Rocket Ride Continues for OH Utica NatGas Production in 3Q16
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has just issued production numbers for the third quarter of 2016. Compared with third quarter 2015, production numbers in 3Q16 continued to be a mixed bag, as was the case in 2Q16 (see Ohio 2Q16 Utica Production – Who Produced O&G Where & How Much). Oil production in 3Q16 dropped by 34% over a year earlier and down 18% from 2Q16–that’s the bad news. But natural gas production from shale continues to be a rocket ship. Natgas production is up 45% year over year. In 2Q16 natgas production was up 51% y/y–so the trend continues. Ascent Resources (formerly Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy) dethroned last quarter’s CNX Gas as 3Q16’s top producing gas well, yielding nearly 1.6 billion cubic feet for the quarter. Also interesting to note, last quarter’s CNX well is located in Monroe County–this quarter’s Ascent winning well is located in Belmont County. Eclipse Resources once again had the #1 producing oil well in Guernsey County, the monster Purple Hayes, which produced an astonishing 74,954 barrels of oil in 3Q16, after producing 71,072 barrels of oil in 2Q16 (#1 well in 2Q16). What a great well! Below we have the ODNR’s high level overview of the numbers, along with MDN’s own exclusive analysis showing: the top 25 producing gas wells, the top 25 producing oil wells, and then the top 25 gas and oil wells as ranked by average production per day. There is a difference!…
Read More “Rocket Ride Continues for OH Utica NatGas Production in 3Q16”
It’s happened, just as we predicted. Paid, out-of-state protesters have arrived in Ohio, as they did in North Dakota, with the intent to block plans to begin fracking on land in Wayne National Forest. The Bureau of Land Management will conduct an auction tomorrow for 1,600 acres of land in WNF (see 
Little known fact: There is a Utica Shale layer in Canada–along the St. Lawrence River Valley–in the Province of Quebec. On and off over the years we’ve mentioned it, largely in connection with an ongoing moratorium on shale drilling in Quebec (
Some holdout landowners in Medina County, OH continue to oppose the coming NEXUS Pipeline, even after their suggested alternative routes (around their county) have been rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). A few holdouts are vowing to continue the fight “until all of our resources and options are exhausted,” which may be very soon. Earlier this month FERC issued a positive Final Environmental Impact Statement (see 
Although shale drilling slowed over the past 18 months or so, you wouldn’t know it by the amount of tax revenue the industry contributes in West Virginia counties located in the northern area of the state. Wetzel County will collect an estimated $24 million in tax revenue from shale drillers in 2016. Marshall County will take in $14.9 million. Ohio County will get $9 million and Doddridge County around $8.1 million. Tally it all up across the entire state, and the Marcellus industry will pay more than $134 million in property taxes for 2016…
Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) plants convert natural gas, a hydrocarbon, into other hydrocarbons, like diesel fuel, gasoline, solvents and waxes. An abundance of cheap natural gas in the Marcellus/Utica is one of the prime motivators for establishing GTL plants in the region. Although we’ve heard plenty of talk about such plants, we’ve only seen a few prototypes get built. There’s lots of talk, lots of smoke–but so far, no fire. Will that soon change? We spotted a story about a GTL plant that may locate in Somerset (Pulaski County), Kentucky. Which we find interesting since Kentucky hates new gas pipelines, yet wants to build a plant that will use gas coming from pipelines (see 
As we do each year, we take great pleasure and pride to let you know that Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center (SGICC) has launched yet another Shale Gas Innovation Contest. In fact, this is the 6th annual such contest. The Shale Gas Innovation Contest awards a $20,000 prize to three companies ($60,000 purse) for the “best shale energy-oriented innovations, new product ideas, or service concepts that are either in the development stage or recently launched.” Here’s the details on who your company can participate…
Events related to drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling.
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Rice Energy files to get into home gas delivery game; OH legislature wants to keep freeze on so-called clean energy mandates; FirstEnergy contemplates filing for bankruptcy; PA court re-issues block on some shale drilling regs; mall near Shell cracker gets sold; ND the biggest loser in Obama ruling against pipeline; shale is back, part ii; Trump EPA pick good “at breaking down worthless organizations”; and more!