Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Elected Politicians Make Another Try to Stall Fracking
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

Once again, anti-fracking elected political leaders in New York (people who need to be voted out of office, see their names below) are trying to pressure the waffling Gov. Andrew Cuomo into extending the new public comment period from 30 days to 90 days. A group of them sent a letter to Cuomo and DEC Commissioner Joe Martens requesting the extension (dated Dec. 21, copy of the letter embedded below).

Why do they want to extend it from 30 to 90 days? To force the restart of the entire process of approving new fracking regulations. If the comment period is extended to 90 days, it will go beyond the end of February forcing the restart of the entire process to evaluate and approve new fracking regulations. Restarting the process would effectively kill any fracking in the state—most likely forever.

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Probe into Chesapeake’s CEO Aubrey McClendon Nears End
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the probe into the financial dealings of Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, which started in April 2012 and was supposed to be wrapped up in “weeks not months” has still not concluded, but will do so by mid-January. When it does, don’t expect McClendon to step down as CEO…

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Checking Up: Did ODNR Meet Goal of 90 Well Inspectors?
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

In May 2012, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), the state agency that oversees the permitting and drilling of oil and gas wells, set a goal of tripling the number of well inspectors by the end of 2012—which would mean having 90 inspectors on staff. The agency has struggled with a heavy load of inspections due to a ramp up in Utica Shale drilling.

So, did ODNR meet its goal?

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Belmont County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Ohio Gathering | Pipelines

New Pipeline/Compressor Plant Coming in Belmont County, OH
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

Ohio Gathering Co. has posted a $5 million bond in Belmont County, OH to cover the cost of potential road repairs and maintenance in connection with a pipeline and compressor plant project they have under way in the county.

Here’s where (in the county) the pipeline and compressor plant is being built, along with the roads that will be affected by truck and heavy equipment traffic:

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Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | NGLs | Ohio

New NGL Barge Shipping Operation to Open in Toronto, OH
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

MDN recently told you about a natural gas liquids (NGLs) “tank farm” located at Half Moon Industrial Park in Weirton, WV (along the Ohio River) that started shipping NGLs by river barge to be processed in Houston, TX (see this MDN story). An initial shipment of one million gallons of NGLs were floated by barge first down the Ohio River, then the Mississippi River.

Toronto, OH, which sits just a few miles up the river from Weirton on the opposite bank of the Ohio River, is about to get in on the NGL barge-shipping business too. A 40-acre site in Toronto’s port was just sold to a company that will set up a tank farm and start shipping NGLs to the Gulf Coast for processing:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Columbiana County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Land Conservancies Try to Prevent Utica Drilling
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

In an article about the merger of a local land conservancy group with a larger, regional conservancy group in Ohio—the Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC)—MDN spotted remarks that indicate land conservancies have an anti-drilling philosophy, which raises the issue of whether or not you should support them or sign an agreement with them if you’re a landowner.

Remarks from the president of Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation (LBCLF), the local land conservancy group that merged with the WRLC:

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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Trumbull County’s First Utica Shale Well Now in Process
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

Although BP is the largest leaseholder for Utica Shale drilling in Trumbull County, OH with 84,000 acres under lease, Halcon Resources, which purchased 15,000 acres of leases from Carrizo Oil & Gas in October (see this MDN story), is the first to put drill bit to earth and is currently drilling the county’s very first horizontal Utica Shale well:

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Belmont County | Ohio

Belmont County, OH Deed Research Impacts Local Library Too
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

In November, MDN pointed out you can always tell where drilling will soon begin in earnest by the how busy the local county clerk/deed recorder office is. We predicted that Belmont County, OH would soon see a ramp up in drilling based on the frenzy of activity at the county recorder’s office (see this MDN story).

The activity at the Belmont recorder’s office is as busy as ever, even over the holiday period. It’s standing room only at the office, and that’s now spilled over to the public library across the street. Abstractors have taken to snapping digital photographs of deed books and then relocating to the more spacious facility of the public library. But now that’s creating a problem…

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Crawford County | Pennsylvania

Crawford County: Drilling Recap for 2012, Ahead for 2013
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

The Meadville Tribune (Crawford County, PA), like many local papers, is counting down their top stories from 2012. Their number 3 top story for the year? Shale gas drilling comes to Crawford County.

The article does a good job of recapping the drilling that happened this year in Crawford—both the who and the where—and makes some predictions about drilling for 2013:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Dec 31, 2012
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

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