Ohio

Belmont County | Energy Companies | Guest Post | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio

Opposing Viewpoint on Gulfport Water Lawsuit Against Barnesville
April 21, 2015April 21, 2015

MDN reader Eric Fenster, who lives in the Piedmont Lake area of Ohio, wrote to take issue with MDN’s “take” on the lawsuit brought by Gulfport Energy against Barnesville for breach of contract in selling them water for use in drilling and fracking (see Barnesville Officials “Didn’t Think” When Signing Gulfport Water Deal). Mr. Fenster believes MDN has it mostly wrong and that the Gulfport lawsuit is frivolous and should be dismissed. He outlines his thinking in the following guest post…
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American Energy Partners | American Energy Utica | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Ohio

McClendon’s American Energy-Utica Signs OH Water Deal with MWCD
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) continues its pro-drilling ways. MWCD was organized in 1933 to reduce the effects of flooding and conserve water for beneficial public uses, oversees 16 dams and reservoirs across 22 counties in Ohio, covering 20% of the state. A huge part of Ohio is under the oversight and control of the MWCD. We’ve previously covered their deals with Antero Resources to lease District property for drilling. We’ve also covered District deals to sell water to Antero and other shale drillers. Last week they signed a new deal, much smaller than others they’ve signed, to sell water to Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy-Utica subsidiary. American Energy will pay $6 per 1,000 gallons (a little over half a penny per gallon). The deal is only for three months–from May through July…
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Education | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

ExxonMobil Donates $47M to Higher Ed, Including Marcellus Region
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

ExxonMobil runs an incredibly generous program called the Educational Matching Gift Program under which they have just donated $47 million to ~900 colleges and universities across the United States. Here’s how it works: for every $1 ExxonMobil employees, retirees, directors and surviving spouses contribute to the Matching Gift Program, ExxonMobil matches it with $3. In Pennsylvania, the total pot donated to higher education was $3.8 million. In Ohio, it was $909,000. Virginia colleges are getting $1.3 million. New York State colleges and universities are getting a whopping $3.4 million–after New York State has screwed ExxonMobil royally (the company has lost millions of dollars in lease expirations when it couldn’t drill shale wells in the state because of Andrew Cuomo’s fracking ban). And yet, ExxonMobil gave money to the Empire State anyway, to some of the very schools who provide shelter and sponsor anti-drilling zealots. It shows the caliber of the people who run the company. One more: New Jersey, big users of oil and gas, but haters of pipelines and shale drilling, got $1.1 million…
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Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Hilcorp Gets Permission to Drill Under Columbiana County Cemetery
April 17, 2015April 17, 2015

Earlier this week we had some fun telling you about Hilcorp’s request to drill under a quarter of an acre of a cemetery in Columbiana County, OH (see Zombie Alert! Hilcorp Wants to Drill Under OH Cemetery). Fairfield Township trustees needed some extra time to consider the matter. After finding out that if they didn’t sign it would prevent a lateral from being drilled, affecting neighboring landowners (cutting them out of royalties–no lateral, no money), all but one trustee voted to sign the deal. The one holdout thought the town should get more in a signing bonus/royalties. He thinks $500 for a quarter acre and 15% royalties isn’t enough…
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Energy Services | Erie County (OH) | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Erie County, OH Rolls Out Red Carpet for NEXUS Pipeline
April 17, 2015April 17, 2015

It doesn’t seem to happen often enough, which is why this is noteworthy: The Erie County, OH Board of Commissioners (with three members) sent an official letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to endorse and support the proposed $1.5 billion NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline from Ohio through Michigan and into Canada (see NEXUS Gas Pipeline Pre-Files with FERC, New Details Come to Light). The NEXUS, like all other proposed pipelines in the northeast, has encountered plenty of opposition (see CORNy Opposition to NEXUS Pipeline in Eastern Ohio). But all three Erie County commissioners want FERC to know their county stands behind the pipeline and welcomes it through their neck of the woods–which means new pipeline trenches would be dug in places where pipelines have not previously been installed. The commissioners are rolling out the red carpet for this “greenfield” project coming through their county. Refreshing!…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

Celebrate! Ohio Severance Tax Increase Dead in 2015
April 16, 2015April 16, 2015

Very good news for the Ohio Utica Shale industry: RINO Gov. John Kasich’s plan to raise the severance tax is dead–at least for this year. Yesterday Ohio legislators stripped out a proposed tax hike from the state’s budget bill. We’re still not out of the woods yet as far as a tax increase down the road. Legislators decided to set up a “study committee” made up of both House and Senate members to consider a severance tax increase in the future. This is the third year in a row Kasich has tried and failed to raise the severance tax. Perhaps sensing yet another defeat on the tax issue, last month Kasich made a not-so-subtle threat that if the drilling industry doesn’t accept his 6.5% severance tax now, a ballot initiative may just pop up out of thin air to enact a higher severance tax–and that imitative would probably be for 10% or more (see OH Gov Kasich the Bully: Accept My 6.5% Tax or Risk a 10%+ Tax). In other words, you take my “minor” shakedown or I’ll be sure you get screwed over big-time. Will Kasich carry out his threat?…
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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Gulfport Energy Pays $12,500 per Acre for 24K OH Utica Acres
April 16, 2015September 14, 2015

Gulfport Energy announced yesterday they’ve picked up 24,000 dry gas acres in the “core” of the Utica play–in Belmont and Jefferson counties in Ohio. The lease seller is Paloma Partners III, a small energy & exploration company headquartered in Houston and backed by Encap Investments and Macquarie Americas. According to the Paloma website, they own(ed) 24,000 in the Utica and had planned on drilling “in late 2015.” We’re assuming they added a few thousand acres to that total since the web page was last updated and that they will now not drill at all–since they’ve just sold all of their Utica acreage to Gulfport. The purchase price was $300 million. Doing the math, Gulfport paid Paloma $12,500 per acre–which is perhaps the highest such deal price per acre we’ve seen to date. Here’s the full update from Gulfport on the Paloma acreage purchase, along with production numbers from 1Q15 which show a 161% increase from 1Q14…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

GreenHunter Releases 2014 Update, Plans to Barge Brine in 2015
April 16, 2015April 16, 2015

GreenHunter Resources, the fresh water and wastewater subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources, reported their fiscal year 2014 and 2014 operating results yesterday–in both a press release (below) and an analyst phone call (excerpts below). MDN eagerly scoured the announcement and a transcript of the analyst call for mention of the ongoing controversy of barging brine down the Ohio River. GreenHunter is building and has nearly completed four new injection wells in Meigs County, OH. They plan to begin barging brine to those wells sometime this year, according to GreenHunter COO Kirk Trosclair. GreenHunter has a major/ongoing disagreement with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) over whether or not guidelines issued in 1987 allow them to transport brine from shale wells (see GreenHunter Keeps Pressure on USCG to Barge Brine on Ohio River). While there’s no mention of the USCG or lack of a USCG permit, there was plenty of talk about barge operations beginning by the end of this year…
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American Energy Partners | Chesapeake Energy | EMG | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio

EMG Stabs McClendon in the Back re Chesapeake Data Lawsuit
April 15, 2015April 15, 2015

This is a strange and complicated tale that boils down to this: Aubrey McClendon has a singular talent for finding and taking money from people who later turn around and stick a knife in his back. You may remember in February the story we brought you that Chesapeake Energy had sued its former co-founder, Aubrey McClendon, claiming he stole data on his way out the door (see Chesapeake Energy Sues McClendon for Taking His Rolodex with Him). McClendon responded that he contractually had every right to take the data he took with him (see McClendon Hires Top PR Firm to Respond to “Stolen Data” Charge). This is where it gets complicated. Aubrey has spun off several companies from his new company American Energy Partners (AEP). For example, one of the companies (named in the Chesapeake lawsuit) is American Energy-Utica, LLC, (AEU), operating in Ohio’s Utica Shale region. A major funding partner for AEU is Energy & Minerals Group (EMG). EMG is, essentially, in charge of AEU. EMG has just cut a deal with Chesapeake, behind Aubrey’s back, to give Chesapeake 6,000 acres of leases in northern Harrison County along with $25 million in extortion, er ah hush money, er ah “damages” thereby removing EMG/AEU from the Chesapeake lawsuit. The lawsuit against Aubrey and mother company AEP will continue–but the child company/EMG investors won’t be part of it. Aubrey is hopping mad because EMG didn’t tell him nor seek his blessing on their deal with Chesapeake…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Wastewater

Athens, OH Anti-Drillers Appeal Injection Well Permit (Again)
April 15, 2015April 15, 2015

The wacky anti-drillers of the leftist ACFAN (Athens County Fracking Action Network) are once again suing. They didn’t like the answer they got when they appealed a permit issued for a K&H injection well in Athens County, so they’re appealing their appeal. One wonders where the funds come from to engage in ongoing frivolous lawsuits? Would ACFAN care to open up its books and show us who, exactly, is giving them the money to do this? Which Big Environment organization is paying them to continue this kind of activity? Inquiring minds want to know…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Trumbull Injection Wells NOT the Source of Wetland Contamination
April 14, 2015April 14, 2015

Last week MDN told you about 5 injection wells in Trumbull County, OH that had been shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) following a finding that some of the frack wastewater intended for the wells had been found in a local wetland and nearby pond (see ODNR Shuts Down 5 Injection Wells in Vienna, OH After Spill). Yesterday MDN told you that no nearby water wells were affected by the spill (see Trumbull County Injection Well Spill Didn’t Affect Water Wells). Here is “the rest of the story.” The five injection wells, owned by Kleese Development Associates of Warren, OH, were NOT the source of contamination of the wetland and pond…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Medina County | Ohio | Pipelines

Medina County, OH Anti Group Targets Pipeline with “Bill of Rights”
April 14, 2015April 14, 2015

Wacko fossil-fuel hating anti-drillers know the best way to strangle future drilling is to stop pipelines–so that’s where they now spend their time and effort. A new group of that ilk has sprung up in Medina County, OH. Calling themselves Sustainable Medina County, this small group of people is hoping to hoodwink 4,900 people in the county to sign a petition to get a measure on the ballot in November that would create a new county charter with a so-called bill of rights. It’s all hocus pocus aimed at giving elected county leaders the “right” to refuse pipelines from being built–something not in their Constitutional power to do. If the measure gets on the ballot and passes, county residents can expect their taxes to go up to pay big legal fees to defend such an action…
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Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Zombie Alert! Hilcorp Wants to Drill Under OH Cemetery
April 14, 2015April 14, 2015

This is truly brazen. We’ve previously written about callous drillers like Hess who drilled next door to a cemetery (see Hess Has Gall to Drill Utica Well Next Door to a Cemetery in OH). We mean, the gall! But never in our wildest dreams did we think somebody would drill UNDER a cemetery. You know, where the souls of the dead roam around? Yes indeed. Hilcorp Energy has asked Fairfield Township Trustees (in Columbiana County, OH) to sign a lease for a quarter of an acre of cemetery property. Signing bonus would be $500 along with a 15% royalty on anything produced. Bring on the zombies!…
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Belmont County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH Dem to Introduce Bill Controlling Fresh Water Withdrawals
April 13, 2015April 13, 2015

Is more regulation on the way in Ohio to control how much water drillers take from local streams and rivers? MDN editor Jim Willis moderated two panels at the recent Oil & Gas Awards Industry Summit in Pittsburgh in March (see 2015 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards: A Quick Recap & List of Winners). Jim always learns something new when attending and participating in these events. Something he learned in March was a bit of an eye-opener. In Ohio, water withdrawals from streams and rivers is pretty much on the honor system. Drillers are supposed to report it, and they do–but they report after the fact. There is no oversight to ensure a streams or rivers are too low to withdraw water. By all accounts drillers have been good stewards and careful not to overdraw–but it is on the honor system and that’s beginning to bother some, like Ohio Democrat Jack Cera from Bellaire (Belmont County)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Belmont County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Rex Energy

Belmont County, OH Landowners Spread the Wealth Around
April 13, 2015April 13, 2015

One of the early slanders MDN heard against drilling is the typical class warfare argument. Some citizens (landowners and drillers) are winners of the “drilling lottery” and everyone else around them suffers with all of the negatives and none of the po$itive$. We call it the Beverley Hillbillies argument–rich, white, liberals who can’t stand the fact that flat-busted farmers have come into some money. They’re jealous. It’s a bigoted and repugnant argument we’ve heard made by people like a certain Cornell professor (see Everyone Wins – Not Just Landowners – When Marcellus Drilling Happens in a Community). The image they portray is that the people who make money from drilling–landowners and drillers–are money-grubbing misers. Ebeneezer Scrooge counting his piles of gold coins. The only problem with that image is, it’s not true. As you might expect, salt-of-the-earth farmers DON’T just hoard the money–they share it. Like a group of landowners (along with Rice Energy) in Belmont County who have donated, so far, $170,000 to a fund that benefits local community groups–like fire departments and food banks. Their goal is to see the fund swell to $10 million–all of it benefiting local groups and charities. Whoops! There goes another lie peddled by anti-drillers that’s been completely deflated…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

ODNR: Ohio Will Issue Fewer Utica Permits in 2015 than in 2014
April 13, 2015April 13, 2015

Rick Simmers, chief of the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas said last week he expects the state will issue up to 20% fewer Utica Shale permits in 2015 than they issued in 2014. If that happens, it would be the first time since the Utica became a household name that fewer permits have been issued. Permits, however, do not equal production. Production in the state is expected to continue rising…
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