Utica Shale

EQT Corp. and a unit of NextEra Energy Inc. are offering capacity on a new pipeline project from the Marcellus and Utica shales to interconnecting pipelines that serve the Southeast. The 330-mile project is called Mountain Valley Pipeline.

An environmental group says Sunoco Logistics Partners LP is trying to circumvent local zoning ordinances in Pennsylvania by applying for an exemption with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) for its Mariner East pipeline.

Gastar Exploration Inc. said Monday that it’s once again facing production constraints in the Marcellus Shale after its third-party midstream operator experienced another pipeline rupture in West Virginia last month, but said the problem would be offset by volumes from recently completed wells in the Midcontinent.

Despite the Utica Shale’s historic rise over the last five years in eastern Ohio, there remains significant uncertainty among investors who are not yet convinced by its limited data and gassy production profile, especially at a time when development elsewhere is on the upswing and the market still favors oil heavily.

Affiliates of American Energy Partners LP (AELP) are picking up acreage in Texas, Ohio and West Virginia in a trio of deals worth a combined $4.25 billion, marking American Energy’s entry into the Permian Basin and the southern Marcellus Shale, and its continued expansion in the Utica Shale.

MarkWest Energy Partners LP plans to double the propane and heavier fractionation capacity at its Hopedale complex in Harrison County, OH, with an expansion expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2015.

Economics and long-term production are driving Rice Energy Inc., the new kid on the Marcellus-Utica block, bent on making the most of its core areas.

Range Resources Corp. CEO Jeffrey Ventura said Wednesday at the DUG East Conference in Pittsburgh that his company is on track to soon begin drilling southwest Pennsylvania’s first unconventional Utica/Point Pleasant Shale well.

As expected, Summit Midstream Partners LLC has exercised its option to acquire a 40% interest in two companies developing midstream infrastructure in southeast Ohio, under a deal that found it entering the Utica Shale in December when it agreed to purchase the assets of Blackhawk Midstream LLC (see Shale Daily,Dec. 23, 2013).