Under pressure from low commodity prices for natural gas causing a cash deficit for drilling, Chesapeake Energy is looking to sell off some of its oil and gas fields in Texas, Mexico and Oklahoma so it can continue to concentrate on drilling in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale and other “wet gas” areas of the country.
One of the possible locations for a new ethane cracker plant in West Virginia is a 1400-acre parcel of land owned by Bayer Corp. located on the border of Marshall and Wetzel counties. Ahead of an announcement on a cracker plant, Bayer has decided to move forward with leasing the New Martinsville plant for shale gas drilling to Gastar Exploration in a deal expected to net Bayer $30 million over 30 years.
Looking for a way to participate in the Marcellus and Utica Shale economic boom? As an investor, or as a business owner or even as a job seeker, you might want to consider water. Yeah, water. Try these numbers on for size: In 2011, drillers paid somewhere between $1.3-$1.7 billion to dispose of fracking wastewater in the Marcellus Shale. In 10 years it’s estimated to be a $15-$22 billion market—just in the Marcellus Shale.
The Town of Fremont, NY is heading toward a vote to ban hydraulic fracturing. Fremont is in Steuben County, and a ban would adversely affect the property rights of rural landowners in the township.
Although MDN has long pointed out the ideological underpinnings in the opposition of drilling for shale gas, here is yet another brief moment of honesty from an anti-drilling group about their true motivation:
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: