Susquehanna County

Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

WPX 3Q12: $64M Net Loss, But Production in Marcellus up 333%
November 6, 2012November 6, 2012

WPX Energy, a company formed in January 2011 by Williams (created by spinning off the Williams exploration and production division) released their third quarter financial and operational update last week. The report losing $64 million in 3Q12. Most of WPX’s operations and focus has been in plays other than the Marcellus, including a big focus on the Bakken Shale, where they drill for oil, and the Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado where they drill for wet natural gas.

In comparison, the Marcellus (where they drill for dry natural gas) is much smaller. However, the Marcellus was the only natural gas play in which WPX has production where the numbers went up in 3Q12. Production in the Piceance, Powder River Basin and San Juan Basin all went down between 7% and 16%. The Marcellus? Up an astonishing 333% from 3Q11 (although the overall numbers are still pretty small, see below). WPX reports they have drilled and completed 28 wells in the Marcellus so far in 2012—all of them in Susquehanna County, PA. They have two rigs operating in the Marcellus.

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Bradford County | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Sullivan County | Susquehanna County | Wyoming County (PA)

Updated Study: Marcellus Drilling Economic Benefits in NE PA
October 23, 2012October 23, 2012

Several colleges in northeast Pennsylvania including Keystone College, King’s College, Luzerne County Community College, Misericordia University, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, University of Scranton and Wilkes University belong to, support and form an organization called the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development. In 2008 the Institute published a study comparing economic and demographic changes of three shale plays in three specific areas of three shale plays: the Barnett, the Fayettville and the Marcellus.

The purpose of the original study was to show what may lie ahead in northeast PA should it follow a similar track to the then far more mature shale plays in the South and Southwest. The Institute has just released an update to the original study in a new report titled “A Review of Changes in Selected Economic & Demographic Indicators in Particular Counties in the Barnett, Fayetteville and Marcellus Shale Play” (embedded below). Wow, what a difference four years makes! The Marcellus in many ways has eclipsed the Barnett and Fayettville and continues to grow. But has that growth translated into good things in northeast PA? That’s the question asked and answered in this latest update by the Institute.

Read More “Updated Study: Marcellus Drilling Economic Benefits in NE PA”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

PA Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Critical O&G Case
October 17, 2012October 17, 2012

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments in what MDN considers the most important oil and gas case to come before the court in many years. We’ve chronicled the case called Butler v Powers in past articles, including this article from Sept. 2011. It’s a complex case, and at the risk of oversimplifying it, here’s how we would summarize it:

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Broome County | DTE Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

Bluestone Gathering Pipeline Gets NY Approval
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

MDN friend Andy Leahy, intrepid writer of the NY Shale Gas Now blog site, has returned! Yeah! Andy’s first post since being back from a several month hiatus is an important one—one that somehow slipped by the MDN radar. The Bluestone Pipeline, a 37-mile gathering line that runs through Susquehanna County, PA and into Broome County, NY (Town of Sanford) connecting to both the Millennium and the Tennessee interstate pipelines received approval from New York State. (See this MDN story for background on the Bluestone Pipeline.)

Andy reports the developer plans to break ground in New York as early as October 20. For a full analysis and rundown on the project now that it’s moving forward, see Andy’s post by clicking the link below.

*NY Shale Gas Now (Oct 9, 2012) – Bluestone Pipeline Green-Lighted; Local Press Still Asleep at Keyboards
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Responds to Latest Bloomberg Attack over Dimock [Free]
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Once again Bloomberg is taking aim at Cabot Oil & Gas over methane in water wells in the Dimock, PA area. Like a dog digging up an stinking, rotting carcass that it previously buried to chew on it some more, Bloomberg just can’t help itself. They’re desperate to prove a connection—any connection—between fracking and “pollution” of water. In this case, methane pollution—something that’s eminently fixable.

The latest hit piece from Bloomberg ran last week and is being endlessly recycled by other media outlets. The piece, titled “Cabot’s Methodology Links Tainted Water Wells to Gas Fracking,” attempts to make a link between data released by an EPA investigation in Dimock and methane from Cabot’s drilling. It cites a Duke University analysis of the data saying in essence that the methane found in two Dimock water wells present a chemical “fingerprint” or signature that matches methane from deep below the surface, not near the surface. The “natural” conclusion is that Cabot must be at fault.

This issue is complex and scientific and the tendency is to try and make it easier than it is. Cabot has taken the time to patiently and accurately respond to this latest attack on their own blog site. MDN is running their post below so you have the full facts.

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Citrus | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | Wyoming County (PA)

Which Driller Had Top 2 Producing Wells in PA for 1H12?
October 2, 2012October 2, 2012

Yesterday MDN shared with your our detailed look at the production numbers—the amount of natural gas and gas liquids—produced in the entire state of Pennsylvania for the first half of 2012 (see this MDN story). Today the Philadelphia Inquirer, quoting Powell Shale Digest and other sources, takes a closer look at well by well statistics for the same period.

Here’s a few interesting tidbits brought to light by their analysis, and the surprise answer for who had the top two producing wells in the state for the first half of the year:

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

Former Dimock Landowners Buy New Property…with Gas Lease
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Dimock Proud, a group of landowners in the township of Dimock, PA who seek to defend their town’s reputation against unfair media attacks, recently reported that Craig and Julie Sautner, landowners in Dimock and some of the most vocal critics of Cabot Oil & Gas, settled their claim with Cabot, sold their property and left town (see this MDN story). Dimock Proud provided MDN an update on the Sautners yesterday via email.

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Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

NatGas Utility in Susquehanna County, PA Approved by PUC
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

The first pubic utility to be licensed in Pennsylvania in decades was just approved by the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC). Leatherstocking Gas Co., a joint venture of Corning Gas Co. and Mirabito Energy Products (both headquartered in New York State) will spend the next five years installing pipelines to carry natural gas to businesses and residences in throughout rural Susquehanna County, PA.

It’s long been an irony that the county producing some of the largest volumes of natural gas in the state did not have its own natural gas utility to benefit local residents by letting them purchase some of the gas they produce—a situation now resolved.

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

Fracking Opponents Craig & Julie Sautner Sell, Leave Dimock
September 10, 2012September 28, 2012

Dimock Proud, a group of homeowners in and around Dimock, PA who have banded together to defend their town’s reputation against mainstream media news attacks painting the area as a contaminated wasteland, report that two residents who have been among the most vocal critics against drilling and against Cabot Oil & Gas, Craig and Julie Sautner, have settled their lawsuit with Cabot and have left town.

This is an email MDN received from Dimock Proud on Saturday:

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Berks County | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | Wyoming County (PA)

Hitchhiking Poet Chronicles Life in the Marcellus Shale
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

We don’t know why we find this story fascinating, but we do. The Berks County (Philly suburbs) Poet Laureate, Craig Czury, has been hanging out in Susquehanna and Wyoming counties lately—hitchhiking. Czury sticks his thumb out, repeatedly, and hitchhikes between Montrose, PA (in Susquehanna County), and Tunkhannock (in Wyoming County), going back and forth along State Route 29. Why? To listen to people’s stories about Marcellus Shale gas drilling.

Czury is working on a series of poems to document his conversations with the people he rides with. He finds that people who pick up a hitchhiker will often open up and talk freely.

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

Cabot Effort Raises $4.4 Million for PA Physicians Clinic [Free]
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Earlier this year, Cabot Oil & Gas committed to donate up to $2 million to help fund building a new physicians clinic and hospital for the Montrose, PA area (see this MDN story).

This is “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. Cabot indeed contributed an initial $1 million and then worked hard to encourage others to give. Local businesses and organizations like the VFW stepped up with big contributions and gave $1.2 million on top of Cabot’s initial $1 million. Cabot then went above and beyond, matching their donations with another $1.2 million! In addition, the Weinberg Foundation wrote a check for $1 million too. Total raised? $4.4 million. (Be sure to watch the video below.)

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

PA DEP Allows Cabot to Resume Fracking in Dimock
August 22, 2012August 22, 2012

Now that most of the families in and around Dimock, PA who previously sued Cabot Oil & Gas claiming their water had been contaminated by nearby drilling have settled with the company (see this MDN story), the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has given Cabot a green light to resume fracking seven wells in Dimock that Cabot previously drilled but had not completed. The action to let Cabot finish those wells and bring them online comes two and a half years after activity on the wells was stopped by an order of the DEP.

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Broome County | DTE Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

DTE Moves Forward with Bluestone Gathering Pipeline in NE PA
August 20, 2012August 20, 2012

In July of 2011 DTE Energy announced they would file to build a 37-mile natural gas gathering pipeline through the Town of Sanford (Broome County, NY) as well as the towns of New Milford, Harford, Thompson, Jackson, Lenox and Harmony in Susquehanna County, PA. Dubbed the Bluestone Pipeline, the new gathering pipeline will hook to Marcellus gas wells along its route and connect to both the Millennium and the Tennessee interstate pipelines. (A data sheet issued in July 2011 showing the route of the pipeline is embedded below.)

DTE, under their subsidiary Bluestone Gas Corporation, filed a proposal on August 9 to move forward with building the pipeline. The New York State Public Service Commission is now accepting public comment on the proposed pipeline and its route until August 31. From the Public Service Commission press release:

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Bradford County | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

PA Shale Gas Production Goes Up Again
August 17, 2012August 17, 2012

Shale gas production in Pennsylvania, almost all of it from the Marcellus, increased 12% in the first half of 2012 over the last half of 2011 according to new data from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection. Also during 1H12, Bradford County was displaced as producing the most shale gas in the state by…

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Dimock, PA Landowners Settle Lawsuit with Cabot
August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

The long nightmare for Cabot Oil & Gas in Dimock, PA is now about over. Recently, the EPA declared the water wells in and around Dimock are clean (see this MDN story). We now have word that all but four families that sued Cabot in an attempt at a big payday will settle—likely for far less than they had hoped to extract, although exact terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

There are still a few in Dimock who will fight to the bitter end, but that’s what keeps lawyers employed. So what. They’ll drag it on for years and they still won’t get what they want.

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

EPA Closes the Door on Dimock Investigation – Water is Clean
July 26, 2012July 26, 2012

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement yesterday that they’re now officially finished with their investigation of Dimock, PA water wells. EPA testing of 64 wells in the area found elevated levels of arsenic, barium or manganese in four wells—all of those substances are naturally occurring. EPA has been delivering water to the four households, but since those households now have water treatment systems to fix the problem, as of August 6 the EPA will end all water deliveries. (Calling Josh Fox and Mark Ruffalo! We haven’t seen you in Dimock for a while. This is your last chance for another 2 hour visit/photo op. Better grab it while you can.)

The EPA statement (see below) closes a very long chapter in the fight over hydraulic fracturing and the false claims that fracking leaks chemicals into water supplies. Cabot Oil & Gas, the driller accused of contaminating water supplies around Dimock, was delighted (and vindicated) by the EPA’s investigation and was quick to comment (also below).

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