Ohio

Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Gov. Kasich Heckled by Anti-Drillers During Speech
February 8, 2012February 8, 2012

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican in his first term in office, delivered the annual State of the State address yesterday. He chose to do it from the auditorium of a high-performing elementary school in Steubenville. During the 90-minute speech he was briefly interrupted by several hecklers until state troopers removed them from the room. Who were the bad actors? You guessed it—anti-drillers.

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Anadarko | Coshocton County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Anadarko Offers $3K/Acre + 17.5% Royalties for Utica Lease
February 7, 2012February 7, 2012

Coshocton County in eastern Ohio requested Utica Shale lease offers for 436 acres of county-owned land no longer being used for any other purpose. There was only one offer put on the table, by Anadarko. Under the five-year lease offer, the county would receive a $1.3 million signing bonus ($3,000 per acre) and 17.5 percent in royalties.

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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Ohio | Utica Shale | XTO

Exxon to Drill First Ohio Utica Shale Well in Belmont County
February 7, 2012February 7, 2012

According to press reports, XTO Energy—a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil—will drill its first Ohio Utica Shale well in Belmont County.

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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Waiting Game: Cracker Plants Talk to Property Owners
February 3, 2012February 3, 2012

West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio are all in the hunt to land an ethane cracker plant in their respective states (see the long list of MDN stories on a potential cracker plant in the Marcellus/Utica Shale region). According to WV Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette, Shell and another unnamed company are now in talks with private property owners. That is, the deals are now being negotiated, and it’s a waiting game to see the outcome.

All three states have offered huge tax incentives to land the plant. Shell originally set January for an announcement, but changed it a few weeks ago to be February.

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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Monroe County | Ohio | Processing Plants

More on MarkWest’s New Investment in Ohio’s Utica Shale
February 3, 2012February 3, 2012

Yesterday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and others provided more details about MarkWest’s Tuesday announcement that they will build two new natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plants and a new fractionation plant in Ohio’s Utica Shale (see MDN’s story on the original announcement here).

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Marshall County | Monroe County | Noble Energy | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Range Resources Corp | Utica Shale | Washington County | West Virginia

MarkWest to Expand/Build NGL Plants on New Agreements
February 1, 2012February 1, 2012

MarkWest Energy Partners, a major midstream player in the Marcellus and Utica Shales, just announced major expansion plans that will add an additional 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) of natural gas processing capacity which includes natural gas liquids (NGLs). Most of the new capacity will come from expansion of its Majorsville, WV plant. The expansion is made possible by new long-term agreements MarkWest signed with CONSOL Energy, Noble Energy and Range Resources to process NGLs.

MarkWest also announced they will build two new processing plants in Ohio’s Utica Shale—in Harrison and Monroe counties.

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Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | Utica Shale | West Virginia

Just What are Natural Gas Liquids Anyway?
January 31, 2012January 31, 2012

Increasingly, you will read on MDN and in press accounts about natural gas liquids (NGLs), and how major energy companies are now focused on drilling in the “liquids-rich” portion of the Marcellus and Utica Shales. The geography of where NGLs are found is typically western Pennsylvania, the West Virginia panhandle and eastern Ohio. But, just what are NGLs anyway? A helpful article on The Motley Fool website provides an excellent summary:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Warren, OH Frack Wastewater Treatment Continues…for Now
January 31, 2012January 31, 2012

In the complicated, ongoing story of fracking wastewater treatment in Warren, Ohio, the existing permit that allows the Warren Water Pollution Control Facility (sewage treatment plant) to dispose of treated brine water in the Mahoning River expires today. But because the renewal of the permit is something that has been appealed, according to Ohio EPA rules, the facility can continue to accept brine water from fracking.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Kinder Morgan OH Marcellus Lateral Pipeline Project Dead?
January 30, 2012January 30, 2012

It looks like a $520 million Marcellus Lateral Project pipeline that Kinder Morgan wanted to build spanning 240 miles from the West Virginia panhandle to Toledo, Ohio, and the 2,500 jobs it would have provided, is dead.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Ohio vs. West Virginia in the Cracker Plant Sweepstakes
January 26, 2012January 26, 2012

West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio wait on pins and needles for Shell to announce which state they have chosen as a site to build a new $1.5-$2.0 billion ethane cracker plant, each of them looking for an edge to ensure their state is selected. WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is flying to Houston this week to meet with representatives of Shell to make a personal pitch that West Virginia should be that place, with a promise of no property taxes on the plant for 25 years if they do so. Thing is, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has already been to Houston to pitch his state—two months ago. Does that give Ohio an edge?

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Washington County (OH)

Mini-Economic Boom from Pipeline Workers in Marietta, OH
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Local pipeline work in the Marietta (Washington County), Ohio area has brought an influx of pipeline workers from out of town. Along with those workers has come a mini-economic boom for Marietta with money being spent at local RV parks, grocery stories, restaurants and other area businesses.

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Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Lease & Royalty Payments | Monroe County | Ohio | XTO

Correction: Exxon Buys 25K Acres of Utica Shale Leases in OH
January 11, 2012January 11, 2012

Two days ago MDN reported, based on copies of paperwork filed with Monroe County, Ohio, that Exxon Mobil via its subsidiary XTO Energy had acquired 13,200 acres of Utica Shale gas leases from Beck Energy (see this MDN story). It turns out there’s more to the story.

MDN received a copy of an additional purchase agreement between Beck and Exxon for another 7,627 acres, for a total deal between the two companies of 20,827 acres of leases in Monroe County. The new/second agreement appears to be property held by Beck with delayed rental payments—that is, property where there is currently no active drilling.

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Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Lease & Royalty Payments | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale | XTO

Exxon Buys 13,200 Acres of Utica Shale Leases in Ohio
January 9, 2012January 9, 2012

Exxon Mobil, through it’s subsidiary XTO Energy, recently acquired just over 13,200 acres of Utica Shale leases from Beck Energy Corp. in Monroe County, Ohio. A copy of the Bill of Sale, dated Dec. 20, 2011, is embedded below, containing a list of all the parcels in the transaction. Terms of the purchase are not disclosed in the document. Neither Exxon Mobil nor Beck Energy have disclosed the price and terms of the deal.

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Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Youngstown Earthquake Update
January 3, 2012January 3, 2012

John Armbruster, a seismologist from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, NY is one of the researchers investigating a string of 11 earthquakes near Youngstown, OH, the most recent of which occurred on New Year’s Eve in the afternoon. Armbruster says a local injection well, which injects wastewater from shale gas drilling under high pressure deep into the ground, is “almost certainly” the cause of the earthquakes.

As MDN pointed out yesterday, injection wells are not fracked gas wells (see this MDN story). But some politicians keep trying to tie the two together. A spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Rob Nichols, does a great job in pointing out the difference:

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Ohio Offers Shell Cracker Plant $1.4B in Tax Incentives
January 2, 2012January 2, 2012

Competition to attract an ethane cracker plant is heating up. West Virginia has made no bones that they intend to be the winners of the investment that will be made to build an ethane cracker plant to be built by Shell. The plant will cost upward of $2 billion and will create thousands of jobs to build the plant, operate the plant, and just as importantly, in the industries that will locate near the plant once it’s operational. It’s an economic jackpot worth $5 billion or more, and those who are in the game to attract it are in it to win.

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Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Youngstown Earthquake and Fracking: Is There a Connection?
January 2, 2012January 2, 2012

A 4.0 earthquake in the Youngstown, OH area on Saturday afternoon is thought to be connected to a local injection well. MDN has chronicled previous episodes of earthquakes thought to be connected with injection wells in Arkansas and Texas. Saturday’s earthquake was the 11th in the Youngstown area in recent months, and by far the strongest. The theory is that fluid, which is pumped nearly two miles underground under very high pressure, had migrated to a nearby fault and is causing the fault to shift.

Until it can be determined what, exactly, is happening, all further injection of fluid into the well has been stopped. In fact, fluid injection had stopped a day earlier, on Friday, before Saturday’s quake. But pressure in the well would remain high for a period of time, likely leading to the 4.0 quake.

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