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Showing posts from May, 2020

The "Great Shale Shut-In" is Happening

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From Bloomberg: American shale explorers are rapidly crimping production in the country’s most prolific oil fields as the worst price crash in history threatens the industry’s survival.  Three of the biggest oil explorers in the U.S. -- Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., and ConocoPhillips -- plan to curb as much as 660,000 barrels a day of combined American output by the end of June. Across the county, crude production by all companies has already tumbled about 1 million barrels a day since mid-March, when OPEC and its allies clinched an historic deal to trim global supply.  It’s too soon to tell how long the reductions will last but if implemented for a full year, they would overshadow any previous American production slide going back to at least 1984. Moreover, the pull-back puts the U.S. on track to fulfill the Trump administration’s pledge to removing 2 million barrels of daily supplies through market attrition.  With the new reductions announced just two weeks after crude

ODNR Releases Updated Well Activity Maps for May 2020

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Utica Rig Count Hangs in Single Digits

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WEEK ENDING 05/02/20 New permits issued last week:   7  (Previous updated week (02/29/20):  3 )   +4 Total horizontal permits issued:  3254  (Previous week:  3200 )    +54 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2748  (Previous week:  2724 )   +24 Total horizontal wells producing:  2483  (Previous week:  2451 )   +32 Utica rig count:  9  (Previous week:  10 )   -1

Encino Energy Supports 630 Frontline Workers

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Ohio AG Case Against Rover Pipeline Will Come Before State Supreme Court

From The Canton Repository: The Supreme Court of Ohio will hear the state’s case against Rover Pipeline over alleged environmental violations during the pipeline’s construction.  The justices formally accepted the case last week, but have yet to announce a date to hear arguments.  The question before the court is whether the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency gave up its right to enforce water pollution laws concerning the pipeline.  Rover transports natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus shale regions to southern Michigan. From there it goes to other users in the United States and Canada. Texas-based Energy Transfer owns the pipeline.  Rover’s twin 42-inch-diameter mainlines cross northern Ohio, including Stark, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Wayne, Ashland and Richland counties.  The Ohio Attorney General sued Rover and its subcontractors in Stark County Common Pleas Court in November 2017.  The state said Rover violated environmental laws in more than a dozen counties. The v

Belmont County Cracker Plant Decision Delayed Indefinitely

From Allegheny Front: A decision about building a petrochemical plant in Ohio, 65 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, has been put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. After five years of consideration, PTT-Global Chemical America, based in Thailand, and its South Korean partner Daelim Chemical, had expected to make a final investment decision this summer. In a statement, the companies now say they are unable to promise a firm timeline, but it remains a “top priority.” Like Shell’s plant under construction in Beaver County, Pa., the facility would use ethane, abundant in the region from fracking in the Marcellus and Utica shale, to make ethylene and polyethylene, the building blocks of many plastic products.  The first phase of site preparation and engineering work has been completed at the site, along the Ohio River, and the companies say they are continuing to invest in demolition of vacant structures in the surrounding neighborhood. The local community recently approved tax