Statewide OH

Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

EQT Midstream: 2 Major Pipeline Projects Advance, 1 Doesn’t
July 25, 2014July 25, 2014

In addition to yesterday’s big news that EQT has decided to “take the plunge” and drill what is thought to be the deepest Utica Shale well yet, in Greene County, PA (see MDN’s related story today), EQT also announced yesterday their plans for their midstream operations over the coming months. CEO David Porges said EQT Midstream will spend “over $350 million” on midstream projects in 2014. The company has three major pipeline/midstream projects on the books. Porges said two of those projects are advancing while one is going “on the back burner”…
Read More “EQT Midstream: 2 Major Pipeline Projects Advance, 1 Doesn’t”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Benesch Shale Report 2Q14: Ohio’s New Top Utica Well
July 24, 2014July 24, 2014

Each quarter the Ohio law firm of Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP produces an Ohio shale update. MDN often shares their updates–well worth your time to read. The latest edition, covering Utica Shale activity in the second quarter of 2014, is embedded below. This issue highlights Ohio’s new top producing Utica Shale well–drilled by recent upstart Rice Energy in Belmont County. They also talk about the likely forthcoming increase in Ohio’s Utica Shale severance tax–from 1% to 2.5%. It’s less than what Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich wants, but something that apparently Ohio’s squishy Republicans can live with. Take time to read this well-crafted summary (will only take you a few minutes)…
Read More “Benesch Shale Report 2Q14: Ohio’s New Top Utica Well”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Wayne County (OH)

ET Rover Pipeline – The Right Way to Respond When Opposing It
July 23, 2014July 23, 2014

Just about a month ago, MDN brought you the news that Energy Transfer Partners was planning a major new Marcellus/Utica Shale pipeline to transport up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of northeast shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). The project includes building 600 miles of 24, 36 or 42-inch pipeline mainly through Ohio and Michigan and into Ontario, Canada. On this side of the border it will be reviewed and permitted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The problem with the pipeline, from landowners’ perspective, is that it will have the power of eminent domain, leaving them with little negotiating power…
Read More “ET Rover Pipeline – The Right Way to Respond When Opposing It”
About MDN | MDN Resources | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Baker Hughes Announces 2Q14 Well Count – What is a Well Count?
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

No doubt you’ve heard of the Baker Hughes rig count–the number of drilling rigs currently in use to drill oil and gas wells. Baker Hughes has provided that data for, like, forever! Used to be you could lay a ruler down and determine whether supplies of natural gas would increase or decrease based on the number of drilling rigs in use. That went out the door a few years ago with shale wells. Production numbers are no longer closely tied to the rig count. So Baker Hughes invented a new metric to help: well counts. They reported last week that well counts are up 5% in the second quarter of 2014 over 2013. Wait, what’s a well count? And why is it important?…
Read More “Baker Hughes Announces 2Q14 Well Count – What is a Well Count?”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Violence

Ohio Keeps Oil Train Shipment Timing Secret – Media Complains
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

Last week MDN told you that eight so-called environmental groups are attempting to use a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to force New York State to divulge when large shipments of oil are crossing the state by railroad–making a perfect target for terrorists (see NY Enviro Groups Seek to Use Oil Trains to Their Advantage). A number of other states are facing the same issue–whether or not to divulge the timing of rail shipments of Bakken light crude oil. One of those states is Ohio, and fortunately for Ohioans, the state has decided to keep the timing of oil shipments secret, to avoid (as MDN has pointed out) making shipments an easy target for terrorists…
Read More “Ohio Keeps Oil Train Shipment Timing Secret – Media Complains”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Commerce Dept Slaps Foreign Countries for Steel Pipe Dumping
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

MDN has kept an eye on the developing story of foreign countries–particular South Korea–“dumping” cheap steel pipes in the U.S., pipes used in the shale drilling industry (see US Senators Join Chorus: “Illegal” Steel Pipe Dumping by S Korea and “Dumping” Leads to 177 Jobs Lost at PA Marcellus Pipeline Plant). Seems that the Obama Commerce Department agrees and has taken decisive action to put an end to it. Last Friday the Commerce Department slapped a stiff tariff (i.e. tax) on tubular goods (steel pipes) coming in to the U.S. from South Korea and eight other countries…
Read More “Commerce Dept Slaps Foreign Countries for Steel Pipe Dumping”
Appalachian Oilfield Services | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Feds Slap Appalachian Oilfield Svcs with $129,802 for Back Wages
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

The federal government has slapped Appalachian Oilfield Services with a hefty fine. The U.S. Dept. of Labor investigated the company and found they were shorting employees by not paying them overtime. So 25 Appalachian employees working in Ohio will be given $129,802 in back wages/overtime according to an announcement by the DOL. Appalachian Oilfield Services is based in Lafayette, LA but as the name suggests, they focus on northeast drilling–providing equipment and personnel to assist with fracking operations. The company has an office in New Matamoras, OH. Here’s the feds tooting their own horn…
Read More “Feds Slap Appalachian Oilfield Svcs with $129,802 for Back Wages”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Liberal “Churches” Tell OH to Dump Fracking, Embrace Renewables
July 10, 2014July 10, 2014

Churches pretending to be apolitical, but very much political, are once again in the news with regard to the fracking issue. On Monday MDN told you of the repugnant efforts by so-called churches who claim they will divest from a blacklist of 200 companies (like ExxonMobil) that produce evil, vile, nasty fossil fuels (see Some So-Called Churches Vote to Divest from Fossil Fuel Companies). The United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist denominations are two of the so-called churches behind the move. Those two are back in the news in Ohio, trying to (irrationally) tell state legislators to move as quickly as possible to so-called renewable forms of energy and leave fracking for Utica Shale gas behind…
Read More “Liberal “Churches” Tell OH to Dump Fracking, Embrace Renewables”
Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH

Let’s Play Lease Poker – Calling the Lease Agent’s Bluff
July 10, 2014July 10, 2014

Psst, hey buddy, want to play some poker? A landman with inside knowledge sheds light on how drillers time their lease filings–particularly in Ohio. Bill Dannley writing in Ohio Oil & Gas likens the process to playing poker–knowing when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. Before landowners are approached to sign a lease, a lot of work has already been done, according to Dannley. Expensive seismic surveys have been conducted and deeds have been researched. When a landowner signs on the dotted line, you might expect the landman to hustle on down to the courthouse to file the lease–but that’s not what usually happens…
Read More “Let’s Play Lease Poker – Calling the Lease Agent’s Bluff”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Mid-Year Update for OH Utica – Who’s Drilling Where & How Much?
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Time for an update on the rapidly expanding Utica Shale region. Below MDN outlines the most active drillers in the Utica, indicating their acreage positions and how many wells they have permitted, drilled or producing (so far). Information on acreage positions was gleaned from company websites, the 2014 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, Vol. 1 and NGI’s Shale Plays Fact Book…
Read More “Mid-Year Update for OH Utica – Who’s Drilling Where & How Much?”
Housing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

OSU Extension Says Shale Boom Towns Don’t Have to Go Bust
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Are communities that see a boom from shale drilling destined to experience a bust sometime down the road? MDN recalls that was one of the main reasons Cornell “professor” Tony Ingraffea offered for why he doesn’t like shale drilling at a meeting he addressed back in 2010 (see Cornell Hydraulic Fracturing Expert Headlines First Meeting of New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) in Vestal, NY). However, a new project being launched by Ohio State University’s Extension program says boom then bust “isn’t inescapable” and they aim to help communities avoid that fate…
Read More “OSU Extension Says Shale Boom Towns Don’t Have to Go Bust”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Makes $150K Grant to Union to Train Utica/Marcellus Welders
July 7, 2014July 7, 2014

More highly skilled (and highly paid) welders will be on the way soon in the Utica and Marcellus Shale thanks to a $150,000 training grant by the State of Ohio to the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 396. The grant, from the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, will train (or retrain) 40 union welders over the next one year. The money will put Ohioans back to work by working in the gas fields (no “foreigners” need apply). Here’s the official announcement:
Read More “OH Makes $150K Grant to Union to Train Utica/Marcellus Welders”
Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Natgas Production Doubles from 2012 to 2013 Thx to the Utica
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

Yesterday the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) released production numbers for 2013 and the numbers were truly impressive. ODNR says all oil and gas wells (conventional and unconventional/shale) in Ohio produced 8 million barrels of oil and 171 billion cubic feet of gas in 2013. Compared to 2012, Ohio’s total oil production increased by 62% and natural gas production increased by 97%. The increase in natural gas is due almost entirely to the Utica Shale…
Read More “OH Natgas Production Doubles from 2012 to 2013 Thx to the Utica”
Ohio | Statewide OH

Ohio Utica’s Top 10 Gas Wells & Top 10 Oil Wells 1Q14
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources not only released 2013 full year oil and gas production figures yesterday, they also released first quarter 2014 production figures. For 1Q14 the state’s Utica wells produced almost 2 million barrels of oil and 67 billion cubic feet of natural gas from 418 operating wells (out of 476 completed wells). Below MDN has assmebled the Top 10 natural gas producing wells for 1Q14, the top 10 oil wells, and stats by county and by driller. It paints a fascinating picture…
Read More “Ohio Utica’s Top 10 Gas Wells & Top 10 Oil Wells 1Q14”
Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

MWCD Reinvesting $300M of Utica Shale Revenue over Next 10 Yrs
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) covers more than 8,000 square miles of rivers, reservoirs and creeks that drain into the Muskingum River. It is the largest wholly contained watershed in the state of Ohio, covering about 20% of the state. MWCD owns 54,000 acres of land. Early in the Utica Shale boom in Ohio the MWCD was scared off from participating (see Muskingum Watershed Reverses Decision to Sell Water to Drillers). But it wasn’t long before the MWCD board found their resolve and started to not only sell water for Utica fracking, they started leasing land like crazy (see Antero Pays $15K/Acre, 20% Royalties for MWCD Piedmont Lake Lease). All of those water sales and leases for drilling are now paying off for MWCD rate payers and indeed for all Ohioans…
Read More “MWCD Reinvesting $300M of Utica Shale Revenue over Next 10 Yrs”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Dem Gov Candidate Tries to Outdo “Foreigner Hunter” Kasich
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

This is interesting. We didn’t even know there is a governor’s race in Ohio this year. The OH race is probably not newsworthy because the Democrat running against John Kasich doesn’t stand a prayer of a chance. Most polls we checked have Kasich trouncing his opponent–Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald–by at least 10 points. However, what’s interesting and noteworthy is that FitzGerald is trying to out-foreigner hunter the foreigner hunter himself, Gov. Kasich. You may recall MDN labeled Kasich “the foreigner hunter” back in 2012 after he started his jingoistic talk labeling out-of-state experts who work on some of Ohio’s drilling rigs and in the Ohio Utica Shale as “foreigners” (see OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers). Such talk is unbecoming a governor and unbecoming a supposed conservative–and we continue to point it out. Well it seems Democrat FitzGerald is even more extreme than Kasich…
Read More “OH Dem Gov Candidate Tries to Outdo “Foreigner Hunter” Kasich”