Marcellus Drilling News

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Exclusive: First NY Marcellus Wells to be Drilled are Identified
February 15, 2013February 17, 2013

NOTE: Please see the correction to this story on this page:
MDN Editor Jim Willis Corrects “First NY Marcellus Wells” Story.

An astute MDN subscriber sent us a tip that the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) updated their “Notices of Intent to Issue Well Permits” web page last night at 7:00 pm (Feb 14, 2013). In the list of well permits they “intend” to issue are 43 Marcellus Shale wells and 1 Utica Shale well.

Does this mean DEC Commissioner Joe Martens is getting ready to accept the SGEIS and issue permits? We believe it’s still too early for optimism on that front. However, if New York does decide to move forward and issue drilling permits “within 10 days” after accepting the SGEIS drilling rules, it stands to reason the wells in this list will be the very first wells to receive permission to drill.

We’ve harvested the information for all of the “Intent to Issue” wells, looking up each latitude and longitude and translating it into a street address. We’ve also rearranged the information in an easier to scan and understand format. You won’t find this information anywhere else but on MDN…

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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Youngstown Shale Wastewater Dumper Faces Jail and Big Fines
February 15, 2013February 15, 2013

MDN has been tracking the story of Ben Lupo, owner of Hardrock Excavating and D&L Energy in Youngstown, OH. Lupo instructed an employee to repeatedly dump shale drilling wastewater into a storm drain that ended up in the Mahoning River. The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources quickly shut down both Hardrock and D&L (see OH Company Dumping Frack Wastewater in Drain May Appeal Shut-Down). It was thought there was originally up to six dumping incidents and about 200,000 gallons of wastewater, but the Hardrock employee involved has confessed it was more like 20 dumping incidents. It represents a mind-boggling millions of gallons of wastewater literally down the drain.

In addition to having his companies shut down, Lupo now faces the prospect of jail time and huge fines. He’s facing federal criminal charges from the U.S. Attorney’s office for violating the Clean Water Act:

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EMG | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Rex Energy | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

MarkWest Does Midstream Deal with Rex Energy in Utica Shale
February 15, 2013February 15, 2013

MarkWest Utica, a joint venture between MarkWest and EMG, announced today that they’ve signed up Rex Energy to provide pipeline gathering and processing services for Rex’s Utica Shale wells. Yesterday MDN told you about Rex’s big plans for the Marcellus and Utica Shale region (see Rex Energy Plans to Invest $200M on Marcellus/Utica Drilling in 2013). If you do a lot of new drilling, you’re going to need a way to get the gas to market. That’s what this deal does.

MarkWest says when their construction is done in 2014 they will have the largest processing and fractionation capacity in the entire Utica Shale. Here’s today’s announcement about their deal with Rex:

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Aquatech | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Tioga County (PA) | Wastewater

PA DEP Issues Permit to Shale Wastewater Facility in Northern PA
February 15, 2013February 15, 2013

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has granted a permit to Aquatech to operate a shale wastewater treatment facility in Tioga County, PA. The facility will treat and recycle wastewater from PA’s Marcellus Shale drilling operations, mostly located in the northeastern and north central parts of the state.

The announcement from Aquatech:

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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

ShaleNavigator Mapping Service Adds Pipelines for ALL Shale Plays
February 15, 2013February 15, 2013

MDN partners with ShaleNavigator to produce the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook—a 3-volume set of maps and commentary that shows where permits and drilling are happening, county by county, throughout the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. ShaleNavigator is a top-notch online mapping system that offers users the ability to zoom in and out and add various “layers” of detail—layers like “show me recent lease offers in a certain area” and “show me where compressor stations are located.” It is without a doubt the premier online mapping system for natural gas development.

Infrastructure is the story for 2013 when it comes to shale plays. Pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants are needed—and quickly—to get the enormous amount of gas that’s been drilled to market. ShaleNavigator is great at showing infrastructure. Pipelines in the Marcellus and Utica Shale have been one of the most-used layers in ShaleNavigator. Now, ShaleNavigator has added a new layer showing all major gas pipelines across the United States located in every shale play. Wow! This new feature is a Godsend for drillers, contractors, utilities, real estate people, abstractors, appraisers…the list goes on. ShaleNavigator offers a free 7-day trial, and the lowest subscription prices we’ve seen for this kind of service. Details below…

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Feb 15, 2013
February 15, 2013February 15, 2013

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

Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Feb 15, 2013”