Earlier this week Marcellus Drilling News launched the fourth series of our Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. The 2015 edition of the Databook, Volume 1, officially launched on Tuesday. Never in our wildest dreams did we think back in 2012 that the Databook would become so popular. We’ve now published three complete series–the 2012, 2013 and 2014 series (3 volumes each, or nine volumes total) and this week begins the fourth series–for 2015. The heart and soul of the Databook is a series of maps–one for every county where permits for drilling have been issued–throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. The “secret sauce” for the Databook is to visually, through maps and charts (89 of them in this edition), show you who is drilling right now or soon will be–and where they are drilling…
We are excited to once again bring you our section titled “Valuing Property and Mineral Rights in the Marcellus/Utica Shale Plays” that tackles an oft-asked question: How much is my land/well worth—both today and in the future? Mike Coles, a state certified general appraiser, gives an update on the maturing of property and mineral rights valuations. Mike then breaks this complex topic down into an easily understood tutorial. In addition to Mike’s insights we’ve added the observations and insights of Eric Winegar, managing partner of the US Mineral Exchange. Eric cautions mineral owners to strap in for a bumpy ride in 2015–and to keep a sharp eye on oil prices.
Databook editor Jim Willis plumbs the permit data and connects the dots to explain what’s happening with drilling in the northeast–and why. You will find a completely reworked Drilling Update in the opening pages. Be sure to read it all the way through to be up to date with the latest insights from MDN’s editor-in-chief.
Making a return in this edition is an updated wet gas/dry gas boundary map with an explanation of Ohio and Pennsylvania’s view of where the line runs. We’ve also updated (with a number of new entries) the Directory of Active Drillers in the Marcellus/Utica Shale–there are 84 active drillers who have drilled at least one well in 2014/2015.
Not to be missed is one of the Databook’s unique innovations: charts that show, by trimester (four month periods) how many permits were issued to each driller, broken down by state and driller. We also include charts showing permits issued by trimester for each actively drilled county in PA, OH and WV. If you want to know who’s doing how much drilling and where–this chart will tell you and is, frankly, worth the price of the entire series!
All of the county maps along with overall state maps are updated to show where permits were issued over the past four months. We try to jam in as much useful, practical information as we can to help you understand who’s drilling, where they’re drilling, and the issues that impact drilling in the northeast.
Below are sample pages from this brand new edition, compliments of MDN. Be sure to head on over and download your own copy of the Databook on this page: MarcellusDrilling.com/Databook.