Statewide PA 257 - Marcellus Drilling News

Just What are Natural Gas Liquids Anyway?

January 31, 2012January 31, 2012

Increasingly, you will read on MDN and in press accounts about natural gas liquids (NGLs), and how major energy companies are now focused on drilling in the “liquids-rich” portion of the Marcellus and Utica Shales. The geography of where NGLs are found is typically western Pennsylvania, the West Virginia panhandle and eastern Ohio. But, just what are NGLs anyway? A helpful article on The Motley Fool website provides an excellent summary:

Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DEP Debuts New Website for Easy Marcellus Drilling Info

January 30, 2012January 30, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and their Office of Oil and Gas Management released a new website two weeks ago that makes it easier for the public to to access Marcellus Shale drilling permit records, drilling dates, inspections and enforcement information.

Ohio vs. West Virginia in the Cracker Plant Sweepstakes

January 26, 2012January 26, 2012

West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio wait on pins and needles for Shell to announce which state they have chosen as a site to build a new $1.5-$2.0 billion ethane cracker plant, each of them looking for an edge to ensure their state is selected. WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is flying to Houston this week to meet with representatives of Shell to make a personal pitch that West Virginia should be that place, with a promise of no property taxes on the plant for 25 years if they do so. Thing is, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has already been to Houston to pitch his state—two months ago. Does that give Ohio an edge?

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DEP Wants to Use Acid Mine Drainage for Fracking Water

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is floating the idea of using a portion of the 300 million gallons of acid mine drainage that flows each and every day from abandoned coal mines in that state as a source of water for Marcellus Shale gas fracking.

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

PA Gov. Responds to PennFuture Criticism of Marcellus Bills

January 19, 2012January 19, 2012

On Tuesday, the anti-drilling Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) released a report detailing the problems (from their perspective) with PA Senate Bill 1100 and PA House Bill 1950 which are nearing passage (a copy of the PennFuture report is embedded below). PennFuture’s CEO and president, Jan Jarrett, called on the legislature and Gov. Tom Corbett to throw out the existing bills and instead introduce new, stand alone bills to consider drilling issues separately.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Pastor Claims Bible Says ‘Thou Shalt Not Frack’

January 18, 2012January 18, 2012

The following brief is purely for your entertainment purposes, to illustrate how loony the anti-drilling opposition can get. Yesterday, at a rally in Harrisburg, PA to protest new Marcellus Shale drilling legislation, a Lutheran pastor laid claim that the Bible says we shouldn’t frack.

Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA

Range Resources Doubles PA Marcellus Output in 2011

January 18, 2012January 18, 2012

Range Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, just posted year-end results and said that despite selling their Barnett Shale acreage, 2011 was the eighth consecutive year of double-digit gains for the company. In the Marcellus, Range doubled their output from 2010 levels.

Energy Companies | Enerplus | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Enerplus Allocates 24% of 2012 Capital Budget to Marcellus

January 18, 2012January 18, 2012

Enerplus Corp. , a Calgary-based oil and gas producer, has approved an $800 million capital spending program for 2012 the company expects will help boost production 10 percent. Of that $800 million, Enerplus will spend $190 million (24 percent) in the Marcellus Shale, focused primarily on drilling to delineate and retain leases. The target is to drill 20 Marcellus wells in 2012, with 18 of those wells coming on-stream by the end of the year. They plan to nearly triple their Marcellus production from 25 mmcf/d (million cubic feet per day) now to 70 mmcf/d by the end of the year.

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

PA Bill Requiring EMS Plan for Marcellus Wells Nears Passage

January 17, 2012January 17, 2012

Although a comprehensive bill to tighten regulations on Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania along with an impact fee has still not passed the PA legislature, a separate, smaller bill is about to. The smaller bill requires Marcellus Shale well operators to provide geographic siting information to local, county and state EMS officials and to develop an emergency response plan.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide PA

The Two Faces of Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) on Shale Drilling

January 16, 2012January 16, 2012

hypocrite U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (Democrat, Pennsylvania) has been an outspoken critic of fracking and Marcellus shale gas drilling. He introduced and is lead sponsor of legislation in the Senate called the FRAC Act—Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (see this MDN story). The title sounds nice with words like “responsibility” and “awareness” in it, but in reality the FRAC Act is a massive power transfer, stripping the right to regulate oil and gas drilling from the individual states and handing it over to the Environmental Protection Agency in the federal government. It’s bad legislation that would gut oil and gas drilling in the United States.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Shale Gas Fuels PA Hotel Industry Growth

January 11, 2012January 11, 2012

An analysis of hotel occupancy rates in northeast Pennsylvania by PKF Consulting, published on Hotel Online, shows the huge impact Marcellus Shale gas drilling is having in the region. PKF reports that revenue per available room (RevPAR) has grown at an annual rate of 14.8 percent from 2007 to 2011. Additionally, the average daily room rate (ADR) has grown a “remarkable” 7.8 percent annually during the same period. Compare PA’s northeast Marcellus hotels with national averages for the same period, which were 1.7 percent RevPAR and 0.7 percent ADR.

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Supreme Court’s Indecision on Local Regulation of Drilling

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear a four-year-old case over how much leeway local municipalities have in regulating drilling within their borders. Does the court’s refusal to hear the case mean local governments will have more, or less, latitude than they do now? Depends on who you ask.

Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DEP Undercounting Marcellus Gas Wells – By 12%

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012

It looks as though the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a data problem: They’ve been undercounting the number of Marcellus Shale gas wells in the state by a significant number. It’s especially a problem for legislators who are trying to calculate how much money new impact fees might generate.

Will New PA Drilling Law/Impact Fee Pass in 2012?

January 4, 2012January 4, 2012

Although the Pennsylvania House, Senate and governorship are all controlled by Republicans (for the first time in many years), they have not yet agreed on new legislation that puts stricter environmental controls in place over shale gas drilling in the state. The pending legislation, introduced last year after Gov. Tom Corbett appointed an advisory commission to propose new regulations, also includes an impact fee assessed on each new well drilled.

PA Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati believes all parties to the discussion are very close to agreement and hopes the legislation will be passed by early February, before it can get bogged down in election-year politicking.

Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

Clean Air Council Targets Pipeline Compressor Plants

December 19, 2011December 19, 2011

The Clean Air Council, an anti-drilling environmental group, has set its sights on preventing new compressor stations from being built in the Marcellus Shale as one way to slow down or stop new drilling. Compressor stations remove moisture and pressurize natural gas to move it through pipelines. The two biggest concerns most people have with compressor stations are air emissions and noise—both legitimate concerns.

Compressor stations are regulated and monitored by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also getting involved by using the federal Clean Air Act, which brings some compressor plants under their purview.

Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

NARO Says Marcellus Land Grab in PA is Over for Landowners

December 19, 2011December 19, 2011

In a wide-ranging article talking about the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania, and how it is maturing, we get this bit about landowners’ prospects in signing new lease deals from a National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) rep: