CONSOL Energy: Utica Drilling May Soon Replace Marcellus Drilling
The writers at NGI–Natural Gas Intelligence–continue to pump out hit article after hit article. (Full disclosure: MDN editor Jim Willis works part time for NGI on the marketing side. But hopefully by now you know that Jim doesn’t offer false praise for friend or foe. He always calls ’em like he sees ’em.) The latest article we’re excited about is one about a potential shift among Marcellus drillers in southwestern PA and WV–a shift away from Marcellus drilling, potentially replacing it with Utica drilling. Yes, you read that right. No, not all Marcellus drilling will suddenly stop–but in a continuing low-cost gas environment where every dollar counts, drillers are rethinking their strategies and where they will spend precious capital dollars. The recent blockbuster Utica well drilled by EQT in southwestern PA is catching everyone’s attention (see EQT’s 1st Utica Well Shatters Record – 72.9 MMcf/d IP Rate!). That one well changed the course of EQT’s drilling program (see EQT Releases Data on Biggest Utica Well Ever; Dumping UD Drilling). Other drillers, like CONSOL Energy, are seriously considering dumping Marcellus drilling in favor of Utica drilling…
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In June 2014 Dominion filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate new compression facilities at existing compressor stations in Marshall County, WV and Monroe County, OH, and certain other facilities, collectively called the Clarington Project (see 
The U.S. Labor Department is on a witch hunt, unfairly targeting not only the Marcellus/Utica drilling industry–but any company in the entire supply chain that benefits from drilling, including hotels, restaurants and convenience stores. When you have the full force and backing of an out-of-control president like B.H. Obama, you get kind of drunk on your own power. That seems to be what has happened at the Labor Department. The Department of Labor’s wage and hour division in Pittsburgh has been targeting Marcellus-related companies since 2012, arriving for surprise audits of how companies classify employees–and how they pay them (particularly overtime payments). The jack boots have investigated 395 companies in three years and assessed $10 million in wages, civil penalties and liquidated damages and spurred a number of lawsuits by employees (and even the Labor Dept. itself) against employers. One question: Why hasn’t the Labor Department launched ANY investigations into the employment practices of Big Green organizations like the Sierra Club, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, William Penn Foundation, Heinz Endowments, PennFuture, Clean Air Council, Food & Water Watch and a myriad of other such organizations where wild-eyed zealots appear to work 24/7 for weeks on end in their mission to end all fossil fuels? Surely there are some overtime violations happening in Big Green…
Antero Resources announced yesterday it is stepping up its recycling efforts in the Marcellus/Utica by hiring Veolia Water Technologies Inc. to build a new shale wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, West Virginia. The new facility, which will take two years to build and cost Antero $275 million, will process 60,000 barrels of wastewater per day. Is Antero building the new facility to prove what good “green” citizens they are? Nope. They’re building it for the best of reasons: capitalism. Once the new wastewater treatment plant is up and running, Antero will save $150,000 per well on completions costs. Veolia will not only build the facility but also operate it under a 10-year contract…
On Friday Baker Hughes, which is being forced into a merger with Halliburton by the end of this year/early next year, issued a summary of rig counts last Friday. At first blush it appears to be good news, but when you dig under the surface, it’s not–at least for the Marcellus/Utica. The international rig count was 1,118, down 28 from the 1,146 counted in June 2015. However, the average U.S. rig count for July 2015 was 866, up 5 from the 861 counted in June 2015. It appears we’ve turned the corner on how low rig counts will go–we’ve bottomed and are either holding steady (in the U.S.), or perhaps every so slightly gaining ground again. But then we ran the numbers for the Marcellus/Utica and found rig counts continue to decline month over month…
This sounds like something out of a Jules Verne novel. You may recall from school that Verne wrote some of the earliest sci-fi adventures ever, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth. In Journey, Verne wrote about strange and mysterious critters that live deep in the earth–in rock caverns. Turns out Verne may not have been so far from the truth after all. And there’s a tie-in with the Marcellus Shale and with fracking. In November West Virginia University and Ohio State University received an $11 million grant by the federal government to study the Marcellus and Utica Shale (see