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Ohio Moves to Quarterly Production Reports Starting Jan 2014

quarterly reportInvestors and those who watch the Utica Shale industry, including MDN, have long called on the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to abandon annual reporting of gas and oil production and instead move to a more frequent reporting system–quarterly would be about right. Late last year MDN prematurely told you quarterly reporting was on the way (see [Corrected] ODNR Moving to Quarterly Production Numbers for O&G). The state legislature took up the measure again earlier this year and made quarterly reporting part of the language in the 2013 Ohio budget bill (see Ohio Moves One Step Closer to Quarterly O&G Production Reports). The budget passed with quarterly reporting language intact.

Last Thursday, director of the ODNR, James Zehringer, along with the chief of the division of oil and gas operations for the ODNR, Rick Simmers, spoke at the Guernsey County Energy Coalition meeting. Simmers said starting in January 2014, Ohio drillers will be required to file quarterly production reports…
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EQT First Driller to Frack a Marcellus Well Using 100% Field Gas

Marcellus Shale driller EQT was the first driller to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power a drilling rig starting in 2012 (see EQT Converts 2nd Drilling Rig in WV Marcellus to Run on LNG). EQT continues to be a trailblazer. They announced today that by using technology from Green Field Energy Services, they have just completed fracking a Marcellus well using 100% “field gas” or methane produced right at the well site.

They not only drill for the gas, but the gas they drill for, they turn around and use to drill a neighboring well which cuts down on emissions, truck traffic and cost. How cool is that?…
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Pittsburgh Dem Proposes Ban on Drilling in County Parks

Should counties allow shale drilling to take place in or under county parks? It’s a politically charged issue, that’s for sure. Some political leaders, instead of facing the issue head-on, try to “kick the can down the road” and delay the discussion for years.

In a surprise editorial, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette takes liberal Democrat Councilwoman Barbara Daly Danko (Allegheny County) to task for proposing to delay discussion and debate about this important issue. Last week she introduced a bill that would ban drilling in Allegheny County parks until 2017. The PPG says it’s not necessary and makes a decision that much harder later on…
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Dimock Family & Lawyers in Legal Hot Water for Secret Assistance

“Dimock” is the issue that won’t die because the media and anti-drillers won’t let it. The latest installment in this soap opera: Landowners Scott and Monica Ely refused Cabot Oil & Gas’ offer to settle in 2012, although virtually all other landowners who say Cabot contaminated their water wells with methane (natural gas) did settle. The Elys were hoping for a bigger payday, so they kept on–against the advice of their lawyers.

The Elys told the court they couldn’t find legal help so they would represent themselves. Then, against legal and ethical standards, a pair of lawyers (one of them from the firm previously representing the Dimock families) secretly helped them anyway. The Elys and their surreptitious lawyers are now in legal hot water…
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Benesch Law’s Useful Quarterly Report/Overview on Utica Shale

How about a handy quarterly snapshot of the Utica Shale and where various initiatives (like infrastructure investments) stand? The attorneys and researchers at Benesch Law produce just such a report every three months. The latest edition is now out. One statistic of note to give you a feel for the enormous scope and potential of the Utica Shale in Ohio: There are 133 pipeline projects–from local gathering lines to interstate natural gas liquids pipelines–either now being built or on the drawing board. It represents billions of dollars of investment in the Utica.

Below is the full Benesch Shale Industry Report – Quarterly Summary Q2 2013. Well worth the few minutes it takes to read…
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God, Veggies & Bees – What’s Next on the Chesapeake Chopping Block?

As MDN pointed out last week, Chesapeake Energy CEO Doug Lawler continues to cut expenses by cutting people (see Chesapeake’s Lawler Continues to Swing the Ax – More VPs Gone). Such activity puts a smile on his boss’ face, corporate raider Carl Icahn, because Icahn can see his stock price inching up–getting high enough that he can sell it at a profit. That’s what corporate raiders do.

An update on Chessy’s ax-wielding. The latest things to go on the chopping block? God, veggies and bees…
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Marcellus Drilling Comes to Wood County, WV

According to Cam Huffman, president and CEO of the local economic development agency Area Roundtable in Parkersburg, WV, Wood County is now starting to see Marcellus drilling activity. Between potential drilling in Wood and other activities, like a regional ethane cracker plant, Huffman says Wood County is seeing an economic resurgence because of the shale drilling industry…
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FMC: Shale Industry Must Achieve 100% Frack Wastewater Recycling

At last week’s 2013 YOUNG Expo, FMC Technologies vice president of surface technologies, Johan Pfeiffer, said water use for fracking is a big deal–such a big deal that the shale drilling industry needs to move to 100% recycling of fracked wastewater. Soon. If we don’t? An ominous prediction from Pfeiffer: “If we don’t address the water issue we will lose it.”

FMC is a huge oilfield services and equipment company with a vested interest in the issue. They are right now conducting a pilot program in Colorado for a new technology that removes impurities and chemicals from frack wastewater. Pfeiffer explained a bit about their new and unique technology…
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MarkWest Continues Cleanup at NGL Pipeline Spill in WV

About a month ago, a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that connects MarkWest Energy’s Mobley and Majorsville facilities ruptured after a landslide hit it (Wetzel County, WV). The pipeline spilled onto the ground and into a nearby stream causing a fish kill (see Landslide Causes MarkWest NGL Pipeline in WV to Rupture/Spill). The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection has “cited” MarkWest, meaning there will be a fine at some point once the full extent of the damage is known.

In the meantime, MarkWest is working to clean it up. An update on progress at the spill site…
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