Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Supply Chain
ET Rover Buys Largest-Ever Order of Cat® Gas Compression Engines
In September MDN told you that the 711-mile ET Rover Pipeline, costing an estimated $3.7 billion to build, had awarded a contract to an Ohio company to build 39 compressor stations (see Rover Pipeline Awards OH Company $34M to build 39 Compressor Stns). The announcement makes a quick mention that “Rover Pipeline purchased a combination of Caterpillar natural gas engines and Ariel compressors.” We now have the details on the Cat engines being purchased, which according to Cat is “the company’s largest ever single-project order”…
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In July MDN reported that GreenHunter Resources–the water resource, waste management, and environmental services subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources in the Marcellus/Utica–had brought two new wastewater injection wells online at their Mills Hunter facility in Meigs County, OH (see 
Hey anti-drillers who like to lie about the benefits of fracking: Tell us again how there’s no positive economic impact from the shale industry. It’s all just smoke and mirrors and the only ones who make money are Big Oil & Gas. Tell us how the jobs are “temporary” and the money from the industry illusory. Then we’ll tell you about the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area, comprised of Belmont County, OH along with Marshall and Ohio counties in WV. The Wheeling MSA’s gross domestic product grew by 9.5% from 2013 to 2014, according to data provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce. That’s the fifth fastest growing MSA in the country–out of 381 MSAs. Oh, and the reason it’s growing so fast? Yep–the Marcellus and Utica Shale boom happening in the region…
MPR Transloading & Energy, part of MPR Supply Chain Solutions, operates a 20-acre transloading site on the shores of the Ohio River in Belmont County, OH, just across the river from Wheeling, WV. MPR is working hard to finish a new, large sand hopper at the site so trucks hauling frac sand can pull under it to quickly load and head off to drill sites in the region. There’s just one small problem: There are only 35 rigs operating in eastern Ohio and West Virginia today, half of the number that were operating just a year ago when the sand hopper was planned. That is, there’s less demand for sand…
MDN is happy to support the 
A small earthquake that nobody felt (2.1 on the Richter scale) hit Harrison County, OH Tuesday evening. There was immediate speculation about whether or not the earthquake is tied to Utica Shale drilling in the area. Aubrey McClendon’s Ascent Resources is drilling near where the quake originated. It’s WAY too early to even speculate on whether or not the quake is tied to a fracking operation. IF (a very big IF) fracking did cause this quake, it would be the sixth known time that fracking itself (instead of an injection well) has caused an earthquake–out of millions of wells drilled and fracked. Statistically zero…
In March of this year, Syracuse University Professor Dr. Donald Siegel published the results of an extensive research study that found fracking of Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania does not cause methane in water wells (see 
Countless times MDN has told you that in rare cases, injecting fracking wastewater into a deep, underground Class II injection well (for disposal) can cause earthquakes–if the injection well is located over a fault. When you inject fluids under high pressure into rock formations with a fault it can act like a lubricant, allowing the rocks to slip and slide–causing a low-level earthquake. It’s happened in Ohio. It’s happened (a lot) in Oklahoma. It’s happened in Texas. And in other states too. Thirteen oil and gas states joined together with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) and Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) to form the StatesFirst Initiative, a working group to pool their knowledge and try and figure out how, and under what conditions, injection wells cause earthquakes. Co-heading the initiative is Ohio’s Chief for the Division of Oil & Gas Resources Management (Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources), Rick Simmers. Rick and the working group have just released a 150-page Primer (copy below) to help regulatory agencies evaluate and develop good policies to mitigate and prevent earthquakes from injection wells…
In an unusual move, the Wayne County (OH) Board of Commissioners has written to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to oppose having Energy Transfer’s ET Rover pipeline come through the southern portion of their county, as currently planned. ET Rover is a 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will serve mostly U.S. customers that will cost $3.7 billion to build and run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. The bulk of the pipeline would run through Ohio, including southern Wayne County. The Board of Commissioners’ objection is unusual because Wayne is a mostly rural county with farms. Farmers, while not always welcoming of pipelines running through prized hay fields and crops, can sure use the money that would come from such a project. Farmers typically do support pipelines–and drilling. The commissioners cite safety concerns and damage to farmland in their letter to FERC…
In February 2013 MDN brought you news about plans from Appalachian Resins (AR) to build a polyethelene (PE) manufacturing plant complete with a “baby” ethane cracker. The original plan was to build it in the Wheeling, WV area. However, a year later the location shifted across the border to Monroe County, OH. As late as April of this year AR was still committed to the project (see 
Last week MDN told you that Ohio’s RINO legislators continue to work on raising the Utica Shale severance tax in the state “behind closed doors” (see 
Gulfport Energy recently announced they have awarded $35,000 in grants for 10 projects in four Ohio counties, including projects benefiting local citizens in Guernsey and Belmont counties (Utica Shale country). The grants in varying amounts were given to schools, labor unions and colleges–for educational programs. One of the grants, for $5,000, will be used to purchase Google Chromebooks for 150 middle school students. Google’s Chrome OS is the official operating system for MDN (we LOVE it). Nice to see Gulfport blessing local schools and organizations in the regions where they operate…
In December 2013 MDN told you about the Cornerstone Pipeline project–a pipeline that will stretch nearly 50 miles from the MarkWest cryogenic processing plant in Cadiz, OH northwest connecting to M3’s fractionator plant in Scio and M3’s cryogenic processing plant in Leesville along the way as it terminates and connects to Marathon Oil’s refinery in Canton, OH (see 
This is disappointing. For over a year utility and electric generating giant NRG had planned to convert a coal-fired electric generating plan in Avon Lake (Lorain County), OH to burn Utica Shale gas instead. NRG’s plan includes building a $40 million, 20-mile pipeline to feed the Avon plant. That pipeline was finally approved in June (see 
A truck driver hauling coiled tubing (pipe) used for fracking had an unfortunate run-in with a railroad overpass in Columbiana County, OH. The railroad bridge running over State Route 558 in Fairfield Township is just 13 feet high. The coiled tubing on the back of the truck was higher, and the driver didn’t realize it. So when he went under the overpass, it literally pulled it off and dumped it across the highway. Oops…