Research

Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Research

BH Launches Well Count Report, Perfect Compliment to Rig Count
July 23, 2013July 23, 2013

A huge congratulations is in order for Baker Hughes, the oilfield services company that also compiles the enormously useful rig count data that they’ve been sharing, like forever (for the past 70 years!). Big news: Baker Hughes has just launched a new “well count” data service as a compliment to their rig count data. The new well count service counts the number of new wells “spud” (when the drill bit hits the ground and starts chewing away) in a given quarter. The counts are tabulated by shale basin. This is an important new tool for landowners and businesses in the supply chain to use to monitor where drilling is heating up, and where it’s cooling down. Data geeks (like MDN) love this stuff!

See the very first set of well count reports from Baker Hughes embedded below (along with our commentary)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Predictable: Anti-Drillers Discount Fed Study of Fracking & Water
July 22, 2013July 22, 2013

Last week MDN brought you the really important news that preliminary results from a federal study of fracking shows…proves…fracking fluid with chemicals does not magically migrate uphill through a mile of solid rock to the surface to contaminate water (see Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate). In over 50,000 horizontally fracked wells and over 2 million conventionally fracked wells, it’s never been observed. No scientific studies have ever been able to prove it (much as they’ve tried).

Now we have a study that incontrovertibly proves it doesn’t happen. So what does one Duke University anti-drilling professor with a degree in biology (not geology) say? This study don’t prove nothin’…
Read More “Predictable: Anti-Drillers Discount Fed Study of Fracking & Water”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research

Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate
July 19, 2013July 19, 2013

Those who hate fossil fuels and want to stop all shale drilling because of their irrational beliefs are logic-challenged. Witness their claim/belief that fracking fluid (99.5% water and sand, 0.5% chemicals) pumped a mile or more below the surface will magically travel up to the surface and contaminate groundwater supplies. Never mind that 80% of the fluid disappears into small cracks a mile down. Never mind there’s a mile of solid rock between the fluid and the surface. Never mind there have been more than 50,000 horizontally fracked wells since the early 2000s with not a single case of water contamination from migrating frack fluid. And never mind there have been more than 2 million vertically fracked wells worldwide over the past 60+ years with not a single case of water contamination from migrating frack fluid. Anti-drillers cling to their irrational faith that fluid migration has and continues to happen and hucksters like Josh Fox of Gasland and Gasland 2 fame are all too willing to feed their delusion.

Enter the federal government–specifically the Dept. of Energy (DOE) under Barack H. Obama, no friend of the oil and gas industry. Exactly one year ago the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Pittsburgh began an experiment of injecting tracer chemicals in fracking fluid at an undisclosed drill site with eight wells in Greene County, PA. (The driller cooperating with NETL to conduct the experiment is unidentified, although MDN has a pretty good guess as to who it is–see below.) The NETL monitored (and continues to monitor) the eight wells over the past year and although the data is still preliminary, what have they found? No migration of fracking fluid toward the surface. Zero. It’s called science–but don’t tell Josh Fox and the nuts who believe him…
Read More “Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate”
Electrical Generation | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

DOE: Climate Change Affects Fracking & NatGas Too
July 12, 2013July 12, 2013

The climate, it’s a changin’. Ought to be a song. Yesterday, the Obama Dept. of Energy (DOE) released a new report on American energy sector “vulnerabilities” that come from mythical man-made global warming (euphemistically renamed “climate change”). The new report is titled, “U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather” (full copy embedded below). It says that unconventional shale drilling either is, or soon will be, affected by global warming from lack of water supplies to use in fracking. It also asserts that as temps rise, less natural gas (and oil) will be used for heating, but more electricity will be used for cooling.

Here’s the DOE press release announcing the study:
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Housing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

OSU Study of PA Data Shows No Housing Crisis in Shale Country
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

How many times have we heard (and believed) that when drilling comes to town, higher housing prices, specifically rent, comes along too. A quick influx of people for a relatively fixed inventory of housing and voilà–high rents. In fact, MDN previously highlighted a study in November 2011 by a cabal of PA colleges that issued a 200-page report on how shale drilling was causing a “housing crisis” in northeastern PA (see New Study Claims Housing Crisis in NE PA from Gas Drilling).

But what’s this? Researchers at Ohio State University, understandably concerned that a housing shortage may be on the way in eastern Ohio, studied the PA data for 2007-2011, the first four years of PA’s drilling boom. Using government data (objective and unbiased, from the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development), OSU researchers found, “…in Pennsylvania, counties experiencing the most shale-related development saw little change in fair market rents…housing vacancy rates and median home values.” A full copy of the OSU report debunking the “shale drilling creates a housing crisis” meme is embedded below.
Read More “OSU Study of PA Data Shows No Housing Crisis in Shale Country”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Research | Utica Shale | Wastewater

OH Village’s Extensive Water Tests Show No Impacts from Drilling
July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

Good news for residents of Garrettsville (Portage County), OH residents: Your drinking water has been and continues to be just fine. The village board commissioned an extensive water testing program to keep an eye on private water wells on the outskirts of Garretsville as a way of spotting any water contamination problems that may happen before they reach the village’s drinking water supplies.

Village leaders were concerned that nearby Utica Shale drilling and a plethora of frack wastewater injection wells in Portage County may lead to contamination of the village’s water aquifer. Nope. Nothing of the sort has happened, once again proving that shale drilling and injection wells are safe for water, contrary to the bleating of fictional movies like Gasland 2 and anti-drilling protesters like Yoko Ono…
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Industrywide Issues | Research

The Changing Picture of America’s Energy Sources – 1776-2012
July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

An interesting look, courtesy the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), at the energy sources used in the United States throughout our history–from 1776 to the present…
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling
July 3, 2013July 3, 2013

The West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act, passed and signed into law in December 2011, directed the WV Dept. of Environment Protection (WVDEP) to conduct three studies. The third and final study was recently released, titled “Air Quality Impacts Occurring from Horizontal Well Drilling and Related Activities” (full copy embedded below).

According to the cover letter from the WVDEP, based on the findings in the study, no new regulations are required to control air pollution around drilling sites…
Read More “WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

Will Fracking Create “Information Forcing”? What is it Anyway?
July 3, 2013July 3, 2013

According to an article titled “Hydraulic Fracturing and Information Forcing,” published in the latest issue of the online publication Ohio State Law Journal Furthermore, widespread shale drilling and fracking has begun to “force the systematic production and recording of data, which could lead to broad information forcing efforts.” Those information forcing efforts (information that government might “force” drillers and others to collect) includes baseline contamination data, requirements for better disclosure during drilling, and post-drilling sampling and impact studies. The article was written by Hannah J. Wiseman, assistant professor at the Florida State University College of Law.

Read the full article below:
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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Research

New Report Details Top Legal Issues for Shale Drillers
July 2, 2013July 2, 2013

What are the biggest legal challenges faced by drillers that operate in shale plays? Energy law firm Steptoe & Johnson knows–and they know because they commissioned a survey of 96 legal services buyers at 56 companies. The result is a new report titled, “Below The Surface: The Legal Challenges of Shale Gas Production” (full copy embedded below).

Those who responded to the survey primarily have operations in four U.S. shale plays. Guess which two shale plays are at the top? Yep–the Marcellus (81% of respondents operate there) and the Utica (76% operate there). The next closest is the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas (33% operate there). The top legal issue faced by drillers? Real estate…
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Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Washington County

SW PA Well Water Testing Project Needs Volunteers
July 2, 2013July 2, 2013

The Washington County Watershed Alliance (WCWA) and Southwest PA Environmental Health Project (SWPA-EHP), with an assist from Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) CREATE lab, are conducting a large-scale project in Washington County, PA to see if Marcellus Shale drilling is affecting water wells in the county. MCWA wants both landowners who live near drilling, and landowners who do not live near drilling, to participate. The program is free and volunteers get a neat little device created by the CMU CREATE lab called a CATTFish that inserts in the back of your toilet–simple and quick.

Here’s more information about how (and why) to participate in the program, along with a flier from WCWA about the program:
Read More “SW PA Well Water Testing Project Needs Volunteers”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Duke Study #2: Drilling Causes Methane Migration in Water Wells?
June 26, 2013June 26, 2013

Two years ago researchers at Duke University, funded by the anti-drilling Park Foundation (i.e. agenda-driven science), released research that supposedly showed a link between Marcellus Shale drilling and methane (natural gas) contamination of nearby water wells (see MDN In-depth: Duke University Study Links Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling with Methane Contamination of Water Wells). The research was later shown to be shoddy (see Former PA DEP Officials, Industry Group Point Out Problems with Duke University Study Linking Methane in Water with Fracking).

Most of the same researchers are back with a second study titled “Increased stray gas abundance in a subset of drinking water wells near Marcellus shale gas extraction” (see full copy embedded below). This time the Duke researchers were sure to keep Park Foundation funding well hidden with no direct grants (to layer on a veneer of impartiality), and on Monday they released a new study with new methodologies and new tests and oh-so-much that is new…and guess what? Same old conclusions. And, same old problems and weaknesses with the research and its conclusions…
Read More “Duke Study #2: Drilling Causes Methane Migration in Water Wells?”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

EPA Abandons Pavillion, Can’t Prove Fracking/Water Contamination
June 21, 2013June 21, 2013

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been desperate to make a connection between fracking and groundwater contamination from chemicals and thought they had a winner in Pavillion, Wyoming (see EPA Keeps Investigating Fracking/Water Contamination in WY). Don’t tell Josh Fox of Gasland and Gasland 2 infamy (who prominently featured Pavillion in both his movies), but yesterday the EPA announced they’ve thrown in the towel and given up on trying to prove a fracking/water contamination connection in Pavillion. It is a tacit admission they screwed up in their testing, as maintained all along by the American Petroleum Institute (see API Says EPA Botched Pavillion, WY Fracking Tests).

The EPA now says, essentially: “We’ll let Wyoming take over the investigation so its done right.” No doubt EPA’s decision to abandon Pavillion will provide the tinfoil hat brigade with lots of fodder for how “big oil and gas” has infiltrated and corrupted the activist Obama EPA. Here’s the full EPA statement issued yesterday:
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Sullivan County

USGS Tests PA Water Wells Before Drilling, Finds Methane
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

Thank you U.S. Geological Survey and the scientific method for once again proving what we’ve known all along–there’s a LOT of naturally-occurring methane in Pennsylvania well water. On Tuesday, the USGS released their latest testing survey of 20 water wells in Sullivan County, PA–in the northeastern part of the state (full copy of the report embedded below). What did the survey find? Seven of the 20 water wells contain dissolved methane. Two of the wells (10% of all wells tested) had “elevated concentrations of naturally dissolved methane.”

Oh, and there hasn’t been any Marcellus Shale drilling in those areas. This is a pre-drilling baseline test…
Read More “USGS Tests PA Water Wells Before Drilling, Finds Methane”
Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Research

New IEA Report: NatGas in Transportation About to “Take Off”
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

The International Energy Agency (IEA) today released their Medium-Term Gas Market Report (MTGMR), in which they say U.S. natural gas production will accelerate from 2014 through 2018 as higher prices spur drilling and infrastructure expansion brings more shale supplies to market. There are a number of interesting tidbits in the study (see a summary and slide show embedded below).

Among the predictions in the report is that natural gas is about to take off in a major way as a transportation fuel, making a serious dent in oil: “Thanks to abundant shale gas in the United States and amid more stringent environmental policies in China, gas is expected to do more to slow oil demand growth than electric vehicles and biofuels combined.”

The IEA press release announcing the latest MTGMR:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

Big News: EPA Fracking Study Delayed 2 Years – Now Due 2016
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

Big news from the “Shale Gas: Promises and Challenges” conference in Cleveland, OH yesterday from none other than the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Jeanne Briskin, coordinator of the multi-year study on hydraulic fracturing research the EPA’s Office of Research and Development is performing, said yesterday the final report for the EPA fracking study will be delayed by two years–until 2016. This is the first time MDN has heard that the final study will be delayed.

The fracking study was ordered by an activist Congress back in 2010. The EPA released an outline of their research plan in late 2011 but by then had already started to collect data, ahead of completing the plan for how they would collect the data (see EPA Releases Plan to Study Fracking, Jumps the Gun). A preliminary report was due and was issued in late 2012 (see EPA’s Fracking Study Progress Report (Dec 2012)). The final report is due in 2014. Not anymore…
Read More “Big News: EPA Fracking Study Delayed 2 Years – Now Due 2016”