Shell CEO van Beurden Talks on American Shale, Global Warming
Last Friday Shell’s still relatively new CEO, Ben van Beurden, had a sit-down interview with editors and reporters from the Washington Post. You may recall that not long after taking the reigns of Shell (in March 2014) van Beurden announced the company would shed some of its American shale assets (see Cuts Coming to Shellâs Marcellus Shale Operations). Sure enough, they did (see Rex Energy Takes Shell to the Cleaners â Picks up 208K Acres). But a few days later Shell picked up more Marcellus acreage, making our heads spin (see After Selling 208K Marcellus Acres, Shell âBuysâ 155K More Acres!). When asked by Post editors about Shell’s stumbling and bumbling in American shale, van Beurden said the company is not abandoning American shale–just being picky and going after “the best of the batch”…
Read More “Shell CEO van Beurden Talks on American Shale, Global Warming”
Hilcorp is having some bad luck in Mercer County, PA. Three weeks ago two storage tanks at a Hilcorp well pad caught fire and exploded–no one injured. Then, this past Saturday (three weeks later), a separator caught fire at a well pad. No big explosions this time–at least none that were heard. However, up to 20 homes had to be evacuated while the fire was extinguished. Once again, no injuries…
Big news from MDN friend and Marcellus/Utica driller Aubrey McClendon. McClendon, now CEO of American Energy Partners (and former CEO of Chesapeake Energy), told a Hart Energy conference yesterday that the companies he’s started since leaving Chesapeake will soon go public–each of them individually. And he’ll start even more companies that will go public. McClendon is adopting a “pure play” approach in which each company will be independently run and focus on a single shale play. Once again McClendon has taken the road less traveled and is pioneering a brilliant strategy to dominate the plays which he chooses to target. MDN’s words when the Chesapeake board dismissed Aubrey (from April 1, 2013) were prophetic: “Why is it an error to show McClendon to the door even in light of his aggressive financial deals? You think McClendon will take his piles of money and sit on a Caribbean beach somewhere? In your dreams! Heâll be back, and heâll start (or buy) another company that will directly compete with Chesapeake. You can bank on it.” (see 
Shell has had an on-again, off-again, on-again love affair with North American shale (can anyone say “schizophrenia”?). In March, Shell’s new CEO Ben van Beurden said the company was not impressed with American shale plays and cutting back (see 
Long before the words “Marcellus” and “Utica” entered the public discourse and consciousness of Ohioans, there was the Clinton Sandstone. For years conventional drillers have been sinking wells in the Clinton, which is found 4,500 feet below the surface (the Marcellus and Utica Shale layers are deeper). The Clinton lies under 25 counties in eastern Ohio. Over the years, some 35,000 conventional (vertical) wells have tapped the Clinton Sandstone in Ohio. EnerVest, one of the largest acreage holders in the Utica Shale (and in the Clinton Sandstone), has embarked on a great experiment. What if you turned a Clinton Sandstone well horizontal, like a Utica or Marcellus well? Would it work? Could you get more gas out of the sandstone by fracking it like shale? EnerVest has drilled seven horizontal wells so far, with a permit to drill another and a request to drill a ninth. Here’s the details, along with the differences between a Clinton horizontal well and a Utica horizontal well…