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Ohio Utica O&G Production in 1Q19 a Mixed Bag – Top 25 Wells

The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) issued first quarter 2019 numbers for Utica shale oil and gas production last Friday. Both natural gas and oil production increased over last year’s 1Q. Natgas production was up 14.5% over the same period last year, to 609.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf). However, 1Q19 production is down from Ohio’s all-time high of 663.5 Bcf in 4Q18. Oil production was 5.1 million barrels, up 29% over last year’s 1Q, but down from 4Q18’s 5.8 million barrels. So, 1Q19 numbers are up from last year’s 1Q, but down from the previous quarter (4Q18). A mixed bag.
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NARO Warns WV & OH About PA Cross-Unit Drilling Bill

In March MDN brought readers a pair of posts about a new bill in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, HB 247, which would allow fully leased parcels that are part of one drilling “unit” to be combined with parcels in a different unit–“cross-unit drilling” if you will (see PA Floats Bill to Allow Shale Drilling to Span Multiple Units and Revisiting PA Bill to Allow Shale Drilling Across Multiple Units). The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) at a recent meeting in WV warned landowners about HB 247 and its potential to come to both WV and OH if it passes in PA.
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Bucks County Residents Ramp Up Opposition to Adelphia Compressor

Adelphia Gateway map – click for larger version

Adelphia Gateway, a plan to convert an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, is close to receiving final approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The project recently received approval from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP).
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Video Games Prep Young People to Become M-U Operating Engineers

“Quit playing that @#$% video game!” How often have young people heard that refrain from a parent? Hey parents, you may want to lighten up a bit on the video game thang. The eye-hand coordination and quick thinking skills built by long hours of playing video games are helping youngsters who grow up and enter the work force get jobs operating seriously big pieces of construction equipment used in the Marcellus/Utica, like cranes and earthmovers.
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Feds Plan to Lock Up Pipeline Protesters Who Break the Law

We’ve said, for years, that it’s just fine to be a clueless idiot and protest pipelines, fracking, drilling, fossil fuels–whatever. BUT, protesting doesn’t give you the right to illegally block a legal activity, like building (or operating) a pipeline, drilling a shale well, etc. Irrational anti-fossil fuelers are trying to excuse their illegal, anarchist behavior by claiming it’s somehow free speech or freedom of expression. WRONG. And now, the federal government is in the process of revising its criminal guidelines to ensure such behavior sees jail time and stiff fines.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Jun 4, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Cabot – a sustainable gas major; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Oregon, Washington pass bans on fracking despite little E&P; Panhandle TxOk natural gas cash price falls to record low on robust supplies; NATIONAL: U.S. working natural gas stocks deficit to the five-year average fall to lowest level since March 2018; It’s adapt or die for U.S. refiners; Exploring the innovative evolution of hydraulic fracturing; Weatherford demise represents warning to oil services sector; Henry Hub gas hits multi-year lows on bearish fundamentals; Passions & Power – when ignorant kids get their own way (video); Mexico is our most important natural gas export market; INTERNATIONAL: Proposal to pipe fracked natural gas from Alberta to Saguenay, Que., under scrutiny; Natural gas taking over from coal in Greece’s energy generation; Renewable energy jobs in UK plunge by a third.
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