West Virginia

Brooke County | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Ohio County | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wetzel County | Wood County

Radiation Detectors for Drill Cuttings Installed at 6 WV Landfills
October 31, 2014October 31, 2014

Earlier this year the West Virginia legislature, in special session, passed a bill (HB 4411) that Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed into law that establishes certain regulations to allow WV landfills to accept drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) from Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling. One of the provisions in the bill is that landfills with special, set-aside “cells” for larger volumes of drill cuttings be equipped with radiation detectors (see WV Drill Cuttings in Landfill Bill Passes in Record Time). Work on installing those detectors at six landfills is almost complete. The detectors are (or will be) installed at two sites in Harrison County, and one site each in Brooke, Ohio, Wetzel and Wood counties. How will it work?…
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Brooke County | Hancock County | Marshall County | Ohio County | Tyler County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

The Marcellus/Utica Production Rocket Ship in WV
October 28, 2014October 28, 2014

Prior to 2012, Brooke County, WV produced zero natural gas. Nada. Zippo. Nothing. In 2012 the county produced 1.4 million cubic feet (Mmcf) of natural gas. Barely a blip. In 2013, Brooke County produced 8 BILLION cubic feet of natural gas. The trajectory for the county, and other counties in the northern panhandle of WV is startling–thanks to the Marcellus and now the Utica Shale. Brooke is not the only eye-popping example in WV…
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Regional LNG Plant, Filling Stations Coming to Pittsburgh Region
October 28, 2014October 28, 2014

A man with a long history of projects and companies dealing in LNG (liquefied natural gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas), Robert E. Petsinger, has announced he’s putting together financing for a $440 million company that will (a) build a regional LNG production plant along the banks of the Ohio River somewhere near Pittsburgh, and (b) build 50 LNG and LNG-derived compressed natural gas stations within a 500-mile radius of Pittsburgh. The reason for the location? To use cheap, abundant, locally mined Marcellus Shale gas. Given Petsinger’s history, this is no blue flame pipe dream. You can take it to the bank…
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Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration | Marshall County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Gastar Wins Lease to Drill Under Ohio River in WV
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

As MDN previously reported, the state of West Virginia had previously put out to bid state-owned land that sits along the Ohio River, and the land under the Ohio, for leases to drill under the Ohio for Marcellus and Utica Shale gas (see State of WV Looks to Lease Area Under Ohio River for Drilling). The state ultimately received four bids to drill three different parcels of land (see Details on 4 Bids to Drill Under Ohio River in WV). One of the four, Gastar Exploration, has been accepted and the final aspects of the lease are right now being negotiated. According to the WV Dept. of Commerce, the other two parcels also have been “identified” with a driller, but Commerce declined to ID who those winners are. Here’s more on the Gastar deal…
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Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | West Virginia

Antero Gets 30 Day Extension to Fix Problems @ Doddridge Well Pad
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) has granted Antero Resources another 30 days to get problems under control at a well pad in Doddridge County, WV. You may recall Antero was drilling a new well and the borehole penetrated an existing well at the pad, creating problems with local water wells (see Antero Hits Producing Well Drilling New Well, Methane in Local Water). A “cease operations” order was issued on Sept. 26 and that order has been extended another month while Antero awaits test results from local water wells that were affected by the accident…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Tyler County | Utica Shale | West Virginia

More Details on Magnum Hunter Super Utica Well Pad in WV
October 23, 2014October 23, 2014

We now have more details on the ginormous Utica Shale well drilled by Magnum Hunter Resources in Tyler County, WV. MH confirms that the Stewart Winland 1300U (Utica well) tested at a peak rate of 46.5 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d). The entire 4-well pad together has a combined flow test of 97.4 Mmcf/d. The Winland 1300U is the single most productive Utica Shale well every drilled–at least so far! Here’s more details on all four Stewart Winland wells…
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Doddridge County | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Smaller Dominion Pipeline Coming in WV – Part of Atlantic Coast?
October 22, 2014October 22, 2014

Dominion plans to build a 550-mile, $5 BILLION pipeline that will carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas from West Virginia into Virginia and eventually to North Carolina (see Dominion Commits to Major New Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Project). As part of that project, or perhaps in addition to it, they plan to build a smaller diameter 34-mile pipeline, called the Supply Header project, from Wetzel County through Doddridge County and into Harrison County, where it will connect to the new Atlantic Coast pipeline…
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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Legislature Closes Loophole for Drill Cuttings in Landfills
October 22, 2014October 22, 2014

Earlier this year, the West Virginia legislature passed a bill allowing the state’s landfills to create a special cell with special monitoring to accept shale cuttings–leftover rock and dirt–as much as they want and can handle (see WV Drill Cuttings in Landfill Bill Passes in Record Time). That is, with one important exception: The new law disallows a special cell for drill cuttings to be built in landfills that sit over top a “karst” topography (where there are a lot of underground caves, sinkholes, cracks and fast-moving underground streams). However, there was a loophole, an oversight, in the new law: If landfills above a karst topography area are happy with maintaining their current lower cap of 9,999 tons per day of solid waste, they can accept shale drill cuttings in the regular part of the landfill (see Loophole in WV Landfill Law for Drill Cuttings Raises Concern). Oops. The loophole has now been closed…
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Chevron | Education | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Chevron Launches Appalachia Partnership Initiative with $20M
October 22, 2014October 22, 2014

Kudos to Chevron. Yesterday the company announced $20 million in grants for education and workforce development in 27 counties across Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Called the Appalachia Partnership Initiative, Chevron aims to fund education (for students) and training (for workers) in STEM–Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A variety of programs and organizations will be the recipients of Chevron’s largess…
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Braskem | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County

Economist Briefs WVU-P on Odebrecht Ethane Cracker
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

In February, the former director of West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research and professor emeritus at WVU, Tom Witt, released a study about the coming economic miracle that will be the Odebrecht ethane cracker plant in Parkersburg, WV (see Economist Releases Report on WV Cracker Plant’s Economic Impact). Witt’s previous employer, WVU, also hired him to brief them about this coming economic miracle. They specifically want to be sure their educational programs will help prepare the local workforce. Witt briefed the Parkersburg Board of Governors earlier this month. What did he tell them?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Randolph County | West Virginia

Verbal Dueling at Anti-Pipeline Meeting in Randolph County, WV
October 17, 2014October 17, 2014

A couple of West Virginians verbally sparred at an “open house” conducted by the West Virginia Wilderness Lovers yesterday to essentially bad mouth and denigrate Dominion and their planned $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. The incident happened in Mill Creek (Randolph County), WV. One local landowner, who we will charitably say was making some wild claims about Dominion and the pipeline (it’s going to blow up and burn his family to ashes), was challenged by a pipeline union worker, also from Randolph County…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide WV | Washington County | West Virginia

Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation
October 16, 2014October 16, 2014

The Chesapeake Energy fire sale continues–and this time it’s cut right into the bone and sinew of the company. The beneficiary of Chesapeake’s ongoing divestiture, this time, is Southwestern Energy. Southwestern has signed a deal to pick up 413,000 (!) Marcellus/Utica acres, most of it in West Virginia with some of it in Washington County, PA. Much of the land is in prime wet gas areas (see the map below). The deal includes 256 (!) operating and producing Marcellus and Utica Shale wells and another 179 (!) non-operated, non-producing wells–a total of 435 drilled wells. Southwestern is paying Chesapeake $5.375 BILLION for the deal–which will make Chesapeake’s real boss, corporate raider Carl Icahn, very happy…
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Energy Companies | Keystone Mountaineer | Mountaineer Keystone | PDC Mountaineer | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Major New Player in the Marcellus Emerges: Mountaineer Keystone
October 16, 2014November 19, 2015

Earlier this week Mountaineer Keystone, a shale driller headquartered in Pittsburgh, announced it had bought out PDC Mountaineer for half a billion dollars ($500 million). Who are these two players? Mountaineer Keystone is backed by the money of investment firm First Reserve. PDC Mountaineer is a joint venture between PDC Energy and investment firm Lime Rock Partners. The deal means Mountaineer Keystone picks up a huge 131,000 net acres in the Marcellus/Utica region, boosting the company’s position to a new 181,000 net acres. Also part of the deal is a small gathering pipeline operation. Here’s the details…
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Allegheny County | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County

Odebrect Cracker Aims to Attract Chemical/Plastics Manufacturing
October 16, 2014October 16, 2014

David Peebles, Odebrecht’s vice president of business development and the guy working to make the $4 billion ethane cracker and petrochemical plant project in Parkersburg, WV a reality, gave some great insights into just how vast and complex a process building that plant is. Speaking yesterday at the Penn State Natural Gas Utilization Conference in Southpointe, PA, Peebles said…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Shale Jobs Make Slight Increase, Wages Up Avg $2,400/Year
October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

According to the 2011 West Virginia Horizontal Well Control law, the Dept. of Commerce’s Workforce West Virginia agency is required to file an annual report detailing the number of jobs created (or lost) in the shale drilling industry in the state. The report is due by Nov. 1 each year. Last year, the 2013 report showed a big jump of 20%, with wages going up $5,500 in just one year–to $75,580 (see Looking for a Job in the Marcellus? Think WV). A lot of WV’s employment is tied to building pipelines. The report for 2014 is fresh out. What does it show? It shows 1,100 more people found jobs in the industry this year–however, many pipeline projects ended and with them, jobs working on those pipelines. In the end, according to the report, only 69 net new jobs were created throughout the industry over the past year when you add the new workers and take out the temp jobs now ended. However, the average wage for all workers in the oil & gas sector in WV went up again–another $2,400 per year…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Trout Unlimited Volunteers to Watch GWNF for Fracking Effects
October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

Two anti-drilling groups with benign-sounding names, Trout Unlimted and Wild Virginia, are training volunteers to monitor streams for effects from (so far) non-existent shale drilling in the George Washington National Forest. Trout Unlimited has been doing this sort of training/testing for years in places like the Delaware River Basin (see TU: Just Eyeball Those Streams, You Know What Shouldn’t Be There). Testing, testing, testing. And what have they found from all of their testing? An environmental holocaust from fracking shale wells? Some mild environmental impacts? Nope. They’ve found nothing. Zero. Nada. But they keep on testing…
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