Statewide OH

Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NiSource | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

NiSource Announces $4B Upgrade Plan for Interstate Pipelines
July 13, 2012July 13, 2012

Midstream and utility company NiSource is in the news for a second time this week. On Monday, NiSource announced a joint venture with Hilcorp to build new Utica Shale gathering pipelines and a processing plant in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania (see this MDN story).

Yesterday NiSource announced a new project to rebuild and upgrade 12,000 miles of its Columbia Gas Transmission interstate pipelines and compressor stations to the tune of $4 billion over the next 15 years. Much of that work will benefit the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, resulting in more shale gas finding its way to market, according to NiSource.

NiSource reps, federal government officials and the Mayor of Columbus held a press conference yesterday to talk about this major new initiative by NiSource. Below is the follow-up press release, rearranged by MDN to show the important information first:

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Caiman Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Williams

Williams Does Second Midstream Deal with Caiman Energy
July 11, 2012December 19, 2012

Midstream giant Williams Partners continues an aggressive push into the Marcellus and Utica Shale and continues to cozy up with Caiman Energy as well. Yesterday Williams announced it will contribute $380 million toward a new $800 million joint venture with Caiman and several other partners to develop pipelines and processing facilities for natural gas, natural gas liquids and oil in the Utica Shale region of northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year Williams spent $2.5 billion to purchase Caiman subsidiary Caiman Eastern Midstream, giving Williams a major midstream presence in the Marcellus/Utica region in northern West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio (see this MDN story). The recurring theme for Williams’ latest jv and acquisitions seems to be, “Get thee to the wet gas.”

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Gov. Kasich Signs Order Tightening Rules on Injection Wells
July 11, 2012December 19, 2012

Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed an “emergency” executive order (EO) yesterday granting the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) authority to implement a list of new rules for proposed deep injection wells, used to dispose of drilling wastewater from Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling (a copy of the signed EO is embedded below).

The EO will expire in 90 days—enough time for the Ohio legislature to make the new rules permanent.

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | NiSource | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

NiSource, Hilcorp Energy Joint Venture in Utica Shale
July 9, 2012December 19, 2012

NiSource Inc. announced today they are entering a joint venture with Hilcorp Energy and combining their Utica Shale acreage together with Hilcorp doing the drilling. They’re also establishing a midstream joint venture called Pennant Midstream to construct an initial 50 miles of wet gas gathering pipelines in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. And the new midstream company will build a natural gas processing complex in Ohio.

No word on exactly how much acreage the combined two have together in the Utica Shale, but the jv plus the new pipelines and processing plant is a major development for both eastern OH and western PA.

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio Beefs Up Inspection Force, Numbers will Triple by 2013
July 6, 2012December 19, 2012

One more sign that Utica Shale drilling in Ohio is heating up: By the end of this year, the state will add as many as 70 new field inspectors, tripling the size of its inspection team.

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Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio Utica Permits & Drilling for June 2012
July 5, 2012July 5, 2012

Even though natural gas prices remain low, drilling in Ohio remains red hot, largely because of the promise of natural gas liquids and oil. An article in Farm and Dairy magazine recaps the permitting activity for June, and includes this handy summary chart for the entire state, county by county, including where actively producing wells are located:

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Ohio | Statewide OH

OOGA Sees Tremendous Growth in Membership
July 5, 2012July 5, 2012

The Ohio Oil and Gas Association saw a doubling of their membership from June 2011 to June 2012, and they continue to add about 135 new members each month. Why? The Utica Shale.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Energy Execs Rank Drilling Locations Including WV, OH, PA, NY
June 27, 2012June 27, 2012

Each year, the Canadian-based Fraser Institute surveys petroleum industry executives and managers (623 of them for 2012) asking them their opinions on the barriers to investing in exploration and production in various geographies across the globe. That is, what makes them more likely or less likely to spend money drilling in a particular location?

The Global Petroleum Survey, as it’s called, tallies the survey responses and ranks each geography from most desirable place to invest, to least desirable. The rankings for this year are interesting and illustrative that politicians’ words and legislation have a direct bearing on where, and how much, drilling companies are willing to spend.

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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

New OH Drilling Law Tracks Jobs by Resident/Non-Resident
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Drillers who operate in Ohio are put on notice that the state is now watching how many Ohio residents are hired by the industry. Ohio State Senator Lou Gentile, Democrat from Steubenville, had the only amendment from his party to be included in the new drilling law signed by Gov. John Kasich earlier this month.

The amendment, called “Ohio Workers First,” requires the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to track hiring of residents and non-residents and create an annual report showing employment figures for the oil and gas industries in the state. The purpose? To show the “real economic impact” of drilling in the state. And to send a very loud and clear message to the industry.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Wildlife Federation Sounds Alarm on Fracking in OH, MI
June 22, 2012June 22, 2012

Sadly, we have to add the National Wildlife Federation to the list of rabid anti-drilling groups. In fact, a check of the NWF website shows they’ve drunken so deeply from the anti-everything pool they’re beyond redemption. The latest “wild” charge they’re making (pun intended) is that natural gas drilling, specifically fracking in Ohio and Michigan, will use excessive amounts of water from the Great Lakes and is an imminent danger to people and animals.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Tuscarawas County

Just How Big Will Shale Oil/Gas Drilling Get in Ohio?
June 20, 2012June 20, 2012

The Tuscarawas Oil and Gas Alliance (TOGA) Summit was held on Tuesday, June 19 at the Performing Arts Center at Kent State Tuscarawas, Ohio. One of the speakers was Rhonda Reda, executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP). She said in 2011 there were 33 shale wells drilled with 5 in production, and by 2015 eastern Ohio will see some 4,000 new shale wells, mostly in the Utica Shale.

Reda had a number of statistics and predictions for how large the drilling boom will get in Ohio. Among the statistics she highlighted:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH AG Mike DeWine Targets Chesapeake for Fraud
June 20, 2012June 20, 2012

Ohio’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, has Chesapeake Energy in his crosshairs. He’s investigating them for “fraud” because their stock price went down. Good luck with that.

Here’s what the Columbus Dispatch is reporting:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Shale Drilling’s Positive Effect on OH Commercial Real Estate
June 18, 2012June 18, 2012

The numbers in Ohio show that the Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling boom is already having a positive affect on the commercial real estate market. Late payments for commercial mortgages and loan delinquency rates have dropped, significantly, in just the past year.

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Ohio | Statewide OH

OH State Land – About to be Leased for Drilling?
June 15, 2012June 15, 2012

Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) officials report their research into how much of the mineral rights the state owns beneath state land in 16 eastern Ohio counties is almost complete. What does that mean? In 2011 the state passed a law allowing the state to lease state-owned land for oil and gas drilling—at least for the portions where they own the rights. It appears that’s now about to happen.

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

OH Gov. Kasich Signs New Drilling Law – Now, Back to Taxes
June 12, 2012June 12, 2012

Yesterday Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed new oil and gas legislation into law that will impact shale gas drilling in his state. For a summary of what’s in the new law, see this previous MDN story. Kasich said during the signing ceremony: "We were not going to develop shale gas at the expense of the environment…we have contained in this bill the most aggressive, clearest, fairest and strongest fracking regulations that you can find anywhere in the country." He later claimed that Ohio’s new law is, “the toughest law on fracking fluid in America.”

What happens next? Kasich has promised to return to pushing his plan to tax the shale drilling industry and pass along the proceeds as a small income tax cut to Ohioans:

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Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Did This Map Get the Ohio State Geologist Fired?
June 8, 2012June 8, 2012

Speculation has run rampant about why Ohio’s official state geologist, Larry Wickstrom, chief of the ODNR’s Division of Geological Survey, was fired in May. Much of that speculation revolves around a PowerPoint presentation he created in March which essentially redrew the lines of where the best/most likely areas in the state would be to drill for oil and natural gas. A copy of Wickstrom’s full presentation, which has a lot of interesting maps and details, is embedded below.

The controversy seems to revolve around one particular map in the presentation (see the map immediately below). The map redrew boundary lines for the best drilling locations, in Wickstrom’s estimation, based on the data. Wickstrom has worked for the ODNR for 29 years. He’s a smart guy. But his map upset the apple cart for some, and less than two months later, he got his walking papers.

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