Frac Sand: Does Size Really Matter?
Today, we introduce you to a new advertiser on Marcellus Drilling News: MS Industries. Below is a sponsored post from MS Industries. Such posts on MDN are extremely rare. We only accept sponsored posts if we believe the content is (a) very high quality and (b) directly relevant to MDN readers. This post on frac sand hits the bullseye. Among MDN’s audience are many who work for drillers (i.e., producers) and those who work for the oilfield services companies that work for those drillers. Believe it or not, frac sand is one of the keys, one of the closely-guarded secrets of drillers, that determines the success of their drilling programs. MS Industries, serving the Marcellus/Utica (and other plays), offers a range of high-grade frac sand, including whole grain silica microproppant. Matt Henry, one of the principals of MS Industries, writes about the role of microproppants in fracking. Click to learn more about the critical role of frac sand and why size *does* matter… Read More “Frac Sand: Does Size Really Matter?”
In the closing hours of the 2014 West Virginia legislative session, the legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 373, the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (see 
Yesterday, MDN told you that power generation giant LS Power announced a plan to add more than 700 megawatts (MW) of new electric generating capacity across the PJM grid by modifying and expanding gas-fired plants already in existence in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia (see 
A guest column appearing in the Columbus Dispatch written by the president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce makes a strong case that (a) Ohio needs more electric power generation, and (b) the perfect solution is to use “trapped” by lack of pipelines Utica Shale gas. Steve Stivers throws the weight of the Chamber behind a pair of bills that aim to make it easier to generate power in the Buckeye State, Senate Bill (SB) 2 and House Bill (HB) 15. 
We’ve been tracking a story that we consider an ongoing tragedy for nearly a decade. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County, Ohio, that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake nobody could feel (see 
Artificial Intelligence (AI) “took center stage in many sessions” at last week’s CERAWeek by S&P conference in Houston. But maybe not for the reasons you may think. Lately, MDN has brought you a flurry of stories about AI data centers and the monsters they are with respect to the amount of energy they consume. A day doesn’t go by that we don’t see stories of plans and announcements to generate more electricity (typically using gas-fired plants) to feed these beasts. While AI data centers and the need to supply them with gas-fired power were discussed last week at CERAWeek, the AI we’re talking about is how energy companies in all sectors (upstream, midstream, and downstream) are using AI to do their jobs faster, cheaper, and better. 
This is a story from the other side of “the pond”—from the United Kingdom. But it has relevance to our own country. The ultra-liberal UK Guardian newspaper ran a story ten days ago that attempts to excuse the criminal (we’d call them terroristic) actions of so-called “protesters” who have now resorted to using sabotage in their attempt to bully and force businesses to drop support for fossil energy. The “protesters” have tipped over into full-blown criminal activity. And we’re not talking about throwing soup at paintings in museums (which is a crime, too). We’re talking about cutting internet/communications to hundreds of businesses in the middle of London and doing it in the dead of night, hiding their identities from the ever-present cameras. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Delaware Basin fracking ban based on ‘junk science’; Seneca Resources donates truck to Tioga County emergency responders; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere announces substantial completion of Train 1 at Corpus Christi Stage 3 project; NATIONAL: BH bags deal to ‘provide reliable and efficient power to US data centers’; Natgas pipeline project completions increase takeaway capacity in producing regions; Lights out for Sunnova Energy?; Crusoe secures 4.5GW of natural gas power for AI data centers; INTERNATIONAL: Goldman cuts oil forecasts on slow USA growth, OPEC+ policy; Natural gas is becoming the undisputed king of Europe’s power markets; Oil’s oversupply spiral – can prices stay above $60?; China halts US LNG imports as trade war reroutes deliveries.