2 New Shale Layers in Eastern Ohio “Good Candidates” for Drilling
A new report has just been issued by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Geological Survey. The report is titled “Mapping Source Rock and Thermal Maturity of the Devonian Shale Interval in Eastern Ohio” (full copy embedded below). The report, with lots of helpful maps, takes a close look at the Devonian Shale layer, which is composed of a number of sub-layers. The report concludes that two of those sub-layers–the Huron Shale and Rhinestreet Shale–have “significant oil and gas potential and may be good candidates for modern-day horizontal drilling techniques.” Cool! Beyond the Utica/Point Pleasant and the Marcellus, it appears that there are now other very promising layers in eastern Ohio–enough shale oil and gas to keep Ohio drillers busy for the next 100 years and more…
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There was an explosion and fire in Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission’s (TETCO) “Delmont Line 27” pipeline last Friday (see 
The muckety-mucks from Shell held their quarterly earnings phone call with analysts yesterday–and there is what we consider big news to report coming from that call. In response to a question from an analyst, Shell’s Chief Financial Officer, Simon Henry, commented there are four major “chemicals” projects currently under consideration by Shell. He also said a decision on the PA cracker plant project planned in Beaver County will likely be the first decision to be made because of “the timing of certain commitments that are already in place.” He added these glowing words about the PA cracker: “It’s an excellent project…[that] provides quite some portfolio resilience relative to the rest of the opportunities.” He later said “It’s a very strong and robust project.” If the price of oil were higher than the current $40, pulling the trigger on the PA cracker would be “a very easy decision.” When you read his comments, it’s hard to miss the enthusiasm at the highest echelons inside Shell…
It’s only been one year since Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical announced they are interested in building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see 
As we do every month, MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for when/if the drop in rig counts for the Marcellus/Utica will turn around. Patterson operates a number of rigs in the northeast, as well as other areas of the continental United States (and Canada). Month by month Paterson’s rig count has declined over the past year plus. April was no different. Patterson reports operating an average of 56 rigs in April, versus 64 in March–a big 12.5% drop and a new low. Once again we ask, how low can it go? Below is our running Patterson-UTI rig count chart that shows the sad story…
In March MDN reported that Canadian midstream giant TransCanada wants a bigger piece of the Marcellus/Utica midstream (i.e. pipeline) pie and has decided to buy Columbia Pipeline Group for $10 billion (see 
Rice Energy, one of the newest and brightest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, released their first quarter 2016 update yesterday. The company reports production averaged 675 million cubic feet equivalent per day (Mmcfe/d) during 1Q16, a 53% increase over 1Q15 (and up 8% from 4Q15). On the financial side the company lost $21 million during 1Q16, versus making $152,000 in 1Q15. Pretty mild compared to most. During 1Q16 Rice drilled 11 new Marcellus wells and 8 new Utica wells. Good to see someone is still drilling! Here’s the update, along with a great PowerPoint slide deck…
Eclipse Resources released their first quarter 2016 update yesterday. Although Eclipse, a Marcellus/Utica pure play driller headquartered in State College, PA (but drilling mostly in Ohio), has curtailed or shut-in some of it’s production given low prices for gas, they still posted an impressive 26% increase in production in 1Q16 over 1Q15. While we’ve heard of Prince and his “Purple Rain,” we hadn’t heard of Eclipse’s “Purple Hayes”–which is a Utica well with an underground lateral reaching out 18,500 feet–3.5 miles! During 1Q16 Eclipse drilled their Purple Hayes well in under 18 days. Amazing! Even more amazing–the well was completed with 124 frac stages. It is believed to be the longest onshore later well ever drilled. Kudos to Eclipse! On the downside, the company lost $41 million in 1Q16…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: The well runs dry for the little guy; BLM finds “no significant impact” in WNF from o&g leasing; Vallourec posts big loss; Hilcorp pad still shut down for earthquake investigation; Baker Hughes evolving; future of U.S. shale is…Mexico?; how is natgas stored?; Trump to keynote Bakken event; and more!