OH Supreme Court Rules Against Forcing Driller to Explore Utica
What if a landowner leased his or her land decades ago and a driller drilled a conventional natural gas well on the property, and that well has produced commercial volumes of natural gas for years–and still does. And what if the lease gives that driller the right to drill (or not drill) in any given rock lawyer. And what if that driller is content to simply let that conventional well keep producing and not drill further down, into the now commercially viable Utica (or Marcellus) shale layer? Does the landowner, whose land is located where the Utica/Marcellus exists, have any case for taking back the rights to the deeper shale layers the conventional driller refuses to go after? That’s a case that went all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court in March of last year (see OH Supreme Court to Hear Appeal re Driller Who Won’t Explore Utica). The Supremes heard oral arguments in the case in September. At that time we said this: “The winds appear to be blowing against the landowner, judging by what the judges said” (see OH Landowner Wants High Court to Force Driller to Explore Shale). Indeed we were right. In a January 3, 2018 decision, the Supremes ruled that Ohio does not recognize an “implied covenant to explore further” in oil and gas leases (full decision below). This is sad news for Ohio landowners who have old wells/leases with a driller who stubbornly won’t explore the Utica, nor allow anyone else to either…
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When the topic of NGL (natural gas liquids) storage comes up with respect to the Marcellus/Utica region, there are two separate and distinct projects mentioned: A massive, $10 billion ethane/NGL storage hub with no specific location identified as yet (but West Virginia often named), and the much smaller Mountaineer NGL storage hub proposed for Monroe County, OH. Recently none other than the U.S. Dept. of Energy issued an NGL primer to call attention to the need for a large NGL storage hub (see 
Clever researchers at Ohio State University have figured out a way to convert shale gas into products like methanol and gasoline–all while *consuming* carbon dioxide. That is, the process yields zero CO2 emissions (which will thrill global warming believers). Of course the process converts one fossil fuel into another, and just because it’s called “fossil fuel” the warmers still won’t be happy. Whatever. This is exciting new technology with big potential. Not only does the conversion not emit any CO2, it actually *uses* CO2 from outside sources–sopping up some of that over-abundant CO2 that comes from cow burps (and flatulation). The same researchers have also figured out how to use a chemical reaction to “transform” coal into electricity (without burning the coal). Pretty heady stuff. We’d almost call it alchemy! Here’s the lowdown…
PTT Global Chemical, based in Thailand, continues to delay a final investment decision (FID) regarding their much-ballyhooed ethane cracker project in Belmont County, OH. In April 2015, PTT announced they are interested in building a ~$5 billion ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see 
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has just issued production numbers for the third quarter of 2017. The good news is that production is up for both natural gas AND oil. Utica natgas production saw a huge percentage increase–up 27.51% over the same period last year. 2Q17 Utica natgas production increased 16% over the previous year, and 1Q17 production increased 13% over the previous year. Although the trend has been up this year, 3Q17’s jump is really big (nearly double) compared to previous quarters. The even better news is that until 3Q17, Ohio oil production was trending down quarter after quarter–but in 3Q17 the trend reversed. Utica oil production was up slightly, close to 3%, over the same period last year. The ODNR report lists 1,796 horizontal wells, of which 1,760 reported production of some amount. The average natgas well produced 261,681 million cubic feet (Mcf) during 3Q17, and the average oil well produced 2,367 barrels of oil. But as we all know, each well is unique. Below we give you an MDN exclusive, showing the top 25 natgas wells and top 25 oil wells. In 3Q17, the top 3 natgas wells were drilled and operated by Ascent Resources. Rounding out the top 5 were two wells drilled by Rice Energy (now owned by EQT). All top 5 producing natgas wells in 3Q17 are located in Belmont County. What about oil wells? The top 2 producing oil wells were drilled by Ascent Resources. Coming in at #3 was a well drilled by Eclipse Resources, followed by #4 drilled by Chesapeake Energy. Rounding out the top 5 producing oil wells was a well drilled by Ascent Resources. Four of the five top producing oil wells are located in Guernsey County, with one in Harrison County. You might say, with some justification, that Ascent Resources (formerly called American Energy Partners, Aubrey McClendon’s startup following Chesapeake Energy), dominated the top producing wells for 3Q17, for both natgas and oil…
A group of landowners in Ohio calling themselves the Coalition to Reroute Nexus (CORN), whom we affectionately call CORNballs, filed a lawsuit in federal court in May against the NEXUS pipeline project (see 
Looks like the Utica/Marcellus has its own brand of beer! Who knew? We spotted an article about a small startup called Shale Brewing Company–saying the company is “back.” Back from where? We didn’t know it existed and had left, let alone that it’s now “back.” The company produces microbrews with names like “Cold Rolled Ale” and “Roughneck Red.” Hmm, we thought that sounded intriguing, so we kept digging. We found information that Shale Brewing Company was started by shale co-workers who had “a passion for easy drinking brews.” The company, started in 2014, “has had a couple of starts and stops since its early days as a nanobrewery.” But once again it’s back–this time making batches of beer in downtown Canton, OH. Currently it’s hard to find a bottle of Shale Brewery’s beer, but there are a few locations around Canton where you can score a six pack…
Last Friday MDN told you about three proposed new injection wells planned for the Town of Brookfield, in Trumbull County, OH (see 
Last week Columbia Pipeline Group (now part of TransCanada) filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin service on their Leach XPress pipeline. This is BIG and important news. In August 2014, MDN told you that Columbia Pipeline Group decided to move forward with investing $1.75 billion dollars for two new projects: Leach XPress and Rayne XPress (see 
We have been waiting for this day for a LONG time. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order to Rover Pipeline allowing Rover to restart all outstanding underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) projects, including the location at Tuscarawas River. All Rover HDD projects were stopped back in April following a string of “inadvertent returns” (i.e. leaks) of drilling mud, the most serious being a ~2 million gallon spill at the Tuscarawas River HDD location (see 
Back in June MDN shared some good news for Utica (and Marcellus) drillers: The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) had approved permits for two new frack wastewater injection wells in Trumbull County, OH (see 
Another 350 acres of mineral rights were just auctioned off yesterday by the Bureau of Land Management in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (WNF)–for a total of $944,000 raised. What’s that? You haven’t heard or read that news in ANY local or national news outlet? Welcome to the Big Government/Media complex where something isn’t “news” unless Big Lib media says it’s news. And yet, this most recent auction is, for landowners who have mineral rights in WNF and drillers who drill there, really big news. WNF is a “patchwork” of public land scattered among private land. Some 60% of the mineral rights below WNF are privately owned. Those mineral rights owners were denied the use of their property rights for more than a decade–until the BLM finally began auctions of government mineral rights in BLM last year (see 
Fairmount Santrol, an Ohio-based sand producer that sells sand as a proppant for use in Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling, announced yesterday it has accepted an offer to sell itself to another sand company–Unimin, a subsidiary of Belgium-based SCR-Sibelco. Fairmount Santrol shareholders will get a $170 million payment and 35% ownership in the newly combined company. The new company will have revenues approaching $2 billion per year. Fairmount Santrol’s CEO, Jenniffer Deckard, is expected to become the CEO of the new company (the name of the new company has not yet been decided). However, make no mistake–Fairmount is selling itself. The board of directors for the new company will have 6 members picked by Unimim parent SCR-Sibelco and 4 members picked by Fairmount Santrol. The location of the headquarters is still up in the air. A lot of unknowns at this point. However, one thing that IS known is that this is a done deal…
The International (non-U.S.) Baker Hughes rig count for November 2017 was 942, down 9 from the 951 counted in October 2017, but up 17 from the 925 counted in November 2016. The U.S. rig count for November 2017 was 911, down 11 from the 922 counted in October 2017, but up 331 from the 580 counted in November 2016. The average Canadian rig count for November 2017 was 204, unchanged from the 204 counted in October 2017, and up 31 from the 173 counted in November 2016. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Pennsylvania lost one rig (second month in a row PA has lost a rig), running an average of 31 rigs during October. Ohio gained a rig to run an average of 30 rigs. West Virginia saw the biggest swing–a huge swing–by losing 3 rigs, running an average of 12 rigs last month. So the Marcellus/Utica combined lost 3 rigs last month. Here’s the BH update…