Monroe County

Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Sand/Proppant | Supply Chain

Center Port Transload Facility Already Up & Running in OH
November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

MDN reported last Friday about an auction happening this week in Hannibal, OH at the old Ormet aluminum smelting plant (see Out with Old Ormet Plant, In with New Center Port Transload Facility). Niagara Worldwide is converting the old plant into a new transload facility that will accept and redistribute frac sand, pipes and other materials and equipment used in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. As part of that story we floated some questions to Eric Spirtas, president of Niagara Worldwide about what they have planned (and the timing) for the facility. Here are those questions and his responses…
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Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Sand/Proppant | Supply Chain | Trucking

Out with Old Ormet Plant, In with New Center Port Transload Facility
October 31, 2014October 31, 2014

MDN previously told you about the closure of the Ormet aluminum smelting plant in Hannibal (Monroe County), OH. The plant closed its doors as an active aluminum plant earlier this year after Ohio regulators and Gov. John Kasich failed to get high electric rates reduced for the plant, and refused to allow Ormet to burn coal to produce their own electricity until they could begin using natural gas to create electricity from recently drilled wells on the property (see Final Chapter of Ormet Plant Closing – Utica Could have Saved It). In all, over 900 are out of a job–thank you Ohio. But out of the ashes of that jobs disaster comes a ray of sunlight, at least for the Utica and Marcellus shale industry. Niagara Worldwide bought the plant out of bankruptcy and they are converting it into a huge transloading facility–where supplies like pipe and frac sand are delivered in bulk by barge and rail, broken down and sent back out by truck to drill sites throughout the region (see New Ormet Aluminum Plant Owner Shops Barge Facility to Shalers). It will be a huge staging site for at least three (so far unnamed) producers in the area. The re-purposed facility now has a name: Center Port Terminal. In order to get the facility ready for the shale industry, Niagara is conducting the auction to end all auctions (massive) to get rid of existing plant equipment. Here’s the details…
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Accidents | Blue Racer Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Pipelines

Blue Racer Condensate Pipeline Ruptures/Burns in Monroe County, OH
October 30, 2014October 30, 2014

A Blue Racer Midstream condensate pipeline caught fire early Tuesday morning near Cameron (eastern part of Monroe County, OH). Condensate is lighter than crude oil but heavier than natural gas liquids. Think of it as really light oil. Blue Racer’s condensate pipeline runs from Utica wells in eastern Ohio to Blue Racer’s processing plant in Natrium, WV. According to officials, the rupture in the 8-inch pipeline burned for several hours and burned several acres of surrounding woods before burning itself out. Fortunately it was a remote area where the accident occurred and no one was injured…
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Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Eclipse Numbers: Dry Gas vs Wet Gas in Utica – Which One Wins?
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

Some encouraging numbers from a set of well pads in the Ohio Utica Shale from Eclipse Resources. Eclipse’s Shroyer well pad in Eastern Monroe County, OH has two wells producing a combined 42.5 MMcf/d–VERY healthy initial production numbers and something to crow about. They also have a 5-well pad, the Mizer pad in Central Harrison County, OH, that’s producing a combined 10.1 MMcf/d of natural gas and approximately 1,800 Bbl/d of condensate. Not much in the way of methane but a decent amount of condensate production. How do the two sets of wells stack up against each other? Let’s run the economic numbers for Eclipse on the methane only vs condensate wells. Which do you think earns them more money?…
Read More “Eclipse Numbers: Dry Gas vs Wet Gas in Utica – Which One Wins?”
Beck Energy | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Monroe County | Ohio | XTO

Major OH Court Victory for Beck Energy & XTO in Lease Case
October 1, 2014October 3, 2014

A court case with big implications for all Ohio landowners–and drillers–was decided in March 2013. In Hupp v. Beck Energy Corp, three landowners filed suit claiming that their leases with Beck Energy Corp. were void and should be terminated because Beck never drilled wells on their property and that a provision allowing Beck to pay a nominal delay fee was against public policy. The court agreed and granted summary judgment (see OH Lawsuit Victory: 600-700 Landowners Can Terminate Beck, XTO Leases). Beck had sold the leases–in Monroe and Belmont counties–to XTO Energy, so XTO got involved in the lawsuit too. The court then granted class certification to the lawsuit brought by the three landowners–meaning between 600-700 landowners would also be able to invalidate their leases. A few weeks later both Beck and XTO filed an appeal (see XTO, Beck Energy Appeal OH Case Allowing Lease Termination). On appeal, this week the Seventh District Court of Appeals in Ohio overturned the lower court ruling and ruled in favor of Beck and XTO–a major victory for Ohio’s drillers and a major defeat for the landowners who say their land never got drilled and they wanted to re-sign with different company…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Hall Drilling | Hess | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

OH Utica Shale’s Most Productive Wells in 2Q14
September 29, 2014September 29, 2014

Recently released production numbers from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) show a bit of a surprise. The single most productive Utica Shale well during second quarter 2014 (April – June) was from one of the smallest drillers. A well drilled by Hall Drilling (headquartered in West Virginia) in Monroe County, OH produced 1.43 billion cubic feet of natural gas during 2Q14. Other top-producing wells were drilled by Gulfport Energy, Antero Resources and Hess. Here’s some numbers…
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Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Eclipse Resources: Production Results for 7 OH Utica Wells
September 4, 2014September 4, 2014

Eclipse Resources, a small but rapidly growing independent driller focused on the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, released the initial production results for their two most recent well pads in the Utica Shale–one pad in Monroe County, the other in Harrison County. Eclipse drilled seven wells across the two pads, and if you combine them, the seven wells are producing (initial production or IP) 52.6 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, and 1,800 barrels of condensate per day. Very respectable numbers. Here’s the full details, along with a copy of an investor presentation (lots of great maps and charts) just released…
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Appalachian Resins | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Processing Plants

Ohio to Get “Baby” Ethane Cracker Originally Slated for WV
September 3, 2014September 3, 2014

In February 2013 MDN told you about plans from Appalachian Resins (AR) to build a polyethelene (PE) manufacturing plant complete with a baby ethane cracker (see “Small” Ethane Cracker Plant Coming to Wheeling, WV). The company, at that point, said they would begin construction somewhere south of the Wheeling, WV area by the end of 2013. That didn’t happen. Now we know why. Last week, AR’s CEO Jim Cutler announced he had signed a letter of intent with the Monroe County (OH) Port Authority to build the plant in Monroe County instead. The location for the plant moved just across the Ohio River, from the WV side to the OH side of the river. The cost to build the new facility is a cool $1 billion. No doubt both sides of the border will benefit, but this is definitely a loss for WV and a big gain for OH…
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American Energy Partners | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Marshall County | Monroe County | Ohio | Pipelines | Regency Energy Partners | Utica Shale | West Virginia

McClendon Invests in New Utica Pipeline Project, JV with Regency
August 8, 2014August 8, 2014

It was only in June, less than two months ago, that MDN brought you the news that it sure seems like Aubrey McClendon is building a new company that looks a lot like the first company he built, Chesapeake Energy (see Aubrey McClendon Gets Back into the Midstream Business). McClendon is not only high on Utica and Marcellus drilling with his newly formed American Energy Partners company, he’s also high on building the pipelines needed to conduct the gas out of the borehole. His new midstream division was set up to work on such projects. And less than two months later, we have the first of those projects. Yesterday McClendon’s new midstream division and Regency Energy Partners announced a joint venture to build the Utica Ohio River Project for $500 million…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Sand/Proppant | Trucking | Wastewater

New Ormet Aluminum Plant Owner Shops Barge Facility to Shalers
August 4, 2014August 4, 2014

Three weeks ago MDN highlighted news from NGI’s Shale Daily that Magnum Hunter Resources had purchased the mineral rights for two former Ormet properties in Ohio and West Virginia (see Magnum Hunter Buys Ormet Property in OH/WV, More Wells Coming?). Ormet, you may recall, had a big aluminum plant in Hannibal (Monroe County), OH that sits on the Ohio River (complete with a big barge facility) that was bankrupted because they couldn’t get Ohio to lower the electricity bills long enough for them to convert their own coal-burning electric generation plant into using natural gas mined from under the property (see Final Chapter of Ormet Plant Closing – Utica Could have Saved It). It was a big fail on the part of Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich’s administration and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). Magnum now owns the mineral rights, and Niagara Worldwide LLC now owns the real estate and plant itself in OH. Niagara issued a press release today advertising that they’re looking to re-open the Hannibal site for business. The announcement has a big tie-in with the shale drilling industry…
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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Pipelines | Rice Energy | Utica Shale

Gulfport Cuts Deal with Competitor Rice Energy to Build Pipeline
August 1, 2014August 1, 2014

An interesting announcement from Gulfport Energy earlier this week. The company issued a “midstream update” and a production numbers for 2Q14 going back one year. What’s interesting is that Gulfport has cut midstream (i.e. pipeline) deals to get its production out of the Utica Shale basin in eastern Ohio. One deal is with Rice Energy, a competitor who also drills in the Utica. Rice will construct and operate gathering pipelines for Gulfport in several townships in Belmont County, OH. (Interesting that Rice is becoming a midstream company as well as a driller.) The second deal is with midstreamer MarkWest Energy to construct pipelines to Gulfport wells in other parts of Belmont County, and in parts of Monroe County, OH…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Equinor/Statoil | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio

EPA Reports on Enviro Damage from Statoil Well Fire in OH
July 23, 2014July 23, 2014

On June 28 a fire at Statoil’s Eisenbarth eight-well pad in Monroe County, OH quickly spread and engulfed some 20 trucks on the pad site, along with other equipment, chemicals and supplies stored at the site. It was a devastating fire (see Statoil Frack Trucks Catch Fire in Monroe County, OH). Local, state and even federal agencies quickly responded to the incident and fortunately no one was injured. One of the responding agencies was the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA recently released their initial response report covering the period June 28 – July 5–a chronicle of actions taken, the facts known, and the EPA’s initial view on environmental damage caused by liquids escaping from the pad. We have the full EPA report (below), along with an update on the continuing fallout from that accident…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Monroe County | Ohio | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Magnum Hunter Buys Ormet Property in OH/WV, More Wells Coming?
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

MDN has chronicled the sad story of the Ormet aluminum smelting plant in Monroe County, OH. The short version is that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) played a high-stakes game of chicken with Ormet and denied them permission to continuing burning coal to produce their own electricity while they got three Utica Shale wells on their property up and running (Magnum Hunter is the driller). Then PUCO denied Ormet’s request to get a reduced electric rate from the local utility company. Bottom line, more than 900 people are out of work (see Final Chapter of Ormet Plant Closing – Utica Could have Saved It). A reporter from NGI’s Shale Daily has a sharp eye and discovered that Magnum Hunter, the driller of the three Utica wells still operating on the Ormet property, has just purchased Ormet’s property in OH and WV…
Read More “Magnum Hunter Buys Ormet Property in OH/WV, More Wells Coming?”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio

Statoil Frack Trucks Catch Fire in Monroe County, OH
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Crews were working to frack a Utica Shale well at a Statoil drill pad in Monroe County, OH around 9 am on Saturday when hydraulic tubing (not to be confused with the process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking) from some of the equipment caught fire. The fire quickly spread to 20 trucks lined up at the pad, burning the trucks (some of them exploding) and creating thick, black smoke that billowed for hours. Fortunately no one was injured, although 20-25 families living within a mile of the well were evacuated…
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Belmont County | Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Harrison County | Monroe County | Noble County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Marcellus/Utica Driller Eclipse Resources IPO Seeks $864M+
June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

Just over a month ago MDN brought you the news that PA-based Marcellus/Utica driller Eclipse Resources would soon float an initial public offering (IPO) hoping to raise $100 million (see Utica Driller Eclipse Resources Files IPO – Wants to Raise $100M). It now appears the information in that story was off–way off. Earlier this month Eclipse launched their IPO by announcing they want to sell 30.3 million shares of common stock for $27-$30 per share. If you calculate they get $28.50, that would raise $864 million!…
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American Energy Partners | Doddridge County | East Resources | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Marion County | Monroe County | Ohio | Shell | SWEPI | Tyler County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

McClendon Buys 48K WV Marcellus Acres, 27K More OH Utica Acres
June 10, 2014June 10, 2014

Yet another major announcement yesterday from Aubrey McClendon, former CEO of Chesapeake Energy and current CEO of a new company he founded, American Energy Partners (AEP). Aubrey is spending another $1.75 billion to buy more acreage (and functioning wells) in both the Ohio Utica and now, for the first time, in the West Virginia Marcellus Shale. The WV acreage is in the wet gas areas of the state. According to the AEP press announcement, East Resources is the seller. Which is interesting to MDN since Shell bought all (or nearly all) of East’s northeast shale acreage in 2010 (see East Resources Sells to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 Billion, Deal Includes All of East’s Marcellus Shale Operations). So was the deal actually with Shell using the East name on paper? Or leftover vestiges of the old East Resources?…
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