Economic Impact 60 - Marcellus Drilling News

Congressional Hearing: Shale Energy a “Game Changer” for Small Biz

February 28, 2012February 28, 2012

Dennis Heller is a small business owner—president and CEO of Stephenson Equipment in Harrisburg, PA. Stephenson Equipment employs 120 people selling and renting construction equipment and crane services, parts, and operator training at seven locations in Pennsylvania and New York. Heller recently testified at a U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee field hearing in Steubenville, Ohio, on the impact of shale energy development and what it means for small businesses (a copy of his testimony is embedded below).

Steubenville Selling 700K Gallons of Water/Day to Chesapeake

February 23, 2012February 22, 2012

The city of Steubenville in Jefferson County, Ohio has struck a deal to sell Chesapeake Energy treated wastewater, untreated river water and potable water—700,000 gallons of it a day for five years.

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Northeast PA Starting to Feel the Dry Gas Drilling Slowdown

February 20, 2012February 20, 2012

The decision by Chesapeake Energy and other drillers to reduce drilling in dry gas (methane only) areas and instead concentrate on wet gas (natural gas liquids) areas is already having an impact on Pennsylvania’s northeastern counties where drilling last year was extremely active. Rig counts are going down, and with them, the amount of drilling activity goes down. It ultimately impacts the local economy in those areas, as noted in a recent Scranton Times Tribune article.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

CSX, Other Railroads Get Boost from Shale Gas Shipments

February 17, 2012February 17, 2012

MDN has previously written about how short line railroads in the Marcellus Shale region have seen a renaissance because of shale gas drilling. But the major rail lines, including the East’s largest railroad CSX, are also seeing a huge increase in shale gas shipping of fracking sand and equipment. And it’s happening just in time.

OH Drilling Rigs Expected to Increase 300% in Next 5 Years

February 16, 2012February 16, 2012

The executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Association, Rhonda Reda, predicts that oil and gas drilling rigs will increase 300% in the next five years, and those rigs will create new jobs to operate them:

Start a Company or Get a Job in the Marcellus? Try Water

February 15, 2012February 15, 2012

Looking for a way to participate in the Marcellus and Utica Shale economic boom? As an investor, or as a business owner or even as a job seeker, you might want to consider water. Yeah, water. Try these numbers on for size: In 2011, drillers paid somewhere between $1.3-$1.7 billion to dispose of fracking wastewater in the Marcellus Shale. In 10 years it’s estimated to be a $15-$22 billion market—just in the Marcellus Shale.

PA Finally Joins the Cracker Plant Sweepstakes

February 14, 2012February 14, 2012

It seems that Pennsylvania has finally woken up to the fact that Shell is about to decide where they will invest some $2 billion and generate thousands of new jobs by building an ethane cracker plant. One of three bills signed into law by PA Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday was a bill that,

Bradford County | Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Bradford County, PA: “The Recession Passed Right Over Us”

February 14, 2012February 15, 2012

A balanced article looking at arguments both for and against shale gas drilling posted on the 13-WHAM TV website begins this way:

More on MarkWest’s New Investment in Ohio’s Utica Shale

February 3, 2012February 3, 2012

Yesterday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and others provided more details about MarkWest’s Tuesday announcement that they will build two new natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plants and a new fractionation plant in Ohio’s Utica Shale (see MDN’s story on the original announcement here).

RailAmerica Buys Wellsboro & Corning Short Line Railroad

February 3, 2012February 3, 2012

One of the interesting but often-overlooked stories of the rapid growth of Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling is the revival of short line railroads. As drillers enter an area, equipment and materials need to be shipped to that area. Sand, especially, is used in large quantities, and short lines are the most economical way of getting sand to an active drilling area.

One of the short line railroads to came roaring back to life not so long ago is the Wellsboro and Corning Railroad (WCOR), running from Wellsboro in northeastern PA to just across the border connecting to Corning, NY.

Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Regulation

Obama Takes Credit for Shale Gas Drilling in Election Year

January 27, 2012January 27, 2012

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this week (We Don’t Need More Foreign Oil and Gas), Obama supporters and long-time Democrat flacks John Podesta and Tom Steyer tried to make the argument that we don’t need Canada’s oil (and natural gas) because we now have enough of our own, thank you very much. Apparently Obama is getting heat for his disastrous decision to pander to environmental extremists and reject the Keystone XL pipeline that would not only have brought cheap Canadian oil to the U.S. (at a time of record-highs for oil), but also would have brought more U.S. oil to the U.S. from North Dakota’s Bakken field.

Ohio vs. West Virginia in the Cracker Plant Sweepstakes

January 26, 2012January 26, 2012

West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio wait on pins and needles for Shell to announce which state they have chosen as a site to build a new $1.5-$2.0 billion ethane cracker plant, each of them looking for an edge to ensure their state is selected. WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is flying to Houston this week to meet with representatives of Shell to make a personal pitch that West Virginia should be that place, with a promise of no property taxes on the plant for 25 years if they do so. Thing is, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has already been to Houston to pitch his state—two months ago. Does that give Ohio an edge?

Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Regulation

Obama State of the Union: Safe Fracking will Create 600K Jobs

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

Last night, President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address to Congress. Energy and natural gas played a big role in the speech. In particular, Obama acknowledges the jobs-generating power of natural gas drilling, saying it can generate 600,000 jobs by the end of this decade. He also mandated a requirement that gas drillers on public lands disclose the chemicals they use. (Disclosing fracking chemicals is already the law in five states and mostly enforced in a sixth—see this MDN story).

Obama said the U.S. has enough natural gas to last us 100 years and that he’s going to “take every possible action” to develop it. He also reaffirmed his belief in global warming.

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

EIA Issues Early Release Summary of Annual Energy Outlook

January 24, 2012January 24, 2012

Yesterday, the U.S. Energy Information Association (EIA) issued the 2012 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO2012) Early Release Reference case, which provides updated projections for U.S. energy markets through 2035 (a copy is embedded below). This Early Release Overview assumes no changes in current laws and regulations and is the prelude to the full AEO due out this spring. The AEO provides a comprehensive snapshot of the entire energy picture for the U.S. in particular, but in the wider context of world energy supplies. It is relied on by the government, politicians and the energy industry.

Among the observations and predictions in the Early Release for natural gas:

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Washington County (OH)

Mini-Economic Boom from Pipeline Workers in Marietta, OH

January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Local pipeline work in the Marietta (Washington County), Ohio area has brought an influx of pipeline workers from out of town. Along with those workers has come a mini-economic boom for Marietta with money being spent at local RV parks, grocery stories, restaurants and other area businesses.

Record-Breaking 19K New Wells to be Fracked in 2012

January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Hydraulic fracturing, the process used to break apart shale rock deep below the earth’s surface to allow natural gas and oil to flow, will increase in 2012 some 19 percent from last year according to Spears & Associates, a research and consulting company for the worldwide petroleum industry. Almost 19,000 new wells will be fracked in 2012, compared with 16,000 in 2011. Halliburton is the largest U.S. fracking services provider with 18 percent of the market.