Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 21, 2013

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

Ohio

ODNR Releases 2012 Utica Shale Production Results
Oil & Gas Law Report
The first production from Ohio’s Utica Shale was realized in 2011 and reported on March 31, 2012. That data showed that merely nine Utica wells were in production during some part of 2011 — all drilled by Chesapeake Appalachian, LLC. Six of those wells were located in Carroll County. The remaining data came from wells in Portage, Harrison and Mahoning counties. Though none of those nine wells were in production for all of 2011 (all but two were in production for less than six months), combined they still produced 2.56 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 46,326 barrels of oil, which amounted to 3.5% of the state’s overall gas production and 1% of oil production for that year. These are impressive statistics considering that Ohio had more than 50,000 conventional (vertical) wells reporting production in 2011.

Ohio Controlling Board Approves Stark State Plan for Shale Oil, Gas Program Building
Ohio Gas & Oil
Lawmakers have signed off on Stark State’s plans to buy a building in downtown Canton to house the college’s growing shale oil and gas programs. The $4.9 million purchase, approved by the state Controlling Board Monday, will consolidate Stark State’s energy industry training in one location that eventually will include “gas tank batteries, pump jacks, natural gas collection and distribution systems and other industrial service equipment,” according to documents. The state has earmarked $10 million for the project.

Pennsylvania

Fracking wastewater still in the market for a solution
Pittsburgh Business Times
Every time a new frackwater treatment technology comes to town, I wonder: isn’t this market saturated? Isn’t all the wastewater recycling an indication that producers have found their preferred solutions? And every time the companies pushing those technologies sound an emphatic no to both. And even to the recycling part. Today’s no comes from Jim Wood, CEO of ThermoEnergy Corp. in Massachussets, which is trying to hook contracts in the Marcellus Shale and talking with operators in Canonsburg.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent of Natural Gas Crimes
Natural Gas Now
A recent incident in Franklin Forks, Pennsylvania, demonstrates just how easily the record can be distorted on natural gas development by special interests determined to exploit accusations, assertions and speculation as if they were facts.

National

DOE Lets Out A Little More of the Shale Gale
NGI’s Shale Daily (paid or free trial subscription required)
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) apparently has come to the conclusion that U.S. shale gas is too good a thing to not share with the rest of the world in larger quantities. Last week, DOE conditionally authorized the export of up to 1.4 Bcf/d of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Freeport LNG Terminal on Quintana Island, TX, to non-Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries for 20 years. It is the second such approval the department has granted, and numerous other projects are in line to see if/when they will secure the same.

Gas Export Approval Not Seen Signaling U.S. Permit Flood
Bloomberg
The conditional approval of a natural gas export terminal in Texas doesn’t necessarily open the floodgates for overseas sales as the U.S. weighs how best to use its growing energy resources. The U.S. Energy Department said yesterday that exports from the Freeport LNG project, partly owned by Dow Chemical Co. and Osaka Gas Co., according to the venture’s website, offered net economic benefits and reflected the “transformative impact” of record gas production from hydraulic fracturing in shale rock formations.

Shale fracking proves $30 billion-a-year boon to waste disposal industry
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Oil and gas fracking represents a $200 billion-a-year capital investment, and the companies doing the drilling are spending between $20 billion and $30 billion on waste disposal, said Michael Hoffman, managing director at Wunderlich Securities, during a seminar on waste management investment on the first day of the WasteExpo 2013 Conference and Exposition in New Orleans.

Scientists find new tools for tracing fracking impacts
Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice
Researchers in the Rice University chemistry professor’s laboratory have developed nanoparticles that will flow with the fluid used to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells, slip through rocks and travel wherever the water ends up – in a holding pond at the surface, a tanker on the highway or, in a worst-case scenario, a nearby drinking water well. The particles, which can bear unique magnetic signatures tailored to each fracking company that uses them, have the potential to clarify the troubled debate over whether and how oil and gas extraction damages water supplies.

Obama Enrages Greens with New Fracking Rules
The American Interest
The Obama administration may be softening its stance on fracking. The Interior Department has just released long-awaited revisions to proposed rules governing fracking on federal land. The administration’s first round of proposed updates last year disappointed natural gas producers, who cited concerns that the rules would be too restrictive and would force companies to disclose trade secrets. The latest revisions suggest that the administration has been listening to the industry’s complaints—or at least some of them.

$2B in Tax Revenue Expected from Shale-Driven Chemical Projects
NGI’s Shale Daily (paid or free trial subscription required)
Nearly 100 shale gas-driven chemical industry projects in the United States — worth about $71.7 billion — will generate $20 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue by 2020, according to an analysis released Monday by the American Chemistry Council. “Shale Gas, Competitiveness, and New U.S. Chemical Industry Investment — An Analysis of Announced Projects,” examined 97 announced chemical and plastics projects; it is the third in a series of ACC reports.

Frack Chic
The American Interest
Flame-resistant overalls are the latest reason to be optimistic about America’s future. The US shale boom is creating plenty of new jobs in the oil and gas industry, but it’s having a number of knock-on effects as well. Energy-intensive industries have been bolstered by the influx of cheap natural gas, for example. And a new sector has appeared to help support the rapidly growing number of oil and gas workers in America. Firms that feed, house, and, as the the WSJ reports, clothe these workers are capitalizing on this energy revolution, too.

Ultra Petroleum – The Rebound In Natural Gas Prices Should Continue Through 2015
Seeking Alpha
So what does the Ultra Petroleum management team think about natural gas prices in the near term? The recent first quarter conference call contained some useful comments from the Ultra guys…

The Hottest North American Shale Plays: Josh Young
Seeking Alpha
Not all the shale plays are created equal, and one in particular is bucking the trend with robust economics and company share prices that show it. But is it too late to buy in? Fund Manager Josh Young doesn’t think so, and he sat down with The Energy Report to discuss the hottest [and coldest] North American shale plays. Read on to find out where he’s finding bargains that could pay off handsomely.