Last week the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) released a number of new maps. Two of them, in particular, will be of interest to MDN readers: A map which displays the location of wells permitted and/or drilled, and a map showing Total Organic Carbon (TOC)—an indicator of the “best places to drill.” Both maps are embedded below.
Read More “ODNR Issues New OH Utica Maps, Including “Best Places to Drill””
Intrepid Utica Shale reporter Bob Downing from the Akron Beacon Journal attended the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA) annual winter meeting in Columbus last week. Bob filed the following list of “leftover items”—interesting tidbits—from that meeting, including the identity of the first company that will abandon the Utica:
Read More “First Driller to Abandon the Utica Shale & Other Tidbits”
Although the Tennessee Gas Pipeline and the Tetco pipeline (both major natural gas pipelines) run through Athens County, OH, and although there are several compressor plants in the county, so far there’s been very little shale drilling in the county, and none that specifically targets the Utica Shale. However, with a change in the “potentially good places to drill” map published by the Ohio Geological Survey (see today’s related story), that may change…
Read More “Athens County, OH Upgraded to “Good” on ODNR Utica Map”
The BP-Husky Refinery, a 94 year-old oil and gasoline refinery in Oregon, OH (near Toledo), showed off a $400 million upgrade yesterday. The new upgrade took two years and 1,500 short-term workers to complete and will make the refinery more efficient, less polluting and enable it to refine better grades of gasoline.
The interesting part for MDN readers: Right now the refinery gets most of its crude oil from Canada, but new sources of crude are starting to flow from Ohio itself, as well as Pennsylvania and West Virginia—from the Utica and Marcellus Shale. The upgraded refinery has more flexibility to process different types of crude, including Ohio crude…
Read More “BP Refinery Near Toledo Gets Upgrade, Anticipates OH Crude”
Crosstex Energy has formed a joint venture with Enerven Compression Services called E2 to build and operate new compressor stations and a condensate processing plant in the Ohio Utica Shale. In their announcement today, Crosstex says the company has set up a new $75 million line of credit and will invest an initial $50 million from it in the new JV. First up is building two compressor stations in Noble and Monroe counties in Ohio—they already have an unnamed customer lined up for those. After that, they’ll build a condensate (“natural gasoline”) processing plant. Crosstex will own 93% of the JV and Enerven will own the other 7%.
The Crosstex announcement from this morning:
Read More “Crosstex Energy to Build New Compressors, Processing Plant in OH”
The latest permit numbers released from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources shows 20 new permits for the week ending March 2nd.
Here’s where the latest round of permits were issued, along with an update on how many wells have been drilled and are now in production in Ohio:
Read More “Another 20 Utica Shale Permits Issued Last Week in OH”
1st NRG Corp. is one of the newer “players” in the Ohio Utica Shale. MDN previously pointed out their press statements seem to be heavy on fluff and light on specifics for how and when they’ll begin drilling (see 1st NRG Corp Gets $7M Loan to Begin Drilling in Utica, Other Plays). They issued a press release last week almost identical to the one from last November. Instead of saying we’re about to finalize an agreement for the Utica, they changed it to say we have finalized an agreement for the Utica. Again, no further specifics, other than they have their hand out looking for money (i.e. investors).
Here’s the latest slightly-tweaked and re-worked version of their previous press release:
Read More “1st NRG Still Looking for $ to Drill 7K Acres in Utica Shale”
As we’ve been hearing for some time now, midstream (pipelines and processing plants) will be the dominant theme and focus of the Marcellus and Utica Shale for 2013 and likely beyond. A lot of wells have been and continue to be drilled in the Utica and Marcellus. Those wells now require pipelines to carry the gas and gas liquids to market, and processing plants to get the gas and gas liquids ready for market. MarkWest Energy is one of the midstream companies answering the call.
MarkWest plans to invest $1.8 billion in new infrastructure this year in the Utica Shale region, after investing nearly $2 billion last year:
Read More “MarkWest’s Multi-Billion Dollar Investment in Utica/Marcellus”
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Kinder Morgan, the country’s largest pipeline company, is seriously considering Tuscarawas County, Ohio as the location to build both a new natural gas processing plant and a new fractionation (separating) plant. If true, it could mean up to $1 billion in new investment for Tuscarawas County.
Here’s what the Beacon Journal is reporting:
Read More “Kinder Morgan to Build Processing & Fractionation Plants in OH?”
In September of last year, EV Energy Partners/EnerVest put 539,000 Ohio Utica Shale acres on the auction block, thinking they would get around $6 billion for it (see EnerVest Puts 539,000 Utica Shale Acres on Auction Block). In November, the company said they should complete the sale of the Utica acreage by the end of 2012 (see EV Energy Selling 539K Utica Shale Acres by Dec 31). That turned out to be a tad optimistic. EnerVest still does not have a deal for their Utica acreage.
An update on the company’s strategy from EV Energy Partners Chairman John Walker and EnerVest President Mark Houser, from Friday’s analyst call:
Read More “EnerVest Strategy: Sell Utica, Drill Vertical, Expand Midstream”
Houston-based Halcón Resources Corporation issued their fourth quarter and full year 2012 financials and operational update last week. As MDN has been reporting, Halcón is ramping up in the Utica Shale (see Location of Second Halcon Utica Well in Trumbull County, OH). Their 2012 update further confirms that they are making a big push in the Utica for 2013.
In the extract below discussing Halcón’s Utica plans for 2013, we learn they have 130,000 acres, plan to drill 20-25 new wells and will spend $200 million on their Utica drilling program for the year. Interestingly, both of their completed Utica wells are located in the Pennsylvania Utica—not in Ohio…
Read More “Halcón Resources: Full Speed Ahead in Utica Shale for 2013”
Wednesday was the conclusion of the two-day 2nd Utica Shale Development & Growth Forum in Columbus, Ohio. MDN Editor Jim Willis moderated a panel of shale industry media reporters. It was fun! (See my presentation slides below.) We also heard speakers from MarkWest, Penn State’s Marcellus Center, and from Cabot Oil & Gas. Jim’s conference notes from Day 2, including a slip about new numbers coming Gulfport in the Utica…
Read More “Live from Columbus, OH… Utica Shale Confab – Day 2”
In last week’s fourth quarter earnings call, Chesapeake Energy senior management once again singled out Columbiana and Carroll counties for special recognition and to express their ongoing commitment to the Ohio Utica Shale.
A few interesting highlights from that call:
Read More “Chesapeake Earnings Call Highlights Utica Results in 2 OH Counties”
If you ever (logically) thought a piece of legislation that’s meant to be a budget would only deal with money issues, you would be wrong. Budget laws for decades have been used to slip in all sorts of non-money-related measures. This year’s Ohio budget is no different. Tucked away in the proposed budget law from Gov. John Kasich are a number of non-budget items that directly affect Utica Shale drilling in Ohio. The measures include a ban on using brine as a de-icer on public roads, moving from yearly to quarterly production reports, lease transfer 30-day notifications, a $25,000 impact fee on each well drilled (surprise!), and testing of shale cuttings for radioactivity. And you thought budgets were just boring numbers.
Here’s the low-down on the non-budget items in the budget bill that will impact Utica drilling in a big way:
Read More “OH Budget Bill Hits Utica Drilling with $25K/Well Impact Fee”
Law firm Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP (offices in Columbus and Cleveland) has just published a quarterly summary close-up on the Ohio Utica Shale for fourth quarter 2012. It’s full of interesting highlights and bits and bobs you’ve already read on MDN. However, the report pulls a lot of overview material together in an easy to scan format—and it’s just 12 pages (full report embedded below).
The report opens with what it considers the top issues and useful information. It then highlights some of the major industry moves, looks at the midstream and infrastructure projects, government regulation, and closes with training programs available to help those who want jobs in the gas and oil fields. A nice report—worth your time to review it.
Read More “Law Firm Publishes Handy Utica Highlights Report for 4Q12”
Is it right for a simple majority to strip away the hard-earned property of their neighbors with an up or down vote? The Founding Fathers called it mob rule, which is why the United States was founded as a democratic republic—not a straight democracy. They recognized that up or down votes that allow citizens to take away property (money, use of land, possessions) from fellow citizens is abhorrent and immoral, which is why they cooked up the ingenious document called the Constitution—full of checks and balances to prevent it from happening.
But alas, the Constitution has become nothing more than toilet paper in some places, like Youngstown, Ohio…
Read More “Youngstown, OH to Commit Utica Suicide with Vote to Ban Drilling”