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When the OH “CURE” is Worse than the Disease: Antis Nit Pick

sometimes cure is worse than the diseaseSometimes the CURE is worse than the disease. Such is the case with the anti-drilling Communities United for Responsible Energy (CURE) in eastern OH. The group agitated and squawked and carried on with such histrionics that they’ve gotten the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to order an oilfield services company to shut down a satellite location in Jefferson County, OH. The offense? Depends on who you ask. The company, Anchor Drilling Fluids, says it didn’t have a permit to store excess drilling mud–the stuff used by drillers to keep a drill bit cool and lubricated and free of bacteria. The ODNR says Anchor was recycling at that site and lacked a proper waste recycling permit. Question: If you mix drilling mud at a well site but don’t use all of it, and you then truck it back to HQ to store it for a few days or weeks before taking it somewhere else, is that “recycling”? Apparently it is for the ODNR…
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Downstream Petrochemical Co Buys Upstream Frack Fluid Co

Calumet Specialty Products Partners, a company that processes crude oil and other feedstocks into customized lubricating oils, solvents, waxes and asphalt used in consumer, industrial and automotive products, has just purchased Anchor Drilling Fluids outright for $235 million in cash. Anchor manufactures drilling mud and frack fluids used in shale drilling in the Marcellus, Utica and just about every other major shale play across the U.S. It certainly makes sense for Calument, a huge chemical company already in the “downstream” petrochemical space to move into chemical manufacturing for the “upstream” exploration and production space.

You may recall Calument is also building a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant at their Karns, PA location to convert Marcellus Shale gas to diesel fuel (see Chemical Manufacturer to Build Gas-to-Liquids Plant in PA). Here’s yesterday’s announcement that Calumet has plunked down $235 million for Anchor Drilling Fluids…
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Drilling Mud Manufacturer Opens Plant in Wellsville, OH

Drilling mud manufacturer Anchor Drilling Fluids USA has just opened a new facility in Wellsville, Ohio—the first such facility in Ohio’s Utica Shale region. Anchor sited the plant next to a barite processing plant which they’ve invested in. Barite is one  of the compounds used to make drilling mud.

From the press announcement about the new plant opening:

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