Pennsylvania

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

New Study: PA Marcellus Shale Drilling Doesn’t Pollute Waterways
March 12, 2013March 11, 2013

A new research study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences shows that Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania does not pollute the state’s waterways—at least not appreciably. The paper is titled “Shale gas development impacts on surface water quality in Pennsylvania” (full copy embedded below) and looks only at surface water—not underground aquifers. The study is significant because it looks at nearly 5,000 shale drilling sites in the state, and according to the lead author, they “didn’t find evidence in waterways of significant chemical spills from drill sites.”

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus Shale will Hit 10 Bcf/d in Production in 2013
March 12, 2013March 11, 2013

Another stellar article on the Seeking Alpha website by energy analyst Richard Zeits. This one takes a look at the Marcellus Shale and notes that something “inconceivable” even a few years ago will become true this year: The Mighty Marcellus Shale will hit 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas production per day. Wow!

Here’s how the article starts:

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Butler County | Crime | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Violence

Drive-by Shooting at Marcellus Well in NW PA
March 12, 2013March 11, 2013

Two shots were fired in a drive-by shooting at a Marcellus Shale well in Mercer Township (Butler County), PA last Saturday afternoon at 5:45 pm. Witnesses report a suspect in a white Ford Ranger pickup truck did the shooting…

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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania

GPX Pleads Guilty in Using Illegal Aliens for PA Marcellus Work
March 12, 2013January 5, 2014

The final chapter is now written. MDN previously told you about GPX/GPX USA, a Texas-based seismic surveying company doing work in Pennsylvania for the oil and gas industry that was caught using illegal aliens to work on their surveying crews. It appeared they would only be fined $25,000 for the violation (see GPX Gets Off Easy After Using Illegal Aliens for PA Survey Crew). However, in addition to the $25K fine, they also have to forfeit a $250,000 cash bond. Ouch. That’s more like it.

In addition, the operations manager in charge of the illicit arrangement faces six months in jail and a $5,000 fine:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Latest Fed Beige Book Credits Shale with Economic Expansion
March 8, 2013March 8, 2013

Two days ago the Federal Reserve released their bi-monthly survey of regional economic trends, called “the Beige Book.” One of the stars in the current edition of the Beige Book (full copy embedded below) is the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Shale drilling is mentioned prominently for Region III (Philadelphia) and Region IV (Cleveland).

According to the Fed, shale drilling is expanding rapidly, and along with it an increase in banking, manufacturing and other sectors. Sort of “a rising tide raises all boats” theme.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain | Washington County

Western PA Company’s “2 Keys to Success” in Selling to Drillers
March 7, 2013March 7, 2013

A Washington County, PA manufacturer of parts used in drilling oil and gas wells is highlighted in an article in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It’s an interesting story that focuses mostly on two sisters who have taken over and successfully expanded the family business. We enjoy these kinds of “human interest” stories. However, buried deep down in the story is a short section that reveals two things the sisters did that may benefit other businesses in the Marcellus and Utica Shale supply chain.

If you work for or own a business interested in selling to the drilling industry—especially to the larger companies—you’ll be interested in these two “keys to success” for Washington Rotating Control Heads Inc.:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

Childish Protesters Berate DRBC Officials at NJ Meeting
March 7, 2013March 7, 2013

About 70 hippie protesters, led by the extremist group Delaware Riverkeeper, “packed” a dinky meeting room in Trenton, NJ where the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held their regular meeting. The protesters were there to express their desire the DRBC put the breaks on any further natural gas pipelines to carry much-needed gas to New York City, Philadelphia and other East Coast urban areas where the DRBC has jurisdiction.

What seemed to escape the reasoning power of the protesters is that the DRBC has no jurisdiction in approving pipelines—and only a very limited role in the process. The protesters behaved badly at the meeting, as they usually do. They “took over” the meeting and refused to be orderly and wait their turn to speak, disrupting the meeting with their petulant, white-liberal-spoiled-rich-kid tantrums of “mommy listen to me!” If only their parents had raised them right…

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Leads NE in Corporate Facilities Expansion – TY Shale!
March 6, 2013March 6, 2013

What does Pennsylvania have that New York doesn’t? For one thing, fewer welfare deadbeats sucking off the public teat. For another, PA has shale gas drilling and NY does not. Shale gas drilling has propelled PA, for the second year in a row, to third place in the entire country for the number of new and expanded corporate facilities built. PA is #1 for new corporate facilities in the Northeast—thanks to Marcellus drilling. Too bad NY is missing out—the very real cost of not drilling is loss of infrastructure projects like these.

PA had 430 new or expanded corporate facilities built in 2012 with a minimum investment of at least $1 million and with each facility adding at least 50 new jobs. Translation: On the low end, PA had $430 million in new investment and 21,500 new jobs—most of which came from the shale industry. The actual number for new investment/jobs was more like double…

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Self-Serving Sierra Club Wants PA to Raise Taxes on Shale Drillers
March 6, 2013March 6, 2013

People like the Sierra Club have an interesting concept of what “fair” means. When it comes to other people’s money (OPM), the Sierra Club is only too ready to spend it—especially if they didn’t earn it. But that’s the way it is with socialists who like (their words) “spreading it around.”

The Pennsylvania Chapter of the extremist environmental group Sierra Club isn’t happy with “only” $200 million in impact fees/taxes. Oh no…they think a severance tax could easily more than double that amount—so it can be “spread around” among the enviro faithful—most particularly for themselves:

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Cumberland County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

The Folly of PA’s Impact Fee/Tax
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

A number of stories coming from PA for the past several months revolve around how towns and counties will spend a windfall they’ve received from the state since instituting the first-ever shale well impact “fee” last year (for background on the fee-which-is-really-just-a-tax, see: List of PA Impact Fee Disbursements by County/Town). We’ve spared you the boring details. However, we bring you one of those stories to illustrate a point.

Cumberland County, PA has no active shale drilling, yet they will receive $200,000 in “walking around” money from the hard work of energy companies and landowners who are drilling. And what do the wise leaders of Cumberland County intend to do with this new-found pile of cash? Buy a new fire truck or two? Refurbish school classrooms? Refit snowplows with new equipment? Maybe convert some county vehicles to run on natural gas? Nope. They plan to put $149,000 of it into a program to give away (blow) on “green projects.” The squabbling over how to distribute it has already begun…

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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Mercer County | Pennsylvania | Utica Shale | Venango County

Halcón Resources: Full Speed Ahead in Utica Shale for 2013
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Houston-based Halcón Resources Corporation issued their fourth quarter and full year 2012 financials and operational update last week. As MDN has been reporting, Halcón is ramping up in the Utica Shale (see Location of Second Halcon Utica Well in Trumbull County, OH). Their 2012 update further confirms that they are making a big push in the Utica for 2013.

In the extract below discussing Halcón’s Utica plans for 2013, we learn they have 130,000 acres, plan to drill 20-25 new wells and will spend $200 million on their Utica drilling program for the year. Interestingly, both of their completed Utica wells are located in the Pennsylvania Utica—not in Ohio…

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Energy Companies | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania | Shell

Lawrence County, PA: Shell Continues Marcellus Drilling
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

A pair of Marcellus Shale wells drilled by Shell are the first two horizontal wells in Lawrence County, PA to be hooked up to pipelines and selling gas commercially, according a spokesman for Shell.

Details on which two wells are now in production, along with Shell’s 2013 plans for Lawrence County…

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Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Penn State Launches 2 More Marcellus Initiatives for Businesses
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Penn State University loves the Marcellus Shale. In addition to operating the Marcellus Center for Outreach & Research and the Shale Education and Training Center (ShaleTEC), Penn State is offering two new Marcellus-related services: a shale energy seminar and supply chain services for businesses:

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot O&G: Giant Marcellus Shale Wells in NE PA
March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

Last week energy analyst Richard Zeits posted a terrific piece on Cabot Oil & Gas on the Seeking Alpha website (see Cabot’s Drilling in Susquehanna County Moves Needle on U.S. Supplies). Zeits turns in a “part 2” on the Cabot story yesterday—and if anything, it’s even better. In his latest post, Zeits talks about the uber-productive wells Cabot has drilled in Susquehanna County, PA. Cabot had 30 wells in the fourth quarter of last year that turned in initial 24-hour flow rates of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas, settling back to a 30-day average rate of 16.6 Mmcf/d.

Even more astonishing? One well they drilled—with 35 frack stages—had a 24-hour initial rate of 41.4 Mmcf/d and settled back to a 30-day average of 35.9 Mmcf/d. Superlatives are not enough to express how big this news is. These are the highest numbers we’ve ever seen—higher than the Gulfport wells in the Ohio Utica Shale (although this is dry gas only, so it’s not a true apples to apples comparison). This is big news not only for Cabot and Pennsylvania…these wells are relatively close to the border of New York State. Hello Gov. Ditherer!

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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NiSource | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Columbia Gas to Expand Philly Pipeline, No Virgins Sacrificed
March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

Columbia Gas Transmission, a subsidiary of Nisource, filed plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Monday to expand their pipeline network in the Philadelphia area to bring more Marcellus Shale gas to the eastern side of the state.

Although anti-drillers are sure protest this latest proposal (as they do all such proposals), in what will no doubt be a relief to property owners, no “virgins” will be sacrificed. Let us explain…

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Allegheny County | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Pittsburgh Driller & Gas Utility Co Want to Swap Assets
March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

In a complex deal submitted to regulators last year, Marcellus driller and midstream company EQT Corp. and gas utility company Peoples Natural Gas want to do a swap. EQT proposes to trade/sell its natural gas utility division, called Equitable Gas, to Peoples, and in return EQT would get not only $720 million but also gas pipelines and storage facilities—called the Allegheny Valley Connector—from Peoples.

Once (if!) the deal is done, EQT will be totally focused on drilling and midstream and out of the utility market. EQT is currently shopping around prospective future capacity on the Allegheny Valley Connector to other drillers, to see what kind of interest they can generate:

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