Ohio

Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Is Chesapeake Robbing Graves in OH Village…or Getting Robbed?
September 6, 2013September 6, 2013

We can see the headlines now: Chesapeake Energy is a (Gas) Grave Robber! Wait until the anti-drillers get hold of this story… Chesapeake has struck a deal with the Village of Salineville (Columbiana County), OH to lease and drill under 17 acres at the Woodland Cemetery. The deal stipulates no surface disturbance of any kind (a very good idea).

But who is robbing whom? Listen to the deal the village got: Chesapeake is paying Salineville $44,145 annually for five years, plus 15% royalties. The annual payments add up to $220,725, or if you think of it as a signing bonus stretched over 5 years, it’s $12,984 per acre. Wow!! That’s perhaps the highest per acre signing bonus we’ve heard of in the entire Marcellus or Utica Shale. Kudos to the Salineville board members who ~~suckered~~ negotiated the deal with Chesapeake…
Read More “Is Chesapeake Robbing Graves in OH Village…or Getting Robbed?”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio

Youngstown, OH Illegal Wastewater Dumping Happened “At Least” 24X
September 4, 2013

A long, sad chapter is about to close on the case of wastewater dumping in the Youngstown, OH area last year and earlier this year. MDN previously told you about Ben Lupo, the owner of Hardrock Excavating and its sister company D&L Energy, who instructed a one of his Hardrock employees to dump shale drilling wastewater into a storm drain (under cover of darkness) that eventually ended up in the Mahoning River. Early on it was thought there were something like six instances of illegal dumping (see Youngstown Business Dumped >200K Gal of Untreated Wastewater).

Under oath, the employee who did the illegal dumping, Michael Guesman, admitted it was “at least” 24 times. Ouch…
Read More “Youngstown, OH Illegal Wastewater Dumping Happened “At Least” 24X”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH’s Utica Shale Drillers Go South
September 4, 2013September 4, 2013

Ace reporter Bob Downing from the Akron Beacon Journal does a great job in an article published yesterday with reviewing the most recent permit (and drilling) trends in Ohio. What did he find? Most drillers are moving their permits and their drilling rigs to the southern part of the state. Carroll County remains the current champ for Utica Shale drilling with 319 wells permitted (38% of all Utica Shale wells in Ohio). However, at some point in the not-too-distant-future that will change…
Read More “OH’s Utica Shale Drillers Go South”
Alternative Energy | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio

Poor Biofuels are Feeling Picked-on…Boo Hoo
September 4, 2013September 4, 2013

The biofuel industry is in a pout. So-called biofuels have long been known to be way more expensive than other forms of energy, like fossil fuels. Biofuels also drive up the price of food staples like corn, creating shortages in poor countries like Mexico. Feeling picked-on by others who point out such inconvenient truths, the biofuel industry has just launched a propaganda advertising campaign called “You’re no Dummy” in Youngstown, OH and in other markets across the U.S. It’s an attempt to smear the oil and gas industry which has taken off like a rocket over the past few years because of shale drilling.

The new ad campaign from “advocacy group” Growth Energy is truly rich…
Read More “Poor Biofuels are Feeling Picked-on…Boo Hoo”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus/Utica Industry Looking to Hire More Locals
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Do you live in Pennsylvania, Ohio or West Virginia (or perhaps the Southern Tier of sad New York) and want a job working for the growing shale drilling industry? According to The Motley Fool, your chances of landing a job in the Marcellus/Utica industry have never been better. The Fool even has a few suggestions of companies looking to hire…
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Industry Looking to Hire More Locals”
American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

McClendon Gets Sued in OH Over New Company’s Name
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

It’s no secret that coal has taken a beating from abundant, cheap shale gas. Natural gas burns cleaner than coal–there’s just no disputing that fact. And because of it, natural gas has displaced coal at a number of electrical generating plants around the country. However, coal remains a very important fossil fuel that powers much (in fact most) of American electricity. So it’s no surprise that the owner of a number of Ohio coal mines is a bit miffed with Aubrey McClendon.

Robert Murray operates a coal mine near Beallsville (Monroe County), OH under the name American Energy Corp. Aubrey McClendon named his new shale oil & gas company American Energy Partners. Murray is miffed enough with McClendon to sue him for misappropriation of the name American Energy. He believes McClendon has intentionally tried to confuse the marketplace…
Read More “McClendon Gets Sued in OH Over New Company’s Name”
Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Hess | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Ohio | Pipelines | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners | Utica Shale

PVR Partners to Build $150M Utica Shale Pipeline System for Hess
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Midstream company PVR Partners has been selected by Hess to construct 45 miles of gathering pipelines in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale region. In an announcement issued today, PVR said the new pipelines will be built to cover Belmont, Jefferson and Harrison Counties where Hess holds a substantial acreage position. The new pipeline project will end up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $125-$150 million and will be completed in 2015.

The PVR announcement:
Read More “PVR Partners to Build $150M Utica Shale Pipeline System for Hess”
American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

More Evidence that Aubrey McClendon Loves OH’s Utica Shale
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Aubrey McClendon is former CEO of Chesapeake Energy and now CEO of an upstart competitor he started named American Energy Partners (see AEP’s just launched website here). Aubrey is high on the Ohio Utica Shale. He’s rumored to be close to signing a deal with Shell for 50,000 OH Utica Shale acres, and is also rumored to be the unnamed buyer for EnerVest’s 22,535 OH Utica Shale acres sold just a few weeks ago (see He’s Baaaack! Aubrey McClendon is Back in OH Shale Country).

More evidence that Aubrey is focusing on Ohio: A bunch of advertisements AEP is running in OH media seeking to sign leases in the following counties…
Read More “More Evidence that Aubrey McClendon Loves OH’s Utica Shale”
Belmont County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Seismic Testing | Utica Shale

Belmont County, OH Seismic Charges: Trespass or Honest Mistake?
September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Sandy Putorek, who lives in Pittsburgh but owns a 30-acre farm in Lansing (Belmont County), OH, is anti-drilling. It is her American right to refuse what she claims are many offers to lease her property for Utica Shale drilling. It is also her right (so long as she owns the mineral rights) to refuse seismic testing on her property. However, while recently visiting her land she noticed tracks across her property. When she followed them, she had a surprise: someone had installed small explosive charges used for seismic testing–without her permission. Now Sandy is (understandably) fighting mad.

The company that installed the charges is removing them, claiming bad maps from the county led to the charges being mistakenly placed on Sandy’s land…
Read More “Belmont County, OH Seismic Charges: Trespass or Honest Mistake?”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d
August 29, 2013

Somehow the following news (now a few weeks old) slipped by our usually-good radar. Antero Resources has taken the top spot away from Gulfport Energy as having the most productive Utica Shale well in Ohio. Gulfport had what was dubbed their “alpha dog” well, the Wagner 1-H well producing 14 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (Mmcf/d). Then came Gulfport’s Shugert 1-1H, which MDN dubbed the “King of Utica Shale wells” producing a whopping 20 Mmcf/d. After that was the Shugert 1-12H well, sister well to the 1-1H. We called that one “the Emperor well” producing 28.5 Mmcf/d (see Gulfport’s New Utica Well Produces Mind-blowing 28.5 Mmcf/d!).

We’re now officially out of metaphors and labels. Antero Resources’ Yontz Utica Shale well recently saw a peak rate of a truly mind-blowing 38.9 Mmcf/d. Gulfport’s Shugert wells are in Belmont County. The Yontz well is located in Monroe County, just south of Belmont…
Read More “Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d”
Carroll County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Sierra Buckeye

Sierra Buckeye Responds: We Didn’t Default on Carroll County Lease
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

Last week MDN told you about a kerfuffle in Ohio between Carroll County commissioners and Sierra Buckeye, a driller with whom the county signed a lease in July 2012 for 481 acres of county-owned land (see Carroll County, OH Says Sierra Buckeye in Default on Utica Lease). The county says Sierra was supposed to drill by a certain deadline and did not do so, throwing the lease agreement “in default” and implying Sierra is subject to make extra penalty payments under the lease terms.

Sierra Buckeye contacted MDN to tell their side of the story. They claim that yes, they did ask for an extension of the lease terms until Nov. 1 of this year, but that Carroll County commissioners went silent and did not respond to multiple requests, and that no, they are not in default and don’t owe a penny more. In fact, they have canceled (or “released”) the lease per Carroll County’s request–transmitting the release last week. What miffs Sierra Buckeye is that they had to learn about the commissioners’ intentions by reading about it in the newspaper…
Read More “Sierra Buckeye Responds: We Didn’t Default on Carroll County Lease”
BP | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Utica Drilling Innovation: Plastic Pipelines Replace Water Trucks
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

An interesting innovation that we have not heard of before: BP is using temporary, plastic pipelines to transport water to the test wells they’re drilling in Trumbull County, OH. When a series of wells are finished being drilled, the pipes can be rolled up and used somewhere else without having to dig a trench and leave a permanent pipeline underground. No more thousands of trips by water trucks to drill a well!

Could this be the start of yet another new, environmentally-friendly innovation by the shale drilling industry?…
Read More “Utica Drilling Innovation: Plastic Pipelines Replace Water Trucks”
Carroll County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

OH Town Votes to Give Up 1/4 Royalties for Cash Payment Now
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

Should a municipality that’s leased village-owned land to a shale driller (in this case in Ohio’s Utica Shale) sell some of their future potential royalties for cash now in order to buy a firetruck? It’s not a hypothetical question. Carrollton, OH council members voted this week to do just that. Selling future earnings is nothing new: It happens with lottery winners. They win a lottery with a payout over the next 20-30 years but want (or need) the money now. So they sell their future payments to a third party for a discounted amount of cash now.

It’s one thing for an individual to do it, but quite another (in our opinion) for a municipality to do it…
Read More “OH Town Votes to Give Up 1/4 Royalties for Cash Payment Now”
Anadarko | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Chesapeake Energy | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EV Energy Partners | Gulfport Energy | Halcon Resources | Hess | Ohio | PDC Energy | Rex Energy | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Who’s Who in OH Utica Shale Drilling for 2013
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

Investor’s website Market Realist ran a 7-part series on the Utica Shale yesterday–really good stuff. As part of that series they list the biggest drillers/leaseholders in the Ohio Utica Shale. It’s a very useful rundown and update on the latest positions held by the major players of the Utica. We’ve pulled and condensed from their article to give you the latest rundown on who’s who in the Ohio Utica Shale…
Read More “Who’s Who in OH Utica Shale Drilling for 2013”
Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Blue Racer Gets $1B Line of Credit for More Utica Projects
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

Blue Racer Midstream, a 50/50 midstream joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy II, was formed last December (see Dominion, Caiman in $1.5B Utica JV: Blue Racer Midstream). One of the assets that belongs to the Blue Racer jv is the newly online Natrium, WV NGL plant (see Dominion Sells $500M Natrium NGL Plant to… Itself).

In order to expand and fulfill their vision of becoming the leading midstream company in the Utica Shale, Blue Racer needs money to build things. They now have it. Blue Racer announced yesterday they’ve secured an $800 million line of credit with a group of banks–a line of credit which can be (under certain conditions) expanded to a whopping $1 billion. That kind of money will easily build you another couple of Natrium NGL plants…
Read More “Blue Racer Gets $1B Line of Credit for More Utica Projects”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

CSSD Says First Marcellus Certifications Coming Later this Year
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

MDN previously told you about a new, independent group–a cooperative between the drilling industry and environmentalists–called the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, or CSSD (see Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program). Members of the group on both sides have taken heat for working together to create very strict standards for Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers (see Eco Groups Shun EDF over Membership in Sustainable Shale Center).

The CSSD created a list of 15 standards they want drillers to conform to–some of the standards very costly, especially to small drillers. The group is moving forward with their plans and intends to begin certifying drillers “later this year”…
Read More “CSSD Says First Marcellus Certifications Coming Later this Year”