Update On Takeaway Capacity In The Marcellus / Utica -- May 9, 2017

Active rigs:

	5/9/2017	05/09/2016	05/09/2015	05/09/2014	05/09/2013
Active Rigs	49	28	84	192	183

RBN Energy: another update on the Marcellus / Utica gas pipeline takeaway projects.

For years now, limited natural gas pipeline takeaway capacity has constrained gas production growth in the Marcellus/Utica natural gas shale plays in the Northeast.

To fix that, a slew of pipeline projects were planned to relieve the constraints as regional supply began outstripping demand starting in 2014.

Now, the region is on the verge of being unconstrained for the first time since the Shale Revolution hit Appalachia. Many of those projects have come online since then, and another 19 expansions totaling 15.5 Bcf/d are planned for completion by late 2019.

If all goes as expected, this next round of projects should turn the Northeast market on its head again, as the capacity additions should start to outpace production growth. The problem, though, is that several projects have faced significant challenges in recent months, resulting in either cancellation or major delays.

At the same time, Marcellus/Utica production growth has slowed dramatically in the past 18 months or so. In today’s blog, “In a Northeast Minute…Everything Can Change — An Update of Marcellus/Utica Takeaway Projects,” Sheetal Nasta begins a series looking at the status of regional takeaway capacity expansions.

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A Note To The Granddaughters

Two new books on the nightstand, the first being:

Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, The Man Who Wrote 'Dracula', by David J. Skal, c.2016. A review here.

I have always wanted to read a biography of Bram Stoker. Some/much (a key par) of Dracula was conceived at Whitby, northern Yorkshire, of which I have fond memories. I hiked the coast from coast from Robin Hood's Bay to Whitby one summer Saturday many years ago. It was an incredible trek. I spent the day in Whitby, awed by the Whitby Abbey, and then walked back on an inland road to Robin Hood's Bay where I left the car. According to Google Maps, the trek back was 5.5 miles and would have take almost two hours.

The coast route was incredibly challenging, walking on top of the cliffs, not on the beach.

The second book:

The Lost Landscape: A Writer's Coming of Age, Joyce Carol Oates, c. 2015.  

At one time I cared not for Joyce Carol Oates but that has all changed. It was an article in some newspaper some weeks ago that changed all my thoughts about this author. I don't remember the specifics. I have read very little of her work but what I have read, I have enjoyed. It should be interesting to read this memoir.

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Another Note To The Granddaughters

Breakfast prepared for Sophia by her two older sisters this past Sunday: