OH Republican Officials Squabble in Public Over Injection Wells
According to a leftist Democrat publication, Signal Ohio, what was “supposed to be a sleepy, county-level Republican meeting where political allies get on the same page” turned into a shouting match between Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels (a Republican) and State Senator Brian Chavez (a Republican and Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee). The heated discussion revolved around wastewater injection wells and their proximity to city water supplies. Chavez is the former CEO of DeepRock Disposal Solutions, which currently operates four injection wells near Marietta and has applied to build a fifth. Read More “OH Republican Officials Squabble in Public Over Injection Wells”
Two conventional oil producers in Southeast Ohio say dozens of their wells have been flooded with industrial waste (brine) from the fracking industry. They claim that nearby injection wells that handle frack waste/brine are leaking. State regulators agree that injection wells, at least at some locations, are leaking. Not only have these leaks (if true) affected oil wells, but there’s a concern they may be contaminating area water wells. 
In April, the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission upheld a regulatory order from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) suspending operations of three wastewater injection wells located in Torch (Athens County), OH, owned by K&H Partners, a subsidiary of Tallgrass Energy (see 
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was in Marietta, OH on Thursday for a roundtable discussion regarding the oil and gas industry. The meeting was held at Artex Oil Company and included Energy Transfer, Nine Energy Service, Oil Well Shares (OWS), Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), Reno Oil and Gas, DeepRock Disposal Solutions, Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), and Marietta College. The meeting began as a closed-door session but opened to the public (and the press) after a half hour.
An interesting case recently decided by Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals has a significant impact for both surface landowners and drillers. The case is Zimmerview Dairy Farms, LLC v. Protégé Energy III LLC and establishes, under Ohio law, that a general release of damages contract (typically signed by landowners when they lease land for drilling or pipelines) does not release a driller or pipeline company from its ongoing obligation to remediate (fix) and restore damage to a landowner’s property.
We’re always suckers for railroad story. Not sure why, but we love reading about short line railroads that do well because of the shale industry. We spotted such a story about the 48-mile short line Belpre Industrial Parkersburg (BIP) Railroad between Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Relief, Ohio (via Marietta). BIP expects to double its traffic over the next year to 18 months thanks to the Marcellus/Utica Shale industry and the business it’s generating.
In a piece of stellar investigative journalism and reporting, MDN friend Bob Downing (at 
In August MDN told you that Diversified Gas & Oil was the high (and only) bidder for Ohio Utica assets owned by EdgeMarc Energy, buying those assets out of bankruptcy court (see 
EdgeMarc Energy, headquartered in Canonsburg, PA (with 50,000 acres of Marcellus/Utica leases), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, looking to sell all of the company’s assets (see 
Yesterday MDN told you that Pin Oak Energy Partners has purchased Protégé Energy’s 10,000 acres of Utica Shale leases (and other assets) located in Washington and Noble counties in Ohio, and Wood County in West Virginia (see 
Listen up landowners in Washington County, OH: For some of you, your shale lease may now be owned by someone else. Pin Oak Energy Partners, a relatively young Marcellus/Utica driller based in Akron, OH, has purchased all of Protégé Energy’s Utica Shale leases (and other assets) located in Washington and Noble counties in Ohio, and Wood County in West Virginia. The vast majority of the lease transfers are in Washington County.