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Unrelated Explosions at OH Utica Well Pad, WV Brine Plant

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We have two explosions and resulting fires to tell you about–neither related to the other, except they happened two days apart and maybe one hour’s drive apart (as the crow flies). The first was an explosion and fire at the Fairmont Brine Processing facility in Fairmont (Marion County), WV, on May 30. The second was an explosion and fire at a Utica Shale well pad owned by Utica Resources near Lore City (Guernsey County), OH, on June 1. Both appear to be accidents. The only injury reported was a minor injury at the Utica well pad site (a worker on-site refused treatment). The main concern was that the brine treatment plant may have stored or handled radioactive material. The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) tested and found no radioactive contamination had spread from the fire.
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9 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 26-Oct 2

Just nine new permits to drill shale wells were issued across the three Marcellus/Utica states for Sept. 26 to Oct. 2. Pennsylvania turned in the second week in a row of very low new permits–just three issued, all of them to different companies in different counties. Ohio issued just four new permits, with two of them going to Encino Energy in Carroll County. And West Virginia issued just two new permits, both to Southwestern Energy in Brooke County.
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Utica Resources Sues Quebec for C$18Bn for Banning O&G Production

The province of Quebec, Canada, with a huge supply of Utica Shale gas sitting beneath it, passed a new law in April–Bill 21–outlawing all oil and natural gas production throughout the province (see Quebec Pulls Trigger & Commits Energy Suicide – Bans All O&G Prod.). It is a breathtaking grab of totalitarian power. It’s also energy suicide. Quebec says it will pay a piddly US$79.5 million to expropriate the oil and gas drilling rights of companies owning those rights in the province. One of the gas producers in the province, Utica Resources, has just sued the province to either overturn Bill 21, or force Quebec to pay it C$18 billion (US$14 billion). That’s just a tad more than the proffered $79.5 million, wouldn’t you say? Bear in mind Utica Resources is just one company of many with a legitimate claim against Quebec.
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Quebec to Pay “Significantly More” than $5B to Jilted Utica Drillers

In October the province of Quebec, Canada announced it will expropriate all of the rights for all oil and gas companies in the province to drill and extract oil and natural gas (see Lights Out for All O&G Production in Quebec, Including Utica Shale). It’s all being shut down–including actively producing wells. Shutting down existing businesses in the province is something you might expect in Communist China, or Soviet Russia, or tin-horn dictatorships in South America. It’s not something you expect to see in Western democracies. Yet it’s happening in Quebec, home to a large deposit of the Utica Shale. Now Quebec drillers, those who had planned to tap their vast Utica Shale assets, are demanding Quebec pay up, and the price will be “significantly more” than the $3 billion to $5 billion floated by the province’s energy association.
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28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 18-24

Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 permits to drill new shale wells. Most of the permits went to two well pads, one in Butler County drilled by PennEnergy Resources and the other in Tioga County drilled by Repsol. Ohio issued six new permits, three to Encino Energy, two to Utica Resource Operating, and one to Ascent Resources. West Virginia, for the second week in a row, issued just one new permit. Last week’s WV permit went to Tug Hill Operating in Marshall County.
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New Driller Targets Utica Shale in Erie County, PA

When you’ve been following both the Marcellus and Utica Shale going on five years, you figure you’ve seen about every driller’s name out there that’s targeting one or both of the plays. And then a new name comes along you haven’t seen before. Such is the case with Utica Resources Inc., a newly formed company (formed in 2011) targeting natural gas and oil in the Utica Shale play. The company, and their first batch of drilling permits, are located in–Pennsylvania! Not Ohio. Although Utica Resources’ headquarters in Oil City (Erie County), PA shares a border with Ohio.

Utica Resources has just drilled their first test well in Erie County. The well will be fracked later this month…
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