The natural gas compressor station located in Majorsville (Marshall County), WV has just received a major upgrade according to owner NiSource. Four really old (1956!) engines were replaced with four brand new CAT 3606 engines, which will increase throughput on the pipeline by 70-80 million cubic feet per day.
The NiSource announcement:
Read More “NiSource Installs 4 New Engines at Majorsville, WV Compressor Stn”
With capes gently flapping in the breeze, it was a crushingly sad defeat for the brave and noble Wheeling Water Warriors who sought to stop the evil frackwater company from establishing yet another facility along the shores of the pristine (*cough*) Ohio River…. OK, enough of that drivel! A great victory for GreenHunter Water and for sanity: The Wheeling (WV) Planning Commission has approved GreenHunter’s plan to develop a frack wastewater recycling/barge facility at the former Seidler’s Oil Service site on North 28th Street. The plan, opposed by a small band of anti-drilling protesters who called themselves the Wheeling Water Warriors, came before the Planning Commission several times without a vote in recent months (see Wheeling Delays Vote Again on GreenHunter Wastewater Facility).
The Commission took up the matter again at it’s Monday meeting and finally voted to approve GreenHunter’s plan. Eventually, GreenHunter hopes to use the facility to not only recycle shale drilling wastewater, but also ship some of it (by barge) down the Ohio River to locations in Ohio for disposal via injection wells. Shipping wastewater by barge is currently under review at the federal level, awaiting approval…
Read More “Wheeling, WV Approves GreenHunter Frack Wastewater Facility”
Dominion, a huge energy company that does everything from shale drilling to pipelines and processing plants to selling gas and electric as a utility, has just sold the newly built and operating $500 million NGL processing plant in Natrium, WV to…itself. The Natrium plant was due to go online late last year. Then it was forecast be online in the spring of this year. The plant, which separates natural gas liquids from methane in the Marcellus/Utica Shale, finally went online in late June (see Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV NGL Plant Now Up & Running).
Blue Racer Midstream officially took title to the Natrium plant as of August 9th. Blue Racer is a joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy II. Dominion essentially owns Blue Racer, ergo Dominion sold the plant to itself. These things happen on paper–no doubt for more favorable tax and accounting purposes for investors. Dominion’s announcement from yesterday:
Read More “Dominion Sells $500M Natrium NGL Plant to… Itself”
Trans Energy, Inc. is a “pure play” (single focus) driller in the Marcellus Shale–specifically in the northern panhandle region of West Virginia. Along with its joint venture partner Republic Energy, Trans Energy owns and operates on 62,000 acres in WV, primarily in Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler and Marion counties.
In April, Trans Energy issued a investors presentation full of very useful charts and maps and details about their operations (embedded below). We’ve just noticed that presentation and believe it’s worth passing along now, even though it’s now three months old. We especially like the “Competitive Market Position” map on slide 8…
Read More “Trans Energy Presentation: Charts, Maps & More”
It looks like the Wheeling Water Warriors will live to fight for another month. The Wheeling (WV) Planning Commission was due to finally vote to allow GreenHunter Water to build a frack wastewater recycling plant at a facility along the Ohio River in Wheeling. After some initial bumps, it seemed as if things were going along fine and that the Commission would vote last week (see GreenHunter’s Wheeling Frack Wastewater Plant Up for Vote July 8). However, the Commission has once again tabled the vote–this time until August 12th.
The latest machinations from Wheeling and what’s holding up the vote this time:
Read More “Wheeling Delays Vote Again on GreenHunter Wastewater Facility”
One of the downsides to drilling–something that’s eminently fixable–is road damage from heavy trucks. A small town in southeastern Marshall County, WV is experiencing the problem first-hand. The drilling industry needs to take note, step up, and fix the problem…
Read More “Road Damage from Drillers a Problem in Marshall County, WV Town”
Blue Racer Midstream, a joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy, was supposed to have a new $500 million wet gas (natural gas liquids) processing plant online in Natrium, WV last December (see Dominion $500M NGL Processing Plant in WV to Open in December). The date was then changed to “late spring” (see Natrium, WV NGL Plant Behind Schedule, Will Open “Late Spring”). Blue Racer finally stopped predicting when the plant would open, but MDN told you in late May the signs were there for an “imminent” opening (see Natrium, WV NGL Processing Plant Start-up Close).
Strike up the band! Even though Blue Racer has decided not to make a public announcement, the Akron Beacon Journal is reporting the plant has been up and “quietly” operating for the past several weeks…
Read More “Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV NGL Plant Now Up & Running”
As MDN told you in early June, the Wheeling (WV) City Council delayed a vote to allow GreenHunter Water to begin construction of a new fracking wastewater recycling facility at a site in the Warwood section of Wheeling–along the Ohio River (see Wheeling Delays Vote on GreenHunter’s Frack Wastewater Plant). After an initial misstep by GreenHunter in not pre-briefing City Council members and the resulting bumpy relationship with some of them, it seems GreenHunter worked hard to address their concerns (see Wheeling Councilwoman Softens Stand Against Frack Wastewater Plant).
The Warwood wastewater recycling facility will once again be on City Council’s docket for a vote at their July 8 meeting:
Read More “GreenHunter’s Wheeling Frack Wastewater Plant Up for Vote July 8”
Williams Partners–one of the largest midstream companies operating in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale–is investing a massive $4.5 billion on three processing facilities in Marshall County, WV. A single county! Pennsylvania is still hoping Shell will proceed with building an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA and they’re gaga over the prospect of a $2 billion investment to build that plant. But right across the border in Marshall County, Williams is right now spending $4.5 billion ($2.2B of it on upgrades and new construction).
The three facilities are the Fort Beeler processing plant, the Oak Grove processing plant, and the Moundsville fractionation plant. Here is an update on those three plants and Williams’ massive investment:
Read More “Williams Invests $4.5B on Midstream Plants in a Single WV County”
A lawsuit in Marshall County, WV that previously escaped our notice has just been settled. Landowners David and Sharon Hall, owners of 116 acres, sued Chesapeake Energy and Statoil alleging damage to their surface property. The lawsuit also says Chesapeake did sloppy work on the drill pad, destroyed crops and destroyed timber on seven acres of the Hall’s land.
Last Friday the judge dismissed the case because it was settled out of court…
Read More “WV Landowners Settle with Chesapeake Out of Court”
Wheeling, WV City Council decided at last night’s meeting to delay a vote for at least another month that would allow GreenHunter Water to begin construction of a new fracking wastewater recycling facility in the city at a site along the Ohio River (for background, see GreenHunter Buys Barge Terminal in Wheeling for Frack Wastewater). City Council members asked some pointed questions of GreenHunter last night.
The proceedings (and outcome) from last night’s meeting:
Read More “Wheeling Delays Vote on GreenHunter’s Frack Wastewater Plant”
When anti-drillers shut up and actually listen, they tend to learn things. Case in point: The recent tour given by GreenHunter Water of their proposed frack wastewater recycling plant along the Ohio River in Wheeling, WV (see GreenHunter Gives Tour to ‘Wheeling Water Warriors’) seems to have softened the opposition of at least one anti-drilling Wheeling City Council member–Gloria Delbrugge. After touring the proposed plant and getting answers to her questions, Delbrugge said: “It was interesting. … I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I learned a lot more that I didn’t know.” That’s quite a change in attitude from just two months ago (see Wheeling Councilwoman Vows to Prevent Frack Water Treatment Plant).
So perhaps it was “mission accomplished” with Ms. Delbrugge. As for the obtuse “Wheeling Water Warriors,” it seems their mouths remain opened and their minds remain closed…
Read More “Wheeling Councilwoman Softens Stand Against Frack Wastewater Plant”
Super hero capes waving in the breeze, the Wheeling Water Warriors entered the belly of the frackwater beast on Friday… Well OK, maybe it wasn’t quite that dramatic. A local anti-fossil fuel “group” (more like half a dozen people) opposed to a new frack wastewater treatment facility in Wheeling, WV, the “Wheeling Water Warriors” (yes that’s really what they’ve named themselves), went on a tour with GreenHunter Water, the company that wants to build said plant, on Friday. The Water Warriors along with members from city council toured the now abandoned 10.8 acre barge terminal that sits along the Ohio River in Wheeling that GreenHunter plans to convert into a water treatment facility and potentially barge some of the frackwater downriver to injection wells for disposal.
Kudos to GreenHunter for reaching out to the opposition. However, don’t for a minute think you’ll actually change their minds…
Read More “GreenHunter Gives Tour to ‘Wheeling Water Warriors’”
Trans Energy, a Marcellus Shale driller concentrating their efforts in four West Virginia counties, released a comprehensive operational update yesterday. The Trans Energy update names names–wells currently being drilled (and where), with an update on the volume of natural gas existing wells are producing. They’ve upped their natgas production an impressive 79% in the past year.
The Trans Energy update:
Read More “Trans Energy Update: Full Speed Ahead in WV Marcellus”
West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin traveled to Fairmont, WV yesterday to announce the establishment of the Appalachian Petroleum Technology Training Center. The new program will offer students either a one-year certificate or a two-year associates degree in Petroleum Technology at both Pierpont Community and Technical College (in Fairmont) and at WV Northern Community College (in Wheeling). According to officials at the ceremony announcing the new center, people can earn starting annual salaries ranging from $60,000-$100,000 for working in natural gas drilling fields. This new program will help make that happen.
A “key feature” of the program are both indoor and outdoor drilling simulation laboratories, to give students hands-on field training…
Read More “New Appalachian Petroleum Technology Training Center in WV”
An article in The State Journal (WV) says the new shale wastewater treatment facility GreenHunter Water wants to build in Wheeling will grant generous discounts–in essence a rebate–to drillers who haul their wastewater to the facility and on the same trip fill up with recycled wastewater to haul back for re-use in drilling and fracking operations. GreenHunter will save money because they won’t have to pay to haul it away for disposal, and drillers get what is, in essence, free water for use in drilling. It’s a win/win for everyone:
Read More “GreenHunter to Offer “Free” Recycled Frackwater at Wheeling Plant”