Marcellus King in PA – Which Other Layers are Actively Drilled?
Over the past few years MDN has highlighted and brought to your attention an excellent data service called MarcellusGas.org. The service contains data on every Marcellus (and other layer) wells drilled in Pennsylvania. It also covers waste disposal and injection wells. And it posts detailed statistics–down to the individual well level–including production numbers. It’s a really great service that only charges $20 per year for a membership. We highly recommend a membership if you’re into data and numbers. Note: We have no vested interest in the service. We’ve never even received a simple “thank you” for mentioning it and no doubt driving a number of subscriptions their way. No matter. We promote it because it’s a great service. Recently MarcellusGas sent an email to members (yes, we pay our $20/year like everyone else) to highlight how many wells have been permitted, and actually drilled–by rock layer. As you can imagine the Marcellus is king, head and shoulders above all the rest, with 9,359 actively producing wells and another 7,125 wells permitted (for a total of 16,484 Marcellus wells). What caught our eye is the numbers for the other layers. You might guess the second highest number of producing wells would be from the Utica Shale layer–but you would be wrong…
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It’s always sad when a pipeline company has to resort to eminent domain in order to install a pipeline through/under a property. Once the pipeline is there, you don’t even know it. Our observation is that pipeline companies bend over backwards to avoid sensitive areas and to reroute away from properties that don’t want it. Sometimes that’s not possible. It seems to us like reasonable people should be able to come to terms when it’s not possible to avoid having a pipeline installed. However, some people are not reasonable (able to be reasoned with)–that’s life. And that’s why eminent domain exists. A sad necessity. Such is the case with the Mariner East 2 pipeline being built by Sunoco Logistics Partners. Many landowners have signed agreements with Sunoco LP for Mariner East 2–but some have not. Those not granting permission have been sued using eminent domain, to allow Sunoco to clear trees and begin building. In almost every case Sunoco has won the eminent domain argument in court. The latest instance of victory for Sunoco comes in Huntingdon County, PA. Start the chainsaws! Today more trees are coming down in Huntingdon to make way for Mariner East 2…
Pennsylvania’s small, conventional oil and gas drillers have had enough of Gov. Tom Wolf and his Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley. Last week a trade association representing many of PA’s small, independent oil and gas drillers–the Pennsylvania Independent Petroleum Producers Association (PIPP)–filed a lawsuit against implementation of new rules and changes to existing rules known as Chapters 78 & 78a (see 
Details are just now coming to light of a new E&P (exploration and production, or drilling) company headquartered in Pittsburgh and focused totally on the Marcellus and Utica region. Until now the company has flown under our radar. The company is American Petroleum Partners (APP)–not to be confused with Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP)–and is headed by Rice Energy alumnus Varun Mishra, who is the founder and CEO. The big news is that last September Mishra’s new company, founded in 2014, received a major injection of investment capital. Apollo Global Management invested $411 million in APP with the option to double it up to $800 million. MDN has it on very good authority that although APP quietly issued a press release about this last September (see it below), the company has intentionally kept the news quiet. Not any more! Big mouth MDN is blabbing it to the world. Below are the bits and pieces we’ve been able to put together about this newest Utica/Marcellus driller…