Ohio

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    Welders Needed in Utica/Marcellus – Training Options in Mahoning

    Of all the jobs in the Marcellus and Utica Shale that need qualified, skilled people in them, perhaps none is more needed (right now) than welding. According to Marty Loney, training director for Local 396 in Mahoning County, OH, there’s a shortage right now of between 2,000-3,000 welders for the Utica and Marcellus in the Mahoning Valley area. Local 396 has developed an innovative apprenticeship program to address the need (although it takes five years to complete). Other organizations, like the Trumbull Career and Technical Center also train welders and other hands-on types of jobs for the drilling industry.

    Here’s a good review of a couple of training options for those interested in getting a hands-on job in the Marcellus/Utica in the tri-state area when it comes to welding and other physical jobs:
    Read More “Welders Needed in Utica/Marcellus – Training Options in Mahoning”

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    MarkWest: 7 New NE Plants Online in Past 4 Mos, 17 More Coming!

    Number 1There are a number of midstream (pipeline and processing plants) companies operating in the Marcellus and Utica region. The country’s largest midstream company, Kinder Morgan, increasingly has a presence in the region. Joint ventures of various kinds, like Blue Racer Midstream (Dominion and Caiman Energy) are important new–and big–players. Williams Partners is one of the biggest. But if we had to identify which midstream company has the most assets, the most presence in the region, we’d have to say it’s MarkWest Energy. Yesterday MarkWest issued an operational update on their Marcellus and Utica projects–and frankly, it’s really impressive. This is a “time to crow about what we’ve done and will do” update. They’ve earned the right.

    Over the past four months MarkWest has brought seven new, major projects online: 5 new cryogenic processing plants (separates wet gas into two streams, methane and NGLs), and 2 new fractionation plants (further separates the NGLs into their components, like ethane, butane and propane). Each one of these projects represents hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and hundreds of jobs. Here’s the kicker: MarkWest has another 17 major processing and fractionation projects under construction! Incredible. Below is the update issued yesterday by MarkWest which identifies many of projects and customers. It’s well worth your time to read:
    Read More “MarkWest: 7 New NE Plants Online in Past 4 Mos, 17 More Coming!”

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    OH Gov. John Kasich: Goldilocks and the Utica Shale Tax

    John “foreigner hunter” Kasich, who sounds more like a Democrat every day, says he won’t accept a “puny” severance tax increase on Utica Shale drilling. He wants him a big, fat, mother of a tax increase on Utica drilling–and nothing less will do. In comments yesterday, Kasich (strangely) started to channel fairy tales, telling reporters that tax increases on drilling are “…kind of like porridge. It can’t be too cold, it can’t be too hot, it’s got to be just right.” Wow, Kasich would make Karl Marx proud.

    Here’s the latest back and forth between Kasich and his own Republican Party, a party ready to cave (yet again) on the issue of taxes:
    Read More “OH Gov. John Kasich: Goldilocks and the Utica Shale Tax”

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    Hess Sells 74,000 OH Utica Shale Dry Gas Acres to Mystery Buyer

    Looks like the end of 2014 came in January of 2014 for Hess. On Oct 30, 2013 Hess’ Executive VP and President of Worldwide Exploration & Production, Greg Hill, said that Hess was working on figuring out their Utica Shale acreage and where the wet gas area is located so they could make decisions about where they will and won’t drill. Hill said they would make their final decision “at the end of 2014 once we finish delineation” (see Hess Officials Talk About the Utica on 3Q13 Earnings Call). Yesterday Hess announced they have struck a deal to sell to sell 74,000 Utica Shale dry gas acres to an unnamed buyer for $924 million. End of 2014 (and Christmas) came early for Hess. Why sell now? And, who was the buyer? MDN thinks we know (we speculate below).

    Hess owns a 100% interest in 95,000 Utica Shale acres, and a 50% interest (in a joint venture deal with CONSOL Energy) for another 65,000 Utica acres. In consulting the Hess map of their Utica acreage below (from a November 2013 investor presentation), you can get a pretty good idea of where the acreage they’ve sold is probably located. Much of Hess’ 100%-owned acreage is in the “dry gas” area on the map–our money is that most of that acreage is what got sold. No doubt landowners will soon receive notifications if they are among those being traded to another drilling team. Below is the Hess announcement (which is brief), the map we located which helps shed light on the brief announcement, and our speculation on why they sold now, and who purchased…
    Read More “Hess Sells 74,000 OH Utica Shale Dry Gas Acres to Mystery Buyer”

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    McClendon’s New Company Gets Another Half Billion $ for Utica

    Former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon’s new company, American Energy Partners, keeps the money rollin’ in. Last fall AEP lined up a big pile of cash to be used to purchase leases in the Utica Shale (see McClendon Gets a Little Help ($1.7B) from His Friends in OH Utica). In December, Aubrey floated 100 million “units” (i.e. stock) in an effort to raise up to $2 billion more (see McClendon Plan to Raise Additional $2B in “Unit” Offering). No word on how that effort is going.

    In the meantime, time’s a wastin’, so Aubrey has raised another $500 million in private equity to help fund Utica Shale ventures (see the story below). MDN wonders, is it just coincidence that AEP’s brief announcement was issued yesterday, on the same day that Hess announced their sale of 74,000 Utica Shale acres to a mystery buyer? Interesting, no?…
    Read More “McClendon’s New Company Gets Another Half Billion $ for Utica”

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    Gulfport’s James Palm to Retire in 2 Weeks, Search on for New CEO

    Gulfport Energy announced yesterday that CEO James Palm will retire as of February 15 (just two weeks from now). Gulfport is one of the most important (and increasingly prolific) drillers in the Utica Shale. In 2013 Gulfport stole many headlines with their southeastern Ohio Utica shale wells breaking records left and right (see Gulfport’s New Record-Breaking Well in Belmont Cnty – 30.3 Mmcf/d).

    Palm has been CEO of Gulfport for the past eight years. Was he pushed? No indications of that. It appears he’s simply exiting while Gulfport, under his expert guidance, is at a high point. No doubt he leaves the company as a very wealthy man. Here’s the brief Palm retirement announcement from Gulfport:
    Read More “Gulfport’s James Palm to Retire in 2 Weeks, Search on for New CEO”

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    New SW Ohio Electric Generating Plant to be Powered by Natgas

    Middletown, OH, located on the border of Butler and Warren counties in southwestern Ohio, is about to get a new $500 million natural gas-fired electric generating plant. That is, they will if NTE Energy’s plan is approved. The new plant will generate enough electricity to supply 400,000 homes. Although the story we found about the plant doesn’t say where the gas will come from, you can bet your bottom dollar it will be fueled by Utica and Marcellus Shale gas…
    Read More “New SW Ohio Electric Generating Plant to be Powered by Natgas”

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    More on Antero’s Record Shattering Utica Shale Wells

    but wait theres moreYesterday MDN brought you the news that Antero had turned in some of the highest producing wells–ever–in the Utica Shale (see Another Antero Utica Well Top of the Heap: IP Rate of 40.2 Mmcf/d!). We got the context of their announcement slightly wrong, and admitted it at the top of that article. We believed one of those wells to be the #1 overall producing well in the Utica–but such is not the case. As we explained, Antero is now converting the production output from their wells into “gas equivalent” because many of these wells produce a lot of natural gas liquids, including ethane, butane and propane. Even though we got it slightly wrong, the wells are still awesomely impressive for the their record-breaking output.

    MDN thanks our friend and intrepid reporter Bob Downing at the Akron Beacon Journal for pointing out the change-up in how Antero reports its numbers (he gave us a courtesy call). Bob went on to research the Antero announcement and found that three of their recently announced wells are ranked in the Utica “top 10” most productive wells overall. Although the Antero wells may not be #1 in producing the most methane (“dry gas”), they produce an enormous amount of NGLs, which are a lot more profitable than plain methane! Here’s a pair of reports from Bob from yesterday:
    Read More “More on Antero’s Record Shattering Utica Shale Wells”

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    OH Judge Says Filing Paperwork is Enough to Extend Lease

    Ohio landowners should be aware of an important court case just decided that says, in essence, filing paperwork is enough proof of a driller’s intent that a lease can be extended beyond the initial signing period. Several landowners in Jefferson County, OH signed a lease with Fortuna Energy in 2006 that was later sold to Chesapeake Energy (in 2010). The lease was for a 5-year period. Three days before the end of the lease Chesapeake filed a Declaration of Pooled Unit (DPU) with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. That is, they told ODNR in essence “here’s a group of properties we intend to drill on soon” requesting permission to “pool” them together into a drilling unit. That simple act was enough proof, according to a U.S. District Court judge, to allow Chesapeake to extend the original lease beyond the original 5 years.

    And so now the landowners are stuck waiting for Chesapeake to actually do something other than file paperwork. Good luck with that…
    Read More “OH Judge Says Filing Paperwork is Enough to Extend Lease”

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    Utica Shale Transient Workers in Ohio Crosshairs

    Calling OH Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich: Ohio is being invaded by foreigners! Time for a dragnet to kick them out!! We refer, tongue-in-cheek, to Kasich’s disdain for non-Ohioans moving to Ohio to work in the Utica Shale drilling industry–doing nasty, hard jobs that often require someone who’s skilled at doing them–like pipefitting and welding, and man-handling equipment at rig sites (called a roustabout). Ohioans can certainly be trained, but often it takes people who have done it to show them how.

    The Columbus Dispatch has taken a decidedly anti-drilling stance recently with a flurry of articles that attack the Utica Shale industry. Their latest article takes aim at “transient” workers–people Kasich calls foreigners. It’s jingoistic and repugnant–but then prejudice and ignorance always are. Here’s the Dispatch waxing eloquent on “transients”…
    Read More “Utica Shale Transient Workers in Ohio Crosshairs”

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    Summit Midstream Closes Deal to Buy 40% Stake in Ohio Gathering

    Last December MDN told you that Summit Midstream was buying out Gulfport Energy’s share of the Ohio Gathering pipeline and processing system (see Summit Midstream Buys Gulfport’s Interest in Ohio Gathering). As we said at the time, the deal appears complicated on paper with multiple names (like Blackhawk Midstream), but the bottom line was/is that Summit will be the 40% owner and MarkWest Energy will remain the 60% owner of the Ohio Gathering system.

    Yesterday, in an announcement by Summit that’s equally dense with details (likely written by lawyers), Summit announced they’ve closed the Ohio Gathering deal. That’s the sum total of this announcement–that the deal is now done:
    Read More “Summit Midstream Closes Deal to Buy 40% Stake in Ohio Gathering”

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    Glow-in-the-Dark Bob Hagan: Shrill and Nutty

    Ever notice that when anti-drillers can’t seem to convince the public of their views, they get nuttier? They start spinning wild yarns, like all that fracking waste is radioactive and we’re going start glowing in the dark any day now. That’s the kind of wild tale being spun by Youngstown, OH Rep. Bob Hagan (Democrat).

    Because not enough Ohioans are turning against Utica Shale drilling, it’s time to ratchet up the rhetoric and old Bob is ready to pour it on. Here’s his latest glow-in-the-dark warning…
    Read More “Glow-in-the-Dark Bob Hagan: Shrill and Nutty”

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    Another Antero Utica Well Top of the Heap: IP Rate of 40.2 Mmcf/d!

    super achieverCaution: MDN’s comments below are not completely accurate. It seems that Antero pulled a fast one on us, and unlike their previous updates, they have (starting with this update) used gas equivalents in their production reporting. The Antero Yontz well is still the highest initial production methane (natural gas only) well in the OH Utica. That’s not to take away from the incredibly productive Milligan well mentioned below–but much of Milligan’s production is NGLs and not methane. The Milligan is still a great (and profitable) well! It’s just not the top dog natgas producing well we thought it was.

    Wow, we’re speechless! (And that’s saying something.) Last August MDN told you that Antero Resources had de-throned Gulfport Energy for having the highest yielding 24-hour rate Utica Shale well (see Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d). Antero’s amazing Yontz well is located in Monroe County, OH, south of Gulfport’s super achieving wells in Belmont and Harrison counties. South continues to be better. Yesterday Antero released an operational update, and tucked away in that update is a new reigning Utica champ. Antero reports the Milligan 2H well in Noble County produced a 24 hour initial production (IP) rate of 40.2 Mmcf/d gas equivalent (it produces lots of hydrocarbons other than methane, so the number is converted to gas for apples to apples comparisons). That is the single highest producing shale well we’ve ever heard of–anywhere. No wonder Aubrey McClendon once famously said the Utica Shale is the biggest thing to hit Ohio since the plow!

    Aside from the Milligan 2H, there’s a lot of other news in the Antero update, including a very active Marcellus Shale drilling program (they currently have 15 rigs in the Marcellus), and the first of three compressor stations to help get their gas to market has come online in the Utica (two others are behind schedule). Here’s the full Antero update for 4Q13, with a bit of forward looking to 2014…
    Read More “Another Antero Utica Well Top of the Heap: IP Rate of 40.2 Mmcf/d!”

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    OH Company Doubles Jobs/Revenue by Targeting Utica Shale Drillers

    Dan Pottmeyer, president of Producers Service Corp located in Zanesville, OH, says his company is the only fracking company that’s “home-grown in Ohio.” (That’ll be good news for OH Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich. He likes ’em home-grown.) Pottmeyer’s company used to send oilfield services crews into Ohio’s conventional oil and gas fields for low-volume fracking work. However, after purchasing new equipment and more than doubling the work force, Pottmeyer now sends his crews into the field to work on Utica Shale wells–competing with the likes of oilfield services titans like Halliburton and Baker Hughes. Although he doesn’t disclose figures for the privately-held company, Pottmeyer says revenue has more than doubled in the past couple of years.

    The Producers Service Corp story is a good story–an important story–of how local businesses can figure out how to plug in to the Marcellus and Utica Shale supply chain. Which is why we love to bring you stories like this one…
    Read More “OH Company Doubles Jobs/Revenue by Targeting Utica Shale Drillers”

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    Glow in the Dark: Are We Being Irradiated by Frack Waste?

    radioactive zombiesThe fear-mongering continues by those who oppose shale drilling. One of the scare tactics used by anti-drillers is to say that frack wastewater and drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) are loaded with radiation and by disposing of it in landfills and via wastewater recycling facilities we’ll all end up irradiated, dying long slow deaths from cancer. Or worse yet, we’ll all become radioactive zombies. Hey, maybe someone could make a movie about that! (Unbelievably, they already have: see Friday Foibles: The Scientific Link Between Fracking and Zombies.)

    The Ohio EPA and Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) is not much impressed by all these radioactivity claims. Neither are we. One of the favorite drive-by media claims is that drill cuttings are setting off radiation alarms at landfills in record numbers (“hundreds” of times a year). Thing is, those same alarms go off when medical waste is hauled in too–they’re that sensitive that even radioactive dyes are picked up by them. It proves NOTHING. Yet you see that argument often used–fracking dirt contains radition! Whatever. Here’s the latest drive-by attempt to scare people with radioactive waste concerns, this one emitted by the Columbus Dispatch…

    Read More “Glow in the Dark: Are We Being Irradiated by Frack Waste?”

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    Hess Goes All in for Shale Drilling in 2014, $550M on Utica Shale

    Over the past couple of years, Hess Corporation–the company whose name you recognize because you probably have filled up your car at one of their gas stations–has been transforming itself from petroleum products marketer (like retail gas stations) to oil and gas driller. Hess still owns some of those gas stations–but not for long. They’re in the process of spinning off retail gas stations into their own company so they can sell it (see Hess Continues Transformation With Plans for Retail Spinoff). Early last year Hess’ plans to become an E&P company was challenged by one of their stockholders (see Corporate Raider Paul Singer Tries to Force Hess Out of Shale). He was obviously unsuccessful in trying to bully Hess into doing his bidding. (Note to Chesapeake: you should have followed Hess’ example.)

    Yesterday Hess released their 2014 capital and exploration budget, and it shows Hess has gone “all in” for shale drilling. The Hess capex budget calls for a whopping $5.8 billion in spending–of that $2.85 billion (49%) will be spent on shale drilling. The lion’s share of Hess’ shale budget will go to drilling for oil in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale. However, they have allocated $550 million for drilling in the Utica Shale this year, with plans to sink 35 new Utica wells. Here’s the full Hess budget released yesterday…
    Read More “Hess Goes All in for Shale Drilling in 2014, $550M on Utica Shale”