Rover Refutes Ohio EPA Claim of 146K Gal. Spill @ Tuscarawas River
Yesterday we brought you the news that the Ohio Dept. of Environmental Protection (OEPA) had made claims, in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), that Rover Pipeline’s restart of underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) near the Tuscarawas River had resulted in a second large spill of drilling mud–146,000 gallons (see OEPA Continues to Hunt Rover Pipe, Claims 2nd Spill Near River). OEPA claims to have spies that told them that while drilling 146,000 gallons of drilling mud had disappeared “down hole.” That typically means the mud will reappear somewhere on the surface. OEPA does not regulate the Rover project–it is a FERC/federally regulated project. And that frosts OEPA’s director, tattletale Craig Butler. Except this time it appears OEPA was mistaken, or perhaps acting on bad information. According to a statement by Energy Transfer, builder of Rover, there has been no “release” or “spill” of drilling mud a second time at the Tuscarawas River site…
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We’ve written plenty about Mountaineer NGL Storage hub project proposed for Monroe County, OH, located just across the river (and border) from West Virginia (see our 
NEXUS Pipeline, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada, is now under construction. NEXUS got final approval for the project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in August, the first major pipeline to get approved following a newly restored quorum at FERC (see 
On Wednesday, Dominion Energy filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand capacity along the existing Dominion Energy Transmission Inc. (DETI) pipeline from Pennsylvania to Ohio. Why? To flow more gas that will be used to generate electricity for the Midwest market. The project, called the Sweden Valley Project, is projected to cost $48 million and add another 120 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of PA Marcellus Shale gas to the existing flow along DETI. Dominion says all 120 MMcf/d are already contracted and spoken for–by an unnamed customer. Notice the headline says “expand” and not “extend.” This project would build a tiny three miles of new pipeline, with the new pipeline lying next to existing pipeline (in Greene County, PA). The only greenfield construction is building a 1.75-mile pipeline to connect with the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Tuscarawas County, OH. The other main part of the project is updating three units a compressor station in Licking County, OH. In the constellation of pipeline projects that disturb earth and disrupt landowners, this one is pretty minor–yet it will deliver big results by flowing an extra 120 MMcf/d of gas west to a new market…
Once again Marcellus Drilling News is happy to partner with and support the 
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 
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…
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…