From Climate Nexus, November 06, 2017

Millions of gallons of drilling fluid leaked into Ohio wetlands during construction of the Rover Pipeline. Ohio EPA

After months of conflict, the state of Ohio officially filed suit against Energy Transfer Partners Friday for pollution caused by its Rover Pipeline.

Rover has racked more “noncompliance incidents” than any other interstate gas pipeline and leaked more than two million gallons of drilling mud into protected Ohio wetlands this spring, leading the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order a temporary halt to construction.

The Ohio EPA claims that Energy Transfer Partners—which also owns the Dakota Access Pipeline—has refused to pay multiple fines from construction of the 713-mile pipeline and owes the state $2.3 million. Elsewhere in Ohio, the AP reported that legal resistance to an Enbridge/DTE Energy natural gas pipeline is growing, led by the city of Green’s mayor Gerard Neugebauer.

“I’m not opposing oil and gas,” Neugebauer told the AP. “What I’m saying is that you should not go through populated areas when you put in a pipeline.”

“It takes just one judge to say you can’t build this here because this is wrong,” Neugebauer added. “I hold out hope that this will come.”

Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/ohio-pipeline-lawsuit-2507089972.html/

By Jack Farchy, Dakin Campbell, and Javier Blas, Bloomberg News Service, August 18, 2017

>>> Loss was more than $100 million, Wall Street Journal reports

>>> Commodities unit posted worst quarter since firm went public

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lost money trading natural gas in the second quarter, one reason its commodities business posted the worst financial results since the firm went public in 1999.

The loss resulted from failing to properly hedge bets on the direction of gas prices, and was one of several areas in which the business suffered, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing non-public information.

Goldman Sachs lost more than $100 million on a wager that gas prices in Ohio and Pennsylvania would rise, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier Friday. Instead, prices fell sharply in May and June.

Chief Financial Officer Marty Chavez said last month that the poor performance in commodities resulted from the “market backdrop” and lower client activity. He said the firm “didn’t navigate the market as well as we aspired to or as well as we have in the past.”

Goldman Sachs, for decades the leading commodities trader on Wall Street, has been reviewing the business after declining volatility and increased regulatory scrutiny hurt profit. Its commitment to the division in recent years set it apart from competitors Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG, which cut back or exited commodities trading.

Natural Gas Now Coming from Drilling & Fracking

The gas market has been whipsawed by developments with the $4.2 billion Rover pipeline, one of the biggest lines set for the U.S.’s most prolific shale producing region in Appalachia. Once fully operational, Rover will be able to transport 3.25 billion cubic feet a day, or 13 percent of current Appalachian gas production.

The Marcellus Shale, primarily in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, has been the powerhouse behind the shale-gas revolution of the past decade. Gas volume quickly outpaced pipeline capacity, which has been hindered by public backlash over safety and environmental concerns. Transport bottlenecks have turned Appalachia into one of the most volatile gas trades.

Prices at the Dominion South Point hub, a proxy for the region’s gas production, dropped to a record low of 29 cents per million British thermal units on Sept. 30, or $2.55 less than the Henry Hub in Louisiana, the delivery point for New York futures. The spread between the two is closely watched by traders. The 100-day volatility for Dominion South Point is almost three times higher than Henry Hub.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-18/goldman-s-losing-bet-on-gas-said-to-hurt-second-quarter-results