Pennsylvania

Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PA Court Overturns Lower Court on Zoning Compressor Plants
May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

A new ruling in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court will have far-reaching implications for municipalities that try to apply zoning regulations to a select part of the drilling process, like compressor stations. Compressor stations are necessary to move gas along pipelines—from the well to a point where the gas can be processed and eventually sold. A three judge panel has just overturned a lower court’s decision on whether or not townships can regulate compressors separately from other drilling activities.

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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Engineering Firms Expand During U.S. Recession – Why?
May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

There’s one industry that’s been recession-proof over the past four years. Can you guess which one?

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Accidents | Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Possible New Case of Methane Migration Near PA Gas Wells
May 25, 2012May 25, 2012

A potential case of methane migration from nearby Marcellus Shale gas well drilling is being investigated by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Bradford County, PA. Three residential water wells and two streams have high levels of methane. A Chesapeake drilling operation is located about a half mile from the residential water wells.

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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Important New PA Marcellus Shale Database Public Soon
May 25, 2012May 25, 2012

Staffers at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve say they have assembled the most accurate database of Marcellus Shale gas wells in Pennsylvania, having worked on it for the past 10 months. However, they aren’t releasing their results to the public. Not yet at least.

Because of the heavy volume of permitting and drilling activity in PA over the past several years, it’s well known that the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) data is not 100 percent accurate. Powdermill sought to create a database that was as close to 100 percent as possible and believe they have achieved it.

In the aggregate, here’s the numbers they are reporting:

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Centre County | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Shale Gas Innovation Contest IDs 12 New Technologies
May 25, 2012May 25, 2012

Last October, the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC) announced its Shale Gas Innovation Competition. The results are now in and two organizations in State College, PA are the winners, receiving $25,000 each.

Polymics LTD won for their design of a lightweight, reusable and leak-proof mat system that is used at drill sites to contain mud and fluids while the drill pad is under construction. The second winner was the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute at Penn State University for their development of a “patch box” system that converts diesel truck fleets to use natural gas.

Ten additional finalists were also named. In all, 12 new innovative technologies were identified that will help propel the shale drilling industry forward, making drilling safer and more efficient. From the SGICC press release:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Animated Map Shows Vertical vs Horizontal Gas Wells in PA
May 24, 2012May 24, 2012

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has created a very cool animated map showing the transition from conventionally drilled, vertical natural gas wells to unconventional, horizontally fracked natural gas wells (Marcellus wells) from January 2005 to April 2012 (a copy of the video is embedded below). Just as cool—and startling—are a couple of bar charts (also embedded below) showing the dramatic increase in the volume of natural gas production in PA while at the same time the number of gas wells, the number of holes drilled in the ground, has gone down! How can that be?

Fracked horizontal wells drilled in shale formations are far more productive than conventional, vertically drilled wells.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | UGI Energy Services

Proposed Compressor Plant Near Wilkes-Barre Criticized
May 24, 2012May 24, 2012

Residents gathered in West Wyoming (Luzerne County), PA to hear about plans from UGI Energy Services, subsidiary of UGI Utilities, to build a natural gas compressor plant in the township. The compressor plant will help bring Marcellus Shale gas through a new 28-mile pipeline UGI is building from Wyoming County to Luzerne County. Getting shale gas to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area will lead to a 40 percent reduction in natural gas bills for customers over the next four years, according to UGI.

But the compressor plant is not without its critics…

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Beaver County | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Pennsylvania

Columbiana County Port Authority Leases Land to Chesapeake
May 23, 2012May 23, 2012

The Columbiana County (OH) Port Authority voted on Monday to lease 43.9 acres of its property in Beaver County, PA to Chesapeake Energy.

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

PA Resident Wins Right to Appeal DEP Water Contamination Case
May 23, 2012May 23, 2012

The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) ruled on May 16 that a Washington County resident who claims that nearby shale gas drilling is responsible for his water well being contaminated with methane and chemicals can appeal a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) determination that his well was not contaminated by shale drilling.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

New Philly Association Formed to Help Businesses Crack the Marcellus
May 23, 2012May 23, 2012

A new association has been formed in the Philadelphia area to connect local businesses with business opportunities in the Marcellus Shale. So far the new association, called the Delaware Valley Marcellus Association (DVMA), consists of four founding member companies, but has plans to expand rapidly.

From the press release announcing the DVMA:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners

PVR Announces $380 Million Investment in NE PA Marcellus
May 22, 2012May 22, 2012

Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR) is kicking up its commitment to the Marcellus Shale in northeastern PA a notch. Yesterday they announced they would invest $380 million on Marcellus Shale pipeline projects including a new extension to its natural gas pipeline in Lycoming County, PA. The announcement also reveals that they have commitments from Shell, Southwestern, Range and Inflection for the extra capacity and services. Yesterday PVR completed a previously announced deal to acquire Chief Gathering.

From the PVR press release:

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

Union Support for Marcellus Drilling at PA Rally
May 22, 2012May 22, 2012

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, a Pennsylvania-based industry group headed by Kathryn Klaber, held a rally at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Monday. Their aim was to dispel two popular myths about drilling in the Marcellus Shale: that the jobs are temporary, non-union jobs, and that the jobs all go to out-of-state workers from Texas and Oklahoma.

At the rally to support the Coalition were union members from the Laborers’ International Union of North America, who presented evidence that it’s local, union membership that often fills positions in the Marcellus workforce.

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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Trumbull County

Carrizo Gets Utica Permit for Trumbull County, OH
May 18, 2012May 18, 2012

Carrizo Oil & Gas has just received a permit for drilling in the Utica Shale in Trumbull County, Ohio. But the company says it’s not going to start its exploratory drilling for the foreseeable future, at least in Trumbull because Trumbull has more restrictive road repair demands, so instead Carrizo will drill its first Utica exploratory well in neighboring Mercer County, PA where the demands on road repair are not as restrictive.

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Bradford County | Energy Services | Eureka Resources | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

Bradford County, PA Gets New Shale Wastewater Treatment Plant
May 18, 2012March 7, 2019

Eureka Resources announced yesterday it will build a brand new “world-class” shale wastewater treatment facility in Bradford County, PA (near Towanda, PA). The first phase of the construction will be complete by the end of this year, and the second phase by the end of next year. According to Eureka, the facility will reduce the need to dispose of concentrated brine, or salty wastewater, that normally is disposed of via injection wells. When completed, the facility will operate 24/7 and employ 16 full-time employees.

From the Eureka press release:

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Utility Announces Second NatGas Rate Cut This Year
May 18, 2012May 18, 2012

On March 1, a little over two months ago, UGI Penn Natural Gas, a utility which serves approximately 158,000 customers in 13 counties in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, announced it was immediately reducing natural gas rates for its customers by 4.5 percent (see this MDN story). UGI announced yesterday it would file its annual rate on June 1 and it will request yet another 4.5 percent rate reduction on its annual rate which would take effect December 1. That’s a total of 9 percent in one year—thanks to the abundance of PA’s Marcellus Shale gas.

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Accidents | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

UB Study Released on Environmental Problems in PA Drilling
May 16, 2012May 16, 2012

A peer-reviewed 52-page study released yesterday by the new natural gas institute at SUNY University at Buffalo (UB) finds that environmental problems caused by Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania were isolated, mostly minor and on the decline (a copy of the full study is embedded below).

The study analyzes the data from more than 3,533 Marcellus wells drilled since 2008 in PA by over 100 drilling rigs. The study makes the following conclusions, including assigning a percentage probability for how likely it is for a major environmental event to occur:

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