Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jul 3, 2013

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

New York

Slottje Self-Praise Stinks
Natural Gas Now
Recently, a lawyer from Ithaca, New York (albeit one only admitted to the NewYok Bar three years ago), submitted a story to Bill Huston’s blog where he sounded a trumpet of success for himself and his wife Helen (both are pictured below) while engaging in childish ad hominem attacks on those of us proud to be advocates of natural gas development. He sang a self-directed “song of praise” in which he portrays himself and his wife as super heroes in the fight against “Fracking NY” with ordinary folks like me. His name: David Slottje or, as he has become better known to many of us and probably in his own mind as well, “The Great Davidski.”

Ohio

Farmers feel pressure with pipelines expanding
W.C.H. Record-Herald
The development boom around the shale formations in eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania have led to a series of new local pipeline projects, but many farmers in Fayette County and surrounding counties are already familiar with having companies seek permission to lay pipes on their land. Eight pipelines already stretch across the county, transporting natural gas and petroleum products across Ohio from the western United States to markets in the east. The most recently constructed, the 1,679-mile Rockies Express natural gas pipeline, was completed in November 2009.

Shale Play Creates New Customer Base
Ohio Gas & Oil
Recent increases in oil and gas activity in Ohio and nearby states has provided Midflow Services, an oil and gas service business based in Millersburg, with an entirely new customer base. “The recent developments in shale gas technology have opened many doors for Appalachian-based companies like our own as access to the hydrocarbons in tight shale formations has caused increased activity across the U.S.,” said Brant Baker of Midflow Services. “Locally we have seen much larger companies moving in, with aggressive plans to produce the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays.”

Industry, Environmental Groups Agree: Stay Tough on ‘Fracking’ Infractions
Ohio Gas & Oil
Representatives from two state groups with generally opposing viewpoints on energy policy are more like-minded in their positions on companies that illegally dump oilfield wastes. Both Tom Stewart, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, and Jack Shaner, deputy director of the Ohio Environmental Council, told an audience in Columbus in late May that companies caught participating in such activities should lose their operational permits.

Industries Supporting the Industry
Ohio Gas & Oil
The recent oil and gas activity in northeastern Ohio has already brought support industries to the area, with many more, undoubtedly, on the way. Below is a list of the gas processing plants, field offices, and industries that serve the oil and gas industry currently entering the area.

Region Racing to Train Workers
Ohio Gas & Oil
As the crude oil and natural gas industry burgeons in Ohio, Ohioans no doubt will seek to be a part of it. At least one organization, the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) has thought ahead to what that means in terms of training and educating them for related job opportunities. In a press release about serving as a source for workforce training, Rhonda Reda, OOGEEP’s executive director, said, “The oil and gas industry wants to hire Ohioans. Three local schools — The College of Wooster, The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute and the Wayne County Schools Career Center — were identified in the release as providing approved training.

Pennsylvania

Midstate Democrat wants to be PA governor
WHTM ABC Channel 27
Another midstate Democrat wants to be governor. A Lebanon County commissioner announced her candidacy on the Capitol steps on Tuesday. Jo Ellen Litz may not be a name many midstaters recognize. She is considered an underdog by some, but Litz said that is what would make her a good governor. Here is the short list of things she would like to accomplish if elected: Fix unsafe roads and bridges, improve school districts, and create a Marcellus shale tax.

Application deadline for MSC/SGICC Technology Showcase approaching
Pennsylvania Business Central
The Marcellus Shale Coalition’s (MSC) Research Collaborative is sponsoring a Technology Showcase forum as a pre-conference event prior to the SHALE INSIGHT™ 2013 conference in Philadelphia, PA. The forum will provide suppliers of emerging technologies an opportunity to showcase their innovation to the natural gas producer, midstream pipeline, and service community. The pre-conference Technology Showcase presentations will be held on September 24, 2013, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Immediately following the presentations, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., there will be an opportunity for presenters and attendees to network. Additionally, the presenters will be invited to the MSC reception from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on September 25.

National

Phelim We Hardly Knew You
Examiner.com/Bakken Oil Business Journal
This opinion article deals with FrackNation as a pro-hydraulic fracturing for oil & gas documentary. Comments, other than my own, were made by individual landowners in the Pennsylvania area where the controversy about hydraulic fracturing had its inception…

Gastar Exploration Announces Agreement to Sell its Interest in Non-Core Oklahoma Acreage for $62 million
Gastar Exploration/Sys-Con Media
Gastar Exploration Ltd. (“Gastar”) announced today that it has signed a purchase and sale agreement (“PSA”) with an undisclosed third party for the sale of Gastar’s interests in approximately 76,000 net acres in Kingfisher and Canadian counties, Oklahoma for approximately $62.0 million in cash. The agreement also provides for the trading of certain acreage between Gastar and the third party to create more concentrated acreage blocks for both parties. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expect to close in mid-third quarter of 2013.

Judge strikes down federal disclosure rule for oil companies
The Hill
A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a controversial Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would force oil and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments. The decision is a victory for oil industry and business groups that claim the requirements would have imposed costly burdens and forced disclosure of commercially sensitive information.

Pattern Repeats Itself as Josh Fox Goes on Publicity Trail for Gasland Part 2
The Daily Digger
Josh Fox is busy promoting his latest propaganda film, Gasland Part 2, and recently showed up on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes. Each visit follows a similar pattern, with Fox making a series of accusations against the oil and gas industry which are afterward disputed by Energy in Depth (which calls the publicity tour Fox’s misinformation tour) or others.

President’s Climate Change Plan Hinges on Natural Gas
The Energy Collective
President Obama’s much-anticipated speech on climate change emphasized measures affecting our production and use of energy, which accounts for 86% of US emissions of the greenhouse gases implicated in global warming. In its recognition of the ongoing importance of fossil fuels to the economy and inclusion of climate adaptation, it probably represents the most balanced approach on this subject from this White House. However, many of the components of this plan could prove costlier than other solutions that have been debated in recent years.

International

A snapshot: Where unconventional gas is being produced in Canada
The Globe and Mail
While Canada’s unconventional gas development is not yet as robust as production in the United States, the potential is huge. The Canadian Society of Unconventional Gas has estimated that “at current consumption rates, including exports to the United States,” Canada now has “enough gas to supply our needs for the next 100 years or more.” In places like the Bakken formation in southern Saskatchewan (and North Dakota and Montana), in the Horn River basin straddling British Columbia and Alberta and across the Marcellus Shale formation in Appalachia, which extends into Eastern Canada, unconventional gas development is either well under way or it’s being studied by provincial and territorial governments.

That US natural-gas manufacturing boom? It’s happening in Mexico
Quartz
Where the US is faltering, Mexico is taking advantage of all that cheap natural gas to boost factories; last year, pipelines brought more natural gas across the border than ever before. Mexico is already successfully competing with places like China on labor prices, but its energy costs are lower, too. Combine that with its proximity to the United States and deep integration into the American supply chain, and you’ve got a recipe for export-oriented success. Pemex, the country’s state-owned oil company, is spending $3.3 billion to build a new, 750-mile pipeline from Los Ramones, Mexico, near the country’s industrial heartland, to Agua Dulce, near Texas’ shale oil fields.

U.S. Natural Gas Boom Poised to Generate Manufacturing Rennaissance—in Mexico
Slate Magazine
The availability of cheap fracking-derived natural gas in the United States has prompted a lot of speculation about a domestic manufacturing rennaissance, but also a lot of skepticism. Today I read a fascinating report from the Boston Consulting Group that argues the manufacturing boom will be real enough—but it’s going to happen in Mexico.

A Surprising New Twist in the U.S. Natural Gas Market
Oilprice.com
The U.S. natural gas market may be on the verge of a big swing. And it’s not about the talk of the town, Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). It’s about an unexpected source of natural gas demand: Mexico. Mexican imports of U.S. gas have skyrocketed 92% since 2008. And with export capacity projected to grow to over 7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), Mexico could start taking 10% of U.S. production—in a very short time frame, with very low capital costs compared to the LNG boom unfolding.