Statewide PA

Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Ultra Petroleum

Ultra Petroleum Marcellus Production in PA Jumps 321%
August 16, 2011August 16, 2011

Ultra Petroleum, an independent energy company headquartered in Houston, TX, reports a major ramp-up in Marcellus Shale gas drilling and production for the second quarter of 2011. Ultra says their Marcellus net production increased 321 percent over the second quarter of 2010. Since Ultra started drilling in the Marcellus Shale in 2009, they have drilled 235 gas wells in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. All of Ultra’s Marcellus drilling (so far) has been in PA.

Ultra’s PA Marcellus operational update (from their quarterly report):

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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

New Interstate Pipelines Mean Thousands of Jobs in PA
August 15, 2011August 15, 2011

Hundreds of miles of new interstate gas pipelines are on the way in Pennsylvania, and new pipeline construction is providing thousands of jobs in the state. The volume of Marcellus gas flowing from the Marcellus is projected to rise from a current 3 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day to 7 or 8 bcf per day in the next five years, which means more large interstate pipelines are required to get the gas to market.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

What Chemicals are Being Used by Marcellus Drillers in PA?
August 12, 2011August 12, 2011

Want to know what chemicals are being used at a nearby Marcellus gas well that’s being drilled near you in Pennsylvania? Right now, it’s not so easy to find out. Here’s how Pennsylvania’s fracking chemical disclosure rules work, which went into effect in February of this year:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Pipeline Permit Rules Delay Landowner Royalties in PA
August 9, 2011August 9, 2011

A new set of rules governing pipeline construction permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps or Engineers is causing extreme delays in getting gas from wells to market according to Chesapeake Energy. The new rules have turned what was an average 45-day process to file paperwork into a 300-day process.

The bottom line is that wells that are drilled and completed sit idle because gathering pipelines aren’t being built to them, and consequently landowners are not receiving royalty checks.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Lt Gov Cawley Addresses Severance Tax in Chat Session
August 9, 2011August 9, 2011

On Monday, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, the head of Gov. Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, did a Q&A session via text chat with readers of the Philadelphia Inquirer to answer questions about the final report of 96 recommendations filed by the Commission and about the work they performed to arrive those recommendations. The questions covered jobs, taxes, regulation, pollution and more. Among the Q&A was this excellent exchange on taxes that puts to bed the widespread misunderstanding that the drilling industry is not paying taxes and “if only PA had a severance tax it would solve the budget problems in the state”:

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Energy Services | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

MarkWest Processing Plants in PA & WV Ramp Up Output
August 9, 2011August 9, 2011

MarkWest Energy Partners and its subsidiary companies concentrate on what the industry calls the “midstream” area of natural gas drilling—that is, gathering, processing and transporting natural gas. MarkWest’s quarterly report includes an update on their expanding capacity to process natural gas and natural gas liquids in the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania and West Virginia as well as news about a new pipeline to Canada:

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Energy Companies | EXCO Resources | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

EXCO Plans to Increase Rig Count, Complete 49 Wells in the Marcellus Shale in 2011
August 3, 2011August 3, 2011

The quarterly reports from public companies continue to roll in, which sometimes makes for interesting reading. EXCO Resources, Inc. has just issued their quarterly report and includes the following operational update on their drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale. Of particular note is EXCO’s statement about IP, or “initial production”. IP for oil and gas wells is that initial burst of activity which is not sustainable through the life of the well. Usually a well produces the most right at the start—according to EXCO IP is a 24-hour period during the first few days a well goes online. But as EXCO points out below, their Marcellus wells sometimes don’t hit peak performance until a month or two after they have come online.

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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Former PA Gov. Tom Ridge and Marcellus Shale Coalition Part Ways
August 3, 2011August 3, 2011

The leading and most visible organization representing the Marcellus drilling industry in Pennsylvania is the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC). Backed by a who’s who of companies in the energy industry (including Range Resources, Chesapeake Energy, Shell, ExxonMobil, Hess, Chief O&G and many more), the MSC attempts to counter the ever-present misinformation about drilling in general, and hydraulic fracturing in particular. The MSC’s stated goal is to promote responsible development of the Marcellus Shale and generate jobs while doing it.

Kathryn Klaber is the very visible and dynamic president and executive director. Ms. Klaber is the public face of the MSC. But there’s also been a second visible face of the MSC for the past year. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (and his two consulting firms) was named as a “strategic advisor” to the MSC in July 2010. The contract was for one year. The MSC has just announced the contract with Ridge will not be renewed. Does that mean there’s a problem? Trouble in gasland? MDN does not know. From all appearances it was a contract for a specified period, the contract was fulfilled, objectives achieved, and life moves on. That’s the nature of consulting work.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Commonwealth Foundation Identifies Groups, People Who Fund Anti-Drilling Efforts in PA
August 1, 2011August 1, 2011

Last week the Commonwealth Foundation released a policy briefing paper titled “The Great Frack Attack: The War On Natural Gas” (full copy of the paper embedded below). The policy paper names names and outlines the big money behind groups critical of drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

From the introduction:

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Cabot Operational Update: 81 Horizontal Marcellus Wells Producing 420-430 Mmcf of Gas Per Day
July 28, 2011July 28, 2011

Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas just released its quarterly operations update. Cabot reports the following about its operations in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale region:

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

WSJ Article Compares PA and NY Approaches to Marcellus Drilling
July 27, 2011July 27, 2011

The Wall Street Journal ran an excellent article in yesterday’s edition comparing Pennsylvania’s approach to drilling in the Marcellus Shale with New York’s approach. It’s a tale of two states: One state embraces economic opportunity, and the other let’s environmental politics strangle development.

The article says this about Pennsylvania:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Temple University Launches Study to Investigate Possible Link Between Marcellus Drilling and Methane in Water Wells
July 26, 2011July 26, 2011

Yet another study is about to be launched looking for a connection between Marcellus Shale gas drilling and elevated methane (natural gas) levels in nearby water wells—this time from a group of researchers at Temple University.

You may recall that Duke University recently released a study which supposedly showed a connection between drilling and high levels of methane in water wells (see MDN story here). However, the Duke study cherry-picked the locations they used—locations where there was already high levels of methane in the water, methane that is naturally occurring (and has been for decades). Hopefully the Temple researchers will employ a more rigorous methodology in their study.

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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA

Range Resources: Natural Gas Liquids and Higher Commodity Gas Prices Equal a Very Good Quarter
July 26, 2011July 26, 2011

Range Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale, had a very good second quarter (revenue-wise) because of increased production of natural gas liquids and because of an uptick in the price of natural gas in the commodity markets:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission Final Report with 96 Recommendations
July 25, 2011July 25, 2011

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission filed their final report on Friday, containing some 96 recommendations for Gov. Corbett and the PA legislature to consider that will strengthen regulation of, and further promote, the shale gas industry in the state. The entire report (137 pages, containing a lot of background details) is embedded below. What follows first is a high level summary of the recommendations, to give you the bullet point quick overview.

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

New Penn State Study: Marcellus Shale Drilling Created $11.2 Billion in Economic Activity & Supported 140K Jobs in PA in 2010
July 21, 2011July 21, 2011

A new report titled “The Pennsylvania Marcellus Natural Gas Industry: Status, Economic Impact, and Future Potential” was released yesterday by three Penn State University researchers. The report is the third in a series of economic forecasts from the same researchers and outlines the astonishing impact Marcellus Shale drilling has had and continues to have in Pennsylvania—generating $11.2 billion in economic activity in the state in 2010 and supporting nearly 140,000 jobs. The 68-page report was funded by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group based in PA (a full copy of the report is embedded below).

The report’s authors predict the Marcellus Shale play will become the nation’s leading supplier of natural gas by 2020, providing one quarter of all natural gas used in the U.S. A summary of the key findings in the report includes:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

SRBC Temporarily Suspends Water Withdrawals for Marcellus Drilling at 36 Locations to Protect Stream Levels
July 20, 2011July 20, 2011

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which oversees a huge watershed area that runs from Upstate New York all the way to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, is preemptively and temporarily putting water withdrawals for gas drilling on hold in parts of of the watershed because stream levels are dropping from lack of rain. Below is the full press release with a list of the 36 locations where water withdrawals have been suspended.

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