CONSOL Energy’s CNX Gas subsidiary is expanding its presence at the Columbiana County Port Authority’s industrial park in Leetonia, Ohio. It’s an indicator of CNX/CONSOL’s commitment to the Ohio Utica Shale.
Although headline stories usually talk about the 1.3 million acres owned by Chesapeake in the Utica Shale, you don’t often hear about the large and growing stake owned by CNX:
Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) provided a detailed update on shale drilling activity in the Utica Shale. They found that the number of drilling rigs in the Utica has doubled from October of last year to October of this year. Also of keen interest: 86% of the active rigs in the Utica (now) are targeting shale oil. Last October the number of 15% of active rigs—which shows a remarkable shift in the Utica. Although the report says “shale oil,” MDN takes that to mean “wet gas,” or shale oil and natural gas liquids. The report finds that Chesapeake Energy continues to be the Big Kahuna in the Utica Shale with 39% of all new well starts in Ohio year-to-date.
Here’s the full EIA Utica Shale update posted yesterday (along with some great charts):
Read More “EIA Report: Rig Count in Utica Shale Doubles in One Year”
On the third quarter earnings call with analysts earlier this month, Chesapeake Energy officials were asked about the Utica Shale and their thoughts, now more than a year in, of how the Utica stacks up against the Eagle Ford, and how Chesapeake’s “core of the core” strategy is working in the Utica. Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon answered the question this way, identifying the three counties in Ohio that are “the core of the core” for the company:
Read More “Chesapeake Says 3 OH Counties are “Core of the Core” in Utica”
Some 40 anti-fracking “activists” learned how to break the law at a recent “action camp” held in Athens County, Ohio. In addition to sessions on how to spin a good tale for the media, attendees learned about “civil disobedience” and “direct action, blockading injection wells” and the like. That is, they learned how to illegally shut down legitimate, legal business activity.
And attendees didn’t waste any time either. Less than 24 hours later they protested at a nearby injection well. According to their own leaders, protesting injection wells is just the beginning. Their real aim? To illegally shut down fracking.
Read More “Anti-Drillers in Ohio Learn to Break the Law at Special Camp”
In what is sure to tick off anti-drillers, the Ohio-based Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) announced Friday it will seek a lease with Antero Resources to allow shale gas drilling under 7,600 acres of district-owned land at Seneca Lake. The Muskingum River Watershed covers more than 8,000 square miles and drains into the Muskingum River. It is the largest wholly contained watershed in the state of Ohio covering about 20 percent of the state. More recently, the MWCD has been in hot water with anti-drillers over selling what amounts to a thimble-full of their vast water supplies to drillers in Ohio that use it for fracking Utica Shale wells (see this MDN story).
So, just how much will the MWCD get for leasing the Seneca Lake land?
Read More “OH Muskingum Watershed District Seeks Lease with Antero”
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) reports for the week ending Nov. 10, there have been 443 Utica Shale drilling permits issued in total throughout Ohio.
Here’s a few more facts about drilling in the Utica:
Read More “The Latest Ohio Utica Shale Permits/Drilling Tally”
Now that the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has created tougher regulations for wastewater injection wells following earthquakes last year related to injection wells, they are once again approving new wells.
On Tuesday ODNR signed off on four new injection wells—another 30 applications are in the pipeline for consideration:
Read More “ODNR Approves 4 Wastewater Injection Wells, More on the Way”
ESI Enviro wants to build a shale gas wastewater treatment plant at a former brown field site in Campbell (Mahoning County), Ohio. The new plant will use glass particles to absorb fracking fluid, trapping chemicals and leaving the water clean for reuse by drillers.
ESI Enviro laid out their plans for a new plant (to be located at the former Sheet and Tube property along the Mahoning River) to city council members and other interested residents at a meeting last night:
Read More “New Frack Wastewater Plant Proposed for Campbell, OH”
The previously announced ATEX Express ethane pipeline that will stretch from Houston, PA to the state of Indiana, and from there all the way to the Texas Gulf Coast, is now under construction near Steubenville (Jefferson County), Ohio.
A quick construction update:
Read More “ATEX Express Ethane Pipeline Crossing Jefferson County, OH”
A big reversal from Chesapeake Energy and their expectations for oil in Ohio’s Utica Shale. Once upon a time the company was ebullient over striking oil in eastern Ohio (see this MDN story, July 2011).
An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal quotes Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon as saying their view has changed—the Utica Shale will not be a big oil producer for Chesapeake after all. That doesn’t mean Chesapeake has turned sour on the Utica—quite the contrary. Drilling for natural gas liquids in the Utica by Chesapeake continues at a brisk pace. All the same, McClendon’s statement is a stunning admission and a reversal from previous statements.
Read More “Chesapeake Gives Up on Oil in OH Utica Shale, Focuses on NGLs”
MDN previously told you about a lawsuit from landowners who sit atop the Brinker Gas Storage Field in Columbiana County, OH (see this MDN story). Columbia Gas Transmission owns the rights to the hollowed out cavern in the Berea Sandstone known as the Brinker field—a place where they store natural gas for later use. The question or issue is whether or not the landowners have the right to drill under the Brinker, in the Utica Shale, or whether that right belongs to Columbia.
Landowners atop another gas storage field, the North Canton Gas Storage Field in Stark County, OH, have now filed a lawsuit for the same reason. In North Canton the storage field is leased by Dominion East Ohio (a division of Dominion) and CNX Gas (a division of CONSOL Energy). Dominion and CNX claim it’s their right to drill under the storage field—the landowners believe they forfeited the right to drill years ago.
Read More “Landowners at 2nd OH Gas Storage Field Sue for Right to Drill”
Valerus, an oil and gas services company that specializes in manufacturing and operating compression and processing equipment, is partnering with a Youngstown, OH company to build a new manufacturing plant in Youngstown. The new plant will build equipment that removes water from natural gas. Thirty more jobs on the way courtesy the Utica and Marcellus Shale.
Here’s a few more details about the Valerus plant:
Read More “New Gas Equipment Plant Coming to Youngstown, OH”
A recent shale gas conference held in Cambridge, Ohio on Nov. 10 turned up some surprising and interesting facts. One of those facts: Almost 100 percent of the land in Carroll County has been leased for possible Utica shale drilling, or is being held by production.
Here’s a few more interesting items from the conference, shared by a team from Ohio State University Extension (including where drilling is producing good results, and where it’s not):
Read More “The Best (and Not So Best) Utica Drilling Locations in Ohio”
At a meeting of the uber-large Associated Landowners of the Valley (ALOV) landowner group last night in Youngstown, Ohio, lawyer Alan Wenger warned the 500 landowners in the audience that landmen are knocking on doors once again, this time asking landowners already signed to modify their leases.
Wenger told landowners what energy companies like Chesapeake are asking for, and what landowners need to consider before signing:
Read More “Lawyer Cautions ALOV Landowners on Revising Signed Leases”
Ohio arguably has the most strict drilling rules of any state in the country for shale gas and oil drilling (so far, before New York gets off the pot). But the Dems in Ohio want more rules. This time they’re targeting landmen.
Ohio House Bill 493 would require landmen to become experts in exploration and production, in addition to real property and contract law. It also requires them to be registered:
Read More “New OH Bill Requires Landmen to Register, Become Experts”
The Battelle Memorial Institute is going to give the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) and the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) a hand with figuring out which shale gas wastewater treatment technologies will work for Ohio.
Battelle, OEPA and ODNR issued a joint press statement yesterday outlining the collaboration:
Read More “Battelle to Assist OH in IDing Shale Wastewater Technologies”