CONSOL Energy’s CNX Gas subsidiary has just leased 10,000 square feet at an industrial park in Columbiana County, Ohio. The new branch office will handle all of CNX’s Utica Shale efforts in Ohio, a signal that CNX has big plans for the Utica.
Read More “CONSOL/CNX Opening New Branch in Columbiana County, OH”
An update on the two New York lawsuits recently decided in lower courts that upheld local municipal bans on hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling:
Read More “Dryden & Middlefield NY Drilling Bans Officially Appealed”
Enerplus Corporation, a Denver-based exploration and production company, announced yesterday that its president has resigned “to pursue other opportunities.” No word on what those other opportunities are. According to MDN’s newly published Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook 2012 – Volume 1, Enerplus had active Marcellus drilling operations in both Clinton County, PA and Preston County, WV in 2011.
Read More “Sudden Resignation of Enerplus President Dana Johnson”
The South Fayette School District in South Fayette Township (Allegheny County), PA has decided to pass on an offer from Range Resources to transfer a Marcellus Shale drilling lease previously signed with Chesapeake Energy.
Read More “South Fayette School Passes on Offer from Range Resources”
BP has entered the Utica Shale play by signing a lease agreement with with the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley (ALOV) group to lease 84,000 acres in Trumbull County, OH. Not sure why, but BP and the ALOV group officially are not disclosing the terms of the deal (as you’ll see in the press release below). However, terms have already leaked:
Read More “BP’s Big Utica Shale Deal, Leases 84K Acres in Ohio”
Seven Beaver County, PA families filed a lawsuit yesterday in Common Pleas Court accusing O&G Investments of Wooster, Ohio of not drilling on their land (and not paying them) for the past seven years. The lawsuit also names Chesapeake Energy, who purchased the leases from O&G last year and who now, “at the last minute,” is trying to tie up the land and continue the contract by moving in equipment to start a drill pad—even though they haven’t received any permits to drill.
Read More “After 7 Years of No Drilling, PA Families Sue to End Contract”
Shell will decide whether or not to build an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA over the next two years (see this MDN story). If they decide to build, which seems likely, it will take between four and 10 years and $3 billion to build it. It’s a massive project. And Shell will have the federal Environmental Protection Agency looking over their shoulder the whole time, according to an EPA rep from Texas:
Read More “Shell’s ‘Silent’ Partner in Building Cracker Plant: The EPA”
National Fuel Gas Company and its subsidiary Seneca Resources announced yesterday that for the second time in two months they are further scaling back Marcellus Shale drilling in light of low natural gas prices. According to CEO David Smith they will curtail production by “a modest amount” and delay some completions in the Marcellus.
From the press release:
Read More “National Fuel Gas Announces Second Cutback in Marcellus”
Here’s a prediction on the commodity price of natural gas from John Pinkerton, CEO of Range Resources, as delivered at the Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics conference this week:
Read More “Range CEO Predicts Long-Term Commodity Price of NatGas”
At a conference in Charelston, WV on Thursday, Chesapeake vice president Scott Rotruck said the drilling industry needs to do a better job at reducing surface impacts from shale drilling.
Read More “Chesapeake: Shale Drillers Need to Reduce Surface Impacts”
Both pro- and anti-drillers addressed a Wall Street Journal conference this week called ECO:nomics—and the sparks flew. Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon spear-headed the pro-drilling side with his address, and Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, represented the anti-drilling side. Some of Gallay’s comments illustrate the nonsensical arguments from anti-drillers. He responded to McClendon’s vision of getting off foreign oil with U.S. shale drilling this way:
In an update to a story from earlier this week about methane contamination of three water wells in Franklin Township, PA (see this MDN story), WPX Energy has now installed venting systems on those three homes per the request from the PA Department of Environmental Protection.
Read More “WPX Vents 3 Methane-Contaminated Water Wells in PA”
Antero Resources released 2011 operating and financial results yesterday. Below are portions from their statement that are relevant to the Marcellus Shale:
Last week, Chesapeake Energy announced it was partnering with M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners to build a new $900 million gas processing complex in Ohio’s Harrison and Columbiana counties by the middle of next year (see this MDN story). At an industry conference this week, Chesapeake and its partners spoke about the pipelines they will run to the plants and between the plants:
Read More “Chesapeake Talks About Pipelines for OH Processing Complex”
News from Hart Energy’s Marcellus Midstream Conference that was held in Pittsburgh earlier this week—a prediction about the future of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles:
Read More “Cabot’s George Stark Predicts More CNG Vehicles Coming”
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sent a letter last Friday to WPX Energy (spin-off from Williams) asking them to help three families who live near shale wells being drilled by WPX in Franklin Township (Susquehanna County, PA). The families’ water wells contain high levels of methane.
Read More “PA DEP Asks WPX to Help Families with Water/Methane Issues”