Industrywide Issues 1305 - Marcellus Drilling News

Big Economic Impact of Midstream Projects in OH & PA

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

A pair of stories about how the midstream is transforming western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio recently ran in the Youngstown, OH The Business Journal. Midstream refers to the infrastructure that gets natural gas to market, including pipelines and processing plants. Right now and for the foreseeable future, spending on midstream projects in Ohio is likely larger, from an economic impact standpoint, than exploration and production.

Anti-Driller Campaign Against LPG Fracking Begins in NY

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

MDN crystal ball It certainly didn’t taken long for anti-drillers to start talking down LPG (waterless) fracking. Just last week, a Tioga County, NY landowner group announced they will sign a lease with eCorp to allow drilling on 135,000 acres in New York using a proprietary technology by Canadian company GASFRAC (see this MDN story). The waterless technology uses liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a gel-like substance that replaces water in fracking. Perhaps most importantly, by using LPG fracking, eCorp can move ahead with permitting and drilling now (in New York!), ahead of the release of new fracking regulations that have been stalled in a four-year review process.

MDN predicted that with almost all stated reasons to oppose water-based fracking now removed, anti-drillers would invent new reasons to oppose LPG fracking. MDN’s prediction has already come true. An article printed in the “news” section of the Albany Times Union, which clearly is an opinion piece, says this:

NatGas Leak Caused Williams Compressor Station Explosion

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

A natural gas leak was the cause of an explosion last week in a Susquehanna County, PA natural gas compressor station (see this MDN story). Fortunately, an alarm triggered an automatic shutdown of the station just minutes before the explosion.

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

Pittsburgh Customers Get Another NatGas Rate Reduction

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

The Pittsburgh area’s three largest natural gas utilities have just dropped their natural gas rates (again) for customers—this time up to 22 percent.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Washington County, PA – HQ for Marcellus Drilling

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

Western Pennsylvania’s Washington County is, in many ways, the epicenter for Marcellus drilling activity. Numerous companies either have their headquarters or their main Marcellus branch offices located in the county, and the rate of expansion continues to be high:

Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Washington PA Honda Dealer Starts Selling CNG Vehicles

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

Here come the compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles! At least in western PA:

Dryden & Middlefield NY Drilling Bans Officially Appealed

March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

scales of justice An update on the two New York lawsuits recently decided in lower courts that upheld local municipal bans on hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling:

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law

March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

A threatened lawsuit to overturn Pennsylvania’s newly passed Act 13 law that preempts local zoning ordinances passed to prevent shale gas drilling has finally materialized. The lawsuit was filed yesterday by seven PA municipalities and several other people (a copy of the lawsuit is embedded below). Act 13, signed into law in February by Gov. Tom Corbett, contains a provision that disallows local PA municipalities from passing zoning laws that are specifically aimed at preventing shale gas drilling. The loss of zoning power has some municipalities hopping mad.

GASFRAC’s LPG Fracking Method (and Future) Looking Good

March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

In a follow-up to yesterday’s blockbuster news that fracking may begin in New York sooner rather than later if Tioga County, NY landowners move forward with LPG fracking (see this MDN story), the website Seeking Alpha makes the following interesting comment about the proprietary LPG technology used by GASFRAC, and about GASFRAC’s future prospects:

Compressor Station Explosion in Susquehanna County, PA

March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

A natural gas compressor station located in Susquehanna County, PA owned and operated by Williams Partners experienced an explosion yesterday morning that blew a hole in the roof of the complex. There were no injuries and the automated emergency shutdown kicked in preventing gas from entering or leaving the station.

Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

NatGas Commodity Price Hits a New 10-Year Low

March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

The commodity price for natural gas in the U.S. hit a 10-year low yesterday after a government report of a larger-than-expected jump in supplies. There’s now more natural gas in storage than the entire country uses in a month.

Alternative Fracking Method May Soon Debut – in New York!

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

fox in hen house The anti-drilling crowd is about to be tested as to their true reasons for opposing shale gas drilling, and it will happen in leftist paradise—New York State.

What if you removed 99 percent of the stated objections to fracking? Took away the millions of gallons of water needed to frack a single well? Took away almost all of the chemicals used? Took away fracking wastewater that either needs to be recycled or treated or injected into a deep well? Took away almost all of the heavy truck traffic and noise and other industrialization concerns? In short—what if you took away almost every reason to oppose gas drilling?

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Two PA Construction Companies Double in Size from Marcellus Work

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

The Wilkes-Barre newspaper The Citizens’ Voice has an inspirational article in today’s edition about women working in jobs operating heavy equipment—not something you hear about often. As part of the story, we learn about the enormous impact Marcellus Shale drilling has had in the northeast Pennsylvania area on business in general, and on two construction-related businesses in particular:

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Universities to Buy Cheap PA Marcellus Shale Gas

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

Oh the irony of it. New York State wants cheap natural gas—and in fact the state wants shale gas—but they won’t allow drilling. That doesn’t stop state officials from recognizing a good deal when they see it. So New York has struck a deal to buy shale gas from Pennsylvania for five NY state universities. Why? Because it’s cheap!

Why Sunbury, PA Mayor Supports Marcellus Waste Facility

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

As MDN reported yesterday, Clean Harbors Environmental Services of Norwell, Mass. wants to build a Marcellus Shale waste processing facility in Sunbury, PA (see this MDN story). Some area residents are not happy about it, but not so with Mayor David Persing. He supports it and offers his thinking and rationale for supporting the proposed project:

New Compressor Station Near Pittsburgh Hits Opposition

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

Superior Appalachian Pipeline LLC has filed for a permit to construct a new compressor station in northern Allegheny County, PA (near Pittsburgh):