Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jan 10, 2013

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

Ohio

Big natural-gas driller, founder in cash crunches
The Columbus Dispatch
Investigations dog Chesapeake, McClendon as company struggles with slumping prices, debt; executive’s leadership post seen as tenuous.

Pennsylvania

Pa. shale producers garnering support to allow more exports
Philadelphia Inquirer
Pennsylvania natural-gas producers are stepping up a campaign to lobby the White House to allow more fuel exports and accelerate drilling in the Marcellus Shale region.

Center for Coalfield Justice hears coal and gas concerns
O-R Online
Health of community. Water quality. Truck traffic. Noise. Fracking. Industry responsibility. These were among the concerns and messages conveyed by audience members at a spirited community meeting Tuesday night in the social hall of Mt. Pleasant Township Volunteer Fire Department.

National

Study: Sampled Wells in Fayetteville Shale Play Not Contaminated
ArkansasMatters.com
A study that examined the water quality of 127 shallow domestic wells in the Fayetteville Shale natural gas production area of Arkansas found no groundwater contamination associated with gas production.

Natural-Gas Rally Fizzles
Wall Street Journal
The rally in natural-gas prices that began last summer has stalled, spelling trouble for gas producers from behemoths like Exxon Mobil Corp. to smaller players like Southwestern Energy Co.–and especially companies like Chesapeake Energy Corp. that bet big on rising prices.

Why Natural Gas Will Stay Cheap in 2013
BusinessWeek
Six weeks ago, natural gas bulls were riding high. By Thanksgiving, prices had more than doubled since hitting a decade low of $1.90 per million BTUs in April.

US Report Predicts Rising Natural Gas
Energy Tribune
Marcellus Shale drillers who have had to cut costs and disassemble rigs because of recent record-low natural gas prices should expect a reprieve over the next two years, according to the latest projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Energy offices flock to Vancouver as natural gas projects gather steam
Financial Post
British Columbia’s deep-rooted environmentalism is about to get a much stronger counterpoint as a growing number of energy giants establish a corporate presence on the West Coast.