Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Apr 2, 2013

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

New York

Exxon Mobil spent $2 million on pro-fracking ad campaign
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. spent $2 million on a pro-drilling advertising campaign en route to becoming New York’s second-highest spender on lobbying last year, according to a report Thursday from the state’s ethics board.

Banking In (and On) the Marcellus Shale
Energy in Depth – NMI
It’s no secret the Marcellus Shale is providing an economic boost for economies across the Northern Tier, and one great indicator of this is the performance of banks in the area.

Ohio

Radiation from drilling may be handled by new Ohio landfill laws
Akron Beacon Journal
Legislation introduced as part of Gov. Kasich’s proposed budget, H.B. 59, that would tighten regulations regarding disposal of low-level radioactive wastes from natural gas drilling “will likely be stripped from the budget and handled as part of a more comprehensive revision of the state’s landfill laws due this fall.”

Data That Every Utica Shale Investor Needs to Know About
The Motley Fool
The Utica shale may not ring any bells for the average investor. But, utter that name around energy industry professionals, and you’re sure to rouse a lively debate.

OEPA Chief Addresses Issues at Chamber Event
Youngstown Business Journal
The director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said businesses and regulators need to work together in partnership to ensure that the emerging oil and gas industry will be viable for a long time and small businesses can invest here.

Due Diligence in Lending to the Oil and Gas Industry
Banking and Finance Law Report
Although Ohio lenders that finance companies in the oil and gas industry will encounter some of the same due diligence issues found in other industries, the oil and gas business is a world of its own.

Management of Oil Field Wastes
Banking and Finance Law Report
The disposal of wastes associated with oil and gas production continues to draw the attention of regulators and concerned citizens. In a series of articles we will examine the waste issue from the characterization of these wastes (discussed below) and their ultimate disposal in underground injection wells.

Pennsylvania

EQT Corp. adds to natural gas station in Pittsburgh’s Strip District
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
EQT announced Wednesday it was adding a fueling island to its compressed natural gas (CNG) station in the Strip District. Construction already is under way to add two fuel dispensers to the site’s current six.

State College residents angered at Penn State’s proposed pipeline project with Columbia Gas
PennLive
Residents want to know if the gas pipeline project, which was proposed by Columbia Gas Co. of Pennsylvania and Penn State University, could be constructed in some place other than their neighborhood located near the campus.

Range Elects Mary Ralph Lowe as a New Director
Enhanced Online News/Range Resources
Ms. Lowe has been president and chief executive officer of Maralo, LLC, a private oil and gas exploration and production company and ranching operation, since 1973, and a member of its board of directors since 1975.

National

The next decade could be disastrous for OPEC and Big Oil
Quartz
Ed Morse, Citigroup’s top energy economist, has taken a fresh swipe at companies and countries that rely on the global petroleum edifice. With a typically vivid title—“The End is Nigh”—Morse argues in a new report that permanent changes in the ways we produce and consume energy are hollowing out oil demand, with head-spinning ramifications.

Fracking ban taking shape in Connecticut legislature
Akron Beacon Journal
A bill attempting to address concerns about waste from hydraulic fracturing from being stored or disposed of in Connecticut is moving its way through the General Assembly.

Tom Elias: Fracking is a potential miracle and a big challenge
Los Angeles Daily News
Starting with the day in January 1848 when gold flakes and nuggets first turned up at Sutter’s Mill northeast of Sacramento, California has seen plenty of economic miracles, each focused in a different part of the state.

GOP lawmakers push to remove energy regulations
E2 Wire
A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee says its primary goals for this Congress are getting the government out of the way of energy production, generation and exports.

European businesses flock to U.S. for cheap natural gas
Charlotte Observer
A natural gas boom in the United States has sent manufacturing costs plummeting, and European companies are setting sail across the Atlantic to stay competitive.

Exelon Falls From Green Favor as Chief Fights Wind Aid
Bloomberg
Exelon Corp. left the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2009 over the group’s opposition to a climate- change bill, declaring the “carbon-based free lunch” was over. The company had a change of heart and rejoined the nation’s largest business lobby a few months ago.

International

UK Shale Gas Green-Lighted With Tax Breaks
Energy Tribune
Brussels is still under the delusion that Europe can be run on green energy, so they won’t like it. And the Greenpeacers maxim is Groucho Marx’s “Whatever it is … I’m against it!” so neither will they. For those of us living in Real World UK and grasp the central role of fossil fuels in keeping the lights on, George Osborne’s March Budget provided one major fillip. It fired the gun that finally kick starts the UK’s domestic dash-for-(shale) gas.

Russia gears up for shale boom
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/Financial Times
Russia is gearing up for an oil boom on the same scale as the US, as the techniques that sparked the shale revolution are applied to Siberia’s deposits of unconventional oil, according to one of the country’s top oil executives.

Romania PM Backs Controversial Fracking Plans
Balkan Insight
“I am in favour of shale gas exploration in Romania as this will boost domestic energy resources and reduce our reliance on fuel imports from Russia,” Prime Minister Victor Ponta said on Saturday in an interview for Antena3 TV station.