Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jun 27, 2013

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

New York

NY gas-industry group touts Obama’s climate speech
Albany Watch
Obama’s comments drew praise from the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York, which has lobbied Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration to allow high-volume fracking in the Marcellus Shale. (So far, that effort has been unsuccessful as the state Health and Environmental Conservation departments continue to review the technique.)

Con Ed Extends NYC Natural Gas Infrastructure
The Motley Fool
Consolidated Edison announced today that its New York subsidiary plans to spend around $100 million to extend its natural gas offerings to new Manhattan and Bronx neighborhoods, ensuring Con Ed’s compliance with environmental regulations while cutting costs for itself and its customers.

Ohio

Ohio has 366 drilled Utica wells with 109 in production
Akron Beacon Journal
Ohio has issued a total of 747 Utica shale permits, effective through June 22. That includes 366 wells that have been drilled and 109 wells that are in production. A total of 32 rigs are working in Ohio. A total of 16 new permits were approved: four in Belmont County, four in Carroll County, one in Columbiana County, five in Harrison County, one in Mahoning County and one in Monroe County.

The Utica Shale Continues to Show Signs of Hope
The Motley Fool
If investors have learned one thing about the Utica Shale, it’s that the play is really becoming hit-or-miss. That being said, when a company hits, it’s usually a really big hit. That gives both producers and investors hope that the play will turn out to be just fine. We saw an example in Rex Energy’s recent Utica well results. One of the wells produced really good initial production, while a second well underwhelmed. However, just as in baseball, hitting a few home runs can really help win the game.

Shale Headlines Mahoning Valley’s Recent Economic Success
Energy in Depth
Last week, the 2012 Economic Development Report Card “Valley Economic Update” was released, highlighting the incredible growth the Mahoning Valley has seen since shale development came to the region. Economic development agencies in the area assisted in creating or retaining more than 7,000 jobs in 2012, with total investments exceeding $400 million.

Stark State Offering Gas & Oil Training
Ohio Gas & Oil
Stark State College and ShaleNET will offer a three-week floor-hand training class July 8-26. The class will be 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily at the Technology and Test Center, which is located at 8252 Frank Ave. NW in North Canton. Full scholarships are available for all veterans and unemployed Ohioans who qualify.

Pennsylvania

Leatherstocking breaks ground
Montrose Independent Weekender
“The irony has ended,” one speaker put it. The rich natural gas deposits under Susquehanna County will finally become available to some institutions, residences and businesses by the fall as Leatherstocking Gas Co., begins installing its natural gas distribution system. State, community and local leaders gathered at Montrose Junior-Senior High School for a ceremonial groundbreaking of the fist phase of the project. “If all this gas sits beneath our feet, why can’t everyone benefit?” asked Michael German, CEO of Leatherstocking. “We figure it will take ten years to pipe the whole area so that we can reach everyone within a reasonable distance of a main road or a borough.”

New Castle power plant switching to natural gas
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
NRG Energy plans to retrofit the New Castle coal-fired electric power plant to run on natural gas, extending its operation beyond the April 2015 closing date announced last year by the previous owner, GenOn Energy Inc. NRG is still in the early stages of its design, engineering and permit process but hopes to have the power plant’s switch to natural gas completed by May 2016, according to Dave Gaier, the company’s East Region spokesman for the Princeton, N.J.-based power company.

Busting the Fracking Mythbusters
Natural Gas Now
Something remarkable happened recently as the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee, led by a radical attorney from Monroe County, fell for a ridiculous fracking moratorium that former Democrat Governor Edward Rendell found to be ill-advised, all while natural gas produces hundreds of millions of dollars in impact fees and thousands of jobs for PA.

Production Flowing At Atlas Resource Partners
Seeking Alpha
Atlas Resource Partners, L.P. (ARP), which participates in the production of natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids in various basins in the United States, reported some great drilling results in its latest quarter, laying a foundation for some significant production increases for the future. The master limited partnership has an interest in “over 8,600 producing natural gas and oil wells, representing over 700 Bcfe of net proved developed reserves.”

Ukrainian Officials Visit Key US Shale Gas State
Ukrane RIA Novosti
A group of 10 officials from Ukraine visited the shale oil-rich state of Pennsylvania this week to learn about shale gas extraction, the office of Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy, who hosted the delegation, said Wednesday. The main reason for the trip to Pennsylvania “was to learn about technology, about environmental problems,” related to shale gas extraction using the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, lawmaker Sergey Klyuiev, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said in a statement.

West Virginia

Murray: Plan Will Destroy Lives And Standard of Living for Many
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register
Upper Ohio Valley coal mine operators prepared for the worst Tuesday while listening to President Barack Obama speak about carbon emissions from the campus of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “Today’s announcement simply does not align with our economic or national security interests,” said Consol spokeswoman Lynn Seay, reacting to the president’s climate change plan. She noted her company believes the plan will “choke off economic activity, impair our global competitiveness and ship manufacturing and other jobs overseas.” Consol operates the Shoemaker and McElroy coal mines in Marshall County, as well as several other mines throughout Appalachia.

Raymond Keating: Exporting natural gas would boost the state
Charleston Daily Mail
Given the impending decision on exports, an analysis of the recent history of the U.S. natural gas industry and the impact in West Virginia is warranted. Important factors to consider are the small business growth and the job creation spurred by recent production of natural gas. Consider the actual effects that recent dramatic changes in the U.S. natural gas market have had on the economy in West Virginia.

National

Can Natural Gas Companies Keep up With Growing Demand?
The Motley Fool
With U.S. natural gas supplies still plentiful and relatively cheap, demand for the cleaner-burning fuel is expected to keep growing. In addition to demand from utility companies, industrial and petrochemical manufacturers, and other energy-intensive firms, some have identified liquefied natural gas, or LNG, exports and natural gas vehicles, or NGVs, as the wildcards that could cause future demand to soar. But would U.S. natural gas producers – most of whom have curtailed gas drilling as much as possible over the past couple of years – be able to keep up if a surge in demand were to materialize?

What natural gas glut? Just export, baby, export!
NBC News
Drill, baby, drill! Energy companies are doing that all over America right now, sparking fears of a natural gas glut. But the experts are not concerned, saying demand — especially from overseas — is increasing and the United States needs to simply export more of the natural gas it is producing.

The Wait For $5 Gas Could Be A Long One At Ultra Petroleum
Investopedia
We’re long past the point where natural gas producers would drill at almost any price just to show production growth and/or hold leases. Instead, it’s now all about cash return on investments and sub-$4 natural gas prices have made gas exploration and production a tricky proposition – particularly for companies like Ultra Petroleum, Southwestern Energy, and Encana with “dry gas” asset bases.

Clean Energy to Beat Gas in Power Mix by 2016, IEA Says
Bloomberg
Renewable energy may supply more electricity than nuclear reactors or natural gas by 2016, spurred by declining costs and growing demand in emerging markets, the International Energy Agency said. Wind, solar, bioenergy and geothermal use may grow 40 percent in the next five years, double the 20 percent pace in 2011, the Paris-based organization said today in a report on the industry. Excluding hydropower, cleaner sources of energy may reach 8 percent of total world electricity generation capacity by 2018, compared with 4 percent in 2011, the IEA said.

Frito-Lay adds natural gas stations
Fuel Fix
Frito-Lay North America took its latest step toward ditching diesel last week, announcing a series of new stations to refuel its growing fleet of natural gas-powered trucks. The move will help the snack-making division of PepsiCo cut its greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2020, the company said. PepsiCo is also moving forward with other changes that will allow it to stop purchasing hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel annually.

A Midsummer Day’s Delusion: The Reality of Solar Power
Natural Gas Now
Nick Grealy, our friend from the UK, talks about solar energy and Germany’s forever flaunted renewables program which requires natural gas as a complement to achieve any success whatsover…. A classic definition of insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different outcomes. My definition of absolutely barking is repeating the same actions and getting worse outcomes.

API convenes more than 600 technical experts and stakeholders to review and develop standards in support of hydraulic fracturing
American Petroleum Institute
API President and CEO Jack Gerard delivered opening remarks during Tuesday’s Onshore Oil and Natural Gas Safety and Reliability Symposium, which provided updates on standards being developed in the areas of well integrity, environmental performance, community engagement, and equipment quality and reliability in oil and natural gas drilling operations.