completions of existing well bores.
Summit Defies the Downturn. Midland oil company Summit Petroleum plans to step up its drilling program as others are cutting back their activity. The independent exploration and production company filed for nine drilling permits with the Railroad Commission of Texas, the agency that regulates the oil and gas industry in the state. Summit plans to drill nine horizontal wells targeting the oil-rich Spraberry field on nine leases in Upton County.
PA Permits June 25, to July 9 2020
County Township E&P Companies
- Bradford Overton Chief
- Bradford Overton Chief
- Greene Richhill CNX
- Greene Springfield EQT
- Lycoming Cogan House SWN
- Lycoming Cogan House SWN
- Lycoming Cogan House SWN
- Lycoming Cogan House SWN
- Lycoming Cogan House SWN
- Sullivan Elkland Chief
- Sullivan Elkland Chief
- Sullivan Elkland Chief
- Sullivan Elkland Chief
- Susquehanna Dimock Cabot
- Susquehanna Dimock Cabot
- Susquehanna Dimock Cabot
- Susquehanna Dimock Cabot
- Susquehanna Dimock Cabot
OH Permits June 26, to July 9, 2020
County Township E&P Companies
- Harrison Short Creek Ascent
- Harrison Short Creek Ascent
WV Permits June 22, to July 3, 2020
- Brooke SWN
- Brooke SWN
- Brooke SWN
- Brooke SWN
- Brooke SWN
- Marshall Tug Hill
- Marshall Tug Hill
