PTT Global America signs deal for natural gas liquids storage facility

PTT Global Chemical America has signed an agreement to develop a natural gas liquids storage facility to serve its proposed $6 billion ethane cracker in eastern Ohio, according to Kallanish Energy. The company made the announcement Wednesday. The deal is with Energy Storage Ventures LLC through its wholly-owned subsidiary Mountaineer NGL Storage, who will develop

Read More...

Methane Leaks A Phony Issue When It Comes to These Pipelines

Jim WillisEditor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN) The DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory just did a study of some Appalachian shale gathering pipelines and found no significant methane leaks. It’s such a breath of fresh air (and so rare) when we spot actual, in-the-field, real science being done. So many times the “studies” we see published

Read More...

New Study Shows No Leaks in Utica Shale Gathering Pipelines

It’s such a breath of fresh air (and so rare) when we spot actual, in-the-field, real science being done. So many times the “studies” we see published are nothing more than rehashed interpretations, speculation, and outright fabrications parading as scientific inquiry. We spotted a new study published just yesterday in the journal MDPI Atmosphere by

Read More...

Belmont County, OH Landowner Group a Huge Success

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...

Ohio State University Offering Shale Leasing, DMA Webinars in June

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...

FID postponed on $6B Ohio ethane cracker

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...

Natural Gas Exports Set to Soar Thanks to Appalachian Shale

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...

Refinery Sale Suggests Philadelphia May Be More Rotten Than Denmark

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...

OH Supreme Court Rules REX Pipe Owes $2M in Excise Tax

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 Plans New NatGas Pipeline in Central Ohio

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...

Cove Point Celebrates Sending Our Marcellus Shale Gas Across the Globe

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...

Ohio’s Non-Drilling Counties Look to Profit from Utica Shale Too

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...

OH Lawmakers Plan to Block Foreign Ownership of Power Plants

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...

Lawsuit claims Encino underpaid landowners at least $5M for royalties

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...

Ohio Landowners Sue Encino Energy for Shorting Royalties

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...