Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Meet the Frackers: New Book Details Miracle of Fracking History
November 5, 2013

A new book is being released today titled The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters. It’s written by Gregory Zuckerman, reporter with the Wall Street Journal, and it delves into the story behind what MDN calls an energy miracle–the combination of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and horizontal drilling. Looks like this one is a must-buy-and-read!

MDN friend Bob Downing from the Akron Beacon Journal wrote the following detailed review on what he calls a “fascinating new book”…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Buy This Fracking Album – MDN Version
November 4, 2013November 4, 2013

As a stuffed replica of Pete Seeger shuffles out onto the stage…wait, no! That really IS Pete Seeger, about 150 years old now (too ornery to die), out there peddling a new master work of artistic quality…OK, it IS Pete Seeger, so the music ain’t all that great. Pete is on stage hawking a new anti-fracking album, called Buy This Fracking Album, that he and some of his anti-fracking buds are cooking up right now. And it’s for a very worthy cause: an attempt to ~~make a boatload of money from a bunch of suckers~~, er, call attention to the serious issue of fracking.

This calls for a press release! And so Pete & co have issued one (below). We’ve inserted MDN snarky editorial comment a) for your reading enjoyment, and b) to set the record straight and tell the truth about this album and about fracking. Enjoy…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

USA Today Picks on Demon Carbon – Says Fracking Can’t Last
November 4, 2013November 4, 2013

This is what passes as “journalism” at Gannett. (Specifically with McNewspaper–otherwise known as USA Today.) Interview someone who is ideologically driven and rigid–someone who abjectly hates fossil fuels and works for a benign sounding “institute”–oh, say like the Post Carbon Institute. (What utter folly to name it that. How about the Post Oxygen Institute? Or the Post Hydrogen Institute? Why not pick one of the other low atomic number elements? Why pick on carbon? But we digress…) This so-called expert–who is nothing of the kind–tells USA Today he’s “studied” the drilling issue and has pronounced that fracking for gas and oil is a flash in the pan, a temporary phenomenon. It’ll all be over soon. Can’t be economical much longer. Let’s all move along to “sustainable energy” nirvana now.

Then, just for good measure, sprinkle the story with a picture of two of people protesting fracking–you know, to convey the right impression that hordes of people are against this insane environmental rape of Mother Earth. Here’s the interesting thing: Ever notice the pictures they use of people protesting against fracking are always a shot of people protesting in New York State? Looks to us like it may even be the same 100-200 protesters! Same group, different angles, different events. Why is that, do you think? Could it be there are only a few hundred dedicated, full-time, paid (by groups like the Park Foundation) ~~hippie wannabes~~ people who travel around like Gypsies (or ~~pot smoking~~ Deadheads) doing this kind of protesting? JS–jest sayin’…
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Latest Laughable NY Anti Tactic – Not Enough Gas, Just Move Along
November 1, 2013November 1, 2013

A couple of nights ago a group of four retired anti-drilling ~~hippies~~ “smart people” tried the latest tact in the sad tale of frackless (and feckless) New York: Try to convince the unthinking masses with charts and maps and bamboozling bullcrap that recoverable, profitable natural gas stops at the border of Pennsylvania and New York. Yes that’s right folks. “Don’t bother to drill in NY because there just ain’t enough gas in the ground to make it worthwhile.” That’s what passed for smart and insightful, as delivered by Jerry Acton (pictured), Chip Northrup, Lou Allstadt and Brian Brock (anti-drillers all) at the once great Cornell University.

Master of ceremonies? The itinerant stand-up comedian and Cornell professor, Tony Ingraffea, of course…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

House Dems Want OMB/EPA Tag Team to Ban Diesel in Fracking Fluid
October 31, 2013October 31, 2013

More federal interference in fracking appears to be on the way. Two House Democrats–Henry Waxman and Diana DeGette–have “asked” (demanded?) the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to finalize a permitting guidance rule from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that disallows using diesel fuel in fracking fluids. Waxman and DeGette say the current rule in place is not specific enough and that some drillers continue to use diesel in fracking fluids. Accusing drillers of using diesel fuel in fracking fluid gives politicians a talking point to stoke their radical green supporters (and increase campaign contributions).

MDN asks: Is the OMB/EPA rule a good thing, or a bad thing?…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WVU & OSU Score $2M from NSF for Shale Energy Research
October 31, 2013October 31, 2013

The Marcellus and Utica Shale is not only good for landowners (big bonuses, lucrative royalties), for drillers (can’t drill fast enough, making boatloads of money), and of course the rest of us (all that money ripples throughout local economies and gets reinvested). The Marcellus/Utica is also good for academic types too. West Virginia University and Ohio State University together have just been awarded an eye-popping $2 million grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for shale energy research.

Some of that money will go to a researcher MDN previously highlighted back in 2011–Dr. Shikha Sharma, an assistant professor at WVU. At the time Dr. Sharma delivered what was bad news for anti-drillers: methane found in water samples she analyzed was not from shale drilling but is naturally occurring (see WVU Prof: Methane in Water Supplies is Not from Fracking). Dr. Sharma has been awarded $351K from the NSF grant to “probe the chemical and isotopic biomarkers that microorganisms leave behind during their growth and respiration process.” Er, right. A bit beyond our comprehension, but we’re sure it’s valuable research nonetheless! Here’s the announcement from WVU about the grant and what researchers will be doing with the money (if you understand it)…
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Energy Companies | Ethane | Exporting | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA | Washington County

Range Resources’ Top 10 Wet Gas Wells, New Company Presentation
October 30, 2013October 30, 2013

Yesterday Range Resources released their financial and operations update for third quarter 2013 (see our companion story from today). Nestled in that update is reference to a new company presentation released yesterday as well, available on the Range website. MDN downloaded it (full copy embedded below) and wow! What a presentation it is. This sucker is loaded with useful charts, maps, bullet points and more. Range has done the industry (and their investors) a great service with this presentation.

Below we will highlight some of our favorite “don’t miss it” slides from the presentation, so you know which ones to zero in on right away. However, the one slide many will want to view first is the list of Range’s Top 10 Liquids Rich (“wet gas”) wells. That slide lists the wells and their locations (hint: they’re all found in a single PA county), initial production levels, production mix (how much oil, NGLs, gas), lateral length, and number of frac stages. With lots of maps and lots of charts, here are some of our favorites, including the Top 10 Wells slide:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

Congressional Research Service Issues Updated Report on Fracking
October 30, 2013October 30, 2013

From time to time our brilliant leaders in Washington need an update on a given topic, a “Cliff Notes” summary they can scan to supposedly bring themselves up to date on a given weighty and pressing issue. Where do they turn? To their very own Congressional Research Service, of course. The CRS has been producing reports for, well, as long as there’s been a CRS (predating MDN’s Jim Willis’ time on Capitol Hill in the 1980s). Last week an updated report was issued by the CRS titled “Hydraulic Fracturing: Selected Legal Issues” (full copy embedded below). The previous version of the very same report, R43152, was issued in July (see New Congressional Report: How Federal Laws Govern Fracking).

Since these reports only get created and issued when requested by a member of Congress, we’re guessing someone requested an update. Which makes us nervous because the federal government should have NO role in the regulation of fracking (Constitutionally it belongs to the individual states, not the federal government). We don’t know what may have changed between July and today, but we include the new version of the report below for your reading and scanning pleasure…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

When Will We Know if NY Will See Fracking? June 2014
October 29, 2013

A question MDN is frequently asked… Q: When will the issue of fracking in New York State really and truly be decided–and by whom? A: June 2014, by the NY Court of Appeals. “Not by Gov. Cuomo?” you ask. Nope. He’ll come around, eventually. The real issue has always been whether or not entire towns can ban fracking based on the vote of 3 or 4 people who sit on a town board–a vote that denies every citizen in that town their Constitutional private property rights. Two cases now before the New York Court of Appeals will decide the issue once and for all.

Thanks to the lead attorney for one of those cases–Scott Kurkoski, attorney for the “Middlefield” case–we now have insight into how and when this will all progress from now through June of next year. It started yesterday when briefs were filed by Kurkoski (for Middlefield) and by Albany-area attorney Tom West (for the “Dryden” case) with the Court of Appeals…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Cornell Prof Tony Ingraffea Learns a New Skill: Cut & Paste
October 29, 2013October 29, 2013

Cornell professor Anthony (Tony) Ingraffea is very talented. Ingraffea is not only an erstwhile stand-up comic (see Cornell Hydraulic Fracturing Expert Headlines First Meeting of New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) in Vestal, NY) and fictional report writer (see Howarth, Ingraffea Shale Gas Study on Global Warming Discredited by U.S. Department of Energy), he’s now added another new skill to his towering intellectual quiver. Tony has learned how to cut & paste in Microsoft Word! Yes, it’s a real resume enhancer.

Our entertaining Cornell prof thought he would get away with cutting and pasting his own previously published “exclusive” editorial for the New York Times by sending it off to flyover country where he didn’t think the hicks would notice. Tony sent essentially the same column to Wyoming previously published in the NYT. However, the hicks noticed…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA Admission: Rig Counts No Longer Predict Production
October 29, 2013October 29, 2013

Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released their very first Drilling Productivity Report, or DPR (for a copy, see New EIA Drilling Productivity Report: Marcellus Passes 12 Bcf/d!). Yesterday the EIA posted on their Today in Energy blog a bit more of their thinking/rationale for developing the DPR.

And what, you may ask, is the reason the EIA developed yet another report like the DPR for the energy information-addicted (like MDN) to consume? They developed it precisely for the same reason MDN has been trumpeting for nearly two years now: Rig counts are no longer a reliable predictor of production, as they once were. Here’s yesterday’s EIA post that talks about “rethinking” rig counts, and the new DPR…
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Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Doctor’s Act 13 Lawsuit Tossed Out, Judge Says No “Standing”
October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

Last Wednesday a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled against a doctor who sued the state over it’s new Act 13 law (passed in 2012). The new law requires doctors to sign a confidentiality agreement before discussing chemicals workers may have been exposed to as part of the drilling (specifically fracking) process in shale drilling.

U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo dismissed the lawsuit filed by Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez saying he hadn’t proven he had been harmed by the law (i.e., no “standing”)…
Read More “PA Doctor’s Act 13 Lawsuit Tossed Out, Judge Says No “Standing””
Columbiana County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Sand/Proppant | Utica Shale

Columbiana, OH Frack Sand Operation Continues to Expand
October 25, 2013October 25, 2013

In March MDN told you about an Ohio property management firm in Columbiana County, OH that ended up in the frack sand business (see OH Property Management Firm Plugs into the Shale Supply Chain). A quick check-in finds that business for Buckeye Transfer Realty is booming, because of the Utica Shale.

If the received wisdom for buying real estate is “location, location, location,” we would add a fourth important ingredient, a key ingredient to Buckeye Transfer’s success: timing…
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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

New EIA Drilling Productivity Report: Marcellus Passes 12 Bcf/d!
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

Terry Engelder is a Penn State University geologist and professor. He was previously named to Foreign Policy magazine’s list of Top 100 Global Thinkers for his work with the Marcellus Shale. MDN calls him the “rock” star of the Marcellus, if you’ll pardon the pun (see Prof Terry Engelder: Marcellus Rock Star). In years gone by Dr. Engelder predicted that sometime in 2015 the Marcellus would be producing 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. For his breathtaking, bold (and frankly wild) prediction he was praised by some, but scorned and ridiculed by many.

As MDN announced yesterday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is launching a new monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DRP). The very first report was issued yesterday (full copy embedded below). What does it show? It shows that Engelder was wrong. The Marcellus has just passed the 12 Bcf/d mark–now–this month. That is, the Marcellus is even more productive than Engelder’s so-called wild fantasy. According to an EIA spokesman, natural gas production from the Marcellus has surprised even the brainiacs at EIA who study this stuff for a living…
Read More “New EIA Drilling Productivity Report: Marcellus Passes 12 Bcf/d!”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Muskingum Watershed District Approves 3rd Water Sale for Fracking
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

As they have done in the past, the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District in Ohio has approved more water sales for using fracking. This batch comes from Seneca Lake in southeast OH. The Utica Shale driller buying the water is Antero Resources…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bucks County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Michigan Driller Walks Away in Frustration from SE PA Leases
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

Michigan-based driller Arbor Resources leased a bunch of land in southeastern Pennsylvania six years ago–in Bucks County (in the orbit of Philadelphia). Specifically, they leased land for gas drilling in Nockamixon Township. There is no Marcellus Shale in that area, but there are other formations, including the South Newark Basin. Arbor wanted to drill a few test wells for natural gas in the area, but the town opposed it and went to court to block it. Then in 2012, some squishy liberal Republicans shamefully snuck an eleventh hour ban on drilling in the South Newark Basin until more “studies” could be done into the 2012 budget (see Republicans Sneak SE PA Drilling Ban into Budget Deal).

With continuing low prices for natural gas, six years of legal issues with Nockamixon Township, a ban by the Delaware Basin Commission in effect in that area, and a state-enforced ban from RINOs in place, Arbor is throwing in the towel and walking away from Nockamixon and southeast PA. Good riddance for Arbor, no doubt. Goodbye tax revenue, goodbye jobs and goodbye millions of dollars of investment for Nockamixon…
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