CONSOL Energy: Utica Drilling May Soon Replace Marcellus Drilling
The writers at NGI–Natural Gas Intelligence–continue to pump out hit article after hit article. (Full disclosure: MDN editor Jim Willis works part time for NGI on the marketing side. But hopefully by now you know that Jim doesn’t offer false praise for friend or foe. He always calls ’em like he sees ’em.) The latest article we’re excited about is one about a potential shift among Marcellus drillers in southwestern PA and WV–a shift away from Marcellus drilling, potentially replacing it with Utica drilling. Yes, you read that right. No, not all Marcellus drilling will suddenly stop–but in a continuing low-cost gas environment where every dollar counts, drillers are rethinking their strategies and where they will spend precious capital dollars. The recent blockbuster Utica well drilled by EQT in southwestern PA is catching everyone’s attention (see EQT’s 1st Utica Well Shatters Record – 72.9 MMcf/d IP Rate!). That one well changed the course of EQT’s drilling program (see EQT Releases Data on Biggest Utica Well Ever; Dumping UD Drilling). Other drillers, like CONSOL Energy, are seriously considering dumping Marcellus drilling in favor of Utica drilling…
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Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection announced an agreement/settlement with three Marcellus drillers operating in the northeastern portion of the state. The three–Chesapeake Energy, XTO Energy and SWEPI (i.e. Shell) were fined a collective $374,481 for methane migration related to their drilling activities at three locations (three different counties) in 2011 and 2012. The bad news is that 13 private water wells between the three incidents were negatively affected, along with several local creeks. The good news is that the problems are all fixed. Methane migration is an eminently fixable condition. Here are the details for each fine, including what happened and where it happened…
The proposed buyout of MarkWest Energy by Marathon Petroleum just took a giant step forward after the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Dept. of Justice last Friday signed off on the transaction by granting an “early termination” of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act). Such a notice means “you don’t have to wait the standard length of time for us to complete a review, we’ve completed it and we find nothing to object to.” Unitholders (the equivalent of stockholders) in MarkWest must still approve the buyout, but that doesn’t appear to be an issue…
It is an issue that simply won’t go away. Frankly, we’ve thought (until now) that it was more or less a publicity stunt. Pro-drillers and pro-gun rights residents of New York State have, since Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned fracking last December, called for upstate counties to secede from New York and either form a new state, or join with Pennsylvania. On the surface it may sound silly, but did you know secession has happened in our country three times before? And one of those times was for land that used to be part of New York State? No, we didn’t know that bit of history either. This Sunday, August 30th, a rally will be held in the tiny village of Bainbridge (Chenango County), NY from 1-3 pm for Marcellus/Utica landowners, gun owners and other overtaxed and over-regulated NY residents to demonstrate their support for secession. This is a movement that is gaining momentum. It’s a serious movement. None other than the liberal USA Today files this very serious report…
In June 2014 Dominion filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate new compression facilities at existing compressor stations in Marshall County, WV and Monroe County, OH, and certain other facilities, collectively called the Clarington Project (see 
Liberal Democrats don’t like to play by the same rules everyone else does. They somehow think they’re better than the rest of us–above the law. That’s what happened when the arrogant, and alleged criminal PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane, decided she could flout the law by leaking secret grand jury information to a reporter (see 
A piece of interesting news today about Summit Midstream. Compared to midstream giants like MarkWest Energy, Williams and Access Midstream (now part of Williams, formerly Chesapeake Midstream), Summit has a pretty modest presence in the northeast. Summit’s Mountaineer Midstream gathering system is 49 miles long, operating in Doddridge and Harrison counties in WV. Last December Summit announced they’ve been hired by XTO Energy to build a new 115-mile pipeline gathering system in the Utica Shale in Belmont and Monroe counties in OH (see