Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 14, 2013

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

New York

Cuomo’s Choice: Blue Collars or Blue Bloods?
Energy in Depth – NMI
It seems Governor Cuomo has decided to sell out Upstate New York and its workers by putting natural gas development on hold. Reports claim Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. convinced Cuomo the health risk was too great and he should await the results of a Pennsylvania health study for which there is no scheduled deliverable. It suggests there is a lot more to the story and, of course, there is.

Ohio

New Map Brings Utica Play into Sharper Focus
Youngstown Business Journal
After more than a year of drilling in the Utica shale in eastern Ohio, energy companies have a better understanding of the areas that hold the most potential for oil and gas exploration.

Chesapeake Gets New Well Permit for Columbiana
Youngstown Business Journal
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources approved a new horizontal well permit for Columbiana County last week, while another well is slated for Mercer County in western Pennsylvania, records show.

Engineers Say Shale Gas Developments Impacting Greater Cleveland Jobs & Economy
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Companies in Greater Cleveland are feeling the impact of developments in the Utica and Marcellus shale fields in a good way.

Drilling industry could create population spike in Ohio
Ohio.com
Ohio’s fledgling oil and gas industry has spawned a frenzy of investment and drilling in the state, but it hasn’t resulted in any significant population growth in the shale region. At least not yet.

Utica Shale Players Q4 Conference Calls Update
Seeking Alpha
We were among the very first to write about the vast potential of the Utica Shale (starting with our August 1, 2011 article). We have subsequently updated our Utica outlook and profiled four different leading Utica Shale players.

Chesapeake Energy Might Not Be Top Dog Here
Motley Fool
Chesapeake Energy has been searching for a pivot point where it can reverse its downward path, and the Utica shale in western Ohio might just be that play. However, even though it holds the most acres here, Gulfport Energy has been encountering much higher initial production from its wells here.

Utica Fueling Construction Industry In Eastern Ohio
Energy in Depth – Ohio
It’s not every day Ohio is featured in the New York Times but that’s exactly what happened yesterday as the Grey Lady focused on the remarkable investment and jobs that Utica Shale/Point Pleasant development has provided the state.

Pennsylvania

Western Pennsylvania workers make inroads in landing shale gas jobs
Tribune-Review
Western Pennsylvania building contractors and tradespeople say they’re gradually making inroads into the shale gas business — meaning fewer Texas and Oklahoma contractors’ license plates are spotted on area roads these days.

The Newly Proposed ‘Bluegrass Pipeline’ Would Be Much Longer Than The Controversial Keystone XL
Business Insider
Pipeline developer Williams Co. – a major gas supplier to New York City – has signed a letter of intent to construct a pipeline that would stretch from Pennsylvania to the Gulf of Mexico.

Spring (Into) Training: PTI’s New Natural Gas Training Facility
Energy in Depth – NMI
The Pittsburgh Technology Institute recently broke ground on its new Energy Technology Center just west of Pittsburgh in North Fayette Township. The center will provide a home base for two new programs designed to train workers for in-demand jobs in the oil and natural gas industry.

National

Wyoming regulators OK Encana aquifer waste well
Caper Star-Tribune
Wyoming’s oil and natural gas commission approved a plan Tuesday to dispose of wastewater into an aquifer used in some parts of the state for drinking water, overruling no votes from the two geologists on the commission.

The dirty politics of ‘clean’ energy
Washington Times
President Obama recently announced his nomination of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Ernest J. Moniz to be the next secretary of energy. Mr. Moniz has expressed some limited support for hydraulic fracturing…

Opinion: Drill, Barack, Drill
Wall Street Journal
‘I’ m proud of the fact that under my Administration oil production is higher than it has been in a decade or more.” President Obama does a neat John D. Rockefeller imitation these days, taking credit for soaring domestic oil and gas production as if he planned it that way.

USA to be the World’s Top Oil Producer by 2016
EngineeringDaily.net
Currently, the following countries are the world’s top five oil producer based on their respective output in barrels per day: However, according to the International Energy Agency, the United States will become the world’s top oil producer by 2016.

Will Obama Get Out of the Way of the Energy Boom?
US News & World Report
President Obama says that he is ” proud of the fact ” that domestic oil and natural gas production is increasing. The reality, however, as the Congressional Research Service explains in a new report, is 100 percent of the increase in domestic oil and natural gas production since 2007 has occurred on nonfederal lands.

Exxon Sees North America Exporting 15% Gas, 5% Oil by 2040
Bloomberg
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the largest U.S. oil company, said North America may be able to export 15 percent of its natural gas output and 5 percent of oil by 2040 as the region’s production surges and demand stalls.

Algae, EVs, And Other ‘Clean Energy’ Distractions Vs. Nat Gas Transportation
Seeking Alpha
We can now add algae to the long list of failed “clean energy” distractions on which U.S. companies and federal policymakers and have wasted many billions of dollars.

America’s Energy Future: Challenges And Opportunities
Seeking Alpha
America is the world’s energy leader with its technology and services industry. Because of improved technology, we are finding and producing more way more oil and gas than what we thought was possible just a few years ago.

Momentum Is With Chesapeake Energy
Seeking Alpha
Chesapeake Energy, the second largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., had a dismal year. The stock came down from over $25, and remained between $14 and $22.

Fracking fluid suppliers defend trade secrets on West Coast
EnergyWire
Makers of the specialty cocktails used to crack open the Earth and set loose gobs of oil and gas are sparring once again on behalf of their corner of the energy industry.