Ohio

Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Triad Hunter

ODNR Still Investigating Triad Hunter Well Blowout in Ohio
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

On December 13, 2014, Triad Hunter’s Stalder 3UH well in Monroe County, OH experienced a blowout (see Triad Hunter Well Blowout in Monroe County, OH – No One Injured). Some 50 residents in 28 homes were displaced–too dangerous to be close to a well venting methane that might explode if an ignition source is close by. Those residents were out of their homes for 10 days but finally returned on Dec. 23 (see Triad Hunter Well Blowout in Ohio Fixed, Residents Go Home). It’s now been five weeks since the blowout. What do we know about the cause? According to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, the “accident” that caused the plugged well to start flowing uncontrollably is still not known…
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Ashtabula County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Velocys

New Life for Ashtabula Gas-to-Liquids Plant, Files for Permit
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

In Sept. 2013 MDN told you about a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant planned for Ashtabula, OH (see Utica Shale Gas-to-Liquids Plant Planned for Ashtabula, OH). The plant would convert Marcellus and Utica Shale gas into diesel fuel, lubricants, solvents and waxes. The technology used for the plant is provided by a UK company called Velocys. In June 2014 Velocys bought out the Astabula operation and took up the reigns of the project (see UK-based Velocys Buys Ashtabula, OH GTL Plant). Since then we’ve not heard anything. Until now. Ashtabula Energy, a division of Velocys, has filed for a permit with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that would allow the plant to discharge wastewater into Lake Erie. Seems the project is once again up and running…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lorain County | Medina County | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Summit County

CORNy Opposition to NEXUS Pipeline in Eastern Ohio
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

A group opposed to the NEXUS gas pipeline met over the weekend in Oberlin (Lorain County), Ohio in a “private strategy meeting” to plan how they will stop the pipeline from coming through their area in eastern Ohio–Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties. The NEXUS, you may recall, is a 42-inch, $1.5 billion natural gas pipeline that will carry Utica and Marcellus Shale gas spanning 11 counties in Ohio, 3 counties in Michigan, and eventually connect to the Dawn Energy Hub in Canada (see NEXUS Gas Pipeline Pre-Files with FERC, New Details Come to Light). The small group meeting in Oberlin is trying to get the pipeline re-routed. They call their group CORN–or Coalition to Reroute NEXUS from Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Antero Resources 4Q14: Just Paid $20K/Acre for More Utica Leases
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

Antero Resources, one of the biggest Marcellus/Utica Shale drillers, issued their fourth quarter operations and hedging report on Wednesday. The report includes a lot of 2014 summary information. It’s an important update with a lot of juicy information contained in it. Perhaps the juiciest is buried near the end: Antero closed on a deal to pick up another 12,000 Utica acres, most of it located in Monroe County, OH, from an undisclosed third party. Antero paid an eye-popping $240 million–or $20,000 per acre! The land does have five producing shale wells and an 8-mile pipeline. Figure the wells are worth $8M each (the cost to drill them) and the pipeline is worth $1M per mile, another $8M (this is very rough, back of the envelope stuff). Deducting that from the price you still get $16,000 per acre for the undeveloped land. Yikes. Here’s the other things that caught our eye about the update…
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Energy Services | EnLink Midstream | Guernsey County | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Washington County (OH)

EnLink Extends Open Season for OH Condensate Pipeline by 6 Weeks
January 15, 2015January 15, 2015

In August 2014, EnLink Midstream announced a new 45-mile condensate pipeline that will stretch across Guernsey, Noble and Washington counties in Ohio (see EnLink Midstream Announces New Condensate Pipeline in ORV). EnLink calls the project, which connects to another EnLink pipeline in Washington County, the Ohio River Valley Pipeline. In mid-December EnLink launched a 30-day binding open season for shippers to sign up for capacity on the new pipeline (see EnLink Launches 1 Month Open Season for ORV Condensate Pipeline). Midstream companies won’t build expensive pipelines (this one will cost $250 million) unless they have 15-20 contracts in place to guarantee they’ll make their money back. Today EnLink announced they’re extending the open season another six weeks–to the end of February. Oh oh, must mean they don’t yet have enough interested customers to build it…
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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Trumbull County

Lordstown Gas-Powered Electric Plant Moves Up Construction Timeline
January 15, 2015January 15, 2015

In April 2014, MDN told you about a proposal from Clean Energy Future to build an $800 million electric generation plant in Lordstown (Trumbull County), OH. The plant will be fired by natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus (see Clean Energy Plans NatGas Electric Generation Plant in Lordstown). At that time, the plan was to begin construction in December 2015 and complete the plant by the end of 2018. There was initial opposition to the plant because the site on Salt Springs Road would need to be re-zoned from residential to industrial. That didn’t go down well with the neighbors. Clean Energy Future has changed the plan to a different location. Those who once opposed the plant now embrace it and want it as a jobs-creator for the area. This is a happy story of industry and residents working together for a positive solution. It illustrates what happens when adults behave like adults…
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Allegheny County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

Williams Spending $100 million Per Month in the Marcellus/Utica
January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

There’s an excellent regional television program in Pittsburgh called “Our Region’s Business” hosted by veteran reporter Bill Flannigan. On December 7, Jim Scheel, Senior Vice President for Northeast G&P for Williams, appeared in a segment on the program (video embedded below). Scheel shared some eye-popping statistics about the Marcellus/Utica, and about Williams and their commitment to the region. Scheel said, among many things in the short 7-minute segment, that in 2014 Williams spent an astonishing $100 million per month on pipeline projects in the northeast region. They currently employ 750 people in the northeast and over the next year or so expect to add another 160 people to the payroll. What an exciting, dynamic company! Here’s a few more stats Scheel mentioned…
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Belmont County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

OH Landowners ask Court to Stop OPEN Pipeline Eminent Domain
January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

In December 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave final approval to Spectra Energy’s OPEN (Ohio Pipeline Energy Network) project in Ohio–a $468.5 million pipeline from Ohio to the Gulf Coast (see FERC Approves OPEN Pipeline in Eastern OH, Gas Goes to Gulf Coast). The project includes building 76 miles of new pipeline from Columbiana County to Monroe County (slicing through Belmont County along the way) to connect to the Texas Eastern Pipeline. The pipeline will then reverse its flow–making it bidirectional–in order to carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas from eastern Ohio to the Gulf Coast. As soon as FERC issued final approval, Texas Eastern, the owner of Spectra Energy, started to issue eminent domain notices to landowners along the 76-mile route who aren’t playing ball with them. A husband and wife are pushing back. With the assistance of the Ohio 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, Roger and Lana Barack of Belmont County have filed their opposition to Texas Transmission’s notice to take “immediate possession” of their land. The Baracks and The 1851 Center call the manner in which Texas Transmission is trying to take their land “abusive” and in essence, a midnight railroading of innocent landowners…
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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Halcon Resources: Slashes Drilling Budget 50%, No Utica for 2015
January 12, 2015January 12, 2015

As MDN chronicled in March 2014, Halcon Resources, with some 140,000 net acres in the Ohio Utica Shale, quit drilling in the Utica, at least for the balance of 2014 (see Halcon Resources Stops Drilling, Gives Up on the Utica Shale). That now holds true for 2015 as well. In a statement about their drilling program released late last week, Halcon indicated they have revised their drilling budget down by nearly 50%–from the previous $750-$800 million to $375-$425 million. They’re also reducing the number of drilling rigs from 11 rigs to 3–and none of them will be operating in the Utica Shale…
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Cuyahoga County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation

ODNR Appeals Decision Overturning Drilling Permit Near Cleveland
January 12, 2015January 13, 2015

A squabble has erupted near Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County, OH, between the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission (OOGC). The ODNR is responsible for evaluating and issuing permits to drill oil and gas wells in the Buckeye State. The OOGC is the body that hears appeals from people who disagree with a permit issued by the ODNR. Such an appeal was filed for what we believe is a conventional (vertical only) oil well to be drilled in North Royalton, OH to Cutter Oil Company. The OOGC says yep, the ODNR didn’t take into consideration “safety concerns” by the city in issuing the permit. ODNR disagrees and is appealing OOGC’s decision to un-permit the permit granted by ODNR. Yes, it’s about a conventional well, but it has implications for unconventional (shale) drilling as well if the OOGC becomes activist in overturning permits based on the nebulous “safety concerns” of citizens and municipalities…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Taxation

OH Anti-Drillers Propose Taxing Gas in Interstate Pipelines
January 12, 2015January 12, 2015

Anti-drillers looking to a) stop shale drilling in Ohio and b) barring that, slow it down by taxing the #$@% of out the industry, met with a couple of members of RINO Gov. John Kasich’s staff last Friday to present what they hoped would be a proposal Kasich’s socialist-high-taxing nature would find appealing: tax natural gas flowing through interstate pipelines in Ohio. No word from the staffers whether or not they found merit in the proposal by the Ohio division of Citizens Against the Nexus/?Spectra Pipeline…
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DTE Energy | Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide OH

NEXUS Gas Pipeline Pre-Files with FERC, New Details Come to Light
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

In September 2012, three companies–DTE Energy, Spectra Energy and Enbridge–formed a joint venture to build a new Utica Shale pipeline from Ohio through Michigan and eventually into Canada, delivering Utica Shale gas to Midwestern markets (see New Utica Shale Pipeline to Midwest Announced). The new pipeline, called NEXUS Gas Transmission, will cost $1.5 billion to build, begin in Columbiana County, OH and cross through 11 Ohio counties and 3 Michigan counties in total (see list below). Some of the details were revealed last year when the Akron Beacon Journal filed an open records request (see OH Route of Proposed NEXUS Gas Pipeline Revealed). On December 30, NEXUS finally filed what’s called a “pre-filing” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). We have a copy of that pre-filing document below, along with extracts (new details) and a new map showing where the pipeline is due to go…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Eureka Hunter Nears 1/2 Billion Cubic Feet per Day in WV/OH
January 8, 2015January 8, 2015

Magnum Hunter announced yesterday that its pipeline/midstream subsidiary Eureka Hunter has set a new record. Eureka pumped more than 400,000 million Btus per day (MMBtu/d) in West Virginia and Ohio by the end of December, and they expect to be pumping more than 500K MMBtus by the end of this month. A half million MMBtus works out to be roughly half a billion cubic feet of natural gas per day…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Antero Resources Lays Off 250 Landmen, Blames Low Oil Prices
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Antero Resources said on Monday it will lay off more than 250 contract land brokers operating in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The layoffs will not affect any Antero employees–only contract workers (landmen and others) who work to get leases signed, sealed and delivered for future drilling. Antero blames the low price of oil, which causes the price they get for their Marcellus/Utica natural gas liquids to be low, which means they’ll stick to drilling on the half million plus acres they already have under lease…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lorain County | Ohio

US Steel Lays off 642 in OH & 142 in TX, Blames Low Oil Prices
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

A second mass layoff ostensibly due to low oil prices is affecting Ohio and Texas. U.S. Steel will lay off more than 600 workers at its plant in Lorain, OH and more than 140 in their Houston, TX plant. Both plants make steel pipes used in shale drilling in the northeast and beyond. Shale drilling is slowing down, and now too are the companies that supply them…
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Decline/Depletion Rates | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Steep Declines in Production for Some of Utica’s Top Wells
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

An excellent article by MDN friend and ace reporter Bob Downing appearing in the Akron Beacon Journal tackles the issue of decline rates in Utica Shale wells–that is, how fast production drops off. Bob’s deep dive into the data found that some of the Utica’s top performing wells in January had decreased output by 47%-70% by September. Yikes! No word on how that compares to the decline rate of the Marcellus layer. Here’s a sample of Bob’s analysis…
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