Important: OH Supreme Court Finally Rules on Dormant Mineral Act
MDN has been reporting on the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (DMA) for years (see Video: OH Lawyers Explain Dormant Minerals Act & Impact on Utica). In a nutshell, there are two DMAs in Ohio–one passed in 1989 that went into effect in 1992, and another in 2006 which added certain additional procedural requirements to the 1989 version. The DMA in its various versions provides for mineral rights that had previously been separated from surface rights to transfer back to the surface owner under certain conditions. The problem, for drillers and for landowners in Ohio, is in knowing which set of DMA rules to use (1989 or 2006) in determining who owns the mineral rights. A number of DMA cases went before the Ohio Supreme Court. Some of the minor cases have already been decided (see Ohio Supreme Court Rules in Important Dormant Mineral Act Case). However, most of the big cases remain stalled at the Supreme Court. That is, until now. Yesterday the Ohio Supreme Court ruled on the remaining big DMA cases. The Supremes issued full rulings in three cases and stated the other cases come under those three. The biggest of the three is Corban v. Chesapeake Energy, in which the justices said the 2006 law now trumps (pun intended) the 1989 law. Here’s a summary of what the court decided…
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Fantastic news for overabundant supplies of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas: Spectra Energy has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to open the valves on their Texas Eastern Transmission Gulf Markets Expansion Project. The project will shuttle supplies of natural gas from the northeast, along with supplies from Texas, to “meet the needs of demand growth in the power, industrial and LNG export sectors particularly in the Gulf Coast region of Louisiana and Texas.” Spectra began construction for the Gulf Markets Expansion Project in February. Construction will come in two stages, with the first stage targeted to go online in November. Spectra got done early and has asked for permission to begin operations at several compressor stations. More than half of the eventual 650,000 decatherms per day of new capacity along the Texas Eastern pipeline will come in the northeast, moving Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast. Marcellus drillers EQT and Range Resources are signed up to ship gas along the expanded-capacity pipeline. Facilities along the pipeline have been or are being upgraded in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Here’s more about the project…
Good news for Marcellus/Utica drillers. You now have access to a previously-shuttered wastewater injection well in the Youngstown, OH-area. You may recall the sad story of D&L Energy, a Youngstown, OH operator of several wastewater injection wells. D&L’s owner was Ben Lupo, who also owned sister company Hardrock Excavating, operating both companies under the D&L Energy Group umbrella. In September 2012, Lupo instructed a Hardrock employee to dump untreated frack wastewater down a sewer drain that emptied into the Mahoning River. Lupo and the driver were found out in early 2013 (see 
Two days ago MDN told you that the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) had filed a brief in a lawsuit brought by anti-drilling zealots against the much-needed Constitution Pipeline (see 
One week ago Dominion Transmission locked out over 900 union workers, many of them in West Virginia (and others in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland), preventing them from working (see 
In July 2014, Vantage Energy, a Colorado company with major operations in the Marcellus, announced they would launch an initial public offering (IPO) seeking $400. Then in September the number was revised up–the company felt like $601 million would be the goal of their IPO (see 
We have a new entrant into the frack wastewater treatment industry in the Marcellus Shale. Gradiant, which was founded in 2012 by a group of engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has rapidly established itself in both the Marcellus and Permian shale plays with innovative technology to treat and recycle produced water from shale wells. Gradiant has been experimenting in the Marcellus and Permian and is now ready to roll out their technology to all comers. In order to roll it out, Gradiant the mother ship is establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary called Gradiant Energy Services. Here’s more about the company and their new technology…
Last week MDN reported researchers from Ohio State University had discovered a new form of microorganism in fracked Utica Shale wells–something they call “Frackibacter” (we call it Frackenstein). As researchers continue to pour over the research, they’ve hit upon a stunning new revelation. Those little critters may actually INCREASE natural gas output from the well. Now that is exciting news! OSU is on the case, promising to further examine Frackibacter’s origin and “more of its applications”…
American Electric Power is selling four electric generating plants to a newly formed joint venture of Blackstone and ArcLight Capital Partners. Three of the plants are natural gas-fired–two of them in Ohio and one in Indiana. One of the plants is coal-fired, located in Ohio. Total sale price for all four: $2.17 billion. While the announcement doesn’t say, we expect at least the gas-fired plants in Ohio, and perhaps the one in Indiana, are fed in part by Utica/Marcellus natural gas. Which is why the story caught our eye. The plants are already up and running–this is simply a transfer of ownership and (we presume) management of the plants. The larger story is just how important these types of plants are in the Marcellus/Utica ecosystem–because they use a huge amount of gas. Here’s the details of the deal…
MDN previously partnered with the ShaleNavigator online mapping service to produce a popular research report called the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. MDN editor Jim Willis did the data research and partnered with ShaleNavigator for the maps displaying that data. ShaleNavigator’s founder and owner has accepted a new job in another industry–a position that occupies most of his time–so he is looking to sell the service. Below are the details…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: REX sees new signups for East-to-West capacity; ODNR issues 7 new Utica permits; Philly Energy Solutions ends bid to go public; developer tells Maine regulators to look at LNG storage instead of pipelines; Saudis keep buying America’s oil assets; Europe’s biggest natgas producer is running out of gas; and more!