Ohio

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Tennessee Gas Pipeline | Utica Shale

TGP Seeks to Convert Pipeline into Utica Wet Gas Gathering Line
February 7, 2013February 7, 2013

The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. recent made a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) declaring its intention to convert an existing “lean gas” pipeline in the Ohio Utica Shale into a gathering pipeline to move wet gas from the Utica to market. TGP is getting a lot of pushback from existing pipeline customers that would be affected by the change:

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Energy Companies | Ohio | PDC Energy | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

PDC Energy Dumps Piceance to Concentrate on Ohio Utica
February 7, 2013February 7, 2013

PDC Energy, formerly known as Petroleum Development Corp., announced Tuesday they are selling off “non-core” assets in the Piceance Basin (northwestern Colorado) and assets they own in northeastern Colorado for $200 million so they can invest the money in wet gas drilling in the Ohio Utica and Niobrara Shale plays.

PDC’s announcement from Tuesday:

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation | Utica Shale

Details of OH Gov. Kasich’s Utica Shale Severance Tax Hike
February 6, 2013February 6, 2013

Ohio Gov. John Kasich released his budget for fiscal years 2014 & 2015 yesterday, and along with it, he resurrected the same plan he first introduced a year ago to increase severance tax on oil and gas production in the Utica Shale (see Details on Ohio Gov. Kasich’s New Tax on Shale Drilling). The plan in a nutshell: Hike the severance tax on Utica Shale drilling, then spread the new-found wealth around to buy votes to get re-elected.

Here’s a summary of the coming changes (and make no mistake, the plan will pass this time):

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Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Monroe County | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH

Cash Runs Low – MarkWest Floats $150M Loan in Utica Midstream JV
February 6, 2013February 6, 2013

At the end of 2011, MarkWest Energy and The Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) announced that MarkWest was buying out EMG’s share in a 3-year-old joint venture deal in the wet gas portion of the Marcellus Shale called MarkWest Liberty Midstream. EMG owned a 49% stake in that JV (see MarkWest Pays $1.8B to Buy Out JV Partner in Liberty Midstream). At the time of the buyout, the two companies announced they would form a new JV to build midstream infrastructure in the Utica Shale starting in 2012.

The new Utica JV (called MarkWest Utica EMG) ramped up in early 2012 as the pair set out to duplicate their success in building out the Marcellus in the fledgling Utica. The strategy? “Creating a large network of processing complexes connected through an extensive NGL gathering system,” which they immediately began to do by beginning construction on two new processing complexes in Harrison and Monroe counties in Ohio (see MarkWest to Expand/Build NGL Plants on New Agreements). Just one tiny problem: the Utica JV is now running short on cash…

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Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio: 512 Utica Shale Permits Issued, 223 Utica Wells Drilled
February 6, 2013February 6, 2013

The numbers keep racking up for Utica Shale permits and wells drilled in Ohio. According to the latest report from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, Ohio has now approved 512 permits for Utica Shale drilling and the state has 27 drilling rigs busy at work in the Utica right now. So the numbers will continue to rapidly rise for the foreseeable future.

Here’s the particulars of where permits and drilling are taking place, including two helpful interactive maps:

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

OH Gov. Kasich Budget Soaks Drillers & Farmer Landowners
February 5, 2013February 5, 2013

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (supposedly a Republican) just released his biennial budget and as promised, it’s a socialistic masterpiece that raises taxes on shale drillers and farmers in order to fund a massive expansion in Medicaid and provide a state income tax cut.

When liberals like what you’re doing and you’re a Republican, that’s not a good sign…

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Chenango County | Cortland County | Delaware County | Lease & Royalty Payments | New York | Ohio | Otsego County | Statewide OH | West Virginia | Wirt County

WV Group Largest Landowner Coalition in Marcellus/Utica
February 5, 2013February 5, 2013

A group of landowners in Wirt County, WV have just taken the crown as the largest landowner coalition MDN is aware of in the entire Marcellus and Utica Shale. The Wirt County Oil and Gas Group closed the door on new signups as of Monday, and the total acreage represented by the group is an astonishing 227,000 acres—almost 1/4 million acres! The really attractive part for potential drillers? The land is located in the wet gas area of the Marcellus.

The next largest group MDN is aware of is in Upstate New York—the CNY (Central New York) Landowners Coalition—with 194,500 acres. Both the Wirt County and CNY coalitions have representatives in Houston this week for the NAPE Winter Expo, shopping the acreage looking for a lease.

More details on the Wirt County group:

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Columbiana County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Caution: The Timeline for Leasing Your Land is Finite
February 4, 2013February 4, 2013

A cautionary tale for landowners (and governments) looking to lease property. There is a finite window of time when your property is desirable and once that window closes, it may be tough to find a lease.

The village of East Palestine (Columbiana County), OH with 130 acres of village-owned land to lease is finding that out—the hard way:

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Medina County | Ohio

Will Medina County, OH See Any Fracking? Probably Not
February 4, 2013February 4, 2013

It seems that residents of the City of Medina, OH, and indeed residents of Medina County at large, may not have to worry about fracking in the county, regardless of whether they are for or against.

According to ODNR and industry group Energy in Depth Ohio, the shale under Medina is too thin to bother with…

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

Chesapeake Wins Permit Case Before OH Supreme Court
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Chesapeake Energy has won an important appeal before the Ohio Supreme Court that ruled the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeals case from a landowner over a permit issued to Chesapeake from the OH Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management to drill on the property. It was a case of the wrong agency sitting in judgment—the wrong “referee” if you will:

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Stark County | Utica Shale

Stark County, OH Labor & Business on Same Page: Frack Here
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

When was the last time local governments, labor unions, businesses, chambers of commerce and construction contractors were all on the same page? Yeah, we can’t remember that time either. Except it’s here—now. And it’s happening in Stark County, Ohio were all of those groups have come together to kick off a new initiative they call Choose Stark—an outreach to encourage Utica Shale drilling and fracking in Stark County.

We say that’s pretty cool and a lesson for other regions to consider:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Medina County | Ohio | Regulation

Brunswick, OH (Almost) Thumbs Nose at State over Home Rule
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

In the latest dustup over “home rule,” city council members in Brunswick (Medina County), Ohio don’t like the state telling them they can’t regulate oil and gas drilling in their own borders. Unfortunately those same city council members don’t seem to know a thing about the miracle of hydraulic fracturing and they’re certainly not qualified to regulate it—but we digress.

Brunswick city council members were set to vote on a non-binding resolution on Monday telling Columbus to go take a hike, but Brunswick Mayor Gary Werner was the calmer head who prevailed. He talked council members into postponing a vote until the Feb. 11 meeting. Werner’s clear-headed reasoning: Why tell the drilling industry that’s transforming the economic landscape in Ohio that Brunswick isn’t interested in jobs or money from drilling?

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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Mind-blowing Earnings from a Single Utica Shale Well
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

Wow! Some truly astonishing numbers (if they hold up) for the earnings power from a single Gulfport well in the Utica Shale of Belmont County, Ohio. According to a WVU professor who tracks these things, the Stutzman well, when brought online, will be earning in the neighborhood of $100,000 per day for Gulfport, and a huge royalty check for the landowner.

Here’s the calculations:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Is Shale Brine Dumping Coming to OH Landfills?
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

MDN friend and Akron Beacon Journal reporter, Bob Downing, has just published an excellent piece of investigative journalism about brine dumping in Ohio landfills. Bob has tracked down a change in policy in Ohio that theoretically allows landfills to begin accepting brine from shale drilling. Brine is (mostly) naturally occurring salt water from deep below the earth that comes out of the wellbore after the well is drilled.

Some of the state’s 40 landfills have received permits to accept drill cuttings and other solids from the drilling process, but so far none have received permits to accept liquid brine that’s solidified with fly ash and other materials. That may be about to change…

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Columbiana County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | Momentum | Ohio | Processing Plants

Columbiana County NGL Plant Creates Economic Boom
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

More evidence of just how much the shale drilling industry impacts local businesses (the “supply chain” effect) comes from the new $400 million natural gas liquids processing plant being built in Columbiana County, OH. We reported in December the plant was on track for an “aggressive” May 2013 start date (see Columbiana County NGL Plant On Track for May Opening). The company building the plant, M3 Midstream (also known as Momentum), has revised the start date slightly to June.

Momentum’s construction coordinator Baron John gives an update on progress in building the plant, and offers a few examples of how far and wide the project has already impacted the local economy:

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BP | Energy Companies | Mahoning County | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

BP in OH Utica Shale: The Prospectivity of Producibility
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

The regional president for BP North America Gas, Tim Harrington, say’s it’s early days yet for exploiting the Utica Shale for gas, oil and liquids. In a presser on Friday, Harrington used a few words MDN hasn’t heard before—words like “producibility” and “prospectivity.”

The upshot of Harrington’s talk? BP will figure out what their prospects look like in Ohio’s Utica Shale over the next two years…

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