Triana Energy

In the class-action Tawney case (2009), in West Virginia, people who sold natural gas to Chesapeake and its predecessors — Triana Energy, NiSource Inc. and Columbia Natural Resources — alleged they were cheated out of some of their royalty payments, according to a since disappered StockAnalyst item: “Roane Gas Royalties Deal OKd, NiSource, Chesapeake to Pay $380 Million, Drop Federal Appeals”; the jury agreed.

Morgan Stanley PE committed funding to Henry Harmon’s Marcellus-shale-focused start-up reported by Hart Energy’s Oil and Gas Investor Blog on Triana Energy LLC; roughly a year ago, shortly before Kohlberg Kravis Roberts invested $350 million in Terrence Pegula’s Marcellus-focused East Resources.

Triana Energy is involved in the ongoing development of new energy resources in the Appalachian Basin.

Who invented fracking? Was it George Mitchell? The U.S. Government? Both?

George Phydias Mitchell (May 21, 1919 – July 26, 2013) was an American businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist from Texas credited with pioneering the economic extraction of shale gas.^[1]

See also: Nissa Darbonne. Did Obama Invent The Shale-Gas Industry? The Energy Excerpt From ‘The State Of The Union’ Address. 24 Jan 2012. Oil and Gas Investor.

President Obama devoted 6.5 full minutes to energy in his more than 70-minute, annual “State of the Union” address this evening. Several remarks were confounding, such as stating support of the U.S. natural gas industry yet for suspending tax breaks to oil companies: With rare exception, U.S. oil companies are natural gas companies. Also, these tax breaks—or “subsidies,” which is the nomenclature used by the anti-energy—are the same breaks provided to all U.S. manufacturers.

Also, Obama credits the federal government with inventing the U.S. shale-gas industry, while it is widely known that industry veteran George Mitchell did this with private-investment risk and during more than 20 years of prodding technology to make hard rock give up abundant gas.
Nissa Darbonne. Did Obama Invent The Shale-Gas Industry? The Energy Excerpt From ‘The State Of The Union’ Address. 24 Jan 2012. Oil and Gas Investor.

(Editor’s Note. 2 Dec 2023) See also: Bob Weaver. Calhoun’s deep well dreams – Resting In The Stars. 2008 (re-published 11 Jul 2023). The Hur Herald.

This remarkable personal view of gas drilling in Roane County, West Virginia and its impact on the local economy was a save, found from the lost Internet and re-posted by the Hur Herald on West Virginia dreams lost.

Over thirty years have passed since one of West Virginia’s first experimental wells was drilled at Mount Zion, Calhoun County.

Local residents remember the secrecy when Exxon and Consolidated Gas erected the giant rig between Route 16 and Pine Creek.

Even more memorable was the companies denial of hitting gas, thus lowering expectations.

Local residents remember explosive booms from the site, knocking pictures from the wall. The nearly two year project, reaching deep in the earth 20,000 feet, was essentially declared a dry hole. Few believed the denials.

Then the deep well dream exploded in the region and county.

The search for potential deep well sites in Calhoun peaked with about 200 locations under contract, becoming a hotbed for research and future deep well development.

There are lots of traditional wells being developed in the county, right now.

The state is home to about 45,000 active wells, and each year nearly 3,000 new well permits are granted.

The gas corporations have kept themselves in the background for years, but they’re now becoming pro-active with a major advertising campaign promoting their interests, and seeking legislation that will benefit their business interests.

They are investing at least one billion new dollars in the state.

DEEP WELL DREAMS

Most companies say a plethora of new super-deep wells are only a year or two away.

In Calhoun, during the early 2000’s, the County Clerk’s record room was filled with elbow-to-elbow abstractors.

Seismic earth thumpers and high-tech researchers strung miles of lines and connected hundreds of devices, covering every inch of the county, prognosticating where the best pockets might be.

Millions have likely been spent on “looking.”

Calhoun’s more recent deep wells near Nobe Road and on Route 5 were declared disappointing.

Some drillers say they were too cautious, drilling “overbalanced.” The mud suspension used to keep the gas from blowing out may have gotten into the formation, sealing off the supply.

One of the drillers, Ardent, went belly-up.

Conflicts reportedly surfaced between some local holders and Ardent over drilling boundaries and rights, and the project was interrupted by a major land slide on the edge of the Ardent site, above Route 5.

Chesapeake Energy, after losing a suit over royalty rights in Roane County, threatened to leave the state, but they have continued with dozens of proposed deep drilling projects in Roane and other areas.

While there has been a cooling down on deep well drilling, the cooling period is likely over in 2007.

There are great reserves of natural gas in this region, possibly one of the world’s greatest deposits.

Dominion Exploration & Production, Chesapeake Energy, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Triana Energy and many others have made announcements proudly touting new jobs being created and new investments being made in West Virginia.

SMALL BENEFITS FOR POOR, RURAL COUNTIES

What it means to local citizens is another story.

Layers of laws and regulations surround deep well drilling, many of them open to interpretation. They will directly affect what benefits our rural communities might receive from this “boom,” if any.

Understanding tax methods becomes difficult when production numbers are held back for about two years. Some researchers say discrepancies in values is a problem, metering stations several miles from wells being the “point of sale,” mixing producing wells, along with the longevity and depletion rates.

Then there is the introduction of horiziontal drilling, a debacle for royalty holders.

Historians who have studied the extraction of energy and natural products from West Virginia, conclude the richest areas have received the least benefit, poor roads, infrastructure and residual joblessness.

The greatest pockets of poverty are above or on the greatest resources.

John O’Brien’s Pulitzer-nominated book “At Home in the Heart of Appalachia” defines Appalachia’s legacy, victims of rapacious greed and exploitation. A sad and painful tale, never-ending.

The Calhoun Commission and the Board of Education, a few years ago passed a resolution asking for a fair shake with deep well drilling.

There was no response.

It asked for “fairness in taxation on the production of deep well drilling,” or what citizens could reasonably expect to be returned to the community. It asked government and developers to consider “our rights and needs.“

West Virginia has a long history of extractors pillaging the mountain state. That never seems to change.

Such desires and wishes may only rest in the stars.
Bob Weaver. Calhoun’s deep well dreams – Resting In The Stars. 2008 (re-published 11 Jul 2023). The Hur Herald.

See also: Jim Balow. “Doth Chesapeake protest too much?”. The Charleston Gazette. March 12, 2009.

Remember how Chesapeake Energy folks complained (is whined too strong a word?) about the 2007 Roane County Circuit Court jury award of about $404 million in compensation and penalties?

In the class-action “Tawney case,” people who sold natural gas to Chesapeake and its predecessors — Triana Energy, NiSource Inc. and Columbia Natural Resources — alleged they were cheated out of some of their royalty payments, and the jury agreed.

Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon, in his parting shot at the state last month, said the W.Va. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear an appeal of the Tawney case had a lot to do with the company’s decisions to cancel plans to build a $40 million regional headquarters in Charleston and, ultimately, eliminate 215 valuable jobs here.

You might logically conclude Chesapeake was forced to fork over $404 million to its gas lease-holders and their lawyers. You would be wrong.

As the Gazette’s Ken Ward reported last Oct. 25, the Roane Circuit Court approved a preliminary settlement in the Tawney case in which NiSource Inc. — not Chesapeake — would pay most of the bill.

NiSource, which bought Columbia Natural Resources and then sold it a few years later, announced it would pay $338.8 of the proposed $380 million settlement. The Indiana energy company sold CNR to Triana Energy, which in turn sold it to Chesapeake in 2005.

That meant Chesapeake, at most, was on the hook for $41.2 million — a far cry from the original $404 million jury award. At the time, Chesapeake didn’t even issue a press release, like NiSource did, so it would seem the matter was not all that important to the company.

Chesapeake said as much in its quarterly financial report (10-Q) a few weeks later to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and again in its annual 10-K report March 2 (page 30). To wit:

The Circuit Court for Roane County, West Virginia approved the settlement following a fairness hearing on November 22, 2008, and entered an order to discharge the judgment on January 21, 2009. Chesapeake’s share of the settlement fund was approximately $41 million, which amount had previously been fully reserved.

As the company said in the Nov. 10, 2008, 10-Q report (page 14):

Chesapeake believes this litigation will not have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.

So, in the inimitable words of Clara Peller, where’s the beef?
Jim Balow. “Doth Chesapeake protest too much?”. The Charleston Gazette. March 12, 2009.

Triana Energy and Marathon Oil Corporation Join Forces to Develop Marcellus Acreage

CHARLESTON, WV, February 3, 2011 Triana Energy, LLC and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO), through a wholly owned subsidiary, have joined forces to develop approximately 82,000 acres of Marcellus prospects in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and several counties in northern West Virginia.

Triana Energy Investments, LLC is an independent, privately held oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia. Marathon is an integrated international energy company engaged in exploration and production; oil sands; integrated gas; and refining, marketing and transportation operations. Marathon, which is based in Houston, has principal operations in the United States, Angola, Canada, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Libya, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

See also: MacArthur Fellow and West Virginian Ken Ward Jr. video and collected works on Fracking Resource Guide below: