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McClendon Gets a Little Help ($1.7B) from His Friends in OH Utica

I get by with a little help from my friendsAfter the mass(acre) firings at Chesapeake Energy earlier this week (see The Great Chesapeake Massacre: Lawler Fires 800 People in One Day), we expect there may be a line out of the door at the Oklahoma City-based American Energy Partners (AEP), a company founded by former Chesapeake CEO, Aubrey McClendon–who was fired from Chesapeake earlier this year. Fired Chesapeake employees may have good reason to head on over to AEP HQ.

Yesterday McClendon announced AEP has raised $1.7 billion and plans to use that money this year to (a) snap up 110,000+ acres in the OH Utica, and (b) begin drilling on that acreage. He even has deals set up with midstream companies for gathering and processing. The details from McClendon and AEP (cue music to “With a Little Help from my Friends” by the Beatles):
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OK Gov. Fallin Weighs in on Chesapeake Energy Mass Firings

Yesterday’s axing of 800 Chesapeake Energy employees nationwide by newly appointed CEO Doug Lawler is still reverberating throughout the industry (see The Great Chesapeake Massacre: Lawler Fires 800 People in One Day).

Of the 800 fired, 640 of them worked at Chessy’s headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK. When 640 people lose their jobs in a single city (heck, in a single state), it’s a really big deal–big enough that the firings rated a statement from Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who had this to say:
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New Study: No Increase in Childhood Cancer Rates Near PA Fracking

More bad news for anti-drillers. A recently published study in the peer-reviewed Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (July 2013 issue) looks at incidences of childhood cancers in Pennsylvania–in areas with hydraulic fracturing. The study, titled “Childhood Cancer Incidence in Pennsylvania Counties in Relation to Living in Counties With Hydraulic Fracturing Sites” (full copy embedded below) looks at the rates of cancer both before fracking begins, and then again after fracking has been going on.

And what did this scientific study find? Statistically, there are no increases in childhood cancers in areas where there is fracking. Bad news for anti-drillers–good news for everyone else, including “the children”…
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Tracker Lario Utica LLC Looks to Expand in Eastern OH

Back in January, MDN told you what precious little we knew about Kansas-based driller Lario Oil & Gas and their foray into the OH Utica Shale (see New Driller Enters Eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale). We now have a teeny tiny little bit more news about Lario, now flying under the name Tracker Lario Utica, and about their Utica drilling efforts.

Lario now has a partner (Tracker Resource) and is looking to add to their 25,000 acre position–previously purchased from Chesapeake and EnerVest–in eastern OH:

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Antero’s IPO Fetches $1.57B, Company Valued at $11B!

MDN told you a few weeks ago that Antero Resources, a privately-owned (and major) driller in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale, would soon float an initial public offering (IPO)–or in the parlance of the financial industry, they would soon “go public” (see Antero Resources Offers 30M Shares of Stock in IPO). Today is the day that Antero goes public and begins trading under ticker symbol AR.N. Yesterday they floated the IPO shares and the company got even more money than they had hoped for–raking in $1.57 billion (they wanted $1.4 billion).

Because of the really good IPO, the company begins its public life with a market valuation of $11 billion–with plenty of borrowing power to finance their many drilling projects in the Marcellus/Utica…
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NY Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo’s Anti-Drilling Snit Fit

New York Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo is a Democrat from the Binghamton, NY area, a member of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation and a member of the governor’s High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel–appointed to the panel by Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens. Her opinion on fracking matters—she carries influence in Albany. She’s also anti-drilling, as MDN pointed out in March (see NY Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo: Fracking Friend or Foe?). She coyly attempts to straddle the fence with her language, but her actions speak so loudly we no longer hear her political double-speak.

Once again Lupardo proves her anti-drilling creds. She has just sent (yet another) letter to DEC Commissioner Martens (full copy embedded below). This time Lupardo wants to let Martens know she’s miffed that he won’t assemble the fracking advisory panel per her previous request earlier this year, and to let him know she thinks the never-ending health review of fracking regulations by State Health Dept. Commissioner Nirav Shah should be put on immediate hold. To which we say, really? The health review is already on hold! More on Lupardo’s anti-drilling snit fit to Martens…
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How Do You Talk to (Educate) Friends & Neighbors About Shale?

It’s a common problem for those of us who are immersed in the shale energy industry. We are so saturated all the time with the arguments and counter-arguments and details about shale drilling, that when faced with a family member, friend or neighbor who isn’t well-versed in the industry, we grope for the words and terms to use to describe this incredible industry and its successes. Most of the time our friends and family have a built-in reticence and caution about shale drilling because they know nothing more than what mainstream media feeds them, most of it untrue.

So how do we quickly, accurately and effectively communicate the positive shale drilling message? Michael Krancer, former Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, has a solution, which he shared recently at the Energy Inc. conference in Pittsburgh…

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More on “Pro-Drilling” Conversion of Gasland II Star from Dimock

A few days ago we told you that one of Josh Fox’s stars in Gasland II, Victoria Switzer, has changed sides and now wants to work with the drilling industry to ensure the air is clean in Susquehanna County, PA (see Gasland II Starlet Leaves Anti-Drilling Behind, Adopts “Realism”). This is a huge problem for the anti-drilling movement, a movement that is typically shrill and frankly, unthinking. We now have at least a few people who, while they don’t like natural gas drilling going on around them, are willing to have a cogent, what they call “respectful” dialog about it. They also recognize shall drilling is here to stay–they are realists. Finally, some people on the other side of the issue we can talk to!

A bit more about the new tone and the new group which Switzer and other former anti-drillers have formed–a group called Breathe Easy Susquehanna County…
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