Last October PA Gov. Tom Wolf, in a naked power-grab, said he would try to force PA to join the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a group of northeastern states attempting to assassinate coal and gas-fired power generation by taxing it to death with an insane carbon tax (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO
Read More...In March a worker hired to x-ray welds on sections of the Mariner East 2 pipeline in southwestern Pennsylvania was charged with falsifying records–that he falsely claimed to have performed work when he didn’t (see ME2 Pipeline Worker Charged with Falsifying Welding Records). Yesterday the worker, via a video hearing, plead guilty to 77 counts
Read More...Coincidentally we have a second story today about pipe welding inspectors. In another post, we tell you about a pipeline welding inspector who falsified records (see ME2 Pipe Worker in SWPA Admits Falsifying Welding Records 77 Times), which is very much the exception and not the rule. In this second story, an inspector who worked
Read More...The received wisdom has been that with the oil markets getting whacked by the Saudis, the Russians, and the virus, and with new drilling scaled back and oil wells in the Permian, Bakken, Eagle Ford and other oil plays being shut-in, far less “associated gas” would be produced, leading to tighter natgas supplies further leading
Read More...We finally have a major court victory over the forces of anti-fossil fuel evil, so let’s sit back and soak in the warmth and sunshine of this moment. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a decision we expected, a decision that allows Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a 600-mile project from West Virginia through Virginia
Read More...The door has been closed on “Dimock” (in Susquehanna County, PA) for years. Dimock, you may recall, was made famous by Josh Fox’s so-called documentaries Gasland and Gasland 2, aired endlessly on HBO. His allegations about fracking malfeasance by Cabot Oil & Gas were completely debunked in a real documentary called FrackNation. After a long
Read More...Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR estimates how much oil and natural gas each of the country’s seven largest shale plays produced in the previous (current) month, and how much each will produce in the coming (next) month.
Read More...The U.S. onshore rig count continues to collapse. Over the past week another 22 rigs disappeared from the count, mainly located in oil plays (like the Permian). Yet the news continues to be spun as “the bottom appears closer” when the decrease will stop. Really? We don’t see it! Last week the Marcellus (dry gas
Read More...Massachusetts produces most (perhaps all) of its electricity from natural gas-fired power plants and some 3.5 million people in the state use it to heat their homes. And yet MA Attorney General Maura Healey (radical leftist Democrat), in what can only be described as a psychotic break, has demanded the state Dept. of Public Utilities
Read More...On Wednesday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging whether or not the state Attorney General’s office has the right to use a consumer protection law to prosecute companies like Chesapeake Energy and Anadarko over royalty payment shenanigans. The law the AG’s office wants to use has never been used that
Read More...For the past month and a half, MDN has brought you rig count data from Enverus (formerly Drillinginfo) each Friday. Last Friday we reported the count had hit a new modern-day low, but that the Marcellus had gained back one of the seven rigs lost over a previous three week period (see Enverus: Drop in
Read More...A new so-called “study” published in the journal Science of The Total Environment claims it has uncovered a link between fracking chemicals in farm water and a rare birth defect in horses. The researchers say this study “could” serve as a warning about fracking and human infant health. Is this it? Were we wrong for
Read More...Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in six unconventional resource basins, including the Marcellus and Utica. The company concentrates its time and money on four “core focus areas” including the Utica, the Williston (i.e. Bakken), the DJ Basin,
Read More...Two weeks ago MDN brought you the news that consulting powerhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which had been hired to liquidate the assets of Australian company LNG Limited (LNGL), had found a buyer for the Magnolia LNG export project for $2.25 million (see PWC Sells U.S. Magnolia LNG to U.K. Company for $2.25M). Scrub that. The buyer
Read More...Yesterday the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 790, a bill that restores sanity to regulations for conventional oil and gas drillers in the Keystone State. For years PA’s small, independent conventional oil and gas drillers have objected to the one-size-fits-all regulations concocted by the Gov. Tom Wolf Administration that applies the same regulations
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