MDN was launched in January 2009, during the heyday of leasing for shale drilling in the Marcellus/Utica region. One of our early focuses was to highlight lease deals by landowner coalitions. (Indeed, it was one such deal, in Deposit, NY, that inspired Jim Willis to begin writing MDN.) These days you don’t read or hear
Read More...Although many landowners in the Marcellus/Utica (at lease those who are interested) have already signed leases to allow shale drilling on and under their property, not all have. And sometimes leases expire with no drilling. Plus, not all landowners have leases that allow pipelines and other development (like solar projects). The Ohio State University Extension
Read More...A final investment decision on a proposed $6 billion ethane cracker complex in eastern Ohio has been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kallanish Energy reports. That announcement came from PTT Global Chemical America in a May 20 report in The Nation, an English-language newspaper in Bangkok, Thailand. That report was tracked down
Read More...Tom ShepstoneShepstone Management Company, Inc. . … Appalachian shale production has been nothing short of phenomenal and has set the stage for natural gas exports to soar via both LNG ships and pipelines. Yesterday, chatting with a pro-gas friend, we both remarked on the fact the solution to low prices is low prices, just as
Read More...Tom ShepstoneShepstone Management Company, Inc. . … The Philadelphia refinery sale proposed by the debtor makes no sense and unsecured creditors are calling out what may be some serious corruption. I wrote about the proposed bankruptcy sale of a Philadelphia refinery the other day noting things seemed awfully fishy. But, now the rot is becoming
Read More...The Ohio Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Ohio tax commissioner correctly charged Tallgrass Energy’s Rockie Express (REX) pipeline $2 million in excise tax (based on $699 million of income), for gas transported from and to (within) Ohio. REX claimed it did not owe the tax because the same law that exempts gas transported out
Read More...Columbia Gas of Ohio (NiSource) recently announced a new $135 million pipeline project to bring new supplies of Utica-sourced natural gas to homes and businesses located north and west of Columbus, in central Ohio. The project, called the Northern Loop Project, will file for regulatory approval with the Ohio Power Siting Board and hopes the
Read More...Jim WillisEditor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN) Cove Point celebrated loading its 100th container ship of Appalachian shale gas the other day. This facility is shipping our natural all over the globe. Seems like just yesterday that Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG export plant opened for business–in April 2018 (see First-Ever Shipment of Marcellus LNG Leaves Cove
Read More...Drilling is great for local counties when it arrives. Especially for the “supply chain” in those counties–companies that sell goods and services to drilling companies. Everything from retail to convenience stores to restaurants to hotels to trucking companies and more. But what about businesses in nearby counties without any drilling activity? Is there any way
Read More...We’re still feeling the fallout of FirstEnergy’s sleazy campaign to keep their $1 billion ratepayer bailout in Ohio. Last week we told you about FirstEnergy’s Mafia-like tactics in attempting to block petitioners from gathering signatures to overturn House Bill 6 that hands FirstEnergy $1 billion (see FirstEnergy Uses Questionable Tactics Against Referendum Workers). Part of
Read More...A recently-filed class action lawsuit claims Encino Energy and its affiliates underpaid landowners in Columbiana and Carroll counties in Ohio at least $5 million for oil and natural gas royalties, according to Farm and Dairy. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on Oct. 18 by the
Read More...Landowners in Carroll and Columbiana counties (Ohio) have filed a class action lawsuit against Encino Energy claiming the company underpaid oil and natural gas royalties. Last November Encino Acquisition Partners (i.e. Encino Energy) completed its purchase of all of Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica Shale assets for $2 billion (see Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of
Read More...American Electric Power (AEP) recently sealed a deal to sell more than 31,000 acres of land in eastern Ohio to the state of Ohio for $47 million. The state will use it for a state park. However, subsurface rights are not part of the deal. AEP will wisely hold on those rights. At some point
Read More...All we can say is, shame on FirstEnergy. They hired people to block petition gatherers trying to get signatures for a referendum for the November ballot. The tactics used can only be described as bullying–sometimes physical. Workers are trying to get enough signatures on a petition to place a referendum on the November ballot. The
Read More...The effort to overturn nuclear bailout legislation in Ohio is now in the hands of a federal judge, Kallanish Energy reports. Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts, the group that had been circulating petitions against House Bill 6 that would aid two nuclear power plants in Ohio owned by FirstEnergy Solutions, filed a lawsuit seeking more time
Read More...