PA’s First Monthly O&G Production Report Goes Live
Pennsylvania has now moved to the head of Marcellus pack when it comes to production reporting. Previously drillers in the state were required to file production numbers with the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) every six months, but last October the Republican state legislature passed a bill that Republican Tom Corbett signed into law moving reporting from every six months to every month (see 2 Bills on PA Gov’s Desk: Monthly Production #s, Lease Termination). The first monthly production report, for January 2015, is now available. The DEP says 80% of drillers filed on time (representing 99.5% of shale wells in the state). What do the numbers show?…
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It’s always a sad day when we report a death related to the Marcellus/Utica industry. Thankfully it doesn’t happen often, but the fact it happens at all is almost too much to bear. We know it’s not realistic to expect no fatalities, but still… On Monday afternoon around 2:30 pm a worker at the former Marcus Hook refinery–which is being converted into a natural gas liquids terminal–was killed after a pylon fell on him. The worker’s name has not yet been released, but it is reported he was in his 50s and from New Jersey and worked for engineering firm AECOM, a contractor working at the site. In a profoundly inappropriate manner, a member of the anti-drilling group Protecting Our Waters jumped on the death as an opportunity to push her anti-drilling message…
You can’t tell us there isn’t political bias in the world of so-called hard science and whether or not important research gets reported. In 2011 Duke University published a shoddy “study” that attempted to show a link between the presence of 68 shale wells and high levels of methane in nearby groundwater supplies (see 
Well well. It seems by giving out the consolation prize of putting PIOGA (the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association) and other industry reps on the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection’s newly created conventional board isn’t working out quite as well as expected for Acting DEP Sec. John Quigley (see 
This is a shout out to the marvelous people we (meaning me, Jim Willis) met in Pittsburgh on Wednesday at the 3rd Annual Oil & Gas Awards. I was truly humbled and thrilled to meet so many MDN readers! You gave me some great feedback on MDN–feedback that has me thinking about some new initiatives going forward. So stay tuned for the future and what I believe will be some good things coming. During the day I was privileged to host two panel discussions. A special thank you to the panelists on the “Minimizing Environmental Impact” panel: Melissa Hamsher, Vice President at Eclipse Resources; Lauren Parker, Principal at Civil & Environmental Consultants; and Gregg Stewart, Permitting Manager with PennEnergy Resources. And a special thank you to the panelists on the “Health and Safety” panel: Charlie Dixon, Safety and Workforce Director with Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program; Frank Harrison, President of Areion Energy; and Chad McCutcheon, Communications Professional with McCutcheon Enterprises. Stellar panelists all! They made me look good, and that’s a hard thing to do. 😉 There were about 150 attendees at the Industry Summit during the day. MDN will bring you videos (when they become available) for each of the sessions. The evening was the “main” event–a gala awards ceremony with folks decked out in tuxedos and evening gowns. We have the complete list of winners for the 2015 Northeast Oil and Gas Awards below…
Pennsylvania’s Acting Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary, John Quigley, continues to come under fire from PA Republican legislators over his (so far) less-than-transparent operation of the department–especially over firing the former Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board members and replacing them with his own people, including so-called “non-voting” members (see