Marcellus/Utica News: Antero buying Crestwood WV gathering assets

Crestwood Equity Partners has assets in multiple U.S. shale plays. (Map: Crestwood Equity Partners.)

Antero Midstream, the pipeline subsidiary of Antero Resources, is buying Crestwood Equity Partners’ remaining Marcellus assets for $205 million. The assets include 72 miles of dry gas gathering pipelines and nine compressor stations with approximately 700 MMcf/d of compression capacity located in Doddridge and Harrison counties in West Virginia. Antero Resources is one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica (with major assets in WV). The company is the fifth largest natural gas producer in the country and the second largest LNG exporter. Antero Midstream (NYSE: AM) is 30% owned by Antero Resources, and the rest is owned by investors. However, for all intents and purposes, Antero Midstream is controlled by Antero Resources.

NTSB final report on Kentucky TETCO explosion

On August 1, 2019, one of three Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) pipelines exploded in Lincoln County, Kentucky, killing one, sending six to the hospital, destroying four homes, and damaging 14 other homes. TETCO’s pipelines are a major conduit for Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast, and for a time, all flows heading south on TETCO stopped. The federal PHMSA and NTSB both investigated the accident. Nine months after the explosion, the PHMSA issued a report/corrective action identifying a “hard spot” in the pipeline. Hard spots are changes in the hardness of the pipe caused during the manufacturing process–i.e., a manufacturing defect. PHMSA said their analysis showed there were 12 hard spots in the section of pipe that failed in Lincoln County. The NTSB recently issued a final report identifying several factors that contributed to the explosion and fire. The NTSB final report concurs that hard spots played an important role. However, other factors also played a part, including a “degraded pipeline coating and ineffective cathodic protection,” which led to “hydrogen-induced cracking at the outer surface of the pipe.”

EQT backs WV for hydrogen hub

In something of a shocker, EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country with its headquarters (and most major drilling operations) in Pennsylvania, is throwing its weight and support behind a coalition in West Virginia to attract one of the regional hydrogen hubs (worth $1 billion or more in taxpayer investment) provided for under the Inflation Reduction Act to the Mountain State. EQT is one of the main players in a new coalition called the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). Other big energy companies supporting ARCH2 include Williams, Dominion Energy, CNX Resources, and New Fortress Energy.

Additional news from U.S. shale plays are available on the latest monthly issue of COMPRESSORtech2. James Willis is founder and editor of Marcellus Drilling News.