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New EIA Drilling Productivity Report: Marcellus Passes 12 Bcf/d!

Terry EngelderTerry Engelder is a Penn State University geologist and professor. He was previously named to Foreign Policy magazine’s list of Top 100 Global Thinkers for his work with the Marcellus Shale. MDN calls him the “rock” star of the Marcellus, if you’ll pardon the pun (see Prof Terry Engelder: Marcellus Rock Star). In years gone by Dr. Engelder predicted that sometime in 2015 the Marcellus would be producing 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. For his breathtaking, bold (and frankly wild) prediction he was praised by some, but scorned and ridiculed by many.

As MDN announced yesterday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is launching a new monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DRP). The very first report was issued yesterday (full copy embedded below). What does it show? It shows that Engelder was wrong. The Marcellus has just passed the 12 Bcf/d mark–now–this month. That is, the Marcellus is even more productive than Engelder’s so-called wild fantasy. According to an EIA spokesman, natural gas production from the Marcellus has surprised even the brainiacs at EIA who study this stuff for a living…
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“Consultant” Says 62% of Marcellus Waste Goes Missing in WV

A “consultant” testifying before West Virginia legislators on Tuesday said that WV has no idea where nearly 2/3 of shale drilling wastewater goes for disposal. He also accused the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) of not doing their job with respect to reporting and tracking shale waste as directed by the 2011 Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act.

The consultant doing the accusing–Evan Hansen, president of the consulting firm Downstream Strategies–was there shilling for the anti-drilling group Earthworks. Therefore, the results of the so-called study (to be released next week) performed by his so-called consulting firm are at a minimum suspect…
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Wheeling Councilwoman Will Shun GreenHunter Ribbon Cutting

Wheeling, WV City Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge is a sore loser. Sounding like a petulant child, she says she won’t attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for GreenHunter Water as they begin to demolish old buildings and build new buildings for a frack wastewater recycling facility in Wheeling. MDN told you in March that Delbrugge vowed to stop the plant from coming to Wheeling (see Wheeling Councilwoman Vows to Prevent Frack Water Treatment Plant). When she calmed down a bit, it seemed as though she had softened her opposition (see Wheeling Councilwoman Softens Stand Against Frack Wastewater Plant).

But, true to form for most anti-drillers, the facts make no difference. Delbrugge says she doesn’t like ’em (GreenHunter), she doesn’t want ’em, and she doesn’t trust ’em. And so when the ribbon is cut in the next few weeks, Gloria will not regale them with her eminent presence…
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D&L Wants to Sell Remaining Assets at Auction, ODNR Says No

D&L Energy, sibling or parent company (depending on who you ask) to Hardrock Excavating, wants a judge to allow the company to be auctioned off in November. Hardrock/D&L’s owner, Ben Lupo, you may recall, was found guilty of instructing one of his employees to dump thousands of gallons of fracking wastewater down a drain that led to a creek that led to the Mahoning River near Youngstown, OH (see Youngstown Business Dumped >200K Gal of Untreated Wastewater). After investigating, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) took away D&L and Hardrock’s permits to do business in Ohio (see OH Wastewater Dumper D&L Energy Gets Business Death Sentence).

D&L, not able to operate, is in bankruptcy and wants to sell off its remaining assets to satisfy what it says is over $5 million owed to creditors. However, the ODNR is saying “not so fast” to an auction. The ODNR is concerned D&L could shirk its responsibilities to clean up the mess they’ve made…
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Clue? Aubrey McClendon Picks up Clendening Reservoir Leases

It ain’t much land, but it is notable nonetheless for the clue it provides. The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) has approved the re-assignment of mineral rights for 133 acres at the Clendening Reservoir in Harrison County, OH to American Energy Utica, Aubrey McClendon’s new company.

It gives us a continuing look at just where in the Utica Aubrey is concentrating his $1.7 billion worth of efforts…
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Muskingum Watershed District Approves 3rd Water Sale for Fracking

As they have done in the past, the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District in Ohio has approved more water sales for using fracking. This batch comes from Seneca Lake in southeast OH. The Utica Shale driller buying the water is Antero Resources…
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Progress for Arrowhead NGL Transload Facility in Wellsville, OH

Progress for the Arrowhead Utica Pipeline transloading facility being built on property leased by Arrowhead Utica (a subsidiary of Utica driller Hilcorp) from the Columbiana County Port Authority in Wellsville, OH. The transloading facility is a $20-$40 million project that will bring natural gas liquids (NGLs) to the facility to be loaded on rail, truck and barge.

On Monday, the Port Authority approved easements and rights of way to Arrowhead and Sunoco Pipeline to install and maintain pipelines near the Wellsville facility…
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National Fuel Gas Production Jumps 45% in FY13

National Fuel Gas Co. is headquartered in Buffalo, NY, but it’s the Pennsylvania Marcellus that is causing the company to grow “by leaps and bounds.” National Fuel said its oil and natural gas production jumped 45% during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Via their Seneca Resources subsidiary, they are a major Marcellus player with 780,000 net acres in the PA Marcellus.

Which leads MDN to ask, what the heck are they still doing with their HQ in Buffalo? Why not move to Pittsburgh or someplace else in PA?…
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Michigan Driller Walks Away in Frustration from SE PA Leases

Michigan-based driller Arbor Resources leased a bunch of land in southeastern Pennsylvania six years ago–in Bucks County (in the orbit of Philadelphia). Specifically, they leased land for gas drilling in Nockamixon Township. There is no Marcellus Shale in that area, but there are other formations, including the South Newark Basin. Arbor wanted to drill a few test wells for natural gas in the area, but the town opposed it and went to court to block it. Then in 2012, some squishy liberal Republicans shamefully snuck an eleventh hour ban on drilling in the South Newark Basin until more “studies” could be done into the 2012 budget (see Republicans Sneak SE PA Drilling Ban into Budget Deal).

With continuing low prices for natural gas, six years of legal issues with Nockamixon Township, a ban by the Delaware Basin Commission in effect in that area, and a state-enforced ban from RINOs in place, Arbor is throwing in the towel and walking away from Nockamixon and southeast PA. Good riddance for Arbor, no doubt. Goodbye tax revenue, goodbye jobs and goodbye millions of dollars of investment for Nockamixon…
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Glitter, Whistles and the Unhinged Antics of Anti-Frackers

We bring you the following story about fracking protesters in New Hampshire purely for entertainment value–to show you just how bizarre and unhinged some of these people become. We’re not quite sure how “glitter” plays into the anti-fracking movement, but we predict a run on glitter if the anti-fracking movement picks up steam. Get your glitter supplies at AC Moore while you still can!

To be honest, we have the feeling if it weren’t fracking these burned-out hippie retreads people are protesting, it would be something else.  Their lives appear to be meaningless without something to be “against”…
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