Energy Companies

Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Ohio | Statewide OH

Will OH Utica Turn Out to be Steak, or Just Sizzle? Eye on April
March 25, 2013March 25, 2013

Ohio will soon compile and release annual production numbers for Utica Shale wells drilled and in production during 2012. Ohio is one of the “least transparent states” when it comes to reporting energy output with annual filings. Drillers are required to provide production numbers for 2012 by March 31. Last year the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) posted production numbers in just a few days—on April 2nd. However, last year’s reporting (from 2011) was for 5 wells—all from Chesapeake. This year the reporting will be from multiple drillers for 50-60 wells. Everyone is waiting, with baited breath. There’s a lot riding on the numbers reported this year.

Will the Utica numbers turn out to be like the Eagle Ford—a play prolific in profitable oil and natural gas liquids? Or will it be more of a less-profitable, methane-only play? A Reuters article takes a look at that question. The article also highlights some interesting information for just how far production numbers have fallen from initial peak rates for a pair of Gulfport wells…

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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Affidavit in Range PA Settlement Shows No Drilling Health Impacts
March 25, 2013March 25, 2013

There was a bit of media buzz last week when a sealed court case between Range Resources and the Hallowich family was unsealed at the litigated insistence of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Washington Observer-Reporter (see Judge Orders Range/Landowner Settlement in PA Made Public). The headlines about the payout from Range to the Hallowich’s ($750,000) implied and continue to imply there was a cover up—that Range had somehow contaminated water by fracking and affected the health of the Hallowich’s and their children.

Problem is, it’s not true. The Hallowich’s signed an affidavit—a court document—in July 2011 stating neither their health nor the health of their children has been negatively affected by drilling (see the signed affidavit below). Which, of course, has led to a lot of frowny faces at the P-G and O-R.

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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Judge Orders Range/Landowner Settlement in PA Made Public
March 22, 2013March 22, 2013

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Washington Observer-Reporter last year sued to have a sealed court case involving a settlement between Range Resources and a landowner unsealed (see Pittsburgh Newspapers Sue to Unseal Drilling Court Case). As MDN said at the time, the newspapers and anti-drillers wanted to go on a fishing expedition to see if they might find evidence that “big, bad Range” had contaminated the landowner’s water and air with fracking activities.

On Wednesday, a judge unsealed last year’s settlement decision. The newspapers and anti-drillers were disappointed. No smoking guns in the court documents—just a big payout from Range ($750,000) to settle what was essentially a case of landowners who didn’t like drilling activities going on next door…

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Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Shell | Statewide PA

Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program
March 21, 2013March 21, 2013

Two years ago, an informal group of high level leaders from both the Marcellus drilling industry (companies like Shell, CONSOL, Chevron and EQT) sat down with high level people from organizations trying to stop shale drilling (organizations like the Heniz Endowment, PennFuture, GASP and the Clean Air Taskforce), to see if both sides could agree on standards that would tell the world, “this activity is safe to do.” There were times, early on, when both sides thought the effort would be fruitless. But somewhere along the way, they “came together” and formed what was officially announced yesterday: The Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD).

The CSSD proposes 15 new “performance standards” for those in the industry to follow—for drillers, midstream companies and in some cases the supply chain companies that work for them. Depending on your viewpoint, the CSSD and their standards are either a brilliant compromise that will make drilling safer and polish up the image of the industry, or a new group of mafia-like bullies out to force companies to pony up $30,000 to get certified “or else.” The group clearly wants (demands?) to be the certification body for Marcellus drillers, and if you don’t seek certification, they clearly intend to make you a pariah.

This MDN article will necessarily be much longer than most. We sat in on yesterday’s press conference by the CSSD (via phone), and will have our opinion as to the group, what they said, and what it means. We list our own summary of the 15 proposed new standards below (very important for those in industry to review this list). We also link to a number of other news accounts, so you can get other opinions.

The new CSSD has the power and potential to affect every single stakeholder in the shale drilling debate: from landowners to regulators to drillers and supply chain companies. Yes, it’s that important…

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Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Noble County | Ohio | Rex Energy | Statewide OH

Rex Energy OH Utica Wells go Toe-to-Toe with Gulfport Wells
March 20, 2013March 20, 2013

So far, we’ve had precious little in the way of well production numbers from the Ohio Utica Shale. The numbers we have had are encouraging. On Monday, Rex Energy released well production numbers for their “Warrior South Prospect” wells in the Ohio Utica, and the numbers look very good indeed. From two wells in Guernsey County and one in Noble County, Rex is reporting an average daily production of around 8 million cubic feet of natural gas, 500 barrels of condensate (natural gasoline), and 1,200 barrels of natural gas liquids (mostly ethane), per day for each well.

Below are the details from Rex, along with an embedded copy of their company presentation just updated (March 2013) which shows many more details, including maps and a very interesting table (on page 18) that compares Rex’s three Ohio wells with other drillers’ wells, including Ohio’s largest producing wells drilled by Gulfport. When converted to BTUs produced—which takes into account not only methane, but also gas liquids, condensate and oil—the Rex wells are among the best producing wells in the state…

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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Antero Resources Rides the Marcellus Rocket in 2012
March 20, 2013March 20, 2013

On Monday, Antero Resources issued their 2012 financial and operational results (full copy embedded below). Among the highlights: The company now holds 305,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale and 88,000 acres in the Utica Shale. They operate 13 Marcellus rigs (all of them drilling in WV) and will add a 14th rig in 2013. Antero’s average daily production for all of 2012 in the Marcellus rocketed up 93% to 239 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d). Antero’s Marcellus production represents 72% of all of their production for 2012. As of March 2013, Antero’s average daily production for the Marcellus has risen to 390 Mmcf/d. The company is on a rocket!

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lenape Resources | Litigation | Livingston County | New York | Regulation

Third NY Town Wins Court Approval to Ban Fracking
March 20, 2013March 20, 2013

Tomorrow, the Appellate Division (court) in Albany, NY will hear arguments in the twin cases of Dryden and Middlefield—two New York towns that illegally seized the property rights of all their citizens by completely banning fracking (see Important Developments in NY Fracking Ban Court Cases for background).

A third town, Livingston, has just won a court case that allows them to also illegally ban fracking. Lenape Resources had sued Livingston after the town passed a ban in 2012, claiming the ban affects their conventional/vertical drilling in the town, which has been going on for decades (see Lenape Sues Avon, NY & DEC over Fracking Ban – Seeks $50M). An “acting” judge didn’t agree, and cited Dryden and Middlefield to support his opinion…

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

Judge Refuses to Recuse Himself from Range v Robinson Twp Case
March 19, 2013March 19, 2013

Last week MDN told you about the lawsuit filed by Range Resources against Robinson Township (Washington County), PA for rejecting their request to build two drill pads in the township (see Range Takes Robinson Twp, PA to Court over Permit Rejections). Range has asked the judge in the case, John F. DiSalle, to recuse himself from the case because his wife, Diane DiSalle, is a big-time anti-driller. Unfortunately for Range, the judge has said “no”…

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Energy Companies | Seneca Resources

National Fuel/Seneca Update: Spend & Drill in the Marcellus
March 19, 2013March 19, 2013

Yesterday, National Fuel Gas (and its drilling subsidiary Seneca Resources) issued its best estimate for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 with respect to how much natural gas they expect to produce, and how much money they’re going to spend drilling for it. The brief version: They’ll spend the vast majority of their money on drilling in the Marcellus/Utica, and the vast majority of the gas they produce will come from the Marcellus/Utica.

The estimates (“guidance”) provided yesterday by National Fuel:

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Guernsey County | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Noble County | Ohio | PDC Energy | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Utica Shale

MarkWest Signs Deal with PDC Energy for OH Utica Shale, Etcetera
March 19, 2013March 19, 2013

Yesterday, PDC Energy announced they would nearly double their drilling budget for the Ohio Utica Shale this year (see PDC Nearly Doubles Utica Shale Drilling Budget for 2013). PDC’s announcement mentioned they will do a deal with MarkWest for pipelines and processing. Last night, MarkWest issued their announcement to say they’ve officially signed a deal with PDC to provide “gathering, processing, fractionation, and marketing services in the Utica Shale.” In their announcement, MarkWest took the opportunity to remind everyone this is the fourth Utica Shale driller they’ve signed up in the past nine months—the other three are Gulfport, Antero and Rex Energy—and to chronicle the work they’re doing at their Cadiz and Seneca processing facilities in the Utica Shale.

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Anadarko | Energy Companies | Muskingum County | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Is Anadarko Leaving the Ohio Utica Shale?
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

A story in the Columbus Dispatch floats the rumor that Anadarko Petroleum, one of the country’s largest drillers, has not only suspended plans to drill in a 9,000-acre wild game preserve in Muskingum County, OH (known as “the Wilds”), but they also may be abandoning plans to drill anywhere in the Ohio Utica and the 141,000 acres they control…

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Energy Companies | PDC Energy | Utica Shale

PDC Nearly Doubles Utica Shale Drilling Budget for 2013
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

PDC Energy announced today they are nearly doubling their drilling investment in the Utica Shale—this year—from $53 million to $96 million. They plan to keep one drilling rig busy at all times in the Utica this year and drill a total of 11 Utica Shale wells. Their plans also include a deal with MarkWest Energy to provide midstream services for the wells they drill. PDC also plans to use a small amount—$9 million—for drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

PDC’s announcement today:

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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Overview of Magnum Hunter’s Operations in Marcellus/Utica
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

An article on the Seeking Alpha website takes a close look at Magnum Hunter Resources and offers the author’s opinion on where the company should focus in 2013 (the author believes Kentucky and Tennessee should be the focus). As part of the article, we get this overview of how much acreage Magnum Hunter holds in the Marcellus and Utica, how many wells they’ve drilled thus far (hint: not many), and a map of their acreage position in Appalachia:

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Statewide PA

PA Enviro Groups Oppose Using Acid Mine Water for Fracking
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection and elected officials want Marcellus drillers to help them with a big problem in the state: acid mine drainage. To solve two “problems” at once—lessen the amount of acid mine water that drains into PA waterways and supply water for fracking—PA encourages drillers to use acid mine water with the Environmental Good Samaritan Act and with a Consent Order and Agreement (see PA Wants Drillers to Use Acid Mine Water in Fracking – Will They?). PA’s efforts have started to pay off. Seneca Resources and at least 10 other drillers have started to use acid mine water for fracking.

However, just like a bad Western movie, extremist environmental organizations have ridden in to ruin the day. Legislation to encourage more use of acid mine water for fracking was recently introduced by a Democrat (!) Senate member. PennEnvironment and other “environmental activists” have sidelined the legislation…

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Range Gets Violation Notice for Wastewater Spill in SW PA
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

A very small spill (about 40 barrels, or 1,680 gallons) of recycled fracking water with no chemical additives in it was spilled in Cross Creek County Park (Washington County), PA on Feb. 12 by Range Resources. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection has issued Range a notice of violation and is investigating…

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Accidents | Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wyoming County (PA)

Carrizo Problem Fracking NE PA Well, Evacuates 3 Nearby Families
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

Carrizo Oil & Gas temporarily lost control of a Marcellus Shale gas well they were fracking in Wyoming County, PA on Wednesday. The company was in the 23rd stage Wednesday about 6:00 pm when wastewater and brine started to flow at a rate of about 800 gallons per minute—too fast to control. The concern was that natural gas (methane) would start pouring out of the hole too, so Carrizo and a specialty well control crew worked through the night and by early Thursday had the problem contained, and by Thursday afternoon they had the well capped. No methane was released into the atmosphere and the wastewater was contained.

During the episode three families that lived within 1,500 feet of the well were evacuated as a precaution. They returned on Thursday. Here’s the details about the accident as we know them:

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