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Radio Show Recap 11-26-11
This week’s radio show featured returning guest Rick Stauffer of Gas Business Briefing, as well as Eric Planey, Vice-President of International Business Attraction at Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber. The show begins with an update on the Marcellus world from Rick, and continues to focus on the Youngstown, Ohio Utica and Natural Gas Conference to be held at the Covelli Centre on November 30th.
What you will learn from the radio broadcast:
- New legislation in West Virginia raises drilling fees. What does this mean for surrounding areas?
- Two PA congressmen open a port in Philadelphia to foreign vessels thus giving access to an ethane refinery. The ethane comes from Western PA and Northern WV and will be shipped to foreign countries.
- A study done by Bentek Energy claims that Natural Gas Liquid production will rise to 3.1 million barrels per day within the next 5 years rendering current infrastructure inadequate.
- The Delaware River Basin Commission continues to postpone its vote to allow drilling due to opposition from New York and the governor of Delaware.
- The Youngstown, Ohio Utica and Natural Gas Conference
- The conference has 65 exhibitors and 720 business attendees– an entirely sold out production. There is a session open to the public from 10 am to 1 pm.
- The Youngstown area has recently been thriving with help from foreign investment, the return of the steel industry, and arrival of the natural gas industry. The conference will cover a wide variety of topics ranging from pipeline development to environmental concerns and everything in between.
Excerpts from the show:
Rick Stauffer on pending legislation– The US congress approved a bill that was supposed to be about yachts moving in and out of US ports, which is needed because the Jones Act prohibits foreign flagged vessels. Two PA legislators inserted a clause into the bill allowing waivers for tankers to pull into the port for access to the ethane refinery in Philadelphia, thus making it possible for them to fill up with ethane from Western PA and northern WV. Consequently, the ethane can be shipped down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Rick Stuffer- The West Virginia Joint Committee on Marcellus shale is in charge of putting together regulations for the state. They approved a bill that raises permit fees to $10,000 for the first well and $5000 for each well after that, which compares to a $400 general permit fee in place now. They also have to pay a $2500 one time property tax payment. The bill has to go to the governor who will call a special legislative session.
Tejas Gosai- We have been on top of this industry for a long time, and we need to have a competitive advantage in the state for us to secure the jobs. That is why Corbett isn’t taxing the industry. Everyone thought he was crazy, but now we can see that is the reason the jobs are still here. But it is friendly competition; we do have a way to link this up and that comes with the pipelines.
