Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Manhattan Institute Study: Lifting NY Frack Ban Would Mean Billions
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

$MI fracking study cover$ The New York-based Manhattan Institute, a non-profit think tank with a mission “to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility,” released a new report yesterday titled, “The Economic Effects of Hydrofracturing on Local Economies: A Comparison of New York and Pennsylvania” (full copy embedded below). The report finds that if New York lifted its moratorium on fracking, it would mean billions of dollars in income for upstate New Yorkers and for the state as a whole.

MI researchers closely examined counties in Pennsylvania and found a) those counties with shale wells did better economically, b) the more wells, the better they did, c) counties with shale wells experienced double-digit rises in per capita income, and d) perhaps most surprisingly, PA counties with no shale wells or fracking saw per capita incomes rise an average 8%! Across the board, fracking has benefited PA enormously and this report proves it. The authors also say NY is screwing itself (our words) if it continues to ban fracking…
Read More “Manhattan Institute Study: Lifting NY Frack Ban Would Mean Billions”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Rumor Has It: Antero Resources Will Go Public This Year
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Antero Resources is a private drilling company headquartered in Denver, CO with major drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale (311,000 acres). Lately, Antero has made a big move into the Utica Shale (92,000 acres)–particularly in Belmont County, OH where Gulfport has had a lot of success (see Antero Continues to Sign Leases with Barnesville, OH Residents). Rumor has it (cue Adele) that Antero is about to float an initial public offering that will value the company at $10 billion.

Here’s the rumor, as told by Reuters and the Denver Post:
Read More “Rumor Has It: Antero Resources Will Go Public This Year”
DTE Energy | Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Stark County | Summit County

Nexus NatGas Pipeline to Run Through Akron/Canton Area
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Last September MDN told you about a newly announced major Utica Shale natural gas pipeline that would run from Ohio through Michigan and into Canada (see New Utica Shale Pipeline to Midwest Announced). The project, called the Nexus Gas Transmission system, is a joint venture between DTE Energy, Spectra Energy and Enbridge. Although details of its planned route have still not been disclosed, the Akron Beacon Journal is reporting the pipeline will run through several communities in the Akron-Canton area.

An update on the project from the Beacon Journal:
Read More “Nexus NatGas Pipeline to Run Through Akron/Canton Area”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

State & Local Frack Bans: Is the Damage Already Done in NY?
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Is the damage already done in New York? Will drillers bother to show up if local municipalities can decide on a whim to ban fracking? At least one prominent industry leader has publicly gone on the record with her concerns that the promise of drilling in NY is slipping away with the ongoing statewide moratorium and the recent court case that went against landowners and drillers (see Breaking: NY Court Upholds Local Town Frack Bans).

Karen Moreau, executive director of the New York State Petroleum Council, a division of the American Petroleum Institute (API), spoke to NGI’s Shale Daily on Monday and made these comments:
Read More “State & Local Frack Bans: Is the Damage Already Done in NY?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

A group of the same old, tired “we’re against all progress” groups–including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and a variety of X Riverkeeper groups–keeps making noise (increasingly just ignored by everyone) that, “OMG! the Cove Point LNG terminal in Maryland will kill off life as we know it in the Chesapeake!” Their tone is shrill and their argument (“because we hate fracking and this will cause more it”) is fallacious.

Here’s the latest claptrap to be issued by the Sierra Club, et al:
Read More “Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Statewide PA | Wildlife

Marcellus Driller Asked to Replace PA Woodrat Habitat
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Once upon a time a little fish not much bigger than a paperclip, called a snail darter, was considered “endangered” and the prospect of disturbing its “habitat” delayed the erection of a major dam. That was in the 1970s. Today? Today we have the endangered Allegheny woodrat–otherwise known as a packrat. Please…try not to laugh! Although the Allegheny woodrat is not on the federal endangered species list, it is on the PA “threatened and protected” list–and therein lies the connection to Marcellus drilling…
Read More “Marcellus Driller Asked to Replace PA Woodrat Habitat”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 7, 2013
May 7, 2013May 6, 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: Tue, May 7, 2013”