Energy Companies

Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Magnum Hunter’s Marcellus Production Curtailed from Storm
July 3, 2012July 3, 2012

You may or may not have heard about the severe thunderstorms that moved through the mid-Atlantic region last Friday afternoon. It resulted in 1.3 million people in Washington, D.C., Maryland and northern Virginia losing power. Some of them still don’t have power and won’t until later this week.

But what you may not realize is that the same storm also had a noticeable effect on the Marcellus Shale industry. The storms didn’t just stop around D.C.—they kept on going—right into the heart of Marcellus country. And the power outage caused problems for at least one driller, Magnum Hunter, who issued a press release with an update on the status of their operations in the region.

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Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Ohio | Wayne County (OH)

Devon Energy Receives First Utica Permit for Wayne County, OH
July 2, 2012July 2, 2012

Devon Energy has just received the first permit to drill a Utica Shale well in Wayne County, Ohio. No timeline is set for when the drilling will begin, but Devon hopes the well will yield not only methane but oil too.

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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

PA Budget with Shell Cracker Plant Tax Credit Passes
July 2, 2012July 2, 2012

At 11:45 pm Saturday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, for the second year in a row (and his second year in office), signed into law an on-time budget for the state—a budget that does not raise taxes. No small feat given the current sad state of the economy.

One of the biggest victories for Corbett in this year’s budget (supported by both Republicans and Democrats) was the passage of a tax credit for Shell and other companies who invest in an ethane cracker plant for the state:

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Chemung County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Talisman Energy

Hit and Run Protest at Talisman Office in Big Flats, NY
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

Here’s the non-news news: About 100 protesters from Ithaca and New York City showed up for a 30-minute “hit and run” protest in front of Talisman Energy’s offices in Big Flats, NY (near Corning, in Chemung County). The rabble rousers, led by Shaleshock, made wild claims about Talisman polluting the environment and read a statement claiming they’ll lay down in front of trucks if drilling begins in New York. In less than a half hour from the time they arrived, they were “escorted” from the premises, where they were illegally protesting (it’s private property).

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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Yaterra Ventures

New Driller Arrives in the Marcellus – Hunting for Oil
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

There’s a new name in drillers coming to the Marcellus Shale: Yaterra Ventures. In a press release yesterday (see below), Yaterra announced they they are close to concluding negotiations to take over the leases for 150 wells on 1,600 acres in western Pennsylvania. Yaterra does not mention who the potential seller is. It strikes MDN as unusual that Yaterra would issue a press release prior to the deal closing, but sometimes these high finance deals escape our understanding!

One thing we do understand from the release: Yaterra is not after natural gas in the Marcellus. They’re after shale oil.

Read More “New Driller Arrives in the Marcellus – Hunting for Oil”
CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Hess | Mahoning County | Noble County | Ohio | Portage County | Trumbull County | Tuscarawas County

CONSOL’s Plans for Ohio Utica Shale Have Begun
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

CONSOL Energy’s drilling in Ohio’s Utica Shale is now under way and ramping up rapidly, according to CONSOL’s Harry Schurr who spoke Wednesday at a workshop on the campus of Kent State University. They’ve already drilled their first Utica well in Tuscarawas County, and they plan to drill 15 more this year. CONSOL also has a joint venture with Hess. Hess plans to drill six Utica wells this year.

Read More “CONSOL’s Plans for Ohio Utica Shale Have Begun”
Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

ExxonMobil CEO Delivers Major Speech on U.S. Energy
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

In a speech delivered at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson said fears about climate change, drilling and even energy dependence on other countries are all overblown. He said he believes burning fossil fuels does lead to global warming, but it’s no big deal and certainly not an impending cataclysm. He also said the press and environmentalists are manufacturing fear about fracking and fossil fuels.

Perhaps the most controversial thing he said is that the general public is “illiterate” when it comes to science and math.

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream

EQT Midstream IPO Rakes in the Cash
June 27, 2012June 27, 2012

EQT Corp, one of the larger drillers in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, has spun off its midstream (pipeline and processing plant) operations into its own company. Shares of the new EQT Midstream started selling yesterday in an initial public offering (IPO), and today those shares will start to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol EQM).

What does it mean? It means EQT’s midstream activities will have a nice new pot of cash to expand with—somewhere around $260 million (put another way—over a quarter of a billion dollars). EQT’s drilling activities will now be serviced by a bigger, more robust midstream operation to get their gas to market.

From the EQT press release:

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Chesapeake Energy | Encana Energy | Energy Companies

Did Reuters Break the Law with Latest Chesapeake Story?
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Another week, another “cut” at Chesapeake Energy and its flamboyant CEO Aubrey McClendon. Death by a thousand cuts will work, as long as in the end it’s death, right? And that’s exactly what the mainstream media is clamoring for.

A new hit piece by Reuters attempts to smear McClendon and in the process snags Canadian company Encana. The article, published yesterday, tries to portray McClendon and the president of Encana USA, Jeff Wojahn, as colluding to divvy up Michigan state oil and gas leases auctioned in 2010. It was an attempt to suppress prices and control the outcome of the auction, according to Reuters, and if that indeed happened, it would be a violation of federal and state laws.

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Shell | Tioga County (PA)

PA DEP Investigates Methane Migration from Shell Drilling
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating a possible case of methane migration due to drilling by Shell in Union Township, Tioga County (PA). A drinking water well in the area was reported to be bubbling with methane.

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Accidents | Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Chesapeake Pays 3 PA Families $1.6M for Methane Contamination
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

Chesapeake Energy settled a case with several landowners in the small community of Wyalusing (Bradford County), PA who say their well water was contaminated by Chesapeake’s nearby drilling activity. Three families will receive $1.6 million from Chesapeake which includes buying out their homes so they can move. Some 30 other area families are in various stages of litigation with Chesapeake over the same issue.

For MDN, the fascinating aspect of this story is how the news has been covered by mainstream media. First, the news itself, then “the real news”:

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Anadarko | Coshocton County | Energy Companies | Ohio

Anadarko Set to Drill in Coshocton County, OH
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

It looks like Anadarko is getting ready to drill in the Utica Shale in Coshocton County, Ohio. New blue signs on rural roads have begun to spring up warning Anadarko truckers to not go beyond certain points (to limit road damage). When queried about the signs, Anadarko’s public affairs rep said:

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Stone Energy

Who is GreenHunter Water’s New Mystery Marcellus Customer?
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

GreenHunter Water has picked up a new drilling company for their water management services (see the full press release below). The new customer is an independent driller somewhere in the Marcellus Shale play that owns leases on approximately 90,000 acres in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and is looking to expand. Thing is, GreenHunter won’t (or can’t) disclose the identity of this new mystery customer they’ve just signed on. But MDN thinks it can! There’s one independent driller who claims to have 90,000 acres of leases in PA/WV and is looking to expand, and that company is…

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Energy’s Board Changes, Archie Dunham New Chairman
June 22, 2012June 22, 2012

You certainly can’t miss the news in the mainstream media that Chesapeake Energy has appointed five new board members and has “stripped” CEO Aubrey McClendon of his chairmanship (“stripped” even though weeks ago McClendon announced he would voluntarily step down from the role of chairman when a new chairman was found, such are the vagaries of headline writers).

The new incoming board members include…

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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Gulfport Energy | Harrison County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio

Gulfport Drills Longest Horizontal Utica Wells to Date
June 22, 2012June 22, 2012

Gulfport Energy reports it has just completed drilling the two longest horizontal Utica Shale wells—ever. The horizontal portion for one of the wells, located in Harrison County, Ohio, went over 1.5 miles.

Here’s the particulars:

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Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Columbiana County Lease with Chesapeake, Highest Bonus Ever
June 21, 2012June 21, 2012

Columbiana County, OH has just signed a deal with DPS Penn (an agent for Chesapeake Energy) to lease 548 acres for Utica Shale drilling. And they astutely doubled their money from the original offer from DPS a year ago. The new terms of the deal, just signed, are for $5,850 per acre and a 20 percent royalty. Columbiana also negotiated the lease term down to three years. A typical lease is five years.

The deal makes Columbiana breaks the record as the highest signing bonus granted to any government body for a Utica (or Marcellus) Shale lease deal.

Read More “Columbiana County Lease with Chesapeake, Highest Bonus Ever”