5 Key Insights from MDN’s 2015 Databook Vol. 3 – Just Released

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db2015_all3vol_cover_smallMDN recently published Volume 3 of the 2015 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. In 103 jam-packed pages you will get the latest information on what’s happening (or not happening) with drilling in the Marcellus/Utica region. Much of the Databook is a series of county maps–one map for each county where there’s permit activity for Marcellus or Utica drilling. Each county map shows a dot for where a permit was issued–along with the name of the driller next to it. The maps also show major natural gas pipelines and compressor stations. Each map offers you a quick, visual way of understanding where drilling is happening, and who’s doing the drilling.

For this new edition, MDN editor Jim Willis spent several weeks compiling and completely revising a directory of frack waste facilities, including the addition of hundreds of injection wells. The 3-volume series is just $350 (single volumes are $225). All three volumes are meant to work together. This is the PERFECT resource for drillers, pipeline companies, law firms, landmen and many others. Below we’ve included sample pages along with 5 key insights from this latest edition of the Databook

5 Key Insights from the 2015 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook – Vol. 3:

1. As of the end of 2015 combined production coming from the Marcellus and Utica had peaked and started to decline–but just barely. Production from the two plays combined is still stratospheric compared to just a few years ago.

2. The cash price for natural gas sold in northeastern PA stayed around the $1 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) mark for the last half of 2015. The cash price for natgas in the Utica was an average of around $0.50/Mcf higher, and the price for natgas in southwestern PA was an average of around $0.70/Mcf higher for much of the year. By the end of last year, prices in the Utica and SWPA had dropped to be much closer to the price received in NEPA (as it became obvious a cold winter was not going to “save” the price of gas).

3. WV saw the steepest drop in the number of permits issued over the course of last year. In the first four months, 611 permits for discrete, individual wells were issued. By the last four months, 404 permits were issued (34% drop). There was a drop-off in permits for PA–from 785 in first four months to 633 in last four months (19% drop)–while Utica permits remained steady over the course of the year at around 200 per 4-month period.

4. The number of rigs steadily declined over the entire year for PA, OH and WV. We entered the year with 123 rigs operating in the three states. By the end of December, there were 59 rigs operating–a 52% drop in the number of rigs operating.

5. Perhaps one of the most striking things we noticed, when reviewing the Databook’s proprietary Permits by Driller chart for the past three years was this: In the first four months (“trimester”) of 2014, Chesapeake Energy applied for and received permits to drill on 329 discrete/individual wells in PA. In the final four months of 2015, Chessy received 14 permits in PA. The pattern was similar in OH and WV.

Click through the sample pages below. If you have any questions, give Jim Willis a call at: 607-238-2500.

All three volumes of the Databook in any given year are meant to work together as a set. The maps and charts are updated in each edition. Each edition also contains special sections not found in the other editions. Volume 1 has a complete list of active drillers (with contact details) in the Marcellus/Utica region. Volume 2 contains a directory of infrastructure/pipeline projects in the northeast, complete with estimated timing and total budget for that project (along with who is building it). Volume 3 has our vastly expanded directory of frack waste facilities, including injection wells, landfills, storage facilities and recycling centers–with location and phone numbers for each facility.

If you want to order and instantly download all three volumes of the Databook for 2015, just head on over to this page: //marcellusdrilling.com/databook. Money-back guarantee.