Takeaway capacity continues to be a main concern for the Marcellus and Utica. In the latest construction updates, Williams’ binding open season for the regional energy access expansion of its Transco pipeline ended in April. It’s yet to be approved by regulators, but will bring about 1 bcf/ per day of natural gas from the Marcellus shale to northeastern U.S. delivery points in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. TransCanada recently gained FERC approval to increase gas flow on its Mountaineer Xpress project and begin operating the Gulf Xpress, both linking Appalachian gas with demand markets.
The West Virginia Supreme Court has been busy lately, deciding cases pertaining to surface rights. Earlier this month, the court upheld a lower court ruling in a case against Antero Resources that threw out a collection of lawsuits arguing Antero’s operation in the Cherry Camp area had created a nuisance. The case was brought by residents in Harrison County who did not have wells located on their property but attempted to argue the horizontal drilling underneath their property violated their surface rights. The ruling follows the unanimous decision by the West Virginia Supreme Court in a case involving EQT Corp. stating that gas companies no longer may drill on one person’s property to reach gas reserves underneath adjacent tracts without permission of the surface owner.
In other EQT news, the ongoing battle with Rice brothers Toby and Derek escalated again with EQT issuing a letter to shareholders addressing what it says are false and misleading statements about the company’s financial performance by rice. In a recent interview with Reuters, Toby Rice accused EQT’s current management of ignoring Rice Energy’s best practices for drilling wells and utilizing technology in the production process, as well as discarding most of Rice Energy's senior management in the wake of the merger.
Related articles:
Recommended Reading
Wayangankar: Golden Era for US Natural Gas Storage – Version 2.0
2024-04-19 - While the current resurgence in gas storage is reminiscent of the 2000s —an era that saw ~400 Bcf of storage capacity additions — the market drivers providing the tailwinds today are drastically different from that cycle.
Ozark Gas Transmission’s Pipeline Supply Access Project in Service
2024-04-18 - Black Bear Transmission’s subsidiary Ozark Gas Transmission placed its supply access project in service on April 8, providing increased gas supply reliability for Ozark shippers.
Kinder Morgan Sees Need for Another Permian NatGas Pipeline
2024-04-18 - Negative prices, tight capacity and upcoming demand are driving natural gas leaders at Kinder Morgan to think about more takeaway capacity.
Scathing Court Ruling Hits Energy Transfer’s Louisiana Legal Disputes
2024-04-17 - A recent Energy Transfer filing with FERC may signal a change in strategy, an analyst says.
Balticconnector Gas Pipeline Will be in Commercial Use Again April 22, Gasgrid Says
2024-04-17 - The Balticconnector subsea gas link between Estonia and Finland was damaged in October along with three telecoms cables.